Hindi commonly offers two shapes for a converb: Standard जाकर, देखकर, खाकर, लेकर and conversational जाके, देखके, खाके, लेके. Both are invariant and normally link a shared-subject event to the following predicate. Their difference is chiefly stylistic distribution, not event meaning. For the full structural baseline, see the conjunctive participle in -कर.
The short -के forms are widespread in speech, but frequency varies by speaker, verb, region, pace, and setting. Careful edited prose normally selects -कर. This is a tendency, not a claim that -के belongs to one region or that it cannot occur with respectful address.
The basic correspondence
| Verb | Neutral/edited form | Common conversational form |
|---|---|---|
| जाना | जाकर | जाके |
| देखना | देखकर | देखके |
| खाना | खाकर | खाके |
| पीना | पीकर | पीके |
| लेना | लेकर | लेके |
| देना | देकर | देके |
| पूछना | पूछकर | पूछके |
रिसेप्शन पर जाकर कमरा नंबर पूछिए।
risepśan par jākar kamrā nambar pūchie.
Please go to reception and ask for the room number. (neutral, respectful)
रिसेप्शन पर जाके कमरा नंबर पूछ लीजिए।
risepśan par jāke kamrā nambar pūch lījie.
Go to reception and ask for the room number. (conversational, respectful)
The second sentence remains respectful because लीजिए marks respectful address. Colloquial जाके changes the style of the linker, not the addressee's social status.
Meaning and control normally stay the same
Both variants can express prior sequence, means, cause, or manner, and both normally share the matrix subject.
मीरा ने बिल देखकर भुगतान किया।
mīrā ne bil dekhkar bhugtān kiyā.
Meera checked the bill and paid. (neutral)
मीरा ने बिल देखके भुगतान किया।
mīrā ne bil dekhke bhugtān kiyā.
Meera checked the bill and paid. (conversational)
In both, Meera checks and pays. Perfective transitive भुगतान किया determines ने; देखकर/देखके is invariant.
वह हँसके बोला कि मज़ाक कर रहा था।
vah hãske bolā ki mazāk kar rahā thā.
He said with a laugh that he was joking. (informal conversation)
Here हँसके expresses manner and may overlap with speaking. Short -के does not inherently mean faster sequence or lesser completion than -कर.
करके is not merely a colloquial shortening
करके is the ordinary converb of lexical/light verb करना, including larger predicates:
उसने कमरा साफ़ करके खिड़कियाँ खोल दीं।
usne kamrā sāf karke khiṛkiyā̃ khol dīṃ.
He or she cleaned the room and opened the windows.
The base is कमरा साफ़ करना. Replacing final करना with करके carries the entire predicate into the event chain. This form is fully standard in formal as well as informal Hindi.
By contrast, देखके alternates with देखकर as a conversational variant. An analysis that labels every final के “informal” would therefore misclassify standard करके.
Bare कर- may be a lexical stem, not a converb suffix
The visible string कर has several jobs:
| Example | Analysis |
|---|---|
| देखकर आया | देख- + converb suffix -कर |
| काम कर आया | compact bare कर linking “do the work” to arrival |
| काम कर लिया | bare light-verb stem कर- before vector लिया |
| फ़ाइल बंद कर दो | bare कर- before vector/imperative दो |
रवि अपना काम कर आया है।
ravi apnā kām kar āyā hai.
Ravi has gone, done his work, and come back.
रवि ने अपना काम कर लिया है।
ravi ne apnā kām kar liyā hai.
Ravi has finished his work.
The first compact sequence retains motion meaning in आया. In the second, लिया is a completive/self-directed vector; कर cannot simply be labeled a converb meaning “after doing.” Structure and lexical meaning decide the analysis.
Genitive के is a different word
Not every के after a verb-like expression is a converb suffix. In जाने के बाद, जाने is an oblique infinitive and के begins compound postposition के बाद.
खाना खाने के बाद हम नदी तक गए।
khānā khāne ke bād ham nadī tak gae.
After eating, we went as far as the river.
Compare conversational converb:
खाना खाके हम नदी तक गए।
khānā khāke ham nadī tak gae.
After eating, we went as far as the river. (conversational)
The first transparently names the temporal relation के बाद. The second compresses eating as background and relies on context for the “after” reading. Their translations overlap, but the morphology does not.
Edited prose and spoken style
In a formal instruction, -कर is the dependable choice:
कृपया सभी शर्तें पढ़कर आवेदन पर हस्ताक्षर करें।
kripyā sabhī śarteṃ paṛhkar āvedan par hastākṣar kareṃ.
Please read all the conditions and sign the application. (formal)
In casual speech, -के is natural:
शर्तें पढ़के ही साइन करना।
śarteṃ paṛhke hī sāin karnā.
Sign only after reading the conditions. (informal reminder)
This contrast does not make the second sentence ungrammatical, nor does the presence of -कर by itself make a sentence formal. News interviews, relaxed professional conversation, and represented dialogue mix styles. Treat -कर as register-robust and -के as conversationally favored.
Same subject and subject changes
Shortening the form does not relax the shared-subject constraint:
आशा चाबी लेके नीचे गई।
āśā cābī leke nīce gaī.
Asha took the key and went downstairs. (conversational)
Asha both takes and goes. If the key is delivered by someone else before Asha goes, a finite or nominalized clause is needed:
जब रोहन चाबी ले आया, तब आशा नीचे गई।
jab rohan cābī le āyā, tab āśā nīce gaī.
When Rohan brought the key, Asha went downstairs.
Using चाबी लेके आशा नीचे गई would make Asha the taker, not Rohan.
Finite versus non-finite packaging
उसने पानी पिया और फिर दवा ली।
usne pānī piyā aur phir davā lī.
He or she drank water and then took the medicine.
उसने पानी पीके दवा ली।
usne pānī pīke davā lī.
He or she drank water and took the medicine. (conversational)
Finite coordination independently asserts both events and explicitly marks sequence with फिर. The short converb backgrounds drinking and lets real-world knowledge supply the order.
A compact spoken chain and its expansion
बाज़ार जाके सब्ज़ियाँ लेके सीधे घर आ जाना।
bāzār jāke sabziyā̃ leke sīdhe ghar ā jānā.
Go to the market, get the vegetables, and come straight home. (informal instruction)
Expanded into finite familiar imperatives:
पहले बाज़ार जाओ, फिर सब्ज़ियाँ लो और सीधे घर आ जाओ।
pahle bāzār jāo, phir sabziyā̃ lo aur sīdhe ghar ā jāo.
First go to the market, then get the vegetables and come straight home. (informal)
The converb chain is compact and natural in speech. The expanded version gives each step an independent command and makes sequence explicit.
Common Mistakes
1. Adding agreement to colloquial -के
❌ रीना खाना खाकी बाहर गई।
Incorrect — the converb is invariant; feminine agreement belongs on गई.
✅ रीना खाना खाके बाहर गई।
rīnā khānā khāke bāhar gaī.
Reena went out after eating. (conversational)
2. Attaching -के to an infinitive
❌ वह बाज़ार जानाके दूध लाया।
Incorrect — remove infinitive -ना before attaching the converb ending.
✅ वह बाज़ार जाके दूध लाया।
vah bāzār jāke dūdh lāyā.
He went to the market and brought milk. (conversational)
3. Doubling a converb with के बाद
❌ खाना खाके के बाद मैं निकला।
Incorrect — choose either खाके or खाने के बाद.
✅ खाना खाने के बाद मैं निकला।
khānā khāne ke bād maĩ niklā.
I left after eating. (male speaker)
4. Treating genitive के as a converb
❌ ‘घर के सामने’ पदबंध में ‘के’ का अर्थ ‘करके’ है।
Incorrect — के in घर के सामने is part of a postpositional phrase, not a converb.
✅ ‘घर के सामने’ पदबंध में ‘के’ संबंध बताता है, कोई घटना नहीं।
ghar ke sāmne padbandh meṃ ke sambandh batātā hai, koī ghaṭnā nahīṃ.
The के in घर के सामने marks a relation, not an event.
5. Hiding a subject change
❌ बारिश रुकके बच्चे बाहर गए।
Incorrect for two subjects — it invites बारिश to control the following predicate.
✅ बारिश रुकी तो बच्चे बाहर गए।
bāriś rukī to bacce bāhar gae.
When the rain stopped, the children went outside.
Key Takeaways
- -कर is the register-robust Standard form; -के is a widespread conversational variant whose frequency varies.
- Both forms are invariant and normally preserve the same event relation and shared subject.
- Standard करके is the converb of करना; it is not evidence that every final के is informal.
- Bare कर can be a compact linker or the light-verb stem before a vector, while genitive/postpositional के is a separate word.
- Register, morphology, and social honorificity are related but independent dimensions.
Related Topics
- Conjunctive participle in -karB1 — Use invariant Hindi -कर converbs to connect a shared-subject event with a following finite event as sequence, means, cause, or manner.
- करके as an expanded converbB2 — Use करके to link an event expressed with करना—including noun, adjective, and loan predicates—to a following shared-subject event.
- Converb event sequencingB2 — Interpret and build Hindi converb chains by tracking event order, semantic relations, subject continuity, negation, and the final predicate's scope.
- Same-subject constraint with converbsB2 — Track the understood subject through Hindi -कर and -करके chains and repair changes of actor with finite or nominalized clauses.
- Everyday colloquial Standard HindiA2 — Build natural everyday Hindi through spoken clause design, familiar particles, ordinary vocabulary mixing, and relationship-appropriate address.
- Formal written HindiB1 — Shape clear formal Hindi by coordinating audience, sentence architecture, address, and vocabulary instead of merely choosing longer words.