The Hindi infinitive has a direct form in -ना and an oblique form in -ने: करना → करने, जाना → जाने, पढ़ना → पढ़ने. The oblique form appears when the verbal noun stands before a postposition or enters certain constructions such as purpose with a motion verb and onset with लगना.
The ending -ने is attached to the verb and is not the ergative postposition ने. In काम करने के बाद, करने is one word meaning “doing” in an oblique form; nobody is being marked as a perfective agent.
Direct -ना versus oblique -ने
The infinitive declines like a masculine -ा noun in this core contrast:
| Direct verbal noun | Oblique environment | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| चलना अच्छा है | चलने का समय | walking is good / time to walk |
| जाना ज़रूरी है | जाने के बाद | going is necessary / after going |
| पढ़ना पसंद है | पढ़ने में रुचि | like reading / interest in reading |
| मिलना आसान है | मिलने के लिए | meeting is easy / in order to meet |
रोज़ लिखना अच्छा अभ्यास है।
roz likhnā acchā abhyās hai.
Writing every day is good practice.
आज लिखने का समय नहीं मिला।
āj likhne kā samay nahīṃ milā.
I didn't get time to write today.
In the first sentence, लिखना directly names the activity. In the second, the postposition का requires oblique लिखने. English uses writing or to write without showing this case contrast, so the Hindi ending must be learned from its syntactic environment.
-ने before का, की, and के
The genitive marker after an oblique infinitive agrees with the following noun, not with the infinitive:
यह घर लौटने का सही समय है।
yah ghar lauṭne kā sahī samay hai.
This is the right time to return home.
मुझे बाहर खाने की आदत नहीं है।
mujhe bāhar khāne kī ādat nahīṃ hai.
I am not in the habit of eating out.
उसने कम खर्च करने के तरीक़े बताए।
usne kam xarc karne ke tarīqe batāe.
He or she explained ways to spend less.
का agrees with masculine समय, की with feminine आदत, and के with plural तरीक़े. The infinitive is लौटने/खाने/करने in all three. Do not select का/की/के from the gender of the person doing the action.
Purpose before a motion verb
An oblique infinitive directly before जाना, आना, निकलना, or another motion expression commonly states purpose:
मीरा दवा लेने बाज़ार गई।
mīrā davā lene bāzār gaī.
Meera went to the market to get medicine.
मेरे दोस्त सप्ताहांत पर मिलने आएँगे।
mere dost saptāhānt par milne āẽge.
My friends will come to visit over the weekend.
The infinitive stays लेने/मिलने regardless of the gender or number of the mover. The finite motion verb carries agreement: feminine गई, plural आएँगे.
Purpose does not entail success:
अरुण टिकट लेने गया था, लेकिन खिड़की बंद थी।
aruṇ ṭikaṭ lene gayā thā, lekin khiṛkī band thī.
Arun had gone to get a ticket, but the counter was closed.
लेने गया says why Arun went, not that he obtained the ticket. Compare resultative टिकट ले आया, which does entail that the ticket came back with him.
The understood subject is normally the mover. A causative motion clause can supply a different controller:
मैं बच्चे को डॉक्टर से मिलने ले गया।
maĩ bacce ko ḍokṭar se milne le gayā.
I took the child to see the doctor. (male speaker)
Here मैं is the one who took someone, but बच्चे को is understood as the one meeting the doctor. The semantic roles, not simple proximity, determine the infinitive's subject.
Onset with लगना
Before लगना “begin,” Hindi uses the oblique infinitive:
बाहर निकलते ही बच्चा रोने लगा।
bāhar nikalte hī baccā rone lagā.
As soon as the child stepped outside, he began to cry.
बारिश रुकते ही चिड़ियाँ फिर गाने लगीं।
bāriś rukte hī ciṛiyā̃ phir gāne lagīṃ.
As soon as the rain stopped, the birds began singing again.
रोने/गाने does not agree. Finite लगा/लगीं agrees with बच्चा/चिड़ियाँ. This pattern is not literally “crying seemed”; onset लगना is a conventional complex predicate discussed fully under infinitive plus लगना.
Expressing the infinitive's subject
Before many postpositional phrases, an explicit infinitive subject appears in a genitive form ending in के:
मेहमानों के आने से पहले मेज़ लगा दो।
mehmānoṃ ke āne se pahle mez lagā do.
Set the table before the guests arrive. (informal)
रीना के बोलने के बाद सब चुप हो गए।
rīnā ke bolne ke bād sab cup ho gae.
After Reena spoke, everyone fell silent.
In both, the main-clause subject differs from the infinitive subject. मेहमानों are to arrive, but the addressee is to set the table; Reena speaks, but everyone becomes silent. The fixed-looking के belongs to the nominalized clause structure, not to the natural gender of Reena.
When the subject is not expressed, context usually favors a shared controller:
खाना खाने के बाद मैं थोड़ी देर टहला।
khānā khāne ke bād maĩ thoṛī der ṭahlā.
After eating, I walked for a while. (male speaker)
The natural reading is that मैं both ate and walked. If someone else ate, Hindi normally names that person: बच्चों के खाना खाने के बाद मैं टहला.
Temporal relation comes from the construction
The ending -ने itself does not mean “before,” “after,” or “in order to.” The following construction supplies the relation:
- आने से पहले: before coming
- आने के बाद: after coming
- आने पर: on/when coming
- आने के लिए: in order to come
- आने में: in coming; to come
The same आने can therefore refer to an event earlier than, later than, or simultaneous with the main clause. Do not translate -ने as a tense marker.
करने versus कर and करके
These similar forms have different grammatical jobs:
काम करने के बाद सीमा घर गई।
kām karne ke bād sīmā ghar gaī.
After doing the work, Seema went home.
काम करके सीमा घर गई।
kām karke sīmā ghar gaī.
Having done the work, Seema went home.
Both naturally place the work before the departure. The first uses an oblique verbal noun plus explicit postposition के बाद; the second uses the invariant converb करके to link the events. Bare कर can also be a shorter converb in काम कर घर गई, especially in compact written style, but it is not the oblique infinitive.
A compressed written sentence and its expansion
जाँच पूरी होने के बाद भुगतान करने की प्रक्रिया शुरू होगी।
jā̃c pūrī hone ke bād bhugtān karne kī prakriyā śurū hogī.
After the review is completed, the payment process will begin. (formal written style)
This sentence embeds two oblique infinitives inside nominal phrases. An expanded version makes both events finite:
पहले जाँच पूरी होगी; उसके बाद विभाग भुगतान की प्रक्रिया शुरू करेगा।
pahle jā̃c pūrī hogī; uske bād vibhāg bhugtān kī prakriyā śurū karegā.
First the review will be completed; after that, the department will begin the payment process.
The compressed version is useful when the procedures, rather than their actors, are central. The expanded version names the department and makes the sequence easier to process.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping direct -ना before a postposition
❌ जाना के बाद मुझे फ़ोन करना।
Incorrect — the infinitive must be oblique before के बाद.
✅ घर पहुँचने के बाद मुझे फ़ोन करना।
ghar pahũcne ke bād mujhe fon karnā.
Call me after you get home. (informal)
2. Writing -ने as a separate ergative marker
❌ पढ़ ने के लिए शांत जगह चाहिए।
Incorrect — पढ़ने is one oblique infinitive, not पढ़ plus ergative ने.
✅ पढ़ने के लिए शांत जगह चाहिए।
paṛhne ke lie śānt jagah cāhie.
A quiet place is needed for studying.
3. Making the purpose infinitive agree
❌ नेहा अपनी माँ से मिलनी गई।
Incorrect in this purpose construction — use invariant oblique मिलने; गई carries feminine agreement.
✅ नेहा अपनी माँ से मिलने गई।
nehā apnī mā̃ se milne gaī.
Neha went to meet her mother.
4. Confusing करने with करके
❌ खाना करके के बाद हम निकले।
Incorrect — do not combine converb करके with postposition के बाद.
✅ खाना खाने के बाद हम निकले।
khānā khāne ke bād ham nikle.
We left after eating.
5. Treating purpose as completed result
❌ वह आवेदन देने गया, इसलिए आवेदन जमा हो गया।
Invalid inference — purpose form देने गया does not guarantee submission.
✅ वह आवेदन देने गया था, पर दफ़्तर बंद मिला।
vah āvedan dene gayā thā, par daftar band milā.
He had gone to submit the application, but found the office closed.
Key Takeaways
- Direct -ना changes to oblique -ने before postpositions and in several governed constructions.
- Attached -ने is part of the infinitive; it is not perfective ergative ने.
- Purpose लेने गया does not entail success, and onset रोने लगा keeps the infinitive invariant.
- An explicit infinitive subject can distinguish different-subject from same-subject readings.
- The construction after -ने, not the ending itself, supplies temporal or logical relations.
Related Topics
- The infinitive as verbal nounA2 — Use the Hindi -ना form to name an action while preserving its objects, modifiers, and understood or expressed subject.
- Infinitive with postpositionsA2 — Combine the oblique Hindi infinitive with postpositions to express purpose, time, cause, means, condition, duration, and alternatives.
- Infinitive subjects and agreementA2 — Identify who performs a Hindi infinitive and distinguish default -ना from object-controlled infinitive agreement in necessity constructions.
- Infinitive plus लगना onsetC1 — Use the oblique infinitive with लगना to locate the beginning of an activity, process, habit, or emerging state.
- Serial-like motion sequencesC1 — Distinguish compact Hindi motion predicates from transport compounds, purpose infinitives, and linked -कर event chains.
- Postpositions and oblique complementsA1 — Build Hindi relational phrases by placing a postposition after an oblique noun or special pronoun form instead of translating English prepositions word for word.