Hindi relative जब “when” can open a time frame and correlative तब “then/at that time” can resume it in the main clause: जब बारिश रुकेगी, तब निकलेंगे “we will leave when the rain stops.” English usually marks only the subordinate side with when; Hindi’s paired option makes the relation between the two clauses overt.
The basic temporal pair
जब बैठक ख़त्म होगी, तब मैं तुम्हें फ़ोन करूँगा।
jab baiṭhak xatm hogī, tab maĩ tumheṃ fon karū̃gā.
I'll call you when the meeting ends. (male speaker, informal)
The जब clause supplies the reference time for the call. Hindi uses a future form in both clauses here because both events are genuinely future; unlike English, it does not obligatorily replace future with present after when.
जब मैं दिल्ली में रहता था, तब रोज़ मेट्रो से दफ़्तर जाता था।
jab maĩ dillī meṃ rahtā thā, tab roz meṭro se daftar jātā thā.
When I lived in Delhi, I used to take the metro to work every day. (male speaker)
Both habitual predicates describe a past period. तब points back to that period rather than merely meaning the next event in a sequence.
तब may be present, omitted, or emphasized
An overt तब is useful when the clauses are long, when the timing is contrastive, or when a condition-like dependency matters:
जब सभी विभाग अपने अंतिम आँकड़े भेज देंगे, तभी रिपोर्ट प्रकाशित की जाएगी।
jab sabhī vibhāg apne antim ā̃kaṛe bhej deṅge, tabhī riporṭ prakāśit kī jāegī.
The report will be published only when all departments have submitted their final figures. (formal)
तभी adds ही and means “only then / precisely at that point.” It turns loose temporal overlap into a necessary trigger.
In a short ordinary sentence, Hindi often omits the correlate:
जब घर पहुँचो, मुझे बता देना।
jab ghar pahũco, mujhe batā denā.
Let me know when you get home. (informal)
The imperative already supplies a clear main clause. Adding तब is grammatical but more deliberate: जब घर पहुँचो, तब मुझे बता देना.
The main clause can also come first:
मैं तुम्हें सारी बात तब बताऊँगी जब हम अकेले होंगे।
maĩ tumheṃ sārī bāt tab batāū̃gī jab ham akele hoṅge.
I'll tell you everything when we're alone. (female speaker, informal)
Here तब occupies the time slot in the main clause, and the final जब clause identifies that time.
जब…तो is common but has a different flavor
Everyday Hindi often answers जब with तो, especially when the relation shades into condition, consequence, or contrast:
जब इतनी दूर आ ही गए हो, तो चाय पीकर जाना।
jab itnī dūr ā hī gae ho, to cāy pīkar jānā.
Since you've come all this way, have some tea before you leave. (informal)
This does not mean a literal “then” at one instant. तो presents the second clause as the relevant consequence of the first. In formal chronology, जब…तब is usually more exact; in conversation, जब…तो is extremely natural.
जब ग्राहक ने रसीद दिखाई, तब प्रबंधक ने पैसे लौटाए।
jab grāhak ne rasīd dikhāī, tab prabandhak ne paise lauṭāe.
When the customer showed the receipt, the manager refunded the money.
This describes temporal sequence. Replacing तब with तो would highlight the receipt as grounds for the refund.
Repeated and free-choice time: जब भी
जब भी means “whenever,” whether the occasions are habitual, unrestricted, or not yet known:
जब भी दादी हमारे घर आती हैं, बच्चों के लिए आम लाती हैं।
jab bhī dādī hamāre ghar ātī haiṃ, baccoṃ ke lie ām lātī haiṃ.
Whenever Grandmother comes to our house, she brings mangoes for the children. (respectful)
An overt तब is possible but usually unnecessary because जब भी already signals repeated occasions. हर बार can act as the correlate when repetition is prominent:
जब भी यह मशीन गरम होती है, हर बार अपने-आप बंद हो जाती है।
jab bhī yah maśīn garam hotī hai, har bār apne-āp band ho jātī hai.
Whenever this machine overheats, it shuts off automatically every time.
Do not confuse temporal जब भी with nominal free relative जो भी “whoever/whatever.” Both belong to the same relative system, but they fill different semantic slots.
Limits and starting points
जब तक…तब तक brackets an interval: “until/as long as P, up to that time Q.”
जब तक डॉक्टर न आएँ, तब तक मरीज को पानी मत देना।
jab tak ḍokṭar na āẽ, tab tak marīz ko pānī mat denā.
Do not give the patient water until the doctor comes. (neutral instruction)
The subordinate न आएँ is conventional after जब तक when the endpoint has not yet occurred. English learners often expect ordinary affirmative “until comes”; Hindi frequently conceptualizes the boundary as “while the arrival has not happened.”
जब से…तब से links a starting point to the continuing interval after it:
जब से नया पुल खुला है, तब से इस रास्ते पर ट्रैफ़िक कम हो गया है।
jab se nayā pul khulā hai, tab se is rāste par ṭraifik kam ho gayā hai.
Traffic on this road has decreased since the new bridge opened.
In speech, the second से phrase may be omitted: जब से नया पुल खुला है, ट्रैफ़िक कम हो गया है. Retaining both sides is helpful in long formal sentences.
Named times use जिस…उस
When an overt time noun is needed, use the oblique relative and correlative determiners:
जिस दिन नतीजे आएँगे, उस दिन कार्यालय देर तक खुला रहेगा।
jis din natīje āẽge, us din kāryālay der tak khulā rahegā.
On the day the results are announced, the office will remain open late.
This is a case-marked temporal pair even though Hindi uses the bare time adverbial उस दिन rather than an overt postposition. With an explicit postposition, local roles can differ:
जिस समय तक आवेदन जमा होगा, उसके बाद कोई बदलाव स्वीकार नहीं किया जाएगा।
jis samay tak āvedan jamā hogā, uske bād koī badlāv svīkār nahīṃ kiyā jāegā.
No change will be accepted after the time by which the application is submitted. (formal)
The relative side uses तक “up to,” while the main side uses genitive के बाद “after.” Reference matches; case need not.
Part of the relative–correlative family
Nominal जो…वह and conversational जो…वो show the same two-clause design:
जो समय बचा है, वह तैयारी में लगाना चाहिए।
jo samay bacā hai, vah taiyārī meṃ lagānā cāhie.
The time that remains should be used for preparation. (neutral/formal)
जो वक़्त हमें मिला है, वो कम है।
jo vaqt hameṃ milā hai, vo kam hai.
The time we've been given is short. (informal)
The family then specializes by dimension: जहाँ…वहाँ for place, जब…तब for time, जैसा…वैसा for manner or quality, and जितना…उतना for degree or quantity. See temporal जब–तब clauses for their role in larger complex sentences.
Conversation and proverb
सारा: तुम कब आओगे? देव: जब काम ख़त्म होगा, तब निकलूँगा।
sārā: tum kab āoge? dev: jab kām xatm hogā, tab niklū̃gā.
Sara: When will you come? Dev: I'll leave when the work is finished. (informal)
The question uses कब; the answer uses relative जब and correlative तब.
जब जागो, तभी सवेरा।
jab jāgo, tabhī saverā.
Whenever you wake up to the need to act, that is your dawn — it is never too late. (proverb)
The proverb uses emphatic तभी and omits the copula for compactness.
Common Mistakes
1. Using interrogative कब to open the relative clause
❌ कब बारिश रुकेगी, तब निकलेंगे।
Incorrect as a relative pair — कब asks 'when?' rather than supplying the time frame.
✅ जब बारिश रुकेगी, तब निकलेंगे।
jab bāriś rukegī, tab nikleṅge.
We will leave when the rain stops.
2. Copying English present tense for a Hindi future event
❌ जब वह कल आता है, तब बात करेंगे।
Incorrect for one specific future arrival — use future tense in the जब clause.
✅ जब वह कल आएगा, तब बात करेंगे।
jab vah kal āegā, tab bāt kareṅge.
We'll talk when he comes tomorrow.
3. Losing the paired starting-point marker
❌ जब नया सत्र से शुरू हुआ, छात्र व्यस्त हैं।
Incorrect — से follows जब, not the noun phrase नया सत्र here.
✅ जब से नया सत्र शुरू हुआ है, तब से छात्र व्यस्त हैं।
jab se nayā satr śurū huā hai, tab se chātr vyast haiṃ.
The students have been busy since the new term began.
4. Inserting जो कि as a temporal relative
❌ वह दिन जो कि हम मिले थे मुझे याद है।
Incorrect — the clause needs a temporal relative or a case-marked time phrase.
✅ जिस दिन हम मिले थे, वह दिन मुझे याद है।
jis din ham mile the, vah din mujhe yād hai.
I remember the day we met.
Key Takeaways
- जब…तब explicitly maps the time of one clause onto another; तभी means “only/precisely then.”
- तब is often omitted in short, clear sentences, while तो highlights consequence or relevance.
- जब भी means “whenever”; जब तक…तब तक sets a limit, and जब से…तब से sets a starting point.
- Specific time nouns use जिस…उस phrases, with case determined separately in each clause.
- Temporal जब belongs to the same productive system as जो, जहाँ, जैसा, and जितना.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- जो–वह relative-correlative overviewA2 — Build Hindi relative-correlative sentences by pairing जो with वह/वो and matching each pronoun's case to its role in its own clause.
- जहाँ–वहाँ placeB2 — Link a place-setting clause with its matching location, source, destination, or spatial limit through जहाँ–वहाँ and its expanded forms.
- जैसा–वैसा manner and qualityB2 — Use जैसा–वैसा to correlate kinds, qualities, and ways while controlling agreement and emphatic ही accurately.
- जितना–उतना degree and quantityB2 — Correlate amounts, numbers, extents, and proportional change with agreeing जितना–उतना forms.
- Temporal जब तब clausesB1 — Link a temporal जब clause to its main event with तब, optional तो, or a contextually recoverable correlate.
- Until clauses with जब तकB1 — Set an endpoint or continuing interval with जब तक … तब तक, including the special negative pattern used for ‘until X happens.’