Agreement with को-marked objects

An object followed by को is overtly case-marked and cannot control Hindi verbal agreement. What the predicate does instead depends on the rest of the clause. In an imperfective clause, an unmarked subject normally controls agreement. In a transitive perfective, the agent bears ने; if the object also bears को, neither core argument is eligible and the predicate takes masculine singular default.

Start with the whole clause, not the object alone

The phrase रीना को does not tell you the agreement pattern by itself. It may be a marked object, recipient, experiencer, or goal. First identify its grammatical role, then inspect the subject’s case and the predicate’s aspect.

In the habitual, unmarked feminine Sonia controls बुलाती है. In the perfective, सोनिया ने is blocked, and बेटी को is also blocked, so बुलाया is default. The object’s natural gender has not changed.

Controlled contrast: unmarked versus marked object

With some object types, case choice also changes specificity or discourse construal. The agreement contrast reveals the resulting structure.

Unmarked feminine एक लड़की controls देखी. Specific उस लड़की को cannot control, so the otherwise similar perfective has default देखा. This is not merely optional deletion of a preposition: को participates in differential object marking, often responding to animacy, specificity, definiteness, and lexical semantics.

For those semantic conditions, see differential object marking with को.

Number and honorificity remain invisible on the marked object

A singular, plural, masculine, feminine, or honorific को phrase is equally ineligible. When no other controller remains, all yield the same default masculine singular shape.

The semantic recipients differ, but समझाया stays default. Respect does not allow a marked object to trigger plural honorific agreement.

Ditransitives: recipient को, theme agreement

With verbs such as देना and भेजना, the recipient normally takes को while an unmarked theme remains available for agreement in a perfective clause. The nearest noun is not automatically the controller.

Feminine किताब controls दी across recipient रोहित को. Masculine plural खिलौने controls दिए across बच्चों को. Linear distance therefore cannot determine agreement; constituency and case eligibility do.

If the theme itself is case-marked by a construction, neither को phrase controls and default agreement results. Learn each verb’s argument frame rather than treating the first phrase after the subject as “the object.”

Negation and focus preserve ineligibility

Neither नहीं nor focus particles remove को or promote its phrase into an agreement controller.

Feminine बहन is within a focused को phrase, but the verb remains default जगाया. Focus changes the set of alternatives; it does not change case licensing or agreement accessibility.

Pronoun objects already contain the को relation

Forms such as मुझे, तुम्हें, उसे, हमें, आपको, उन्हें function as oblique pronoun-plus-को combinations in object and recipient uses. They do not control perfective agreement.

The first has no eligible object and uses default बुलाया था. In the second, pronoun recipient उन्हें is blocked, but unmarked feminine theme जानकारी controls भेजी.

Clause boundaries block semantic agreement

A matrix को-marked recipient cannot affect agreement inside a finite complement, and an embedded noun cannot control the matrix predicate merely because it supplies important content.

Matrix बताया is default: हमने and प्रिया को are marked, while the कि clause is not a gender-number controller. Inside that clause, feminine बैठक controls होगी. The complementizer establishes a new agreement domain.

The matrix predicate is default बताया. The embedded feminine unmarked तारीख़ controls दी है after embedded कंपनी ने. Agreement must be calculated clause by clause.

Word order is not the licensing rule

Hindi can place focused or topical material in different positions, but moving a को phrase does not make it eligible.

Even clause-initial उन दोनों लड़कियों को cannot control; बुलाया stays default. The marked word order foregrounds the object, a topic treated in the word-order group. Agreement follows case and structure, not first position.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

A को-marked object or recipient cannot control agreement. In imperfective clauses, an unmarked subject normally remains the controller; in a transitive perfective with ने, the result is default masculine singular unless another unmarked argument such as a theme is eligible. Negation, focus, fronting, plurality, and honorificity do not remove this restriction. Finite complements create separate agreement domains, so matrix and embedded predicates must be evaluated locally.