बैठना is the intransitive verb for sitting, sitting down, or settling into a position. It also serves as a vector after another verb stem, where it can present an action as ill-judged, unintended, or regrettably completed: कह बैठना “blurt out/end up saying.” These uses share a sense of entering a settled result, but their argument structures differ.
Stem and principal forms
The stem is बैठ-. Its perfective is बैठा, not a form modeled on English “sat”; Hindi preserves the lexical stem and adds the ordinary perfective agreement endings.
| Category | Forms |
|---|---|
| infinitive | बैठना |
| habitual | बैठता / बैठती / बैठते |
| progressive | बैठ रहा / बैठ रही / बैठ रहे |
| perfective | बैठा / बैठी / बैठे / बैठीं |
| conjunctive | बैठकर |
| simultaneous participle | बैठते हुए |
| prospective | बैठने वाला / बैठने वाली / बैठने वाले |
दादी खिड़की के पास बैठकर अख़बार पढ़ती हैं।
dādī khiṛkī ke pās baiṭhkar axbār paṛhtī haiṃ.
Grandmother sits by the window and reads the newspaper. (honorific)
बच्चे अभी फ़र्श पर गोल घेरा बनाकर बैठे हैं।
bacce abhī farś par gol gherā banākar baiṭhe haiṃ.
The children are sitting in a circle on the floor.
Hindi often uses perfective बैठा है for the resulting posture “is seated,” whereas progressive बैठ रहा है can mean “is sitting down” or, contextually, “is in the process of sitting.” English uses one progressive form for both posture and transition more freely.
Place and company frames
The seat or contacted surface normally takes पर: कुर्सी पर बैठना, ज़मीन पर बैठना. An enclosed place takes में, proximity takes के पास, and company takes के साथ. A person does not become the direct object of simple बैठना.
आप मेरे साथ आगे वाली पंक्ति में बैठिए।
āp mere sāth āge vālī paṅkti meṃ baiṭhie.
Please sit with me in the front row.
राहुल बस में मेरे पीछे बैठा था।
rāhul bas meṃ mere pīche baiṭhā thā.
Rahul was sitting behind me on the bus.
Agreement and perfective syntax
बैठना is intransitive. Its sole unmarked subject controls agreement, and its perfective takes no ने.
दोनों छात्राएँ सबसे आगे बैठीं।
donoṃ chātrāẽ sabse āge baiṭhīṃ.
Both female students sat right at the front.
The feminine plural ending in बैठीं belongs to छात्राएँ. Adding ने would incorrectly impose the alignment of a transitive perfective. In the present perfect, add the agreeing copula: छात्राएँ बैठी हैं “the students are/have sat down.”
Future and subjunctive
| Person | Subjunctive | Future masculine | Future feminine |
|---|---|---|---|
| मैं | बैठूँ | बैठूँगा | बैठूँगी |
| तुम | बैठो | बैठोगे | बैठोगी |
| यह / वह | बैठे | बैठेगा | बैठेगी |
| हम / आप / ये / वे | बैठें | बैठेंगे | बैठेंगी |
अगर यहाँ जगह न मिले, तो हम बाहर बैठेंगे।
agar yahā̃ jagah na mile, to ham bāhar baiṭheṅge.
If we don't find space here, we'll sit outside.
क्या मैं थोड़ी देर आपके पास बैठूँ?
kyā maĩ thoṛī der āpke pās baiṭhū̃?
May I sit with you for a while?
Imperatives and participles
The imperatives are intimate बैठ, familiar बैठो, and respectful बैठिए. In service encounters, बैठिए is a courteous invitation; बैठो can sound too familiar to an unknown adult.
आइए, आराम से बैठिए; डॉक्टर अभी आएँगे।
āie, ārām se baiṭhie; ḍokṭar abhī āẽge.
Please come in and have a seat; the doctor will be here shortly.
Useful participial patterns include बैठा हुआ आदमी “a seated man,” बैठे-बैठे “while sitting/without getting up,” and बैठकर before a subsequent activity.
बैठे-बैठे मेरी पीठ अकड़ गई।
baiṭhe-baiṭhe merī pīṭh akaṛ gaī.
My back became stiff from sitting for so long.
बिठाना, बैठाना, and indirect causation
The common direct causative बिठाना means “seat, make/ask to sit.” बैठाना is also an established Standard Hindi alternative, especially in transparent “make sit/install” uses; it is not an error. Indirect बिठवाना or बैठवाना means arrange for someone to be seated or have something installed in position.
मेज़बान ने बुज़ुर्ग मेहमान को अपने पास बिठाया।
mezbān ne buzurg mehmān ko apne pās biṭhāyā.
The host seated the elderly guest beside him.
This perfective causative is transitive: the host takes ने, the human causee takes को, and बिठाया remains default masculine singular because को blocks object agreement. The family illustrates why causative forms must be learned lexically, as explained under intransitive–transitive–causative sets.
Vector बैठना: an action one ends up doing
After a bare verb stem, बैठना can profile an action as rash, unintended, mistaken, or regrettably final. The first verb supplies the action; बैठना supplies aspect and agreement. This vector is productive only with pragmatically suitable events, not with every verb.
ग़ुस्से में वह सबके सामने राज़ बता बैठी।
ġusse meṃ vah sabke sāmne rāz batā baiṭhī.
In anger, she ended up revealing the secret in front of everyone.
मैं जल्दबाज़ी में ग़लत टिकट खरीद बैठा।
maĩ jaldbāzī meṃ ġalat ṭikaṭ kharīd baiṭhā.
In my haste, I ended up buying the wrong ticket. (male speaker)
These clauses remain controlled by the actor and usually carry the speaker's negative evaluation. बैठना is not an auxiliary in its ordinary posture use; it becomes a vector only in this stem-plus-vector construction.
An idiomatic extension is बात मन में बैठना, where an idea “settles” in the mind and becomes firmly understood or remembered.
Common Mistakes
❌ रीना कुर्सी में बैठी।
Incorrect for sitting on a chair — the contacted seat normally takes पर.
✅ रीना कुर्सी पर बैठी।
rīnā kursī par baiṭhī.
Reena sat on the chair.
❌ लड़कियों ने सामने बैठीं।
Incorrect — intransitive बैठना does not take perfective ने.
✅ लड़कियाँ सामने बैठीं।
laṛkiyā̃ sāmne baiṭhīṃ.
The girls sat at the front.
❌ शिक्षक ने बच्चों को बैठा।
Incorrect — simple बैठना cannot take बच्चों को as its object; use a transitive causative.
✅ शिक्षक ने बच्चों को बिठाया।
śikṣak ne baccoṃ ko biṭhāyā.
The teacher seated the children.
❌ कृपया आप यहाँ बैठो।
Incorrect — honorific आप requires respectful बैठिए, not familiar बैठो.
✅ कृपया आप यहाँ बैठिए।
kripyā āp yahā̃ baiṭhie.
Please sit here. (respectful)
Key Takeaways
बैठना is an intransitive posture and change-of-posture verb with subject agreement and no perfective ने. Locations require their natural postpositions, बिठाना is its irregular transitive causative, and stem + बैठना creates a distinct vector construction for actions someone rashly or inadvertently ends up doing.
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