बनाना is the high-frequency transitive verb for making, building, preparing, creating, or causing someone or something to acquire a new role. It is directly related to intransitive बनना “become; be made”: बनना presents the result as arising, while बनाना adds a causer or maker.
Stem and principal forms
The stem is बना-, and the infinitive is बनाना. Its long आ distinguishes it from the perfective बना of बनना in context, even though the written sequence can look deceptively similar.
| Category | Forms |
|---|---|
| infinitive | बनाना |
| habitual participle | बनाता / बनाती / बनाते |
| progressive | बना रहा / बना रही / बना रहे |
| perfective | बनाया / बनाई / बनाए / बनाईं |
| conjunctive | बनाकर |
| prospective | बनाने वाला / बनाने वाली / बनाने वाले |
नानी सर्दियों में गाजर का हलवा बनाती हैं।
nānī sardiyoṃ meṃ gājar kā halvā banātī haiṃ.
Grandmother makes carrot halwa in winter. (honorific)
मैं अभी बच्चों के लिए नाश्ता बना रहा हूँ।
maĩ abhī baccoṃ ke lie nāśtā banā rahā hū̃.
I'm making breakfast for the children right now. (male speaker)
In everyday usage, बनाना covers cooking, manufacturing, constructing, drawing up a document, forming a group, and creating an abstract product. English chooses a more specific verb more often than Hindi does.
The बनना–बनाना alternation
Compare घर बना “the house came into being/was built” with मज़दूरों ने घर बनाया “the workers built the house.” The first is intransitive; the house controls agreement. The second is transitive; in the perfective, the maker takes ने, and an unmarked object controls agreement.
कई साल बाद गाँव में पक्की सड़क बनी।
kaī sāl bād gā̃v meṃ pakkī saṛak banī.
After many years, a paved road was built in the village.
स्थानीय मज़दूरों ने पक्की सड़क बनाई।
sthānīya mazdūroṃ ne pakkī saṛak banāī.
Local workers built the paved road.
This alternation resembles English “the door opened” versus “she opened the door,” but Hindi expresses it with two visibly related verbs. See बनना as becoming and formation for the intransitive side.
Habitual and progressive paradigms
In non-perfective forms, the subject controls gender and number agreement. The object does not affect बनाता/बनाती or रहा/रही.
| Subject | Habitual present | Progressive present |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | बनाता है | बना रहा है |
| feminine singular | बनाती है | बना रही है |
| masculine/mixed plural | बनाते हैं | बना रहे हैं |
| feminine plural | बनाती हैं | बना रही हैं |
यह कंपनी गाँवों के लिए सस्ते फ़िल्टर बनाती है।
yah kampanī gā̃voṃ ke lie saste filṭar banātī hai.
This company makes inexpensive filters for villages.
Perfective alignment and object agreement
With a completed transitive event, the agent normally takes ने. If the direct object is unmarked, the perfective participle agrees with it: रोटी बनाई, खिलौने बनाए, कुर्सियाँ बनाईं. If the object is marked by को, agreement is blocked and the verb appears in default masculine singular बनाया.
सना ने मेहमानों के लिए चार रोटियाँ बनाईं।
sanā ne mehmānoṃ ke lie cār roṭiyā̃ banāīṃ.
Sana made four flatbreads for the guests.
निर्देशक ने आरव को टीम का कप्तान बनाया।
nirdeśak ne ārav ko ṭīm kā kaptān banāyā.
The director made Aarav the team captain.
In the second pattern, आरव को is the affected person and टीम का कप्तान is the result complement. Since the object is को-marked, बनाया stays default masculine singular; it does not agree with कप्तान. This construction covers appointing, labeling, and causing a person or thing to enter a new state.
हमने खाली कमरे को छोटा-सा दफ़्तर बनाया।
hamne khālī kamre ko choṭā-sā daftar banāyā.
We turned the empty room into a small office.
Future, subjunctive, and imperative
| Person | Subjunctive | Future masculine | Future feminine |
|---|---|---|---|
| मैं | बनाऊँ | बनाऊँगा | बनाऊँगी |
| तुम | बनाओ | बनाओगे | बनाओगी |
| यह / वह | बनाए | बनाएगा | बनाएगी |
| हम / आप / ये / वे | बनाएँ | बनाएँगे | बनाएँगी |
Imperatives are intimate बना, familiar बनाओ, and respectful बनाइए. The colloquial respectful spelling and pronunciation बनाइये also occurs, but this guide uses standard बनाइए.
अगर समय मिले, तो सूची आज ही बना देना।
agar samay mile, to sūcī āj hī banā denā.
If you get time, please make the list today. (familiar)
Participles and non-finite forms
Useful forms include बनाते हुए “while making,” बनाया हुआ “made/prepared,” बनाकर “having made,” and oblique infinitive बनाने before postpositions or another verb. The resultative participle agrees with the noun it modifies.
फ़्रिज में कल बनाई हुई दाल रखी है।
frij meṃ kal banāī huī dāl rakhī hai.
The lentils cooked yesterday are in the refrigerator.
Here feminine दाल controls बनाई हुई. The phrase refers to the resulting prepared food, not to an ongoing act of cooking.
बनवाना: arranging for another maker
The indirect causative बनवाना means “have/get something made.” The subject arranges the event but need not perform the work. The actual maker can be marked with से.
हमने बढ़ई से खिड़की के लिए नई चौखट बनवाई।
hamne baṛhaī se khiṛkī ke lie naī caukhaṭ banvāī.
We had the carpenter make a new frame for the window.
English “have something made” is therefore not translated by a passive. It is an active causative: the arranger takes ने in the perfective, and unmarked चौखट controls feminine बनवाई. The broader derivation appears under indirect causatives in -वाना.
Compound verbs and collocations
बना देना profiles decisive completion or a result delivered for someone; बना लेना often adds a beneficiary-oriented “make for oneself” or successfully complete nuance; बना रखना means maintain something in a made or established state. The vector carries the finite inflection.
मैंने रास्ते के लिए सैंडविच बना लिए हैं।
maĩne rāste ke lie saiṇḍvic banā lie haiṃ.
I've made some sandwiches for the journey.
Frequent collocations include योजना बनाना make a plan, बहाना बनाना make an excuse, सूची बनाना make a list, रिश्ता बनाना build a relationship, and जगह बनाना make room or establish a place.
Common Mistakes
❌ खाना अभी बना रहा है।
Incorrect for ‘the food is being prepared’ — बना रहा makes food sound like the maker.
✅ खाना अभी बन रहा है।
khānā abhī ban rahā hai.
The food is being prepared right now.
❌ लीना ने दो तस्वीरें बनाया।
Incorrect — the unmarked feminine plural object requires बनाईं.
✅ लीना ने दो तस्वीरें बनाईं।
līnā ne do tasvīreṃ banāīṃ.
Leena made two pictures.
❌ उन्होंने रीमा को अध्यक्ष बनाई।
Incorrect — को blocks object agreement, so बनाया is default masculine singular.
✅ उन्होंने रीमा को अध्यक्ष बनाया।
unhoṃne rīmā ko adhyakṣ banāyā.
They made Reema the chairperson.
❌ हमने मिस्त्री को अलमारी बनाई।
Incorrect for ‘had the carpenter make’ — arranging through another maker requires बनवाना.
✅ हमने मिस्त्री से अलमारी बनवाई।
hamne mistrī se almārī banvāī.
We had the carpenter make a cupboard.
Key Takeaways
बनाना introduces a maker and an affected object. Non-perfective forms agree with the subject; perfective transitive forms use ने and agree with an unmarked object, while को triggers default बनाया. Its result complements express appointment or transformation, बनवाना delegates the making, and vector verbs refine completion, benefit, or maintenance.
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- बनना bannā: to become and be madeA2 — Reference बनना as an intransitive verb of becoming, formation, successful outcome, and achieved transition with बन जाना.
- Direct causatives in -ā-B2 — Form and use Hindi -ā- causatives for direct, closely controlled causation while tracking lexical stem changes and ordinary agreement.
- Indirect causatives in -vā-B2 — Use Hindi -vā- causatives to present an arranged, mediated, or delegated event, with the causative stem carrying ordinary TAM and agreement.
- Causative argument markingC1 — Assign ने, को, and से to the causer, affected participant, intermediary, and patient in Hindi causative clauses.
- Causatives with ने and कोC1 — Track the causer, caused participant, theme, and agreement controller in Hindi causatives using ने, को, and से.
- Perfective object agreementA2 — Make a transitive perfective agree with an eligible unmarked direct object after ने, including gender-number and auxiliary-bearing forms.