जागना is the intransitive verb for becoming awake, being awake, or staying awake. English divides these readings among “wake up,” “be awake,” and “stay up,” while Hindi lets aspect and time expressions identify the intended phase. Its transitive causative जगाना means wake someone else.
Stem and principal forms
The stem is जाग-. It keeps its long आ throughout the paradigm.
| Category | Forms |
|---|---|
| infinitive | जागना |
| habitual | जागता / जागती / जागते |
| progressive | जाग रहा / जाग रही / जाग रहे |
| perfective | जागा / जागी / जागे / जागीं |
| conjunctive | जागकर |
| simultaneous participle | जागते हुए |
| prospective | जागने वाला / जागने वाली / जागने वाले |
मैं अक्सर अलार्म बजने से पहले जाग जाता हूँ।
maĩ aksar alārm bajne se pahle jāg jātā hū̃.
I often wake up before the alarm goes off. (male speaker)
परीक्षा से पहले वह आधी रात तक जागती थी।
parīkṣā se pahle vah ādhī rāt tak jāgtī thī.
Before an exam, she used to stay awake until midnight.
Time phrases do important lexical work. पाँच बजे जागना usually means wake at five; पाँच बजे तक जागना means remain awake until five; रात भर जागना means stay awake all night.
Becoming awake versus remaining awake
Perfective जागा naturally presents the transition into wakefulness, while habitual and progressive forms can describe an awake state or the effort to remain awake.
शोर सुनकर बच्चा अचानक जागा।
śor sunkar baccā acānak jāgā.
The child suddenly woke when he heard the noise.
क्या तुम अभी भी जाग रहे हो?
kyā tum abhī bhī jāg rahe ho?
Are you still awake? (familiar)
Progressive जाग रहा है is idiomatic for an ongoing awake state even though English normally says “is awake,” not “is waking.” This is a lexical property of जागना, not a general license to put every Hindi state verb in the progressive.
Agreement and perfective syntax
जागना is intransitive. Its sole unmarked subject controls agreement, and perfective forms take no ने.
दोनों बहनें सुबह जल्दी जागीं।
donoṃ bahneṃ subah jaldī jāgīṃ.
Both sisters woke early in the morning.
The feminine plural subject selects जागीं. The construction remains intransitive even when a cause is expressed with से or a conjunctive phrase: आवाज़ से जागना, घंटी सुनकर जागना.
Future and subjunctive
| Person | Subjunctive | Future masculine | Future feminine |
|---|---|---|---|
| मैं | जागूँ | जागूँगा | जागूँगी |
| तुम | जागो | जागोगे | जागोगी |
| यह / वह | जागे | जागेगा | जागेगी |
| हम / आप / ये / वे | जागें | जागेंगे | जागेंगी |
आज मैं देर तक जागूँगी क्योंकि काम पूरा करना है।
āj maĩ der tak jāgū̃gī kyoṅki kām pūrā karnā hai.
I'll stay up late today because I have to finish some work. (female speaker)
ज़रूरी है कि पहरेदार पूरी रात जागें।
zarūrī hai ki pahredār pūrī rāt jāgeṃ.
It is essential that the guards remain awake all night.
Imperatives and participles
The direct imperatives are intimate जाग, familiar जागो, and respectful जागिए. They can tell someone to wake up or remain alert. In ordinary bedtime contexts, negative मत जागो is less idiomatic than a positive instruction such as सो जाओ.
जागो, स्टेशन आने वाला है।
jāgo, sṭeśan āne vālā hai.
Wake up; our station is coming. (familiar)
Participial patterns include जागता हुआ बच्चा “a child who is awake,” जागे हुए लोग “people who are awake,” and जागते-जागते “while remaining awake/as wakefulness continues.”
रात भर जागे हुए यात्रियों को चाय चाहिए थी।
rāt bhar jāge hue yātriyoṃ ko cāy cāhie thī.
The travelers who had been awake all night wanted tea.
जाग जाना, जागते रहना, and lexical combinations
जाग जाना focuses on the completed transition into wakefulness, often sudden or externally triggered. जागते रहना means keep or remain awake. In these compounds, the second verb bears the finite inflection.
दरवाज़ा बंद होते ही वह जाग गई।
darvāzā band hote hī vah jāg gaī.
She woke up as soon as the door closed.
ड्राइवर से बात करते रहना ताकि वह जागता रहे।
ḍrāivar se bāt karte rahnā tāki vah jāgtā rahe.
Keep talking to the driver so that he stays awake. (familiar)
जागना is lexical in these combinations; it is not a general-purpose vector after arbitrary verb stems.
जगाना and जगवाना
Transitive जगाना adds someone who causes the sleeper to wake. The sleeper normally takes को. Indirect जगवाना means arrange for someone else to wake the sleeper.
कल मुझे साढ़े पाँच बजे जगा देना।
kal mujhe sāṛhe pā̃c baje jagā denā.
Wake me at five thirty tomorrow. (familiar request)
मैंने होटल के रिसेप्शन से छह बजे जगवाया।
maĩne hoṭal ke risepśan se chah baje jagvāyā.
I arranged for the hotel reception to wake me at six.
The second sentence leaves the understood sleeper “me” unexpressed. मैंने marks the arranger in a perfective causative, and से marks the intermediary. The contrast belongs to the broader intransitive–transitive–causative system.
Idiomatic extension
Abstract awareness can “wake”: ज़मीर जागना means one's conscience awakens, and जागरूकता जगाना means awaken awareness. The watchman's traditional call जागते रहो literally means “stay awake” and functions as a warning to remain alert.
उस घटना के बाद लोगों में अपने अधिकारों के प्रति जागरूकता जगी।
us ghaṭnā ke bād logoṃ meṃ apne adhikāroṃ ke prati jāgrūktā jagī.
After that incident, awareness of their rights grew among the people.
Common Mistakes
❌ मैंने शोर से जागा।
Incorrect — intransitive जागना takes no perfective ने.
✅ मैं शोर से जागा।
maĩ śor se jāgā.
I woke because of the noise. (male speaker)
❌ माँ बच्चे को जाग रही है।
Incorrect for waking someone — use transitive जगाना.
✅ माँ बच्चे को जगा रही है।
mā̃ bacce ko jagā rahī hai.
The mother is waking the child.
❌ लड़कियाँ देर तक जागे।
Incorrect — feminine plural लड़कियाँ requires जागीं in the perfective.
✅ लड़कियाँ देर तक जागीं।
laṛkiyā̃ der tak jāgīṃ.
The girls stayed awake late.
❌ मैं सात बजे जागाता हूँ।
Incorrect for waking oneself — जगाता means waking someone else.
✅ मैं सात बजे जागता हूँ।
maĩ sāt baje jāgtā hū̃.
I wake at seven. (male speaker)
Key Takeaways
जागना covers both entry into wakefulness and remaining awake. It is intransitive, agrees with the sleeper, and takes no perfective ने. Time expressions separate “wake” from “stay awake,” जाग जाना sharpens the transition, and जगाना/जगवाना add a direct or arranging causer.
Related Topics
- सोना sonā: to sleepA2 — Reference सोना across sleep states, irregular perfective forms, commands such as जा सो, endpoint सो जाना, and causative सुलाना.
- उठना uṭhnā: to riseA2 — Reference उठना for rising, getting up, arising, its causative family उठाना–उठवाना, and endpoint use with उठ जाना.
- Intransitive perfective agreementA2 — Make ordinary intransitive perfectives agree with their unmarked subject while recognizing agentive exceptions and experiencer structures.
- Intransitive-transitive-causative setsB2 — Learn Hindi verb families that contrast a spontaneous event, a caused transitive event, and an indirectly arranged causative event.
- Compound verbs: lexical stem plus vectorA2 — Build Hindi compound verbs from a bare lexical stem and an inflected vector that profiles completion, direction, affectedness, or attitude.
- Hunger thirst sleep and hurryA2 — Express hunger, thirst, sleepiness, and haste through the Hindi experiencer frames they naturally select.