लाना is the compact verb “bring.” Historically and structurally it is closely related to ले आना “take and come,” which explains both its speakerward direction and an important syntactic exception: despite having a carried theme, its ordinary perfective normally has no ने and agrees with the carrier, not the object.
Stem and principal forms
The stem is ला-. Its perfective inserts य in masculine singular लाया, while feminine लाई and plural लाए/लाईं preserve the familiar आना-family pattern.
| Category | Forms |
|---|---|
| infinitive | लाना |
| habitual | लाता / लाती / लाते |
| progressive | ला रहा / ला रही / ला रहे |
| perfective | लाया / लाई / लाए / लाईं |
| conjunctive | लाकर |
| simultaneous participle | लाते हुए |
| prospective | लाने वाला / लाने वाली / लाने वाले |
अमित हर सोमवार दफ़्तर में फल लाता है।
amit har somvār daftar meṃ phal lātā hai.
Amit brings fruit to the office every Monday.
नेहा मेहमानों के लिए चाय ला रही है।
nehā mehmānoṃ ke lie cāy lā rahī hai.
Neha is bringing tea for the guests.
The theme may be an object, person, news, change, or result. Nonperfective agreement follows the carrier/causer.
Historical contraction and ले आना
Modern learners can treat लाना as its own lexeme, but the transparent longer sequence ले आना reveals its take-plus-come structure. Both usually translate “bring”; ले आना can make the path or deliberate carrying more explicit, while लाना is extremely common and neutral.
बाज़ार से धनिया लाना, और हो सके तो नींबू भी ले आना।
bāzār se dhaniyā lānā, aur ho sake to nīmbū bhī le ānā.
Bring coriander from the market, and if possible bring some lemons too. (familiar reminder)
The longer predicate is treated in ले आना “to bring”. The difference is often one of packaging rather than truth conditions.
Deictic direction and argument frames
लाना moves a theme toward the speaker, listener, or discourse center. ले जाना moves it away. The source takes से, a human theme generally takes को, and the endpoint can be bare or marked by a spatial postposition.
क्या आप बच्चों को स्कूल से घर ला सकते हैं?
kyā āp baccoṃ ko skūl se ghar lā sakte haiṃ?
Can you bring the children home from school?
वह लखनऊ से हमारे लिए खास मिठाई लाई।
vah lakhnaū se hamāre lie khās miṭhāī lāī.
She brought a special sweet for us from Lucknow.
The center can be projected. On the phone, a host can ask कल दस्तावेज़ मेरे दफ़्तर लाइए, treating the office as the destination-center even though neither person is there at the moment.
Exceptional perfective behavior
Canonical transitive verbs use ने in the perfective, but ordinary लाना preserves motion-verb behavior inherited from ले आना: the carrier is unmarked and controls agreement.
रोहन मेरे लिए ये फूल लाया।
rohan mere lie ye phūl lāyā.
Rohan brought these flowers for me.
मेरी दोनों बहनें घर का बना अचार लाईं।
merī donoṃ bahneṃ ghar kā banā acār lāīṃ.
Both my sisters brought homemade pickles.
The masculine carrier selects लाया even with plural फूल; feminine plural बहनें selects लाईं even with masculine अचार. Do not force ordinary object agreement onto this lexical exception.
Future and subjunctive
| Person | Subjunctive | Future masculine | Future feminine |
|---|---|---|---|
| मैं | लाऊँ | लाऊँगा | लाऊँगी |
| तुम | लाओ | लाओगे | लाओगी |
| यह / वह | लाए | लाएगा | लाएगी |
| हम / आप / ये / वे | लाएँ | लाएँगे | लाएँगी |
मैं अगली बैठक में मूल नक्शे लाऊँगा।
maĩ aglī baiṭhak meṃ mūl nakśe lāū̃gā.
I'll bring the original maps to the next meeting. (male speaker)
ज़रूरी है कि हर प्रतिभागी पहचान-पत्र लाए।
zarūrī hai ki har pratibhāgī pahcān-patr lāe.
It is essential that every participant bring identification.
Imperatives and participles
The imperatives are intimate ला, familiar लाओ, and respectful लाइए. Non-finite forms include लाकर, लाते हुए, लाया हुआ, and लाने वाला.
कृपया दो साफ़ गिलास लाइए।
kripyā do sāf gilās lāie.
Please bring two clean glasses.
वह गाँव से लाई हुई तस्वीरें दिखा रही थी।
vah gā̃v se lāī huī tasvīreṃ dikhā rahī thī.
She was showing the photographs brought from the village.
In the participial phrase, both लाई and हुई show feminine agreement with तस्वीरें. Attributive feminine participles do not visibly distinguish singular from plural; the लाई/लाईं contrast appears in finite perfective forms.
Serial-like combinations, causation, and idiom
लाना can follow another bare or conjunctive-like lexical element to combine acquiring with speakerward motion: खरीद लाना buy and bring, ढूँढ़ लाना find and bring, उठा लाना pick up and bring. लाना carries the finite inflection.
वह पुरानी फ़ाइल गोदाम से ढूँढ़ लाया।
vah purānī fāil godām se ḍhū̃ṛh lāyā.
He found the old file in the storeroom and brought it back.
There is no broadly productive everyday causative made by simply adding -वा- to लाना. For goods, मँगवाना means have brought/order; for a person, बुलाना means call/invite; an analytic phrase किसी से लाने को कहना explicitly names the intermediary.
Idiomatic रंग लाना means produce the desired effect or bear fruit.
आख़िर कई महीनों की मेहनत रंग लाई।
āxir kaī mahīnoṃ kī mehnat raṅg lāī.
At last, months of hard work paid off.
Here feminine मेहनत controls लाई, and no physical carrying is involved.
Common Mistakes
❌ रोहन ने फूल लाया।
Incorrect in the ordinary standard perfective — लाना normally has no ने and agrees with the carrier.
✅ रोहन फूल लाया।
rohan phūl lāyā.
Rohan brought flowers.
❌ सीमा किताब लाया।
Incorrect — the feminine carrier requires लाई.
✅ सीमा किताब लाई।
sīmā kitāb lāī.
Seema brought a book.
❌ इसे यहाँ से वहाँ लाओ।
Incorrect — motion from here to there is away from the deictic center, so use ले जाना.
✅ इसे यहाँ से वहाँ ले जाओ।
ise yahā̃ se vahā̃ le jāo.
Take it from here to there. (familiar)
❌ आप फ़ाइल लाओ।
Incorrect — आप requires the respectful imperative लाइए, not familiar लाओ.
✅ आप फ़ाइल लाइए।
āp fāil lāie.
Please bring the file.
Key Takeaways
लाना is a compact speakerward “bring” verb historically related to ले आना. Source, animate theme, destination, and beneficiary take their natural markings. Its high-value exception is the perfective: normally no ने, with agreement controlled by the carrier. Serial combinations add acquisition plus return, and idiomatic रंग लाना means bear fruit.
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- ले आना le ānā: to bringA2 — Reference ले आना as a speakerward directional compound, with आना-based inflection, argument patterns, and the contrast with ले जाना.
- ले जाना le jānā: to take awayA2 — Reference ले जाना as a directional compound for carrying someone or something away, with जाना-based inflection and deictic contrasts.
- आना ānā: to comeA1 — Reference आना across its irregular perfective, future and imperative forms, source and destination frames, and directional compounds.
- भेजना bhejnā: to sendB1 — Reference भेजना with theme, recipient, and goal marking, transitive perfective agreement, भिजवाना, and directional compounds.
- Intransitive perfective agreementA2 — Make ordinary intransitive perfectives agree with their unmarked subject while recognizing agentive exceptions and experiencer structures.
- Serial-like motion sequencesC1 — Distinguish compact Hindi motion predicates from transport compounds, purpose infinitives, and linked -कर event chains.