ले आना combines fixed ले from लेना “take” with inflected आना “come.” It means to bring, carry, or lead someone or something toward the speaker, listener, or another place treated as the current deictic center. Hindi therefore makes the direction inside English “bring” grammatically visible.
Structure and principal forms
In this compound, ले does not change. The second verb आना carries tense, aspect, person, gender, number, and politeness. Since the final verb is आना, its irregular forms remain visible throughout the paradigm.
| Category | Form |
|---|---|
| infinitive | ले आना |
| habitual | ले आता / ले आती / ले आते |
| progressive | ले आ रहा / ले आ रही / ले आ रहे |
| perfective | ले आया / ले आई / ले आए / ले आईं |
| conjunctive | ले आकर |
| simultaneous participle | ले आते हुए |
| prospective | ले आने वाला / ले आने वाली / ले आने वाले |
रवि रोज़ घर लौटते समय सब्ज़ियाँ ले आता है।
ravi roz ghar lauṭte samay sabziyā̃ le ātā hai.
Ravi brings vegetables home on his way back every day.
कविता मेहमानों के लिए अतिरिक्त कुर्सियाँ ले आ रही है।
kavitā mehmānoṃ ke lie atirikt kursiyā̃ le ā rahī hai.
Kavita is bringing extra chairs for the guests.
Direction toward a deictic center
The destination need not be the speaker's permanent location. It can be the listener's location, a meeting point, or the place whose perspective organizes a story. ले जाना directs the theme away from that center; ले आना directs it toward the center.
ऑफ़िस आते समय मूल प्रमाणपत्र ले आना।
ofis āte samay mūl pramāṇpatr le ānā.
Bring the original certificate when you come to the office. (familiar reminder)
ये फ़ाइलें सम्मेलन में ले जाओ और शाम को वापस ले आओ।
ye fāileṃ sammelan meṃ le jāo aur śām ko vāpas le āo.
Take these files to the conference and bring them back in the evening. (familiar)
The full outward contrast appears under ले जाना “to take away”. English sometimes allows bring from the destination's anticipated viewpoint; Hindi does too when that destination is active in the conversation.
Carrier, theme, source, and destination
The subject is the moving carrier. The theme is usually unmarked when inanimate; a definite person commonly takes को. A source takes से, while the endpoint can be bare or occur with में, पर, तक, के पास.
क्या तुम बच्चों को स्कूल से यहाँ ले आ सकते हो?
kyā tum baccoṃ ko skūl se yahā̃ le ā sakte ho?
Can you bring the children here from school? (familiar)
वह जयपुर से मेरे लिए नीली चादर ले आई।
vah jaypur se mere lie nīlī cādar le āī.
She brought me a blue bedspread from Jaipur.
English bring someone something has two bare objects. Hindi normally marks the recipient with के लिए or को, depending on meaning, and marks a specific human being carried or accompanied with को. This lexical frame is part of knowing the verb.
Perfective alignment
Although the predicate has a theme, final आना determines the usual perfective syntax: the carrier remains unmarked, receives no ने, and controls agreement. Compare नीरा किताब ले आई with simple transitive नीरा ने किताब ली. In the compound, feminine नीरा selects आई; feminine किताब does not.
आदिल दोनों पैकेट समय पर ले आया।
ādil donoṃ paikeṭ samay par le āyā.
Adil brought both packages on time.
मेरी बहनें रास्ते से मिठाई ले आईं।
merī bahneṃ rāste se miṭhāī le āīṃ.
My sisters brought sweets on the way.
Honorific singular subjects take plural agreement: डॉक्टर साहब दवा ले आए. This is subject agreement, not agreement with the object.
Future and subjunctive
| Person | Subjunctive | Future masculine | Future feminine |
|---|---|---|---|
| मैं | ले आऊँ | ले आऊँगा | ले आऊँगी |
| तुम | ले आओ | ले आओगे | ले आओगी |
| यह / वह | ले आए | ले आएगा | ले आएगी |
| हम / आप / ये / वे | ले आएँ | ले आएँगे | ले आएँगी |
मैं कल लैपटॉप ले आऊँगी ताकि हम साथ काम कर सकें।
maĩ kal laipṭop le āū̃gī tāki ham sāth kām kar sakeṃ.
I'll bring the laptop tomorrow so that we can work together. (female speaker)
बेहतर होगा कि आप रसीद भी ले आएँ।
behtar hogā ki āp rasīd bhī le āẽ.
It would be better if you brought the receipt too.
Imperatives and non-finite forms
The imperatives are intimate ले आ, familiar ले आओ, and respectful ले आइए. Infinitive ले आना is common as a familiar instruction or reminder. Non-finite forms include ले आने, ले आते हुए, ले आकर, and ले आया हुआ.
कृपया अगले काउंटर से दो फ़ॉर्म ले आइए।
kripyā agle kāuṇṭar se do form le āie.
Please bring two forms from the next counter.
वह किताब घर से ले आकर सीधे पुस्तकालय गया।
vah kitāb ghar se le ākar sīdhe pustakālay gayā.
He brought the book from home and went straight to the library.
लाना, causation, and extensions
लाना is the compact lexical equivalent of ले आना in most contexts: किताब लाओ and किताब ले आओ both mean “bring the book.” The expanded form makes the take-plus-come path especially transparent. Neither should be confused with a causative made mechanically from आना.
There is no ordinary productive causative ले आवाना. To arrange for goods to be brought or ordered, use मँगवाना; to cause a person to come, use बुलाना; to let someone bring something, use ले आने देना.
The motion can be abstract. सामने ले आना means bring into view or public attention, and चर्चा को मुद्दे पर ले आना means bring a discussion back to the issue.
नई रिपोर्ट ने कई पुरानी समस्याएँ सामने ला दीं।
naī riporṭ ne kaī purānī samasyāẽ sāmne lā dīṃ.
The new report brought several old problems to light.
This example uses compact लाना with completive देना; it illustrates the same speakerward metaphor without claiming that ले आना itself is an auxiliary or general-purpose vector.
Common Mistakes
❌ मीरा ने दवाइयाँ ले आई।
Incorrect — perfective ले आना normally takes no ने and agrees with the carrier.
✅ मीरा दवाइयाँ ले आई।
mīrā davāiyā̃ le āī.
Meera brought the medicines.
❌ मैं कल काग़ज़ ले आया हूँगा।
Incorrect — future marking belongs directly on आना.
✅ मैं कल काग़ज़ ले आऊँगा।
maĩ kal kāġaz le āū̃gā.
I'll bring the papers tomorrow. (male speaker)
❌ कृपया आप इसे यहाँ ले आओ।
Incorrect — honorific आप requires the respectful imperative ले आइए, not familiar ले आओ.
✅ कृपया आप इसे यहाँ ले आइए।
kripyā āp ise yahā̃ le āie.
Please bring this here. (respectful)
❌ वह बच्चों से स्कूल ले आई।
Incorrect — the children being brought take को; the source school takes से.
✅ वह बच्चों को स्कूल से ले आई।
vah baccoṃ ko skūl se le āī.
She brought the children from school.
Key Takeaways
ले आना presents a carrier moving a theme toward the active deictic center. ले stays fixed; आना supplies forms such as आता, आ रहा, आया, आऊँगा, आएँ, आइए. Its perfective normally has no ने and agrees with the carrier, while source, destination, recipient, and animate theme take their natural Hindi markings.
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- 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.
- लेना lenā: to takeA1 — Reference लेना as a transitive verb and actor-oriented vector, including irregular लिया, future लूँगा, and respectful लीजिए.
- Intransitive perfective agreementA2 — Make ordinary intransitive perfectives agree with their unmarked subject while recognizing agentive exceptions and experiencer structures.
- आना as emergence and speakerward directionB1 — Use vector आना to profile movement toward a deictic center, return after an action, or the emergence of a visible result.
- Serial-like motion sequencesC1 — Distinguish compact Hindi motion predicates from transport compounds, purpose infinitives, and linked -कर event chains.