रहना means “stay,” “remain,” or “live/reside.” It can be an independent intransitive verb, a copular verb expressing persistence, or a continuative auxiliary in predicates such as काम करता रहा “kept working.” Perfective रहा looks identical to masculine progressive रहा, but the surrounding structure distinguishes them.
Principal parts and location frames
| Category | Form | Illustration |
|---|---|---|
| stem | रह- | यहाँ रह- |
| infinitive | रहना | दिल्ली में रहना |
| habitual | रहता / रहती / रहते | वह रहती है |
| perfective | रहा / रही / रहे / रहीं | वह दो दिन रही |
| conjunctive | रहकर | वहाँ रहकर |
Residence and enclosed locations normally use में: दिल्ली में रहना, होटल में रहना. Other relations select their natural postpositions: माता-पिता के साथ रहना, दोस्त के पास रहना, घर पर रहना. English live also means “be alive,” for which Hindi often uses जीना; रहना specifically profiles continued location or state.
हम पिछले पाँच साल से भोपाल में रहते हैं।
ham pichle pā̃c sāl se bhopāl meṃ rahte haiṃ.
We have lived in Bhopal for the past five years.
मेरी मौसी अभी अपने बेटे के साथ रहती हैं।
merī mausī abhī apne beṭe ke sāth rahtī haiṃ.
My aunt currently lives with her son. (honorific)
Habitual and progressive
| Subject | Habitual present | Progressive present |
|---|---|---|
| मैं, masculine | रहता हूँ | रह रहा हूँ |
| मैं, feminine | रहती हूँ | रह रही हूँ |
| वह, masculine | रहता है | रह रहा है |
| वह, feminine | रहती है | रह रही है |
| हम / आप / वे, masculine or mixed | रहते हैं | रह रहे हैं |
| हम / वे, all feminine | रहती हैं | रह रही हैं |
घर की मरम्मत तक हम होटल में रह रहे हैं।
ghar kī marammat tak ham hoṭal meṃ rah rahe haiṃ.
We are staying in a hotel until the house repairs are finished.
Progressive रह रहा favors a temporary current stay. Habitual रहता है is neutral for residence or a recurring state.
Perfective and intransitive agreement
Independent रहना is intransitive, so its perfective has no ने and agrees with the staying subject.
अमन सम्मेलन के बाद भी जयपुर में रहा।
aman sammelan ke bād bhī jaypur meṃ rahā.
Aman stayed in Jaipur even after the conference.
मेरी बहनें पूरे सप्ताह घर पर रहीं।
merī bahneṃ pūre saptāh ghar par rahīṃ.
My sisters stayed at home all week.
दादाजी कई वर्षों तक गाँव में रहे।
dādājī kaī varṣoṃ tak gā̃v meṃ rahe.
Grandfather lived in the village for many years. (honorific)
Perfective masculine रहा can resemble the progressive marker, but अमन रहा contains one lexical perfective; अमन रह रहा था contains lexical stem रह- plus progressive रहा plus past auxiliary था.
Future, subjunctive, and imperative
| Person | Subjunctive | Future masculine | Future feminine |
|---|---|---|---|
| मैं | रहूँ | रहूँगा | रहूँगी |
| तुम | रहो | रहोगे | रहोगी |
| वह / यह | रहे | रहेगा | रहेगी |
| हम / आप / वे / ये | रहें | रहेंगे | रहेंगी |
मैं अगले महीने कुछ दिन बहन के पास रहूँगी।
maĩ agle mahīne kuch din bahan ke pās rahū̃gī.
I'll stay with my sister for a few days next month. (female speaker)
ज़रूरी है कि आप जाँच पूरी होने तक यहीं रहें।
zarūrī hai ki āp jā̃c pūrī hone tak yahīṃ raheṃ.
It is important that you remain here until the check is complete.
Imperatives are intimate रह, familiar रहो, and respectful रहिए. Common non-finite forms are रहता, रहा, रहते हुए, रहकर, रहने, रहने वाला.
शांत रहिए और मेरी बात ध्यान से सुनिए।
śānt rahie aur merī bāt dhyān se sunie.
Please remain calm and listen carefully.
Persistence and continuative auxiliary use
After an adjective or participial state, रहना adds persistence: दरवाज़ा खुला रहा “the door remained open.” After a habitual participle, it means “keep doing / continue doing”: काम करता रहा, बारिश होती रही.
बिजली जाने के बाद भी दुकान खुली रही।
bijlī jāne ke bād bhī dukān khulī rahī.
The shop remained open even after the power went out.
बारिश पूरी रात होती रही।
bāriś pūrī rāt hotī rahī.
It kept raining throughout the night.
The lexical event or state precedes रहना; रहना contributes continuation and bears the outer aspect/agreement. This is a layered predicate, not an English-style one-word continuous tense.
रह जाना and transitive counterparts
Compound रह जाना presents something as left behind, remaining unexpectedly, or failing to move into the expected next state.
जल्दी में मेरा फ़ोन टैक्सी में रह गया।
jaldī meṃ merā fon ṭaiksī meṃ rah gayā.
In the rush, my phone was left in the taxi.
हम देर से पहुँचे, इसलिए सिर्फ़ दो सीटें खाली रह गईं।
ham der se pahũce, islie sirf do sīṭeṃ khālī rah gaīṃ.
We arrived late, so only two seats were left vacant.
The common transitive counterpart रखना means put, keep, retain, or maintain in a state: दरवाज़ा खुला रखना “keep the door open.” It is not a fully automatic causative for every sense of रहना. For lodging someone, ठहराना may be more specific. See होना versus रहना for state versus persistence.
An idiomatic extension is हक्का-बक्का रह जाना “be left stunned.” Here रह जाना marks an unexpected resulting state rather than residence.
ख़बर सुनकर सब हक्के-बक्के रह गए।
xabar sunkar sab hakke-bakke rah gae.
Everyone was left stunned by the news.
Common Mistakes
❌ मैं दिल्ली रहता हूँ।
Incorrect in the neutral city-residence frame — use में.
✅ मैं दिल्ली में रहता हूँ।
maĩ dillī meṃ rahtā hū̃.
I live in Delhi. (male speaker)
❌ रीना दो दिन यहाँ रहा।
Incorrect — intransitive perfective रहना agrees with feminine रीना.
✅ रीना दो दिन यहाँ रही।
rīnā do din yahā̃ rahī.
Reena stayed here for two days.
❌ हम पाँच साल से यहाँ रहे हैं।
Incorrect for a still-current neutral residence — Hindi normally uses present habitual with से.
✅ हम पाँच साल से यहाँ रहते हैं।
ham pā̃c sāl se yahā̃ rahte haiṃ.
We have lived here for five years.
❌ दुकान रात भर खुली था।
Incorrect for ‘remained open’ — use agreeing रहना, not merely a mismatched copula.
✅ दुकान रात भर खुली रही।
dukān rāt bhar khulī rahī.
The shop remained open all night.
Key Takeaways
रहना is an intransitive verb of residence, staying, and persistence; its perfective has no ने and agrees with the subject. Use location postpositions appropriate to the relation, especially में for cities and enclosed residence. As an auxiliary, रहना adds continuation; in रह जाना, it presents an unexpected remainder or something left behind.
Related Topics
- बनना रहना लगना as copular verbsA1 — Distinguish बनना ‘become,’ रहना ‘remain,’ and लगना ‘seem/feel’ as copular predicates with different event structures and agreement patterns.
- होना versus रहनाA2 — Choose होना for existence, identity, or a state and रहना for residence, staying, or persistence through time.
- रखना rakhnā: to keep and putA2 — Reference रखना across placement, possession, maintained states, perfective agreement, causative रखवाना, and resultative vector uses.
- रखना as maintained result or advance actionB1 — Use रखना compounds for an earlier action whose result is deliberately maintained, available, or prepared for a later need.
- Habitual for routines and dispositionsA2 — Use Hindi habitual aspect for repeated routines, characteristic behavior, skills, and tendencies without claiming that an event is happening now.
- जीना jīnā: to liveB1 — Reference जीना for being alive and living a life, with irregular perfective जिया, manner complements, cognate objects, and idioms.