सीखना means learn or acquire a skill, language, fact, or way of doing something. It takes both noun objects—हिंदी सीखना—and infinitival skill complements—तैरना सीखना. Its transitive causative सिखाना changes the learner into a को-marked causee and introduces a teacher.
Stem and principal forms
The stem is सीख-, with long ई. Do not shorten it to the causative stem सिखा-.
| Category | Forms |
|---|---|
| infinitive | सीखना |
| habitual | सीखता / सीखती / सीखते |
| progressive | सीख रहा / सीख रही / सीख रहे |
| perfective | सीखा / सीखी / सीखे / सीखीं |
| conjunctive | सीखकर |
| simultaneous participle | सीखते हुए |
| prospective | सीखने वाला / सीखने वाली / सीखने वाले |
अनन्या इन दिनों मराठी सीख रही है।
ananyā in dinoṃ marāṭhī sīkh rahī hai.
Ananya is learning Marathi these days.
बच्चे खेलते-खेलते बहुत कुछ सीखते हैं।
bacce khelte-khelte bahut kuch sīkhte haiṃ.
Children learn a great deal through play.
The progressive is natural for an acquisition process under way. The habitual describes how or what someone characteristically learns, not a timeless possession of knowledge.
Noun and infinitive complements
A noun can name the language, skill, lesson, or information acquired. An infinitive names an activity learned as a skill and retains -ना: गाड़ी चलाना सीखना, खाना बनाना सीखना, तैरना सीखना.
मैंने कॉलेज में फ़्रेंच सीखी।
maĩne kolej meṃ freñc sīkhī.
I learned French in college.
वह अपने दादा से शतरंज खेलना सीख रहा है।
vah apne dādā se śatrañj khelnā sīkh rahā hai.
He is learning to play chess from his grandfather.
The source or teacher can take से. Unlike सकना, सीखना does not select a bare verb stem: तैरना सीखना is correct, not तैर सीखना. The full infinitive packages the activity as the thing learned.
Perfective transitivity and agreement
With an acquired object, सीखना patterns transitively. The perfective learner takes ने, and an eligible unmarked noun object controls agreement: भाषा सीखी, नियम सीखे, गाना सीखा. A default masculine singular infinitival skill commonly selects सीखा.
हमने इस कार्यशाला में दो नई तकनीकें सीखीं।
hamne is kāryaśālā meṃ do naī taknīkeṃ sīkhīṃ.
We learned two new techniques in this workshop.
राघव ने पिछले साल तैरना सीखा।
rāghav ne pichle sāl tairnā sīkhā.
Raghav learned to swim last year.
With a transitive skill infinitive, agreement inside the infinitive may reflect its understood object: रोटियाँ बनानी सीखीं. At A2, the safest productive pattern is to learn common combinations as chunks rather than calculate a long chain of agreement in real time.
Future and subjunctive
| Person | Subjunctive | Future masculine | Future feminine |
|---|---|---|---|
| मैं | सीखूँ | सीखूँगा | सीखूँगी |
| तुम | सीखो | सीखोगे | सीखोगी |
| यह / वह | सीखे | सीखेगा | सीखेगी |
| हम / आप / ये / वे | सीखें | सीखेंगे | सीखेंगी |
अगले महीने मैं साइकिल चलाना सीखूँगी।
agle mahīne maĩ sāikil calānā sīkhū̃gī.
Next month I'll learn to ride a bicycle. (female speaker)
मैं चाहता हूँ कि बच्चे सवाल पूछना सीखें।
maĩ cāhtā hū̃ ki bacce savāl pūchnā sīkheṃ.
I want the children to learn to ask questions. (male speaker)
Imperatives and participles
The imperatives are intimate सीख, familiar सीखो, and respectful सीखिए. Direct commands can sound like advice or encouragement when the object is a useful skill.
पहले ध्यान से सुनो, फिर अपने आप करना सीखो।
pahle dhyān se suno, phir apne āp karnā sīkho.
First listen carefully, then learn to do it yourself. (familiar)
Participles include सीखता हुआ, सीखा हुआ, सीखते हुए, and सीखकर. Hindi often prefers जो कौशल उसने सीखा over a dense attributive participle when the learner or circumstances need explicit mention.
सीख लेना and related combinations
सीख लेना presents acquisition as achieved, often despite effort or before a need arises. सीख remains bare and लेना carries finite inflection and perfective agreement.
कुछ हफ़्तों में उसने बुनियादी संकेत-भाषा सीख ली।
kuch haftoṃ meṃ usne buniyādī saṅket-bhāṣā sīkh lī.
In a few weeks, she learned basic sign language.
यह सॉफ़्टवेयर अभी सीख लो; अगले प्रोजेक्ट में काम आएगा।
yah sofṭveyar abhī sīkh lo; agle projekṭ meṃ kām āegā.
Learn this software now; it will be useful in the next project. (familiar)
Because सीखना itself already describes acquisition, लेना does not create the meaning “learn.” It adds bounded successful completion or a benefit-oriented nuance. सीखते रहना instead means continue learning.
सिखाना and idiomatic extensions
The direct causative सिखाना means cause someone to learn, hence teach. It introduces a teacher as subject and normally marks the learner with को. Indirect सिखवाना means arrange for teaching.
The complete teacher–learner–content frame is developed in सिखाना “to teach”.
मेरी माँ ने मुझे मुश्किल समय में धैर्य रखना सिखाया।
merī mā̃ ne mujhe muśkil samay meṃ dhairya rakhnā sikhāyā.
My mother taught me to remain patient in difficult times.
The idiom सबक सीखना means learn a lesson, often from a mistake or unpleasant experience. It need not refer to formal study.
उस ग़लती से हमने एक ज़रूरी सबक सीखा।
us ġaltī se hamne ek zarūrī sabak sīkhā.
We learned an important lesson from that mistake.
Common Mistakes
❌ मैं अभी गाड़ी चलाना सीख हूँ।
Incorrect — an ongoing acquisition requires सीख रहा हूँ or सीख रही हूँ, not finite होना directly after सीख.
✅ मैं अभी गाड़ी चलाना सीख रहा हूँ।
maĩ abhī gāṛī calānā sīkh rahā hū̃.
I'm learning to drive now. (male speaker)
❌ मैंने हिंदी सीखा।
Incorrect — unmarked feminine हिंदी controls सीखी.
✅ मैंने हिंदी सीखी।
maĩne hindī sīkhī.
I learned Hindi.
❌ वह तैर सीख रही है।
Incorrect — सीखना selects the full infinitive तैरना.
✅ वह तैरना सीख रही है।
vah tairnā sīkh rahī hai.
She is learning to swim.
❌ शिक्षक बच्चों से गणित सीखता है।
Incorrect for ‘teaches mathematics’ — सीखना means learn; use सिखाना or पढ़ाना.
✅ शिक्षक बच्चों को गणित सिखाता है।
śikṣak baccoṃ ko gaṇit sikhātā hai.
The teacher teaches mathematics to the children.
Key Takeaways
सीखना takes noun objects and full infinitival skill complements. In canonical perfectives, the learner takes ने and an eligible unmarked learned item controls agreement. सीख लेना adds successful bounded acquisition, while सिखाना introduces the teacher and marks the learner as causee.
Now practice Hindi
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- सिखाना sikhānā: to teachA2 — Reference सिखाना as the causative of सीखना, with teacher–learner–content argument marking, perfective agreement, and compound behavior.
- पढ़ना paṛhnā: to read and studyA2 — Reference पढ़ना across reading and studying, its aspirated retroflex flap, transitive perfective agreement, causatives, and पढ़ लेना.
- Transitive perfective with नेA2 — Mark the actor with ने in canonical transitive perfectives and choose verb agreement from the eligible object rather than the semantic doer.
- Perfective object agreementA2 — Make a transitive perfective agree with an eligible unmarked direct object after ने, including gender-number and auxiliary-bearing forms.
- Verb stem plus सकना पाना चुकनाC1 — Choose सकना for capacity, पाना for attained success, and चुकना for an action viewed as already completed.
- Intransitive-transitive-causative setsB2 — Learn Hindi verb families that contrast a spontaneous event, a caused transitive event, and an indirectly arranged causative event.