चाहिए expresses a needed thing, advisable action, or normatively appropriate course. In modern Hindi it behaves as an invariant predicate: it does not conjugate for the person who needs or ought to act. The experiencer or obligated person is marked by को, while agreement appears elsewhere in the construction.
Needing a thing: experiencer + को + noun + चाहिए
With a noun, चाहिए means “need,” “want,” or “would like.” The person is in the dative form: मुझे, तुम्हें, उसे, हमें, आपको, उन्हें. Present चाहिए stays unchanged whether the needed noun is singular or plural.
मुझे स्टेशन तक टैक्सी चाहिए।
mujhe sṭeśan tak ṭaiksī cāhie.
I need a taxi to the station.
हमें बैठक के लिए दो बड़े कमरे चाहिए।
hameṃ baiṭhak ke lie do baṛe kamre cāhie.
We need two large rooms for the meeting.
क्या आपको रसीद चाहिए?
kyā āpko rasīd cāhie?
Do you need a receipt?
Hindi therefore does not map English I need word for word. The person is grammatically the recipient or experiencer of a need: roughly “to me, a taxi is needed.” There is no present copula after चाहिए.
Advising an action: dative actor + infinitive + चाहिए
For “should” or “ought to,” the required action appears as an infinitive. An intransitive action normally uses default masculine singular -ना.
तुम्हें आज थोड़ा आराम करना चाहिए।
tumheṃ āj thoṛā ārām karnā cāhie.
You should rest a little today.
हमें निकलने से पहले मौसम देखना चाहिए।
hameṃ nikalne se pahle mausam dekhnā cāhie.
We should check the weather before leaving.
The construction does not encode one fixed degree of force. A doctor can use it for firm medical advice; a friend can use it as a mild suggestion; a regulation can use it for a norm. Vocabulary, authority, and context determine the force. For tactful advice strategies, see giving advice without sounding commanding.
आपको यह दवा खाने के बाद लेनी चाहिए।
āpko yah davā khāne ke bād lenī cāhie.
You should take this medicine after eating.
Here लेनी agrees with feminine दवा. In a transitive चाहिए construction, an unmarked object can control the infinitive's gender and number. If the object is marked with को, or if there is no accessible object, the infinitive remains default masculine singular.
| Agreement target | Infinitive phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| default masculine singular | समय पर पहुँचना चाहिए | should arrive on time |
| feminine singular | रिपोर्ट भेजनी चाहिए | should send the report |
| masculine plural | दो फ़ॉर्म भरने चाहिए | should fill in two forms |
| feminine plural | चिट्ठियाँ लिखनी चाहिए | should write the letters |
कंपनी को ये पुराने नियम बदलने चाहिए।
kampanī ko ye purāne niyam badalne cāhie.
The company should change these old rules.
The dative actor कंपनी को does not control agreement; masculine plural नियम does.
Negation and questions
Place नहीं before the infinitive phrase or immediately before चाहिए. Both positions are possible, but the usual neutral pattern is नहीं + infinitive + चाहिए or infinitive + नहीं चाहिए when rejecting the desirability of the action.
आपको खाली पेट इतनी कॉफ़ी नहीं पीनी चाहिए।
āpko khālī peṭ itnī kofī nahīṃ pīnī cāhie.
You shouldn't drink this much coffee on an empty stomach.
क्या मुझे अभी जवाब देना चाहिए?
kyā mujhe abhī javāb denā cāhie?
Should I answer now?
Negative चाहिए normally means that the action is inadvisable or improper, not merely that it is unnecessary. For “you don't have to,” Hindi often prefers ज़रूरत नहीं है or negative पड़ना, depending on context.
Past चाहिए: advice, unmet duty, and past need
Past forms add the past copula: चाहिए था, चाहिए थी, चाहिए थे, चाहिए थीं. The auxiliary agrees with the needed noun or with the agreeing infinitive phrase.
मुझे कल ही डॉक्टर से बात करनी चाहिए थी।
mujhe kal hī ḍokṭar se bāt karnī cāhie thī.
I should have spoken to the doctor yesterday.
यात्रा के लिए हमें तीन टिकट चाहिए थे।
yātrā ke lie hameṃ tīn ṭikaṭ cāhie the.
We needed three tickets for the trip.
In an action clause, करना चाहिए था often carries a counterfactual implication: the advisable action was not performed. That implication comes from discussing past advice after the relevant opportunity, not from चाहिए alone.
तुम्हें इतनी जल्दी हार नहीं माननी चाहिए थी।
tumheṃ itnī jaldī hār nahīṃ mānnī cāhie thī.
You shouldn't have given up so quickly.
चाहिए versus पड़ना and होना
चाहिए evaluates an action as sensible, proper, desired, or normatively necessary. पड़ना presents necessity as imposed by circumstances; infinitive + होना often presents an assigned, scheduled, or settled requirement.
तुम्हें नियमित जाँच करानी चाहिए, लेकिन आज ही अस्पताल जाना ज़रूरी नहीं है।
tumheṃ niyamit jā̃c karānī cāhie, lekin āj hī aspatāl jānā zarūrī nahīṃ hai.
You should get regular checkups, but it isn't necessary to go to the hospital today.
The first clause recommends a prudent course; it does not claim that an outside circumstance will force today's visit. The चाहिए–पड़ना–होना comparison gives a decision guide.
Common Mistakes
Using a nominative person
❌ मैं अब जाना चाहिए।
Incorrect — the person under the obligation takes को.
✅ मुझे अब जाना चाहिए।
mujhe ab jānā cāhie.
I should leave now.
Conjugating चाहिए for the experiencer
❌ हमें मदद चाहिए हैं।
Incorrect — present चाहिए is invariant and takes no copula here.
✅ हमें मदद चाहिए।
hameṃ madad cāhie.
We need help.
Leaving an agreeing infinitive in the default form
❌ आपको यह दवा रोज़ लेना चाहिए।
Incorrect in the intended unmarked-object construction — लेना should agree with feminine दवा.
✅ आपको यह दवा रोज़ लेनी चाहिए।
āpko yah davā roz lenī cāhie.
You should take this medicine every day.
Making the past auxiliary agree with the dative person
❌ लड़कियों को ये किताबें पढ़नी चाहिए थे।
Incorrect — the auxiliary agrees with the feminine plural infinitive phrase.
✅ लड़कियों को ये किताबें पढ़नी चाहिए थीं।
laṛkiyoṃ ko ye kitābeṃ paṛhnī cāhie thīṃ.
The girls should have read these books.
Key Takeaways
चाहिए itself is invariant. Mark the person with को and let an unmarked object control an agreeing infinitive where applicable; otherwise use default -ना. Present चाहिए takes no copula. Past चाहिए था/थी/थे/थीं makes agreement visible and often conveys “should have.” Use चाहिए for advice and normative necessity, not automatically for an external constraint or simple lack of necessity.
Related Topics
- पड़ना external necessityB1 — Use infinitive plus पड़ना when circumstances impose an action, with dative obligors and agreement controlled by the infinitive phrase.
- होना obligation constructionsB1 — Use an agreeing infinitive plus होना for assigned, scheduled, intended, or contextually required actions.
- चाहिए versus पड़ना versus होनाB1 — Choose चाहिए for advice or norms, infinitive plus होना for a settled agenda, and infinitive plus पड़ना for necessity imposed by circumstances.
- Giving advice without sounding commandingB1 — Offer Hindi advice with चाहिए, क्यों न, चाहें तो, conditionals, and perspective markers while matching authority, relationship, and urgency.
- Dative experiencer subjectsB1 — Analyze Hindi experiencer clauses with को-marked participants, local agreement, lexical case frames, and clear scope across clause boundaries.