Feminine perfective agreement uses -ई (-ī) in the singular and -ईं (-īṃ) in a standalone feminine plural simple perfective: लिखी/लिखीं, आई/आईं, गई/गईं. Before an auxiliary, contemporary Standard Hindi normally uses the nonnasalized feminine form and lets the auxiliary show number: आई है/आई हैं, आई थी/आई थीं. This alternation is easy to miss because habitual and progressive feminine forms do not use -ईं at all.
Core feminine forms
| Infinitive | Feminine singular simple | Feminine plural simple |
|---|---|---|
| लिखना | लिखी | लिखीं |
| बोलना | बोली | बोलीं |
| आना | आई | आईं |
| जाना | गई | गईं |
| करना | की | कीं |
| लेना | ली | लीं |
रीना सुबह जल्दी आई।
rīnā subah jaldī āī.
Rina came early in the morning.
दोनों बहनें सुबह जल्दी आईं।
donoṃ bahneṃ subah jaldī āīṃ.
Both sisters came early in the morning.
These intransitive perfectives agree with their unmarked subjects. The final nasalization in आईं is grammatical number; it is not optional decoration.
Before present and past auxiliaries
| Controller | Present perfect | Past perfect |
|---|---|---|
| feminine singular | आई है | आई थी |
| feminine plural | आई हैं | आई थीं |
मेरी बस आ गई है।
merī bas ā gaī hai.
My bus has arrived.
दो बसें आ गई हैं।
do baseṃ ā gaī haiṃ.
Two buses have arrived.
जब मैं पहुँचा, दोनों दुकानें बंद हो गई थीं।
jab maĩ pahũcā, donoṃ dukāneṃ band ho gaī thīṃ.
When I arrived, both shops had closed. (male speaker)
In the plural auxiliary-bearing examples, write गई हैं/गई थीं, not गईं हैं/गईं थीं. Number appears on हैं/थीं. This is a structural alternation between a standalone perfective and a perfective-plus-auxiliary predicate.
Intransitive subject agreement
खिड़की हवा से खुली।
khiṛkī havā se khulī.
The window opened because of the wind.
सारी खिड़कियाँ एक साथ खुलीं।
sārī khiṛkiyā̃ ek sāth khulīṃ.
All the windows opened at once.
The singular/plural contrast is खुली/खुलीं. हवा से gives a cause or source but does not become the controller. No ने appears because ordinary खुलना is intransitive.
Honorific feminine reference can select plural auxiliary agreement while keeping feminine perfective morphology:
माताजी अभी घर आई हैं।
mātājī abhī ghar āī haiṃ.
Mother has just come home. (respectful singular)
The nonnasalized आई appears before plural/honorific हैं. Respect is expressed through the agreement chain, not by changing the referent's gender.
Feminine object agreement after ने
In a canonical transitive perfective, the actor takes ने. An unmarked feminine direct object can control the perfective.
रोहित ने खिड़की खोली।
rohit ne khiṛkī kholī.
Rohit opened the window.
रोहित ने सारी खिड़कियाँ खोलीं।
rohit ne sārī khiṛkiyā̃ kholīṃ.
Rohit opened all the windows.
The masculine actor does not determine खोली/खोलीं. Unmarked feminine object खिड़की/खिड़कियाँ does.
If the direct object is marked by को, it cannot control agreement, and the predicate takes default masculine singular.
रोहित ने दोनों लड़कियों को बुलाया।
rohit ne donoṃ laṛkiyoṃ ko bulāyā.
Rohit called both girls over.
Despite a feminine plural object, the verb is बुलाया, not बुलाईं, because लड़कियों को is marked. Object marking is conditioned by animacy, specificity, definiteness, lexical meaning, and construction—not by an English direct-object test.
See perfective object agreement for the whole controller hierarchy.
Irregular bases still take feminine agreement
The feminine forms of frequent irregulars must be learned, but they still participate in the singular/plural contrast.
| Verb | Feminine singular | Feminine plural simple |
|---|---|---|
| करना | की | कीं |
| देना | दी | दीं |
| लेना | ली | लीं |
| होना | हुई | हुईं |
| पीना | पी | पीं |
In actual sentences, plural पीं is uncommon because beverages are often mass nouns or singular portions, but it is grammatically available when a feminine plural controller licenses it. Frequency does not change the agreement rule.
बच्चियों ने सारी तैयारियाँ ख़ुद कीं।
bacciyoṃ ne sārī taiyāriyā̃ xud kīṃ.
The girls made all the preparations themselves.
Feminine plural तैयारियाँ controls कीं; the ने-marked actor cannot.
Questions and negatives
क्या सीमा समय पर पहुँची?
kyā sīmā samay par pahũcī?
Did Seema arrive on time?
सीमा समय पर नहीं पहुँची।
sīmā samay par nahīṃ pahũcī.
Seema did not arrive on time.
क्या सारी फ़ाइलें खुलीं?
kyā sārī fāileṃ khulīṃ?
Did all the files open?
Question and negative marking do not change agreement. A present-perfect question instead needs an auxiliary: क्या सारी फ़ाइलें खुली हैं?
Perfective -ईं versus noun plural nasalization
Feminine plural nouns and perfective verbs can both show nasalization, but they have separate morphology. In कुर्सियाँ टूटीं, noun कुर्सियाँ marks feminine plural direct case, and verb टूटीं independently agrees feminine plural. In कुर्सियों पर, the noun uses oblique plural -यों, but no verb agreement follows from the postpositional noun phrase alone.
पुरानी कुर्सियाँ बारिश में टूट गईं।
purānī kursiyā̃ bāriś meṃ ṭūṭ gaīṃ.
The old chairs broke in the rain.
Here vector गईं carries the perfective agreement of the compound predicate. Simple टूटीं would also be possible; टूट गईं highlights completion/change of state.
Common Mistakes
Losing feminine plural nasalization in a standalone simple perfective
❌ लड़कियाँ जल्दी आई।
Incorrect as a standalone simple perfective — feminine plural requires आईं.
✅ लड़कियाँ जल्दी आईं।
laṛkiyā̃ jaldī āīṃ.
The girls came early.
Over-nasalizing before an auxiliary
❌ दोनों दुकानें बंद हुईं हैं।
Incorrect in contemporary Standard Hindi — before हैं use हुई.
✅ दोनों दुकानें बंद हुई हैं।
donoṃ dukāneṃ band huī haiṃ.
Both shops have closed.
Making feminine perfectives regular from the infinitive spelling
❌ वह बाज़ार जाई।
Incorrect — जाना has irregular feminine perfective गई.
✅ वह बाज़ार गई।
vah bāzār gaī.
She went to the market.
Matching the verb to the ने-marked actor
❌ अमित ने चिट्ठी लिखा।
Incorrect — unmarked feminine चिट्ठी selects लिखी.
✅ अमित ने चिट्ठी लिखी।
amit ne ciṭṭhī likhī.
Amit wrote the letter.
Letting a को-marked feminine object control
❌ उसने रीना को बुलाई।
Incorrect — को blocks object agreement, so the predicate is default masculine singular.
✅ उसने रीना को बुलाया।
usne rīnā ko bulāyā.
She called Rina over.
Key Takeaways
- Standalone simple perfectives contrast feminine singular -ई with feminine plural -ईं.
- Before an auxiliary, Standard Hindi normally uses nonnasalized -ई: आई है/आई हैं, आई थी/आई थीं.
- An intransitive perfective agrees with its unmarked subject; a transitive ने clause may agree with an unmarked feminine object.
- A को-marked object cannot control perfective agreement, regardless of its natural gender or number.
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- Simple perfective formationA2 — Form the Hindi simple perfective, distinguish regular and irregular stems, and choose agreement from clause structure.
- Masculine perfective -ā and -eA2 — Choose masculine singular -ā and masculine plural or honorific -e in simple and auxiliary-bearing perfective predicates.
- Intransitive perfective agreementA2 — Make ordinary intransitive perfectives agree with their unmarked subject while recognizing agentive exceptions and experiencer structures.
- 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.
- Respectful third-person referenceB2 — Refer respectfully to one third person with plural ये or वे, plural oblique forms, and honorific agreement while preserving deixis and gender.