Hindi uses four present forms of the copula होना (honā, “to be”): हूँ, हो, है, हैं. They link a subject to an identity, property, or location, and they also close layered verb phrases such as काम करता है “works” and काम कर रही हैं “is working.” Unlike English am/is/are, the choice also reflects Hindi honorific agreement.
The compact paradigm
| Subject | Copula | Basic pattern |
|---|---|---|
| मैं “I” | हूँ | मैं … हूँ |
| तू “you” (intimate) | है | तू … है |
| तुम “you” (familiar) | हो | तुम … हो |
| यह / वह “this/he/she/that” | है | वह … है |
| हम “we” | हैं | हम … हैं |
| आप “you” (respectful) | हैं | आप … हैं |
| ये / वे “these/they/those” | हैं | वे … हैं |
The present copula marks person and number, plus the honorific status of आप. It does not itself mark gender: both a man and a woman are described with third-person singular है. Gender appears elsewhere when the predicate contains a variable adjective or noun.
मैं इस टीम में नया हूँ।
maĩ is ṭīm meṃ nayā hū̃.
I am new to this team. (male speaker)
मैं इस टीम में नई हूँ।
maĩ is ṭīm meṃ naī hū̃.
I am new to this team. (female speaker)
आप आज बहुत ख़ुश हैं।
āp āj bahut xuś haiṃ.
You are very happy today. (respectful)
The adjective changes from नया to नई, while first-person हूँ remains constant. In the third example, singular respectful आप takes grammatically plural हैं. Learn the whole pair आप हैं, not an English-based equation such as “one person = है.” The broader honorific pattern is explained under plural agreement with singular आप.
Identity, classification, property, and location
As a main copula, these forms make a nonverbal predicate finite. A noun can identify or classify the subject, an adjective can assign a property, and a postpositional phrase can locate it.
नीलम हमारी नई पड़ोसी है।
nīlam hamārī naī paṛosī hai.
Neelam is our new neighbor.
ये आम अभी कच्चे हैं।
ye ām abhī kacce haiṃ.
These mangoes are still unripe.
मेरी पानी की बोतल फ़्रिज में है।
merī pānī kī botal frij meṃ hai.
My water bottle is in the fridge.
Hindi normally uses no article in a classification such as नीलम पड़ोसी है. Adding एक contributes “one” or “a certain,” rather than mechanically translating English a. Variable predicate material still agrees: plural masculine आम selects कच्चे, but invariant ख़ुश does not change.
In a neutral, complete affirmative present sentence, retain the copula. Labels, headlines, proverbs, and conversational fragments can omit it, but दुकान बंद है is the unmarked full statement “The shop is closed.” English speakers sometimes drop है because Hindi permits verbless-looking fragments; that omission is not the general rule.
The copula as the final auxiliary layer
Hindi predicates are often layered. The lexical stem names the event, an aspectual form presents its internal shape, and the copula anchors the whole predicate in the present.
| Predicate | Layers | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| लिखता है | लिख- + habitual ता + है | writes / regularly writes |
| लिख रही है | लिख- + progressive रही + है | is writing |
| लिख चुके हैं | लिख- + completive चुके + हैं | have finished writing |
अर्जुन हर रविवार अपने माता-पिता को फ़ोन करता है।
arjun har ravivār apne mātā-pitā ko fon kartā hai.
Arjun calls his parents every Sunday.
रिया अभी ग्राहक से बात कर रही है।
riyā abhī grāhak se bāt kar rahī hai.
Riya is speaking with a customer right now.
Here करता/रही expresses habitual or progressive aspect and gender agreement; है supplies the same third-person singular present anchor. The difference between English “calls” and “is speaking” is therefore not a difference between two copulas. It lies in the aspectual layer before है. See finite predicates and auxiliaries for the full architecture.
Affirmative, negative, and question contrasts
Neutral नहीं comes immediately before the copula in an identity, property, or location clause. A yes–no question may add clause-initial क्या, but Hindi does not invert the subject and verb as English does.
यह सीट खाली है।
yah sīṭ khālī hai.
This seat is empty.
यह सीट खाली नहीं है।
yah sīṭ khālī nahīṃ hai.
This seat is not empty.
क्या यह सीट खाली है?
kyā yah sīṭ khālī hai?
Is this seat empty?
The person–number form survives negation: मैं नहीं हूँ, तुम नहीं हो, वे नहीं हैं. In conversation, है नहीं can place contrastive focus on the negation—roughly “it really is not”—but नहीं है is the neutral A1 pattern. More construction-specific omissions and marked orders belong under negative copula patterns.
Agreement follows Hindi structure
Usually the grammatical subject chooses the copula. A semantic actor need not do so, however. In a dative obligation, the actor appears with को, and an unmarked object can control the infinitive and plural copula.
मुझे आज ये रिपोर्टें पढ़नी हैं।
mujhe āj ye riporṭeṃ paṛhnī haiṃ.
I have to read these reports today.
English makes “I” the subject of have to read, but Hindi मुझे does not select first-person हूँ. Feminine plural रिपोर्टें gives पढ़नी हैं. This is a crucial reminder that agreement follows the Hindi construction, not the most prominent participant in an English translation.
Infinitive versus finite form
होना is the infinitive “to be/become/happen.” It belongs under another predicate or in a nominal use; it cannot replace a finite present copula in a plain assertion.
समय पर तैयार होना मुश्किल है।
samay par taiyār honā muśkil hai.
Being ready on time is difficult.
The embedded activity is तैयार होना “to be/become ready,” while final है makes the entire sentence finite.
Common Mistakes
Treating है as a universal present form
❌ मैं अभी दफ़्तर में है।
Incorrect — मैं requires हूँ.
✅ मैं अभी दफ़्तर में हूँ।
maĩ abhī daftar meṃ hū̃.
I am at the office right now.
Using singular है with respectful आप
❌ आप अगला है।
Incorrect — respectful आप requires honorific plural अगले हैं.
✅ आप अगले हैं।
āp agle haiṃ.
You are next. (respectful, male addressee)
Letting the speaker's gender alter हूँ
❌ मैं तैयार हीं।
Incorrect — there is no feminine present-copula form *हीं; gender appears on variable predicate material.
✅ मैं तैयार हूँ।
maĩ taiyār hū̃.
I am ready. (speaker of any gender)
Omitting the copula in a neutral full sentence
❌ आज मौसम बहुत अच्छा।
Incomplete as a neutral statement; it sounds like a caption or fragment.
✅ आज मौसम बहुत अच्छा है।
āj mausam bahut acchā hai.
The weather is very nice today.
Using the infinitive as the finite predicate
❌ वे सब घर पर होना।
Incorrect — होना is non-finite; plural वे requires हैं here.
✅ वे सब घर पर हैं।
ve sab ghar par haiṃ.
They are all at home.
Key Takeaways
- Use हूँ with मैं, हो with तुम, है with तू/यह/वह, and हैं with हम/आप/ये/वे.
- Present copulas do not distinguish gender; variable adjectives, nouns, or aspectual layers may do so.
- The same forms serve as main copulas and as final present auxiliaries in layered predicates.
- Negation does not erase agreement, questions do not require English-style inversion, and infinitive होना is not a finite substitute.
Related Topics
- The copula होना overviewA1 — Use होना as a copula, existential and event verb, and auxiliary across present, past, negative, and question patterns.
- Past copula था थी थे थींA1 — Use था, थी, थे, and थीं for past identity, state, location, and auxiliary constructions, with gender-number agreement.
- Negative copula patternsA1 — Negate identity, property, location, and auxiliary predicates with नहीं while preserving copula agreement and controlling scope.
- Finite predicates and auxiliariesA1 — Build complete Hindi predicates by combining a lexical stem with aspect or modality, agreement morphology, and the appropriate finite auxiliary.
- Plural agreement with singular आपB2 — Track plural-honorific agreement with one आप across copulas, habituals, progressives, futures, perfectives, predicates, and imperatives.