यूनिवर्सिटी ऑफ़ विर्जिनिया
हँसाते-हँसाते लोटा दिया :  Reduplicated participles in the expression of limits and results
            In Hindi-Urdu the doubling or partial doubling of adverbial participles denotes extension in time of some action or state against which or in terms of which some other action is measured.  From this general sense emerge a number of specific meanings.  Here we shall look at four or five of them.
I. The duplicated participle may indicate an interval of time within which some other event occurs.  In (1) the action of speaking frames the act of smiling:
 1.  यह कहते-कहते वह मुस्करा पड़ी।
      'While saying this she began smiling.'
       (from Chapter Seventeen of  गोदान. See context.)
In (2) the stroll includes a conversation:
 2.  नाजिम औरर अह्मद बग़ीचे के बाहर आये औरर चलते-चलते आपुस में बातचीत करने लगे।
      'Najim and Ahmad came out of the garden and began conversing with each other as they walked.'
       (Sentence 3 from Section 5 of Part One of  चन्द्रकान्ता.)
In (3) the reduplication is partial, suggesting randomness or unintentionality:
 3.  एक दिन वे सेमरी पहुँच गये औरर घूमते-घामते बेलारी जा निकले।
      'One day they arrived in Semri and while wandering here and there came out in Belari.'
       (from Chapter Thirty of  गोदान. See context.)
      The subject of the reduplicated participle is almost always identical to the subject of the finite verb.  Exceptions include:  a. Instances where the identity of subjects is notional rather than strict.  Instances of this are exx (4) and (12):
 4.  यह कहते-कहते उसकी आवाज़ आँसुओं में डूब गयी।
      'His voice became choked with tears as he was saying this.'
       (from Chapter Ten of  गोदान. See context.)
b. Identity of the participle's subject with the main verb's direct object (5) is rare:
 5.  दोनों आलू निकाल- निकालकर जलते - जलते खाने लगे।
       'They both started pulling potatoes out (of the fire) and eating them while they were still burning hot.'
       (from Premchand's  कफ़न. See context.)
c. Instances in which the V-ते V-ते participle denotes a point in time.  See ex (14) in section III below.  d. Listable exceptions (such as होते-होते  'eventually, in due time',  देखते-देखते  'right in front of X's eyes', etc.) which should be regarded as isolated idioms:
 6.  वह तेंदुआ पानी पीकर तुरंत ऊपर चढ़ गया औरर देखते- देखते ग़ायब हो गया . . .
      'Drinking some melon water he climbed up and disappeared right in front of their eyes...'
       (Sentence 9 from Section 12 of Part Two of  चन्द्रकान्ता.)
       While the participle usually assumes the masculine oblique default form in -ते, occasionally there is agreement in gender and number with the subject.  Compare (1) with (7):
 7.  खोजती-खोजती उसके पास गयी औरर तेरा संदेसा कहा।
      'Searching here and there I (found him and) went up to him and gave him your message.'
       (from Chapter Twenty-four of  गोदान. See context.)
This agreement may occur only when the finite verb itself agrees in gender and number with the subject (not when it agrees with the object or is in the default masculine singular):
 8.  उसने हमें हँसाते- हँसाते लोटा दिया।
      'He had us laughing so hard we were rolling on the floor.'
       In these constructions the reduplicated past participles of verbs of posture ( बैठे-बैठे 'sitting; waiting',  खड़े-खड़े 'standing',  लेटे-लेटे 'lying about',  etc.) may be used in the same way as the present participles of other verbs:
 9.  बैठे-बैठे सिर में चक्कर आ जाता।
      '(You) would have gone crazy from sitting around (waiting).'
       (from Chapter Twenty-two of  गोदान. See context.)
Of these  बैठे-बैठे ('sitting idly; for no reason; suddenly') and  खड़े-खड़े ('standing around; without reacting') have assumed idiomatic attitudinal meanings:
10.  कहीं वह वहीं बैठे-बैठे मर जाय,  तो क्या हो ?
      'What if she suddenly were to die right there?  What then?'
       (from Chapter Eighteen of  गोदान. See context.)
II. It is not uncommon for the reduplicated participle to express the process leading to the end result expressed by the finite verb:
11.  मारते-मारते तेरी खाल उधेड़ लेगा।       'He'll beat the hide off you.'
       (from Chapter Twenty-one of  गोदान. See context.)
12.  तुम्हारी राह देखते-देखते आँखें फूट गयीं।       'I wore my eyes out watching for you.'
       (from Chapter Twenty of  गोदान. See context.)
13.  बालक रोते-रोते बेदम हो जाता।       'The child would cry itself breathless.'
       (from Chapter Twenty-seven of  गोदान. See context.)
      Use of reduplicated participles together with specific verbs of fatigue and exhaustion ( तंग आ-,  उकता जा-, etc.) has itself become a type of fixed construction:
14.  होरी इस तरह की . . .  शुभ-कामनाएँ सुनते-सुनते तंग आ गया था।
      'Hori had become sick and tired of hearing these kinds of ... good wishes.'
       (from Chapter Eleven of  गोदान. See context.)
For further discussion and examples of these see notes on V-ते  V-ते with verbs of disgust.
III. A duplicated participle may be used to dentify an action or event before which another action is complete:
15.  जयन्ती के क्वार्टर तक आते-आते जयदेव के माथे पर पसीने की बहुत सारी बूँद ें झलकने लगी थीं।
      '...by the time they arrived at Jayanti's quarters, numerous beads of sweat had begun to glisten on Jayadev's forehead.'
       (from  विडम्बना, a story by  नरेन्द्र कुमार सिन्हा. See context.)
In (16) the striking of eight provides a reference point, a location in time before which other actions have gone to completion:
16.  साँझ हुई।  दोनों लड़कियाँ आठ बजते-बजते खा-पीकर सो गईं।
      'Evening came.  By the time it struck eight the two girls had their meal and went to bed.'
       (from Chapter Eight of  गोदान. See context.)
An alternative to the reduplicated participle when used in this meaning is a  जब तक-clause:
16'.  जब तक आठ बजे  ( तब तक )  लड़कियाँ खा-पीकर सो गई थीं।
This option is discussed in the notes on  जब तक-constructions.
IV. Identifying an action or event before which another action is not only not complete, but not even begun.  Consider example (17) where the soldiers stop before they speak:
17.  उनको देख प्यादों के होश उड़ गए औरर अर्ज़ करते-करते रुक गए।
      'Seeing them the soldiers became confused and did not speak.'  (literally: '...stopped (speaking) before they spoke.')
       (Sentence 43 from Section 15 of Part One of  चन्द्रकान्ता.)
To give up doing something before one does it is not the same as simply not doing it.  It is to come close to doing it.  Use of the reduplicated participle together with a verb that denotes non-action ( बच 'be left over',  रह जा 'be left behind', etc.) becomes a way of expressing 'almost'.  Thus in (18) the speaker is not just saying there was not a fight but also that there was close to being one:
18.  कोदई ने मुस्कराकर कहा -- " हम दोनों में लड़ाई होते-होते बची। "
      'Kodai smiled and said, "The two of us nearly came to blows."'
       (from Chapter Twelve of  गोदान. See context.)
V.  Even more idiomatic is the use of a verb with the reduplicated participle of itself serving as its own reference point.  The overall meaning is one of protraction or delay:
19.  ज्योंही मिस्टर तंखा . . . कमरे में आये औरर हाथ बढ़ाया कि राय साहब ने बमगोला छोड़ दिया --
      " मैं घंटे-भर से यहाँ बैठा हुआ हूँ औरर आप निकलते-निकलते अब निकले हैं। "
      'No sooner had Mr. Tankha ... entered the room and extended his hand than Ray Sahab exploded:
      "I've been waiting here for a whole hour and you have been all this time coming out (to receive me)!"
       (from Chapter Twenty-two of  गोदान. See context.)
20.  मालिक,  तुम्हें ऐसी बात न कहनी चाहिए,  जो आदमी को लग जाय।  पानी मरते ही मरते
    तो मरेगा।
      'Sahib, there's no need to say things to a man to hurt him. Little by little he'll lose his pride anyway.'
       (from Chapter Twenty of  गोदान. See context.)
This idiom is featured in one of the most famous statements made (by the poet Dagh) about the difficulty of mastering Hindi and Urdu:
21. आती है उर्दू ज़ुबान आते-आते
      'One learns Urdu (and Hindi) only after a great long while of study.'       (See context.)
      The world of film songs, with its love of expressive iteration, provides an instance of V-ते in triplicate!
22.  यह लड़का,  हाय अल्लाह,  कैसा है दीवाना !        This boy, Lord! what a crazy guy he is!
       कितना मुश्किल है इसको समझाना             How hard it is to make him understand
       कि धीरे-धीरे दिल बेक़रार होता है             That it takes a while to unhinge a heart.
       कि होते होते होते,  प्यार होता है।                         Love takes its time,  its own sweet time.
       (from  हम किसी से कम नहीं.  Lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. See rest of song.)
      These notes are a more detailed exploration of material published in Hindi Structures (§ 15B) and posted to Malhar. For discussion of reduplication as a general phenomenon in South Asia see Abbi 1992.
To exercise.
To index of grammatical notes.
To index of  मल्हार.
Drafted 12 Aug 2002. Posted 13 Aug 2002.  Augmented and linked to  गोदान  14 Aug 2002. Further additions 18, 21-22, 24-25 Aug 2002, 17 Mar 2003 and 12 Jul 2004.