यूनिवर्सिटी ऑफ़ मिशिगन
Derived intransitive verbs (aka "antitransitives")
In Hindi it is possible to derive intransitive
verbs from transitive by dropping the agent and making certain changes in
the verb stem:
Transitive: खोल दुकानदार सुबह आठ बजे दुकान
खोलता है।
The shopkeeper
opens his shop at 8AM.'
Derived Intransitive: खुल दुकान सुबह आठ बजे खुलती
है।
'The
shop opens at 8AM.'
In order to avoid confusion with derived transitives, we shall refer
to derived intransitives as "antitransitives".
Transitive: धो क्या नौकरानी ने कपड़े अब तक नहीं
धोए?
'Didn't
the maid wash the clothes yet?'
Antitransitive: धुल क्या कपड़े अब तक नहीं
धुले?
'Aren't the clothes washed
yet'?
Transitive: बना बढ़ई, आप कुर्सी
जल्दी ही बना देंगे, न?
'Will
you make the chair soon, Carpenter?'
Antitransitive: बन् बढ़ई, कुर्सी जल्दी
ही बन जाएगी, न?
'Will
the chair be done soon, Carpenter?'
Antitransitives are used when the speaker is not
interested in who does something, but merely in the fact that it gets
done. For example, in English, 'Has the mail come yet?' more accurately
reflects what really matters to the speaker than does the fuller 'Did the
mailman bring the mail yet?' even though they both describe the same
event. In Hindi this strategy of expression is even more commonly used
than it is in English: used not only when we are not interested in who
does something, as in the examples given above, but also when the identity
of the doer has been previously established. For example, a speaker is
describing the activities of her mother:
जैसे बच्चे
क्कूल से आए तभी चाय बनी फिर खाने का
इंतज़ाम शुरू हो गया . . .
उसके बाद फिर अम्मां . . .
(Southworth tape H-3-121)
'As soon as the kids came home from school the tea
was ready and then preparations for dinner began. After that
Mother'
Since the entire passage concerns the actions of one agent the speaker
feels free to vary the tone by sometimes describing these actions as if
they occurred independently of the agent.
Such deliberate suppression of information can
have powerful ironic effect. Antitransitives are often used by Hindi
speakers to that end. For example, in Mohan Rakesh's play आधे अधूरे a little girl is desperate
for attention from her parents. She reproaches them for not having brought
her the things she needs for school:
औरर तुमने
कहा था क्कि:प औरर मोज़े इस हफ़्ते जरूर आ
जायेंगे, आ गये
हैं? (page 35)
'And you said that you would surely bring me the clip and socks
this week. Did you?'
Here, by purposely using the antitransitive आ
instead of the corresponding transitive ला, and
by dropping तुम, the girl gives her words
a sarcastic edge.
The antitransitive is useful to the Hindi speaker
for another reason. It spares him from having to choose the most
appropriate second person pronoun, a choice which is not always easy or
obvious (and sometimes even dangerous) to make. For example, in the
following, by using the antitransitive, a peasant woman is able not only
to avoid choosing between तुम and तू, but also to maintain the appearance of not
having directly addressed a strange male at all:
कौन बांस काटता
है? यहाँ बांस न
कटेंगे। ( गोदान 31 )
'Who's cutting the bamboo? You're not to cut our
bamboo!'
(literally: Here the bamboo will not be cut!)
One of the most important uses of the antitransitive, namely, the
expression of incapacity, will be discussed in detail in NN.
Antitransitive verbs are derived from the
transitives by rules which are similar to those used for the derivation of
transitives from intransitives:
I. If the stem of the transitive has long ई, ऊ, or आ, the stem of the antitransitive has the
corresponding short vowel:
पीट ----
beat पिट ---- get
a beating
कूट ---
grind कुट --- be ground
छाप ---
print छप --- be
printed
II. An ओ in the stem is replaced by
उ; an ए by इ. If the stem of the transitive has only one
syllable and ends in a vowel, a ल is often
found in the antitransitive.
खोल --- open
(tr) खुल --- open
(intr)
धो ---
wash धुल --- be
washed
सी --- sew,
stitch सिल --- be
sewn, stitched
(NB: the polite imperative of सी is सीइये or सीजिये.)
III. A nasal vowel in the stem of the transitive is sometimes
answered by a nasal short in the antitransitive; sometimes by a plain
short:
बांट ---
divide बँट ( बट ) --- be divided
खींच ---
pull खिंच ( खिच ) --- be pulled
सेंक ---
heat सिंक
( सिक ) --- be heated
IV. There are a few transitive verbs that have short vowels to begin
with. Their antitransitives are homonymous:
भर ---
fill भर --- get
filled
बदलना --- to change
(tr) बदलना --- to change
(intr)
बुन ---
weave बुन --- be
woven
V. One or two polysyllabic stems give antitransitives by dropping a
final आ :
बना ---
make बन --- be made
मना ---
celebrate मन ---
be celebrated
In most cases, however, the stem with आ is derived and the stem without आ is basic.
There are many exceptions to these rules. One set
includes verbs of destruction:
फोड़ --- burst
(tr) फूट --- burst
(intr)
तोड़ --- break
(tr) टूट --- break
(intr)
फाड़ --- tear
(tr) फट --- tear
(intr)
छोड़ ---
leave behind छूट ---
be left behind
Others show few if any regularities:
बेच ---
sell बिक --- be
sold
समेट ---
collect सिमट --- be
collected
Transitive expressions formed with कर have antitransitive counterparts
in हो :
काम
करना तुमने काम
कर लिया ? 'Did you do it?'
काम
हो काम हो
गया ? 'Did it get done?'
इंतज़ाम
कर मैंने
इंतज़ाम नहीं किया। 'I didn't make the
arrangement.'
इंतज़ाम
हो इंतज़ाम
नहीं हुआ।
(ditto)
Sometimes such antitransitives in हो are को-expressions and as such allow the expression
of an agent:
इंतज़ार
करना क्या तुम किसी का
इंतज़ार कर रही हो ?
'Are you waiting for somebody?'
इंतज़ार
हो क्या (तुमको) किसी का
इंतज़ार है ?
Not every transitive verb yields an
antitransitive. In particular very few "reflexives" have them: खा, पी, पकड़, ख़रीद,
etc. Those that do exist are usually को-expressions:
देख --- to
see दिखाई
दे --- to be seen, be visible
सुन --- to
hear सुनाई
दे --- to be heard, be audible
क्या उस सीट से
आपको क्क्र:ीन दिखाई दे रहा है ?
'Can you see the screen from that seat ?
मेरे दादाजी
को अब बिलकुल सुनाई नहीं देता।
'My grandfather has completely lost his
hearing.'
In general all verbs expressing jobs or tasks have antitransitive
counterparts: सी 'sew' --
सिल; मांज 'scour' -- मंज; बांध 'tie up' -- बंध, etc.
There are a few other transitive-antitransitive pairs which are highly
idiosyncratic (and which do not play a role in the expression of
incapacity):
भेज ---
send जा --- go, be
sent
ला ---
bring आ --- come,
be brought
डाल --- put in,
pour in पड़ --- be put
in, poured in
क्या तुमने नमक
डाला है ? क्या
नमक पड़ा है ?
'Have you put in the salt?' 'Has
the salt gone in?'
As must be clear from this last example an
antitransitive can sometimes be indistinguishable from an underived
intransitive. It is only from context and from a knowledge of the
speaker's intentions that one can be sure that he or she means 'Has the
salt been added?' and not 'Has the salt fallen?' It follows from this that
there is nothing in principle to prevent the derivation of antitransitives
from transitives which are themselves derived from intransitives. For
example, in:
मज़दूरों
ने प्लेटफ़ार्म गिराने की कोशिश की पर वह
नहीं गिरा।
'The workers attempted to knock down the platform
but it wouldn't come down.'
the verb in the second clause is not the basic intransitive गिर 'fall' but the antitransitive गिर 'be knocked down' derived from the
transitive गिरा 'knock down' which
in turn is derived from basic गिर.
Another example:
ज़िन्दगी मौत को
ख़ूब मनाती है पर मौत नहीं मनाती।
'Life tries to bring Death around but Death
doesn't listen.'
It is even possible to derive an antitransitive from the derived
transitive form of an ingesto-reflexive:
भई, बच्ची तुमसे दही नहीं खाएगी।
'You won't be able to feed the child her
yogurt.'
Here खाएगी is not a form of
basic खा but an antitransitive
derived from खिला.
(For the use of सत्र्े see
NN )
Exercise 1.
Exercise 2.
To index of grammatical notes.
To index of मल्हार.
Keyed in by विवेक अगरवाल Aug 2001.
Posted 1-2 Sept 2001.