यूनिवर्सिटी ऑफ़ मिशिगन
'Only X can / will do it!'
Notes on X  ही करे तो करे
      In Hindi-Urdu in addition to using adverbs like  केवल and  सिफऱ् with the particle  ही [as in (1)] there is a more elaborate and idiomatic way of expressing 'only X can' or 'only X will' [as in (2)]:
1.  केवल बिरादरी ही ( हमें ) तारेगी। ( नहीं तो हम नहीं तरेंगे। )
   'Only the caste(-brotherhood) will save us.'
2.  बिरादरी ही ( हमें ) तारेगी तो ( हम ) तरेंगे।
   'Only the caste(-brotherhood) will be able to save us.'
   (Literally: 'Only (if) the caste(-brotherhood) will save us, will we be saved.')
   (from Chapter Eleven of   गोदान. See context.)
Notice that in (2) the verb in the first clause is the transitive  तार 'save' while that in the second is its derived intransitive counterpart  तर 'be saved'. (See notes on derived intransitives). The same pattern is seen in (3):
3.  भगवान् ही पार लगायें तो लगे।
   'Only God / can / / will / save (the situation).'
   (Literally: 'Only if God saves (the situation), will it be saved.')
   (from Chapter One of   गोदान. See context.)
      There is a variation on this structure in which the second clause does not show a derived intransitive, but maintains the same form as the first clause:
4.  मैं ही आकर ( चाय की चीज़ें )  उठाऊँ तो उठाऊँ !
   'Am I the only one to pick the tea things up!' [sarcastic: 'No-one else is willing to do it.']
   (Literally: 'Only if I come and pick them up, I pick them up!)
   (from Act One of   मोहन राकेश 's  आधे अधूरे,  p. 14, 1978 edition)
While it is possible [as in (5)] to use the pattern in (2), the structure in (4) is more idiomatic:
5.  मैं ही आकर ( चाय की चीज़ें )  उठाऊँ तो उठें !
     'Only if I come and pick the tea things up, will they get picked up! (No-one else is willing to do it.)'
       As an alternative to the derived intransitive, the passive may be used in the second clause:
6.  मैं ही आकर ( चाय की चीज़ें ) उठाऊँ तो उठाई जाएँ !
In other cases only repetition of the verb in the first clause allows a plausible and felicitous completion of the second:
7.  तुम्हीं रखोगे तो रखोगे।
     'Only you can save me.'
       Also worth noting is that the second clause usually is stripped of everything but the verb. Even when a noun is an inherent part of the meaning of the predicate, it is usually absent from the second clause:
8.  इतना सारा खाना तुम्हीं से हज़म हो तो हो !
    'Only you can handle such a big meal!'
Notes from  कुसुम जैन:
A. The senses of 'can' or 'will' are not necessarily present in this structure. It can simply mean that X (the subject) is the only one who does (or is the only one to do) something:
9.  जब कभी काम होता है तो तुम्हीं आती हो तो आती हो।  औरर लोग तो नहीं आते।
     'Whenever there's work to do, you are the only one who comes. Others don't.'
Another example (this one sent by Terry Varma):
10.  खाने के दौरान मैं ही कुछ कहूँ तो कहूँ,  वह कुछ नहीं कहता।
     'During the meal if anyone speaks it's me. He doesn't say a word.'
     ( from  नौकरानी की डाइरी )
B. While the pattern is more frequent in the future and the subjunctive, it does occasionally occur in other tenses:
11.  उसी ने कहा तो कहा।  औरर किसी ने कुछ नहीं कहा।
      'He was the only one to speak. No-one else said anything.'
C. The presence of the particle  ही  in the first clause is optional:
12.  मैं आऊँ तो आऊँ।  तुम तो कभी नहीं आते।
      'If anyone's gonna come over it has to be me. You never come over.'
13.  अस्पताल में . . .  छठे-छमासे कोई औररत दिख गई तो दिख गई,  जैसे उन्हें कभी रोग घेरता ही नहीं था।
      'If any woman showed up (in the hospital) it would be just once in a blue moon, as if they weren't subject to disease at all.'
      (from  कमलेश्वर 's  राजा निरबंसिया,  p. 60)
D. The verb form in the first clause may be replaced by its compound counterpart in the second:
14.  मैं ही भूले-भटके आती हूँ तो आ जाती हूँ।   तू तो कभी होश भी नहीं लेती।
   'I may come over by mistake or because I've lost my way, but I do come over. You never even think of it!'
   ( Dialogue dd by  कुसुम जैन.  See context. )
E. The subordinating conjunction  अगर  as an option may occur in the first clause:
15.  अगर उसी को याद आए तो आए।
      'She'll be the only one who remembers.'
For further examples and discussion, see Hooper's Helps to Hindustani Idiom, p. 16.
Note: There is another, very similar construction involving partial reduplication, one which expresses  अतिसर्ग or indifference:
16.  वह रोए तो रोए,  हमें क्या !
      '(If he cries) let him cry! What's it to me!'
   Notes on that construction are under way.
Go to exercise.
Go to index of grammatical notes.
Drafted 11 Feb 2001. Posted 12 Feb 2001. Checked by TS and KJ: 12 Feb 2001. Refined 13 Feb 2001. Rechecked by KJ 13 Feb 2001. Further exx: 9 Apr and 15 Apr 2001, 10 May 2001.