यूनिवर्सिटी ऑफ़ मिशिगन
रहा नहीं जाता :
Passive of incapacity
      In Hindi-Urdu the inability or unwillingness to perform an action may be expressed by using the passive with negation:
 1.  मारे बास के ( पानी )  पिया नहीं जाता।
      'The water smells too bad to drink.'       (Lit: 'The water cannot be drunk because of the smell.')
      (from  प्रेमचन्द's  ठाकुर का कुआँ. See context.)
This is the one use of the passive in colloquial Hindi-Urdu which freely permits the expression of the agent. The accompanying postposition is  से:
 3.  दादा ही का कलेजा है कि यह सब सहते हैं।  उससे तो एक दिन न सहा जाय।
      'It is only Dada who puts up with all this. He wouldn't be able to put up with it for a single day.'
      (from Chapter Thirty-five of  गोदान. See context.)
       The passive of incapacity can be used with intransitive as well as transitive verbs. Since in such cases there is no grammatical subject for the verb to agree with it must assume the masculine singular default form:
 4.  औरर अब उससे दौड़ा भी तो नहीं जाता। वह हारकर वहीं बैठ गया . . .
      'And now he couldn't run (any further). He gave up and sat down right there.'
      (from Chapter Twenty of  गोदान. See context.)
 5.  मुझसे खड़ा नहीं हुआ जा रहा है।
      'I am unable to get to my feet.'
      (from Chapter Nineteen of  गोदान. See context.)
Certain ones of these intransitive passives have become conventionalized in the colloquial language, especially ( न)  रहा जाना (5) 'to be (un)able to restrain oneself' and ( न)  सहा जाना (6) 'to be (un)able to stand it':
 6.  उसने इनकी यह हालत देखी,  तो उससे न रहा गया। बोली --  तुम क्या अबकी जाड़ा यों ही काट दोगे ?  वह अचकान पहनते तुम्हें शर्म भी नहीं आती ?
      'When she saw what state he was in she couldn't restrain herself: "This is how you're going to get through the winter this time around? You're not ashamed to be wearing that achkan?"'
      (from Chapter Thirty-Three of  गोदान. See context.)
 7.  असत्य सुनकर मुझसे सहा नहीं जाता !
      'I can't stand hearing something that is not true!.'
      (from Chapter Fifteen of  गोदान. See context.)
The locution न रहा जाना often occurs with V- ए बिना in a construction (parallel to the V-nakute naranai / ikenai of colloquial Japanese) as a double negative in the meaning of 'have to V' or 'must':
 8.  बिना उससे मिले मुझसे रहा नहीं जाता।
      'I simply have to see her!'    (lit: 'I cannot bear not seeing her.')
For more on this see notes on V- ए बिना.
       Not surprisingly (given its name), the passive of incapacity often occurs with some form of  सकना 'to be able':
 9.  हँसे बिना तो जिया नहीं जा सकता।
      'Man cannot live without laughter.'
      (from Chapter Twenty-one of  गोदान. See context.)
       While most instances of the passive of incapacity occur negated, it also shows up in questions, especially those that expect a negative answer, and in if-clauses:
10.  तुझे सब जगह का पता है कि कहाँ-कहाँ जाया जा सकता है बाहर ?
      (a mother speaking to a small child:) 'Do you know all the places a person can go to in the outside world?'
      (from मोहन राकेश 's  आधे अधूरे: p. 86)
11.  उसकी सास हमें गलियाँ देगी,  तो उससे सुना जायगा ?
      'If her mother-in-law starts bad-mouthing us, will she bear to hear it?'
      (from Chapter Twelve of  गोदान. See context.)
12.  आपसे अगर यह सब बयान किया जा सके तो हम भी सुनें ।
      'If you can bear to describe it. we'd like to hear it, too.'
13.  दिल्ली इतनी दूर थी कि वहाँ बड़ी मुश्किल से पहुँचा जा सकता था।
       'Delhi was so far away that it was only with difficulty that one could get there.'
14.   " होरी से कहो,  अब बैठ के राम-राम करें। "
     " कहता तो हूँ,  लेकिन जब उनसे बैठा जाय। "
       ' (Bhola:) "Tell Hori that now he should sit back and spend his time in prayer."
        (Gobar:) "I do tell him that. But when has he been willing to sit back and relax? " '
      (from Chapter Twenty of  गोदान. See context.)
These notes (without the illustrations from  गोदान and elsewhere) are based on Section 17A of Hindi Structures, pp. 153-4.
 To exercise on the passive of incapacity.
 To note on दौड़ा जाता है and use of passive to indicate action by unspecified subjects.
 Other sections dealing with negation:
        1.  V-नेवाला  to express disapproval, disbelief, defiance or denial.
        2.  मजाल है !  Warning and warding off.
        3.  मार खाए बिना नहीं मानता :  Without V-ing.
        4.  बनाए न बने :  Paired verbs and incapacity.
        5.  जाने का नाम नहीं लेता :  Empahtic negation.
To index of grammatical notes.
To index of  मल्हार.
Drafted 27 Jan 2001. Posted 27-28 Jan 2001. Reformatted and augmented 24 Sep 2001. Augmented 1 July 2002. Cross-referenced 22 Aug 2004.