यूनिवर्सिटी ऑफ़ मिशिगन

The marked habitual in -या कर- .
          In addition to the ordinary habitual in - ता है, - ता था, - ता हो , etc., Hindi possesses a series of specially marked habitual forms in - या कर-. Compare (1a) and (1b) :
   1a.  हम तीन बजे खाना खाते हैं । 
         'We eat at three.'
   1b. हम तीन बजे खाना खाया करते हैं। 
        'We eat at three.'
        The addition of - या  to a verb's stem yields what is essentially the past participle. However, - या  in the marked habitual does not show agreement with the subject. It always remains - या :
   2.  मेरी भतीजी रोज़ वहाँ पैदल चली जाया करती थी ।  
         'My niece would go there every day on foot.'
          Forms in - ता है stand in somewhat the same relation to forms in - या कर-, as stative  है does to the habitual stative  होता है :
   3.  यह मिर्च तेज़ है। 
         'This is chili is hot.'
   4.  यह मिर्च तेज़ होती है । 
         'This (type of) chili is (generally) hot (even if this particular one is not).'
   5.  बंगला का क्लास सुबह होता है । 
         'Bengali class meets in the morning.'
   6.  बंगला का क्लास सुबह हुआ करता है । 
       'Bengali class (generally) meets in the morning (even if not this particular morning).'
        Thus, by stressing habituality, forms in - या कर - paradoxically also stress the non-universality of an action or event, a property which can be exploited to ironic effect:
   7a. दो औरर दो चार होते हैं । 
         'Two and two are four.'
   7b. दो औरर दो चार हुआ करते हैं । 
         '(Usually) two and two are four (but maybe not when you're the one who's doing the adding).'
   8a. वह मुझसे प्यार करती है ।
         'She loves me. '
   8b. वह मुझसे प्यार किया करती है । 
         'She loves me (when there's no one else around).'
        Another difference between the ordinary and the marked habitual is that the latter is exclusively habitual. It cannot be used in the progressive or future sense of the ordinary habitual that is seen in (9) and (10):
   9.  ऐस्प्रो निगलकर स्त्री ग़म की लम्बी साँस भरती है । 
       'Swallowing an Aspro the woman breathes a long sigh of sorrow.'  (stage direction; progressive sense)
   10. मैं आपको अब एक ज़बरदस्त बात सुनाता हूँ । 
         'I'm going to tell you something special.'
         On the other hand, the marked habitual allows habituality to be expressed in moods and tenses that are beyond the scope of theordinary habitual: It supplies a future habitual, an imperative habitual, a habitual of the subjunctive of desire:
   11. आगे से रोज़ ध्यान लगाया करूँगी । 
         'From now on I'll (make it a practice to) meditate daily.'
   12. रोज़ नमाज़ पढ़ा करो ताकि अल्लाह की तारीफ़ हुआ करे । 
         'Make it a habit to read Namaz so that Allah may be praised .'
         The compound verb and the passive occur freely with  -या कर-  (although the  कर-  of  -या कर-  is never itself compound ):
   13. हम हर गणेशचतुर्थी को पुजारी को एक नारियल दिला दिया करेंगे । 
         'We'll make it a point to have the priest given a coconut on every Ganesh Chaturthi.'
   14. होली गरमी के शुरू में मनाई जाया करती है । 
         'Holi is celebrated at the beginning of the hot season.'
         -या कर-  is not found in the progressive or perfect tenses. Nor does one find  -या करना,  -या करते हुए,  -या करके, or other non-finite forms of  -या कर- .
           It very rarely comes with  चाहना,  सकना , or other verbs which express a state of affairs rather than actions or events. With verbs of starting, stopping or continuing, it must come to the right. Thus, in:
   15. वह दिन भर बाज़ार में मारी मारी फिरती रहा करती थी । 
         'She used to keep wandering aimlessly about in the market all day long.'
  one cannot say . . . फिरा करती रहती थी .
(to be continued)
For another use of the invariant (=masculine singular) form of the past tense see notes on V-या चाह and the expression of the imminent future.
To index of grammatical notes.
To index of  मल्हार.
Keyed in by  विवेक अगरवाल 12 Mar 2001. Posted 17 Apr 2001.