Nepali Verbs - Conjugation in all forms/tenses (Part 1)

For the sake of simplicity, in the examples of verb conjugation, we will mostly use the verb गर्नु garnu, "to do"
There are a couple of irregular verbs in Nepali to keep in mind as well. However, most of the verbs will follow these rules.

Nepali has different levels of politeness/respect, and with each level there is a corresponding verb conjugation. It's difficult to keep track of them all at first, so if you like you can just focus on the most polite forms to make it easier on yourself!

To begin with...

All Nepali verbs end with -नु  -nu.
To conjugate the verb into a different tense, you have to remove the -nu ending to leave the "stem" of the verb. In the case of गर्नु garnu, the stem would be गर् "gar." Then you can change the ending depending on the conjugation needed.



Simple Present Tense

In Nepali, the present tense (i.e., "I do" or "You do") can mean...
- something that you do regularly ("I eat vegetables")
- something that you are going to do ("I clean the house today" = "I will clean the house today")

FIRST PERSON (I, me)
म ma = me/I
गर्छु
garchu
"I do"
Negative: गर्दिनँ gardina~ "I don't do"


FIRST PERSON PLURAL (we, us)
हामी haami = we, us
गर्छौं
garchau
"We do"
Neg: गर्दैनौं gardainau~ "We don't do"
*That ꣲ (or sometimes, as in this case: ं) symbol indicates a nasalization - kind of like an "n" sound but not quite...more like the sound you make when you speak while you pinch your nose! After listening to Nepali speakers for a while, you should get the hang of it.

SECOND PERSON INFORMAL (you, you all)
तिमी timi (you - informal)
गर्छौ
garchau
"You do"
Neg: गर्दैनौ gardainau "You don't do"

SECOND PERSON FORMAL (you, you all)
तपाईं tapain (you - formal)
गर्नुहुन्छ
garnuhuncha
"You do"
Neg: गर्नुहुन्न garnuhunna "You don't do"

THIRD PERSON LOW (he/she/it/this/that)
उ u (he/she)/यो yo (this)/त्यो tyo (that)
गर्छ
garcha
"He does/she does/it does/this does/that does"
Neg: गर्दैन gardaina "he/she/it/this/that doesn't do"

*This is used for people/things/animals that are not present (can't hear you). You can use the 3rd person high form for this purpose as well, but usually only for people who you want to show respect to, even when they aren't present!

THIRD PERSON MEDIUM (he/she/they)
उनी uni (he/she)/यिनी yini (this person)/तिनी tini (that person)/ती ti (those)/यी yi (these)
गर्छन
garchan
"He does/she does/they do"
Neg: गर्दैनन् gardainan "He/she doesn't do/they don't do"

*this isn't really heard often in spoken Nepali. But to be grammatically correct, it is usually used when talking about more than one person doing something.

THIRD PERSON HIGH (he/she/they)
उहाँ uhaan ("wahaan") = he/she
गर्नुहुन्छ
garnuhuncha
"he/she/they do"
Neg: गर्नुहुन्न garnuhunna "he/she doesn't do/they don't do"
*This is respectful and the same exact conjugation as 2nd person formal.

For any of the pronouns (with the exception of "ma," the first person), you can add the suffix हरु "haru" to indicate more than one person. For example, "timi" means you (informal) while "timiharu" means "you all."
There is another word for you, तँ "ta~" which is not at all respectful and is usually used for one's own children, extremely close friends, or someone who you are angry at. There isn't really any reason for a non-native to ever use this form, so I'm not including it here. You can find it in Nepali textbooks and other resources, though, if you're curious.

Examples:


Vocab:
खानु    khaanu - to eat
खाना    khaana - food/large meal
उठ्नु    uThnu ("OOT-noo") - to get up
८ बजे    8 baje - ("aaTh baje") - 8 o'clock
सधैं    sadhain - always

  1. तपाईं खाना खानुहुन्छ    Tapain khaana khaanuhuncha - you eat a meal/will eat a meal
  2. उठ्छु    uThchu - I will get up
  3. म सधैं ८ बजे उठ्छु    Ma sadhain 8 baje uThchu - I always get up at 8 o'clock.

Simple Past Tense


FIRST PERSON (I, me)
गरें
gare~
"I did"
Neg: गरिनँ garina~ "I didn't do"

FIRST PERSON PLURAL (we, us)
गर्यौं
garyau~
"We did"
Neg: गरेनौं garenau~ "We didn't do"

SECOND PERSON INFORMAL (you, you all)
गर्यौ
garyau
"You (timi) did"
Neg: गरेनौ garenau "You didn't do"


SECOND PERSON FORMAL (you, you all)
गर्नुभयो
garnubhayo
"You (tapai) did"
Neg: गर्नुभएन garnubhaena "You didn't do"

THIRD PERSON LOW (he/she/it/this/that)
गर्यो
garyo
"He did/she did/it did/this did/that did"
Neg: गरेन garena "He/she/it/this/that didn't do"


THIRD PERSON MEDIUM (he/she/they)
गरे
gare
"He did/she did/they did"
*This is different from the first person past in that there is no nasalization at the end.
Neg: गरेनन् garenan "He/she/they didn't do"

THIRD PERSON HIGH (he/she/they)
गर्नुभयो
garnubhayo
"he/she/they did"
Neg: गर्नुभएन garnubhaena "he/she/they didn't do"


IRREGULAR VERBS:

This is where it gets tricky with some verbs - the present tense is straightforward enough, but the "stems" of irregular verbs undergo certain changes depending on the conjugation.
Some examples:

जानु jaanu - to go
जान्छु Jaanchu - I go
जान्दिनँ jaandina~ - I don't go
गएँ  gae~ - I went
गइनँ gaaina~ - I didn't go
जान्छौं jaanchau~ - we go
जान्दैनौं jaandainau~ - we don't go
गयौं gayau~ - we went
गएनौं gaenau~ - we didn't go
जान्छौ jaanchau - you (informal) go
जान्दैनौ jaandainau - you (informal) don't go
गयौ gayau - you (informal) went
गएनौ gaenau - you (informal) didn't go
जान्छ jaancha - he/she/it goes (informal)
जान्दैन jaandaina - he/she/it doesn't go (informal)
गयो gayo - he/she/it went (informal)
गएन gaena - he/she/it didn't go
जान्छन jaanchan - they (medium) go
जान्दैनन् jaandainan - they (medium) don't go
गए gae - they (medium) went
गएनन् gaenan - they (medium) didn't go
जानुहुन्छ jaanuhuncha - you/they go (formal)
जानुहुन्न jaanuhunna - you/they don't go (formal)
जानुभयो jaanubhayo - you/they went (formal)
जानुभएन jaanubhaena - you/they didn't go (formal)

As you can see, with this verb jaanu, the present tense conjugations are all what you'd expect, but things switch up with some of the past tense forms.
Since this is such a common verb, you should get used to the irregular forms after hearing them/using them quite often.

Another irregular verb is आउनु aaunu - to come.

आउनु aaunu - to come
आउंछु aaunchu - I come
आउँदिनँ aaundina~ - I don't come
आएँ aae~ - I came
आएनँ aaena~ - I didn't come
आउँछौं aaunchau~ - we come
आउँदैनौं aaundainau~ - we don't come
आयौं aayau~ - we came
आएनौँ aaenau~ - we didn't come
आउँछौ aaunchau - you come (informal)
आउँदैनौ aaundainau - you don't come (inf.)
आयौ aayau - you came (informal)
आएनौ aaenau - you didn't come (inf.)
आउँछ aauncha - he/she/it comes (informal)
आउँदैन aaundaina - he/she/it doesn't come (inf.)
आयो aayo - he/she/it came (informal)
आएन aaena - he/she/it didn't come (inf.)
आउँछन aaunchan - they come (medium)
आउँदैनन् aundainan - they don't come (medium)
आए aae - they came (medium)
आएनन् aaenan - they didn't come (medium)
आउनुहुन्छ aaunuhuncha - you/they come (formal)
आउनुहुन्न aaunuhunna - you/they don't come (formal)
आउनुभयो aaunubhayo - you/they came (formal)
आउनुभएन aaunubhaena - you/they didn't come (formal)

Verbs that end in -aaunu (बोलाउनु bolaaunu "to call/invite", मिलाउनु milaaunu "to arrange/set up", etc) behave the same way as aaunu shown above. (E.g, बोलाएँ bolaae~ "I called")

Another form of irregular verbs are ones like धुनु dhunu "to wash" and रुनु runu "to cry":

रुन्छु runchu - I cry
रुन्दिनँrundina~ - I don't cry
रोएँ roe~ ("roy-eh~") - I cried
रोएनँ roena~ - I didn't cry
रोयो royo - he/she/it cried
रोएन roena - he/she/it didn't cry
रोयौ royau - you (informal) cried
रोएनौ roenau - you (inf) didn't cry
रुनुभयो runubhayo - you/they cried (formal)
रुनुभएन runubhaena - you/they didn't cry (formal)

As you can see, the verb endings stay the same, but the stem of the verb underwent some changes for all but the formal conjugation in the past tense. 
The same goes with धुनु dhunu - धोएँ dhoe~, धोयो dhoyo, etc. But in the present tense, no changes to the stem: dhunchu, dhuncha...

It was disheartening at first when studying the language and finding out about all these exceptions, but I promise you will get the hang of it when you practice regularly!

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

Since the present tense can also be used to describe things you are going to do, the future tense seems unnecessary, right?
Well, this tense is generally used for talking about plans in the future - not necessarily today. It also is used for when you are not quite sure exactly when something is going to happen.
For example, "I am going to go to Nepal someday" has a quite different meaning than "I'm going to Nepal" - the first expresses intention or hope, but the second is definitely happening - you know probably know the dates of your trip at this point. For that first example, you would probably use the future tense in Nepali.

The future tense is very simple:

FIRST PERSON (I, me)
गर्नेछु garnechu
"I will do"
neg: गर्नेछैनँ garnechaina~ "I will not do"

FIRST PERSON PLURAL (we, us)
गर्नेछौं garnechau~
"We will do"
neg: गर्नेछैनौं garnechainau~ "We will not do"

SECOND PERSON INFORMAL (you, you all)
गर्नेछौ garnechau
"You will do"
neg: गर्नेछैनौ garnechainau "You will not do"

SECOND PERSON FORMAL (you, you all)
गर्नुहुनेछ garnuhunecha
"You will do"
neg: गर्नुहुनेछैन garnuhunechaina "You will not do"

THIRD PERSON LOW (he/she/it/this/that)
गर्नेछ garnecha
"He will do/she will do/it will do/this will do/that will do"
neg: गर्नेछैन garnechaina "he/she/it/this/that will not do"

THIRD PERSON MEDIUM (he/she/they)
गर्नेछन garnechan
"He will do/she will do/they will do"
neg: गर्नेछैनन् garnechainan "he/she/they will not do"

THIRD PERSON HIGH (he/she/they)
गर्नुहुनेछ garnuhunecha
"he/she/they will do"
neg: गर्नुहुनेछैन garnuhunechaina "he/she/they will not do"

As you can see, the future tense is exactly the same as the present tense except with an extra syllable "ne" thrown in.
To make it even more simple, in spoken Nepali you can usually just say (verb)-ne without the ending, e.g. garne, khaane, aune. To convert to the negative form, just at the prefix na- to the beginning: "Nagarne" = will not do, "nakhaane" - will not eat, etc.

*In the case of saying के गर्ने "Ke garne" - "ke" meaning "what" - you may think that this is asking "what will you do" or "what will they do". But as discussed in a previous article, "ke garne" is actually an expression meaning something along the lines of  "What can be done" or "oh well, what can you do."
For other things, though, you can use "garne" without it skewing the meaning this way. For instance,
पछि गर्ने "pachi garne" ("pachi" means "later") means "I'll do it later." If you put it in the form of a question ("Pachi garne?") it's sounds more like you're asking someone "You'll do it later?" So based on context and tone, these are cases where you don't even really need to use the corresponding pronouns.
As with the present tense, you don't need to worry about changing the irregular verbs' stems at all - that only happens in past tense conjugations.


These are the most simple, straightforward tenses for Nepali verbs that should get you started on being able to form your own Nepali sentences without reading word-for-word from a phrasebook.
But there are, of course, plenty more tenses to use which I will go over in another post.
These include saying "am/is/are doing" and "have/has/had done" along with "would have done" and "used to do..." You get the idea...

Last notes...

I highly recommend writing in a journal about the events of the day in Nepali. If there's something that you don't have any idea how to say yet, you can just leave that out, but everything that you know how to say, no matter how simple, put it down in the diary entry. For instance, "I ate food" - "Khana khae~"...or "my friend gave me a gift..."
Talk about what you want to do in the future or what you would have done if you had time. Talk about what you didn't do too... anything at all! This will be great practice because you will be using these verb conjugations and cementing them in your mind in a no-pressure situation.
*Remember that Nepali verbs come at the end of a phrase!*

Another thing I used to do is carry around a small cheat sheet of more difficult verb conjugations so I could check it quickly and make sure I was using the right one. Yes, I probably looked like an idiot, but since I was speaking with friends I wanted to make sure I could be understood. After a while and a lot of practice, I didn't need to look at it at all.

I hope this helps and that you can use these resources to improve your Nepali learning!

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