The most common order of words in formal Hindi-Urdu has the subject of the clause on the left and the verb on the right:
1. ray: s:ahb: n:ð ePr
eg:l:aòri-dan: en:kal:a Aaòr
kI eg:l:aòery:aú en:kal:kr m:Øúh m:ðø B:r
l:iø.
'Rây Sâhab brought out the
betel box again and taking several paans from it stuffed them into
his mouth.'
(from Chapter Two of g:aðdan:. See context.)
Casual styles of the modern colloquial language (as reflected in the plays
of Mohan Rakesh) maintain the same order with one difference: Very often a
noun or pronoun or adverbial phrase comes after the verb. Compare (2a)
with (2b), (2c) and (2d):
2a. s*:i H ekÀi
kað dÜD: dð edy:a T:a ?
2b. p:Ø,\: H v:h
m:ØJ:ð edK:i hi n:hiø Ab: t:k.
2c. s*:i H edK:ð t:b:
n: j:að G:r p:r rhð kaðI.
2d. p:Ø,\: H m:òø
b:s: T:að_i dðr kñ el:O hi en:kl:a T:a b:ahr.
Woman: Did you
give Kinni her milk?
Man: I haven't seen her yet.
Woman: You're not going to see her if you're not home.
Man: I only went out for a little while.
(from AaD:ð AD:Ürð by m:aðhn: rakðS: , p. 15 )
It seems that in casual styles second person pronouns are particularly apt
to be put just after the verb in questions:
3a. ev:n:aðd ki m:aú H
Vy:a kr rhi T:iø t:Øm: ?
Vinod's mother: What
were you doing?'
( from dialog
" dað p:_aðs:n:ðø " by kÙs:Øm:
j:òn: . See context. )
(from Chapter Ten of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
4. l:g:ð
Aaòraðø ki t:rh t:Øm: B:i c:ap:l:Üs:i
krn:ð.
(from Chapter Five of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
5a. l:_ki H Vy:a b:at:
hò, RòRi ?
(from AaD:ð AD:Ürð by m:aðhn: rakðS: , p. 23 )
6a. CaðXi l:_ki H
kÙC p:t:a n:hiø c:l:t:a y:haú t:að.
Woman: What are you
saying?
Younger Girl: Tell
me, do you understand what's going on?
(from AaD:ð AD:Ürð by m:aðhn: rakðS: , p. 31 )
In (7) the speaker, beside herself with anger, does not wait for a
response before shifting from normal order j:Üt:ð m:ar to verb-left m:ar j:Üt:ð:
7. s:hs:a D:en:y:a n:ð
es:ùhn:i ki B:aúet: J:p:Xkr hira kað Et:n:ð z:aðr
s:ð D:Vka edy:a ek v:h D:m: s:ð eg:r p:_a Aaòr
b:aðl:i -- khaú j:at:a
hò ? j:Üt:ð
m:ar, m:ar
j:Üt:ð, dðK:Üú t:ðri m:rdÜm:i !
(from Chapter Four of g:aðdan:.
See context.)
8. . . . Ap:n:a es:r p:iXkr
b:aðl:i -- l:g:a dð
G:r m:ðø Aag:, m:ØJ:ð Vy:a krn:a hò ! B:ag: PÜX g:y:a ek t:Üm:-j:òs:ð qs:aI kñ p:al:ð p:_i.
l:g:a dð G:r m:ðø Aag: !
(from
Chapter Four of g:aðdan:. See
context.)
9a. s*:i H
t:Ømhðø s:c:m:Øc: khiø j:an:a hò
Vy:a ? khaú j:an:ð ki
b:at: kr rhð T:ð t:Øm: ?
Man:
I was thinking of going over to
Juneja's.
Woman: Oh? To
Juneja's! Go ahead. Go.
Man:
For the time being I don't have any
money to give him, so I should at least keep showing my face.
Woman: Yes. Go. Show
your face.
(from AaD:ð AD:Ürð by m:aðhn: rakðS: )
One more exchange from Rakesh's famous play shows how verb-left,
introduced in (9a) to express sarcasm, may be retained in the target's
rejoinder:
10a. s*:i H Ab:
j:Øn:ðj:a Aa g:y:a hò n: l:aòXkr, t:að rha krn:a ePr t:in:-t:in: edn: G:r s:ð ^:ay:b:.
Man:
You want to bring up that again? And what if
I did stay away from home sometimes for three days,
(from AaD:ð AD:Ürð by m:aðhn: rakðS:, p. 19 )
11. m:òøn:ð kha
-- khað t:að kl: ki
t:Ømhari krt:Üt: K:aðl: dÜú p:eNRt: !
l:g:a haT: j:að_n:ð.
(from
Chapter Five of g:aðdan:. See
context.)
12. CaðXi l:_ki H p:_a
s:að rha T:a Ab: T:k. m:òøn:ð j:akr j:g:a
edy:a, t:að l:g:a
m:ðrð b:al: K:iøc:n:ð.
(from AaD:ð AD:Ürð by m:aðhn: rakðS:, p. 36 )
For more on Hindi-Urdu word order see studies by Vijay Gambhir.
To index of grammatical notes.
To index of m:lhar.
Drafted and posted 21-24 Apr 2001.
3b. Vy:a kht:i hò
t:Ü ?
'What are you saying?'
The departures from
verb-right seen in Rakesh's plays leave the verb somewhere in the middle
of its clause and (given their almost complete absence in Guleri or
Premchand) may reflect a general, ongoing change in Hindi-Urdu word order.
They are certainly worthy of further study. Our concern here, however, is
with something more specific: 'Verb-left' or the occurrence of the verb on
the left edge of its clause:
'There you go, just like the
others, trying to flatter me.'
Verb-left order is diametrically opposed to the normal verb-right order
and is used by speakers who for one reason or another wish to dramatize or
draw special attention to what they are saying. What are some of the
reasons for their wishing to do this?
Insistence: Putting the
verb on the left may serve to underline a demand for a response. In (5c)
and (6c) the speakers, feeling they are being put off, repeat the
normal-order utterance of (5a) and (6a), but, the second time around, use
verb-left:
5b. p:Ø,\: H
b:at: ? . . . b:at:
kÙC B:i n:hiø.
5c. l:_ki H hò
t:að s:hi kÙC-n:-kÙC b:at:.
Older Girl:
What's the matter, Daddy?
Man:
Matter? Nothing's
the matter.
Older Girl:
I'm sure that something must be the matter.
6b. s*:i H Vy:a kh rhi hò t:Ü
?
6c. CaðXi l:_ki H
b:t:aAað, c:l:t:a hò
kÙC p:t:a ?
Younger Girl: I
don't understand what's going on around here!
'Suddenly Dhaniya
lunged like a lion and slamming into Hîrâ so hard that he
crumpled to the ground said, "Where are you off to? Beat me with your
shoe! Come on, shoe-beat me! Let's see how much of a man you are!"'
However, in this instance there is an additional motivation for using
verb-left . . .
Sarcasm: Putting the verb on the left may signal sarcastic intent. A
wife, beside herself with impotent rage, demands that her home be burned:
' . . .
pounding her head with her fists she said, "Go ahead. Burn the house
down! What do I care! It's my bad karma I fell into the
clutches of a brute like you. Go on, burn the house down!"'
In the following exchange the man, trying to defend his actions, uses
normal word order, while his wife, subjecting them to ridicule, puts the
verb on the left:
9b. p:Ø,\: H s:aðc: rha T:a,
j:Øn:ðj:a kñ y:haú
hað Aat:a.
9c. s*:i H Aað||? j:Øn:ðj:a kñ y:haú ! . .
. hað AaAað.
9d. p:Ø,\: H efl:hal: us:ð dðn:ð
kñ el:O p:òs:a n:hiø hò, t:að km:-s:ð-km:
m:Øúh t:að us:ð edK:at:ð rhn:a c:aehO.
9e. s*:i H
haú||, edK:a AaAað
m:Øúh j:akr.
Woman: Do you really
have to go someplace? Where was it you were saying you have to go?
10b. p:Ø,\: H t:Øm: ePr
s:ð v:hi b:at: uYan:a c:aht:i hað ? Ag:r rha B:i hÜú kB:i m:òø t:in: edn: G:r
s:ð b:ahr, t:að AaeQ:r
eks: v:j:h s:ð ?
Woman: Now that
Juneja's back in town, go ahead and start disappearing from the house for
three days at a time,
like you did
before!
what after all was the reason
for that?
Derision and
reproach. Finite forms of the auxiliary l:g: 'begin (to V)' are not infrequently put on the
left to create a tone of mockery or reproach:
'I said,
"And if I reveal what you did yesterday, Pandit? What then?"
And he
began clasping his hands in supplication.'
Young Girl: He was
lying asleep till now. When I went and woke him up, he started
pulling my hair.
Use of verb-left to
express insistence, sarcasm, or reproach is an option available to
speakers, not a rule of grammar or style that must be followed. A speaker
can choose to be insistent or sarcastic without using it. Since verb-left
is a marked order in Hindi-Urdu, whenever it occurs it indicates something
special about the utterance. Thus, one would expect that speakers would
rarely if ever use verb-left in a normal utterance and then switch to
normal verb-right order to signal insistence or sarcasm or some other
special attitude.