Use of Auxiliary in Hindi
Primary role:
Tense/Aspect anchoring
Auxiliaries license tense/aspect anchoring. Finite clauses in Hindi need an auxiliary (hai, thā, hogā, etc.). That auxiliary anchors tense/aspect (present, past, future, progressive, perfective, etc.).
Without it, sentences like:
- rām caltā
- rām nahī̃ caltā
feel incomplete, almost like a nominal predicate or a fragment.
2. Secondary role:
Licensing negation
Auxiliaries also license negation.
Example:
- rām nahī̃ chaltā hai → grammatical
- rām nahī̃ chaltā → ungrammatical (clause collapses)
Here, nahī̃ is targeting chaltā. But without hai, the clause cannot close off properly. The auxiliary provides the tense/aspect frame that lets negation scope over a full proposition.
So, auxiliaries don’t create negation. They make space for it by supplying clausal scaffolding.
That’s why the literature often says “auxiliaries license negation” — it’s shorthand for:
Negation needs a finite clause, and auxiliaries are what make the clause finite.
Summary
- Without auxiliary → fragment, predicate-only, non-finite
- With auxiliary → full clause, finite, truth-evaluable
FAQ
Q: What is a nominal predicate?
A nominal predicate = a predicate made of a noun or adjective (not a verb).
In Hindi, predicates can be formed from:
- Verbs → rām caltā hai “Ram walks” (verbal predicate)
- Adjectives → rām bīmār hai “Ram is sick” (adjectival predicate)
- Nouns → rām ācārya hai “Ram is a teacher” (nominal predicate)