Adding the invariant ending -ए to the first part of a transitive compound verb lends a note of insistence or even stubbornness to an expression:

 1.  गला सूखा जा रहा है और तू सड़ा पानी पिलाए देती है !
      'My throat is drying up and you insist on giving me rotten water to drink!'

      (from Premchand's ठाकुर का कुआँ: context.)

 2.  नायक तीव्रता के साथ बोला, 'हम अभी सब देखे लेते हैं!'
      'The officer said sharply, "We'll see all of that right now!"'

      (from Vrindavan Lal Verma's टूटे काँटे, p. 18)

The suffix -ए may be used by speakers to dramatize what they are saying, in particular with the verb कह दे- 'say', to indicate that they will not take 'no' for an answer. Example (3) is from a story where a low caste woman is intent on staking a prior claim to a reward for becoming wetnurse to the baby boy of a landowner:

 3.  बहूजी, मूँडन मेंं चूड़े लूँगी कहे देती हूँ !
      'Bahuji, you'll give me heavy bangles at his Munj (tonsure ceremony). I will have them, I tell you.'

      (from Premchand's गोदान: context.)

 Compare example [3] with [4] in which the insistent tone is absent - as is the -ए on कह- :

 4.  मैं कह देता हूँ, कभी मिलेंगे तो कहूँगा |
      'I tell [her], if I meet [him], I'll tell [him] [to drop by].'

      (from Premchand'sगोदान: context.)

Adding -ए to the first part of a compound verb may also often give a sense of imminence or immediate future:

 5.  आज ही खेत की कटाई आरम्भ करे देता हूँ, अधिक ठहरने से ओले-पानी का संकट सिर पर आ सकता है ...
      'I will start the harvest right from today. If I wait any longer I may have rain or hail to contend with.'

      (from Vrindavan Lal Verma's टूटे काँटे, p. 11)

At times the -ए simply indicates "nearly" (6) or supports subordinating conjunctions having the meaning of "as if", such as जैसे or मानों (7). The effect is to hedge or pull back slightly from what would otherwise be an implausible assertion or exaggeration:

 6.  इतने जानवरों को क्या खिलावें , यही चिन्ता मारे डालती है।
      'I'm worried to death. What shall I feed so many animals? '

      (from Premchand's गोदान: context.)

 7. उसके अन्तःकारण से जैसे आशीर्वादों का व्यूह-सा निकल कर होरी को अपने अन्दर छिपाये लेता था ।
      'As if a storm of blessings emerged from her heart to conceal [and protect] Hori.'

      (from Premchand's गोदान: context.)

It is to be noted that the addition of -ए to the first (non-finite) verb in a serial sequence (ie, two verbs in a sequence that together express two closely sequenced actions) has the same effect as adding -ए to the main verb in a compound verb. In (8) and (9) speakers refer to complex actions that they will carry out right away:

 8.  यह पानी कैसे पियोगे ? न जाने कौन जानवर मरा है । कुएँ से मैं दूसरा पानी लाए देती हूँ ।
      'How will you drink this water. Who knows what animal died in it! I'll go get more water from the well.'

     (from Premchand's ठाकुर का कुआँ : context.)

 9.  अब यहाँ आकर मैंने देख लिया कि आपके घर में मेरे लिये जगह हो सकती है। इसलिये मैं सामान उठाए लाता हूँ ।
      'Coming here I see that your house has room for me. So I'll just go get [= pick up and bring] my things.'

      ( from bottom of page 6 of Shaokat Thanvi's भाभी )

The compound [and serial] verb in -ए is usually encountered in the present or past habitual form.

Occasionally, however, the verb in -ए occurs in the progressive:

 10. मुँह से वो कुछ कहें न कहें, उनकी चमकती हुई आँखें सब-सब कहे दे रही थीं!
      'Whatever they might utter or not utter, their shining eyes were saying it all!'       from Amrit Rai's विद्रोह)

 11. यह नई बीमारी हमारे प्राण लिए ले रही है, तोड़े डाल रही है।
      'This new illness is taking our souls, breaking our hearts!'     [oshoganga.blogspot.com/2014/10/3-60.html]

 12. आर्थिक सिक्योरिटी बड़ी चीज़ है—मगर यह रुटीन तो मेरी जान सोखे ले रहा है।
      'Having financial security is a fine thing - but this routine is sucking the life out of me.'   (मोहन राकेश की डायरी से)

Most instances of the compound verb in -ए in the progressive are dramatic expressions or exaggerations.

       To exercise.

        (For more examples and discussion of the compound verb in -ए see Hook 1974: 261-7.)

Other notes dealing with compound verbs:

        General functions of compound [versus non-compound] verbs.

        Vector डाल-.

        Vector बैठ-.

        Vector पड़-.

        Compound-compound verbs (गर्मी मारके रख देती है)

        Return to Mellon Project indexpage.

Drafted: July 1999. Posted: 17 Aug 1999.
Updated: 19 Sept 1999, 18 Oct 1999, 18 Sep 2001, 11 Feb 2002, 7 July 2004. Corrected and augmented 23 Aug, 1 & 4-6 Sep 2015.