Hindi speakers can use the particle भी with a verb form, much as speakers of English use 'too', to indicate the inclusion of an action within a series or set of related actions:

  (1)  ज्योत्स्ना बैजल के चित्र को मेज़ पर पड़ी पुस्तकों में टटोलने लगी। वह चित्र मिल भी गया।     (from Yashpal's story होली नहीं खेलता, p. 148)
        'Jyotsna began rooting around for Baijal's photo among the books lying on his table. She found it, too.'

  (2)  भोला ग्वाला था और दूध-मक्खन का व्यवसाय करता था. ... कभी-कभी किसानों के हाथ गायें बेच भी देता था.
        'Bhola was a dairyman and dealt in milk and butter. ...sometimes he'd also sell cows to the peasants.'

         (from Premchand's गोदान. See context)

         However, unlike English 'too', the particle भी with a verb form may also be used by Hindi speakers to concede a point without giving up their position entirely. The effect is similar to "... and even if I did...","... even if I didn't...", "... even so...", etc. For instance, in the play आधे अधूरे by मोहन राकेश the lead character sarcastically accuses her husband of intending to stay away from home for long periods of time.

  (3a)  ... तो रहा करना फिर तीन-तीन दिन घर से ग़ायब !       (Rakesh 1978:19)
          ' ... go ahead and disappear again from the house for three days at a time!'

His response includes this line:

  (3b)  अगर रहा भी हूँ कभी मैं तीन दिन घर से बाहर, तो आख़िर किस वजह से ?       (Rakesh 1978:19)
          'And even if I did stay out of the house for three days at a time, why did I do that?'

By using भी in this way, the male lead is able to concede that he has indeed stayed away from home for three days at a stretch without losing the argument altogether. [Note the leftmost position in its clause of the verb रहा करना - an indicator of sarcasm - in the wife’s accusation and (in its being ironically copied) of angry defiance in the husband’s reply. For further discussion see notes on "verb-left" - लगा क़िस्मत कोसने.]

          Another example of concessional use of भी:

  (4)  और मुनई ख़ुद भी अपने चार पेड़ कटवाने जा रहा है… उसे तो फ़र्क न पड़ेगा… बारह बीघे का बाग़ खड़ा है आमों का… सड़क के पेड़ कट भी गए तो क्या !
          'And Munai is going to have four trees of his own cut down… well, it makes no difference to him… with his
          twelve-bigha orchard of mango trees… what's it to him if his four trees by the road are cut down!'
          (Chandel 1993:185)

The use of verb + भी in a question indicates that the hearer is the one expected to concede a point:

  (5)  "किसी को बेच देंगे ।"
         "और कोई ले भी ले ? "
         "हाँ, जाट भले ही न लेवें, पर और बहुत से मिल जाएँगे उसके लेनेवाले ।"       (from V. Verma's टूटे काँटे: p. 70)

         "They will sell it to someone."
         "And would anyone buy it?"
         "Okay, even if the Jats won't buy it, still there will be no shortage of others ready to take it."

          Besides the two described above there is a third function of Verb + भी. As seen in (6) it can be used to present an action as an extreme within a range of hypothetical actions:

  (6)  ग़रीबों का दर्द कौन समझता है ! हम तो मर भी जाते हैं तो कोई दुआर पर झाँकने नहीं आता, कंधा देना तो बड़ी बात है !
        'Who understands the pain of the poor. Even when we die no-one comes so much as to look in at the door.
         What then to say of actually giving us a hand!'     (from ठाकुर का कुआँ by प्रेमचन्द. See context.)

In this meaning verb plus भी does not concede a point. Rather, it serves to strengthen the argument that the speaker is making.

          Word order can make a difference in how भी is to be interpreted. पसंद भी आ गई in (7) is straightforward: 'He both liked a girl and married her' while पसंद आ भी गई in (8) is concessional:

  (7)  उन्हें इनमें से एक लड़की पसंद भी आ गई और फिर उन्होंने उससे शादी भी कर ली।
        'He chose a girl from among them and he married her.'     [hindi.business-standard.com]

  (8)  कहानी ... डीडी को पसंद नहीं आती थी यदि उन्‍हें पसंद आ भी गई तो केवल एक बार स्टोरी चलती थी।
        'Didi didn't like the story. Even if she did like it it would only be shown once.'   [www.newswriters.in]

In general if the verb has more than one part [as in examples (3b, (4), and (5)], then concessional भी comes to the right of the first part of the verb. If the verb has only one part, the भी comes immediately after it [as in example (9)]:

  (9)  'मैंने चैनल के बारे में कभी कुछ नहीं कहा और यदि कहा भी तो मैं उससे माफी मांग चुकी हूँ।       [www.hindimedia.in]
       'I never said anything (bad) about the channel and if I did say something I've already apologized.'

If the verb is a "conjunct" verb [like राज़ी होना in example (10) or दिखाई देना in example (11)], the भी comes to the immediate right of the invariant (non-inflecting) element of such a verb:

  (10)  और बहुत कहने-सुनने से राज़ी भी हुई, तो इतनी लम्बी -चौड़ी फ़ीस माँगी कि बाबू साहब के सिर झुकाकर चले आने के सिवा और कुछ न सुझा ।
        'And after a great deal of begging and bargaining even if one did agree to come, she would demand
        such an exorbitant fee that there was nothing Babu Maheshnath could do but come away shamefaced.'

       (from Premchand's story दूध का दाम: context)

  (11)  सूनी सड़क पर कोई दूसरा आदमी दिखाई नहीं दे रहा था । रास्ते में आते-जाते दो-चार आदमी दिखाई भी दिए तो ज्ञानचन्द को झेंप ही मालूम हुई ।
        'No other person was to be seen on the deserted street. Even if a few passers-by did appear on the road,
         Gyanchand only felt shame.'       (from Yashpal's गवाही, p. 404)

If the conjunct verb is itself compound [like पसंद आ गई in example (8)], then concessional भी comes to the right of the second element of the conjunct verb:

  (12)  साथ में उसके भैया-भाभी भी होंगे तो ज्यादा बात भी नहीं कर पाऊंगा। अगर पसंद आ भी गई तो बात नहीं कर पाऊंगा।
         'Her brother and sister-in-law will be there, too, so I won't be able to talk much with her.
          Even if I like her I won't be able to talk with her.'             [www.desibees.com]

If the verb is negated there is a tendency for भी to immediately follow the marker of negation and to precede the verb:

  (13)  मैंने सोचा कि सुबह होते ही मेरे परिवार के लोग जरूर मुझे खोजने आएंगे और अगर नहीं भी आए तो मैं दिन में अपना रास्ता खोज लूँगी ।
          'I thought my family would surely come looking for me at daybreak and if they didn't come
           then I'd find my own way later in the day.'

    (parikalpnaa.blogspot.com)

  (14)  और एक के बाद एक पेड़ कटवाए दे रहे हैं लोग और जो नहीं भी कटवाना चाहते, उन्हें विवश किया जा रहा है कटवाने के लिये ।
          'And one after another people are having their trees cut down, and those who don't want
           to have them cut down, they are being forced to have them cut down.'     (Chandel 1993:184)

  (15)  उसे लगा कि अब घर की हरेक चीज़ ठण्डी हो गई है और जो नहीं भी हुई है वह भी जल्दी ही हो जाएगी ।
          'It seemed to her as if everything in the house had gone stone cold, and whatever had not
           that too soon would.'

          (from रब्बर बैंड by अन्विता अब्बी. See context.)

To notes on X तो X and the elaboration of भी.

To index of grammatical notes.

To index of Mellonsite.

Reference to other work on Verb + भी.

Drafted: June 1999.
Posted: 5 Aug 1999.
Updated: 7 Aug 1999, 18 Aug 1999, 5 Sept 1999, 17 Oct 1999, 18 Oct 1999, 12 Mar 2001, 31 Jan 2002. IE-enabled 17 Aug 2004.
Mangalized on 5 Sep 2015. Augmented 6 Sep 2015 & 18 Sep 2015.