Mellon Project: Advanced Hindi

The meanings and functions of the compound verb.
(adapted and expanded from § 24A of Hindi Structures)

It is natural to wonder what the difference in meaning is between the compound and non-compound [or "simple"] forms of a given verb in contexts where either form occurs. There is no formula that can be mechanically used to decide when to use a compound verb and when no to. Not enough is known about the meanings of the compound verb to provide such instruction, even if there were space to write it all down. Correct use of the compound verb is a matter that is much more complex and subtle than learning the correct use of the causative or the subjunctive. It is something one learns gradually over the years, after hearing and seeing the compound verb thousands of times and after making many mistakes which, with a bit of luck, native speakers of Hindi will correct. However, this is not to make an unfathomable mystery out of it. There is a great deal one can learn by conscious attention, study, and practice.
First we will look at some general formulations of the difference in meaning between the compound and the simple verb. Then we will examine how these differences are realized in concrete situations.
An action may be thought of as consisting of a number of stages or phases. First is the stage of inaction, of intention and preparation; then comes the stage of effort; then the consummation of action leading to achievement, change or transition to something new. In most general terms, using a compound verb allows the mind to travel across the phases of an action. Using the simple verb illuminates a single stage. (However, the choice of when to let the mind travel fully through the phases of an action and when not to is not a matter of simple whim. There is remarkable agreement about when a full look is appropriate and when a simple flash will do. This agreement is such that speakers of Hindi are able to restore an author's choices to a doctored text with a high degree of accuracy, provided they are able to see the full context.)
If someone says दोस्त हमारे घर में आया in one's mind's eye one sees the friend inside the house. But if one says दोस्त हमारे घर में आ गया, this fairly simple picture becomes complicated or deepened in some way. One may think of the friend as someone successively outside and then inside the house. One becomes conscious of both the process and the result of his passage into the house. Or, depending on context or intonation, one may come to know the speaker's attitude toward this event, that is, how it changed him. Perhaps he'd been waiting for someone and is relieved by their return:

1. "मैं बहुत खुश हूँ क्योंकि तुम आख़िरकार हमारे घर में वापस आ गए हो ।" [punjabscreen.blogspot.com]
'I am very happy that finally you've come back home.'

Or perhaps the speaker is annoyed by their return:

2. गब्बर: "फिर भी तुम लोग वापस आ गए ... हरामजादो ..." [www.hindivichar.com]
Ghabbar Singh: "And still you came back? Bastards!"

Using the non-compound or simple verb to express an action usually indicates that the speaker is interested only in registering the result of the action. That is why the simple verb occurs to express actions whose results are routine, predictable, not out of the normal:

3. आपका खत मिला जो आपने 11 अगस्त को भेजा था | [www.samyaksanvad.com]
'I got your letter which you'd sent on August 11th.'

To say मिल गया here might imply that the speaker was unhappy to get it, or had been anxiously waiting for it or that it had been lost and was found it again. The compound verb supports numerous possible interpretations. Another example:

4. मेरा जनम उन्नीस सौ बयालीस में हुआ |
'I was born in 1942.'

To use the compound हो गया in (4) would have humorous effect: Maybe I was born by mistake or without wanting to or after having waited around (in heaven?) for a long time. Or after several attempts. In short, using the compound instead of the non-compound in reporting my birthdate forces the hearer to entertain one or another implausible alternative to my simply being born when I was.
For smilar reasons, reporting a usually unforeseeable event - such as an earthquake - is almost always expressed by a non-compound verb:

5. ग्यारह मार्च को पूर्वोत्तर जापान में विनाशकारी भूकम्प आया था। [www.samaylive.com]
'On March 11th there was a destructive earthquake in northeast Japan.'

Sometimes a non-compound is used not to record a result without attention to the activity preceding it, but to record preceding activity without attention to the result. The non-compound तसवीर बनाता हूँ in (6) refers to the effort to form a mental picture, but in itself does not imply a successful completion of that effort:

6. मैं तसवीर बनाता हूँ - तसवीर नहीं बनती । [song from फ़िल्मः बारादरी (1955)]
'I try to form a picture [but] the picture doesn't form.'

Substituting the corresponding compound form बना लेता हूँ for बनाता हूँ in the context of (6) creates a contradiction.
In contrast contexts which "set up" the conception of an action or event as complete strongly favor the use of a compound form of a verb:

7. बारिश इतनी जोरदार थी कि शहर की तमाम सड़कें व गलियां पानी से भर गई | [www.article.wn.com]
'The rain was so heavy that all the city streets and lanes flooded with water.'

Contrast (7) with (8) in which completeness is not "set up" by the preceding clause:

8. बारिश इतनी जोरदार नहीं थी कि पानी सड़क पर भरता। context
'The rain was not so heavy that water flooded onto the street.'

While completeness is one of the primary meanings of the compound verb, it is not its only meaning. Two other meanings of the compound verb [when opposed to the corresponding non-compound] are anteriority and ease. Anteriority: If speakers wish to show that one action is complete before another they may indicate this by expressing the earlier action with a compound verb: