# Hindi: I was/I have been



## Lol999

If in response to a question as to what I had been doing last week, then in English I would say "I have been working", refering to the fact I had been boing to work. Looking at the past continuous tense in Hindi I would say "Main kam kar raha tha" which I believe translates to "I was working/I have been doing work".
Is this the same as "I have been working" or would it be said in a different way in Hindi?

Thanks, Lol


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## bakshink

I think it will be better if some Grammatician replies to it but any way I will put in my contribution- it will help you at least. I have been working- Main kaam kar raha thha- It's same as I was working and so is it in English- Both I have been working and I was working do not convey- whether you are working now or not- only to get around in Hindi- if you want to convey that you were working then but are not working now- Like you will say in Engish- I was working then- In Hindi you will say- Tab main kaam kar raha thha OR Tab main kaam pe jata thha- which conveys that now you don't.


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## Lol999

Thanks Bakshink, I thought I was along the right lines but different languages have different nuances and I'm not so sure of English sometimes!

Thanks for your help, Lol


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## Rhman

I am neither a native speaker nor an expert on this...but just to add to the discussion, I will give my two cents.

I think that all of the above is correct...and probably past continuous is the best tense to use.

But what about "mai.N ne kaam kiyaa hai"?  That is the present perfective which indicates the effects are still being felt/it's not completely in the past.  I think it's ambiguous about whether or not you're still working this week.  I think it directly translates to your original sentiment which was essentially "I had worked".  Or then to say "I had gone to work." would be "mai.N kaam pe gayaa huu.N."

Again, I'm not correcting the above posts, more trying to expand the discussion because I find I don't use the perfective beyond the simple perfective often and I'm curious.

Thanks!


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## Illuminatus

I can't think of a natural sounding Hindi construction that would be closer to _I've been working_. _Main kaam kar raha tha_ literally translates to I was working, as you pointed out, but that's what we normally use.

But, there is another way you can say this. It is slightly colloquial, but conveys the idea.
_Main kaam mei.n laga hua tha_ indicates that we were occupied with work, and this sentence is pretty idiomatic. 

Eg, _Kal meri report khatm ho jaayegi. Mai.n ek hafte se usi ko likhne mei.n laga hua hoon._ = Tomorrow, my report will be finished. I have been occupied in writing it since the past one week.

Also the construction _Maine kaam kiya hai_ does not sound natural to me either. It sort of stresses the fact that you did work, but in a rather defensive way. 

Eg. Ek hafte se tum yahaa.n sirf baiThe huey ho? Kuch kiya bhi hai tumne?
Reply: Haa.n. Maine kaafi kaam kiya hai.

@Bakshink: Please consider punctuating your posts with newlines rather than hyphens. It makes reading them easier.


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## BP.

Could we consider these:
_mai.n pichhlai haftai kaam *karta rahaa* hoo.n_ _/ kaam peh *jaata rahaa* hoo.n_

I can imagine having heard thing along these lines, but can't vouch on their grammatical correctness.


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## Illuminatus

Their _grammatical_ correctness 

I think they will do. But, they work with a since rather than during construction

Mai.n pichle hafte se kaam mei.n laga hua hoon


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## Lol999

There are some fine answers flying around here and I understand *some* of them, but remember folks my Hindi is basement level, not the penthouse ;-)


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## Illuminatus

Please feel free to ask for clarification. We do tend to get over-excited!


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## Lol999

Well one thing I have come across before is the "pe" in this sentence:

mai.N kaam _pe_ gayaa huu.N.

which I would be grateful for an explaination and then of course there is your own sentence:

Ek hafte se tum yahaa.n sirf baiThe huey ho? Kuch kiya bhi hai tumne?

I understand some of the words but a transliteration would be very helpful to advance my learning.

Thanks, Lol


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## Illuminatus

pe = colloquial for _par_ = on

The sentence translates to:
You have just been sitting here since a week?! Have you done anything at all?


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## Lol999

Okay, I can handle that but in that case how does "mai.N kaam _pe_ gayaa huu.N." translate to "I had gone to work" as in Rhman's post? Literally translated it reads " I work on had  gone" so I would expect the "pe/par" to be replaced with a "ko", or is that too simplistic? i.e "mai.n kaam ko gayaa huu.n"

Thanks, Lol


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## Rhman

Lol, I don't fully understand why it isn't "ko", but "pe/par" can be used to mean "at" as well as "on".  Most frequently I've heard it in the context of being at home (ghar pe).


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## bakshink

No Lol999 and Rahman- When you say Kaam pe gaya hai it will mean he has gone for a job (where he's employed and goes to routinely).

When you say Kaam se gaya hai that means he has gone to do some work ( for example running an errand).

Same way we can say Wo koyee kaam karne gaya hai (He has gone to do some work (which is not the job for which he goes daily).

So Papa roz subha kaam pe jate hain, Wahaan daftar ka kaam karte hain magar koyee zaroori kaam pad jaye to daftar se bahar bhi jana padta hai..

Papa goes to the office daily and does his office work there however for some urgent work sometimes he has to go out from the office.

Kam ko jana and kaam ke liye jana and kaam par jana mean to go for work other than where you are employed and go routinely.

Kam pe and par are also used interchangeably.

In Hindi/Urdu context, nuiances of speech and emphasis matters a lot. Some times same words can have an entirely a different meaning.

Aap kabhi kabhi humare ghar aya karo- It means Come to our home sometimes.
It also means don't come to our home so often.


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## Lol999

Thanks Bakshink, I guess this is one of those instances where I have to accept first and worry about the logic (if any) of the construction later.

Thanks, Lol


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## Qureshpor

Lol999 said:


> If in response to a question as to what I had been doing last week, then in English I would say "I have been working", refering to the fact I had been boing to work. Looking at the past continuous tense in Hindi I would say "Main kam kar raha tha" which I believe translates to "I was working/I have been doing work".
> Is this the same as "I have been working" or would it be said in a different way in Hindi?
> 
> Thanks, Lol



*1) From begining of a period:

pichchle ek hafte se tum kyaa kar rahe ho?

What have you been doing for the past week?

2) During a period:

pichle hafte (meN) tum kyaa karte rahe ho?

What have you been doing (during) last week?

3) Time period taken as a point:

pichhle hafte tum kyaa kar rahe the?

What were you doing last week?


*


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