Gujarati Present, Past and Future Tenses for Beginners

Gujarati verbs look like a lot at first, but they follow clear patterns. The verb is listed in the infinitive ending in -વું (or -વા), and endings are added to the stem.

The stem

Remove -વું from the infinitive to get the stem: લખવું (to write) → લખ-; જવું (to go) → જ-; ખાવું (to eat) → ખા-.

Present tense (લખવું)

The present tense is built from the stem plus an ending plus છું / છે / છો / છીએ:

Person	Form
હું	લખું છું
તું	લખે છે
તે	લખે છે
અમે / આપણે	લખીએ છીએ
તમે	લખો છો
તેઓ	લખે છે

This means "I write" or "I am writing". For gender, the present doesn't change.

More verbs of the same type: વાંચવું (read), બોલવું (speak), રમવું (play), પીવું (drink), ખાવું (eat).

Past tense

The past tense uses a stem with -યો / -યી / -યું (or -ઓ / -ઈ / -યું) endings, agreeing in gender and number with the subject (for intransitive verbs) or with the object (for transitive verbs):

• હું ગયો (I went, male), હું ગઈ (I went, female)
• તે આવ્યો, તે આવી, બાળક આવ્યું
• અમે ગયા (we went)

For "eat", ખાવું → ખાધું: મેં ખાધું. — I ate.

Future tense

The future adds -ીશ, -શે, -ીશું, -શો:

Person	Form
હું	લખીશ
તું	લખીશ / લખશે
તે	લખશે
અમે / આપણે	લખીશું
તમે	લખશો
તેઓ	લખશે

• હું કાલે આવીશ. — I'll come tomorrow.
• તે લખશે. — He'll write.
• આપણે જઈશું. — We'll go.

Continuous and habitual

• હું લખું છું. — I write / I am writing.
• હું રોજ લખું છું. — I write every day.
• હું લખતો હતો. — I was writing / used to write. (male)

Common verbs to learn

Infinitive	Meaning
જવું	to go
આવવું	to come
કરવું	to do
ખાવું	to eat
પીવું	to drink
જોવું	to see
સાંભળવું	to hear, listen
બોલવું	to speak
જાણવું	to know
આપવું	to give
લેવું	to take
રહેવું	to stay, live

Irregular past forms

• જવું → ગયો / ગઈ / ગયું
• કરવું → કર્યું
• લેવું → લીધું
• આપવું → આપ્યું
• પીવું → પીધું
• જોવું → જોયું

Commands

• જાઓ — go (respectful)
• જા — go (informal)
• આવો — come (respectful)
• બેસો — sit (respectful)
• લખો — write

Word order

The verb is at the end: હું રોજ ગુજરાતી પુસ્તક વાંચું છું. — I read a Gujarati book every day.

Learning strategy

1. Learn the stem method.
2. Learn છું / છે / છો / છીએ.
3. Learn irregular pasts as they come.
4. Use time words: આજે (today), કાલે (tomorrow/yesterday), રોજ (daily).

Common beginner errors

• Forgetting the helper છે in the present.
• Not matching gender in the past.
• Using the infinitive as the main verb.

Look up Gujarati verbs and forms with English Gujarati Dictionary →