The Verb 'To Be' in Gujarati: છું, છે, છો and હતો

The verb "to be" is the first you need. In Gujarati, the present tense forms of to be are short and are also used as helper verbs for other tenses.

Present tense: છું, છે, છો, છીએ

Person	Form
હું (I)	છું
તું (you, informal)	છે
તે (he/she/it)	છે
અમે / આપણે (we)	છીએ
તમે (you, respectful/plural)	છો
તેઓ (they)	છે

Examples:

• હું વિદ્યાર્થી છું. — I'm a student.
• તે શિક્ષક છે. — He/she is a teacher.
• અમે ગુજરાતી છીએ. — We're Gujarati.
• તમે કેમ છો? — How are you?
• આ પુસ્તક છે. — This is a book.

Past tense: હતો, હતી, હતું

The past tense changes for gender and number:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
I / he / you (sg.)	હતો	હતી	હતું
we / they / you (pl.)	હતા	હતી	હતાં

Examples:

• હું ઘરે હતો. — I was at home. (male speaker)
• હું ઘરે હતી. — I was at home. (female speaker)
• તે બીમાર હતો. — He was ill.
• અમે અમદાવાદમાં હતા. — We were in Ahmedabad.

Future: હોઈશ, હશે

• હું ત્યાં હોઈશ. — I'll be there.
• તે કાલે ઘરે હશે. — He'll be at home tomorrow (or "he's probably at home").
• અમે હોઈશું.

Sentences about place, identity and description

• Place: હું ઘરમાં છું. — I'm in the house.
• Identity: આ મારો ભાઈ છે. — This is my brother.
• Description: ઘર મોટું છે. — The house is big.
• Time: હમણાં ત્રણ વાગ્યા છે. — It's three o'clock now.
• Age: હું પચીસ વર્ષનો છું. — I'm 25 years old (male). હું પચીસ વર્ષની છું. (female)

Where "to be" acts as a helper

The forms છું, છે, છો, છીએ also help make the present continuous and habitual: હું લખું છું (I write, or I'm writing), તે જાય છે (he goes). The main verb comes first and to be follows.

Negative: નથી

The negative of છે is નથી:

• હું ઘરમાં નથી. — I'm not in the house.
• તે શિક્ષક નથી. — He's not a teacher.
• અમે નથી.

The past negative is ન હતો / ન હતી / ન હતું: તે ઘરે ન હતો. — He wasn't at home.

Questions

Add શું at the start, or just raise your tone:

• શું તમે વિદ્યાર્થી છો? — Are you a student?
• તમે કોણ છો? — Who are you?
• તમે ક્યાં છો? — Where are you?

Other verbs "to be"

હોવું is the infinitive meaning "to be". The verb also exists as થવું (to become, to happen): તે ડૉક્ટર થયો. — He became a doctor.

Learning tips

1. Memorise the present forms first.
2. Learn the past forms with their gender endings.
3. Practise with sentences about yourself.
4. Note that છે covers તું, તે and તેઓ.

Common beginner errors

• Using છું with the wrong subject.
• Forgetting gender in the past: હતો/હતી/હતું.
• Using છે in the negative instead of નથી.

Look up Gujarati verbs with English Gujarati Dictionary →