It Works; It Walks: Sab Chalta Hain!

Chalna is an oft-used verb in Bollywood. Depending on context, it can mean to walk, to come, or to work (as in function). The overall gist is that it indicates movement, so sometimes it can also refer to nature (like pavan chalti hain -> the wind blows).

The present tense for all verbs in Hindi operates as follows: drop the "na" part of the infinitive, and add "ti" if the subject is/are female, "ta" if the subject is third-person male, and "te" if the subject is second-person male, or if the subjects are plural, including at least one male. Then, use the proper form of "hona," which we learned back here.

The imperative (command) forms are chalo for one person (chal as the extremely informal form), and chaliye for plural subjects (or a respected singular subject). The infinitive "chalna" can also be used. The subjunctive form is "chale."

The present progressive participle is "chalte," equivalent to "caminando" in Spanish.

Let's try some out.

Main chalti hoon -> I walk [female]
Tum chalte ho -> You walk [male]
Hum chalte hain -> We walk
Woh chalta hain -> He walks [male]; OR It works [masculine object]
Gaadi chalti hain -> The car works
Chalo! -> Come!
Mere saath chalo -> Come with me.
Dheere chalna -> Walk slowly

And now for a musical finale.

Here is a song from Mohabbatein entitled "Chalte Chalte." The lyrics to the chorus include, "Chalte chalte yunhi ruk jaata hoon main." Yunhi means "just like that" or "arbitrarily," used here to indicate the whimsical mindset of this young lad who randomly stops while walking (ruk jaana is to stop). The rest of the chorus goes to say "While sitting I get lost somewhere; while talking I become silent. Is this love?" (baithna is to sit; kho jaana is to get lost; kehna is to speak; chup ho jaana is to become silent.)