Hindi has a productive verbal derivation process that is applied to both inherited and borrowed verbs. It is characterised by the use of certain suffixes as well as vowel gradation (ablaut).
Intransitive verbal derivations usually treat the subject as the lexical-semantic Patient or Theme of the verb, i.e. they are passive forms of the verb they are derived from; the subject is the one upon whom the verb acts.
These generally take the guṇa grade of their internal vowel. In case where the stem ends in a vowel, a -l- is inserted between the stem and ending for the passivized form.
| Vowel change | Original | New |
|---|---|---|
| ā→a | जागना (jāgnā, “to awaken”) | जगना (jagnā, “to wake up”) (less agentive) |
| ī→i | चीरना (cīrnā, “to split, rend”) | चिरना (cirnā, “to be split”) |
| ū→u | चूसना (cūsnā, “to suck”) | चुसना (cusnā, “to be sucked”) |
| e→i | छेड़ना (cheṛnā, “to tease, annoy”) | छिड़ना (chiṛnā, “to be teased, annoyed”) |
| ai→i | ||
| o→u | घोलना (gholnā, “to melt, cause to melt”) | घुलना (ghulnā, “to be melted, to melt by itself”) |
| धोना (dhonā, “to wash”) | धुलना (dhulnā, “to be washed”) | |
| au→u |
These take either the vṛddhī grade or the suffix -आना (-ānā).
These take either the suffix -आना (-ānā) or -वाना (-vānā) on the intransitive form.
These take the suffix -वाना (-vānā) on the intransitive form. Not every verb has one. Their meaning is of the form "to cause x to make y do something (to z)". The y is an animate, agentive instrument.
These take the root of the verb (i.e. without -ना (-nā)) to form a masculine or feminine noun.