খাওঁ / খোৱা / খায়

Eat: খাওঁ, খোৱা, খায়

Level 1Sounds Like khā'ōm̐ / khōraā / khāẏa

তাই চাহ খায় “she drinks tea” uses খায়, the form for সি and তাই.

How It Works

Assamese uses খা for eating food and for drinking tea. The verb has three forms in the present.

WhoFormExample
মই, আমিখাওঁমই চাহ খাওঁ “I drink tea”
তুমিখোৱাতুমি ভাত খোৱা “you eat rice”
আপুনি, তেওঁ, সি, তাইখায়তাই চাহ খায় “she drinks tea”

Many other verbs that end in a vowel, such as যা and হ, follow the same pattern. Before -া the vowel becomes ো and ৱ is written before the ending, as in খোৱা and যোৱা. Where a consonant stem takes -ে, a vowel stem is written with য়, as in খায় and যায়. A few differ a little: দি “give” keeps its vowel, as in মই দিওঁ, তুমি দিয়া and সি দিয়ে.

Learn খাওঁ, খোৱা and খায় as a set. You can then build the same set for যা and for many other vowel stems.

Examples (5)

  1. মই ভাত খাওঁ।

    I eat rice.

    মই takes the form খাওঁ.

  2. তুমি ভাত খোৱা।

    You eat rice. (to a friend)

    With তুমি the stem becomes খো- and ৱ is written before -া: খোৱা.

  3. সি ভাত খায়।

    He eats rice.

    With সি the ending is written য় after the vowel: খায়.

  4. আপুনি মাছ খায়।

    You eat fish. (respectful)

    আপুনি and সি use the same form.

  5. আমি মাছ খাওঁ।

    We eat fish.

    আমি takes খাওঁ, like মই.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the ending for সি with মই.

    মই খায়।
    মই খাওঁ।

    After মই the ending is ওঁ, so the form is খাওঁ. The form খায় is for সি, তাই, আপুনি and তেওঁ.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

খাওঁ / খোৱা / খায়Level 1Eat: খাওঁ, খোৱা, খায়

Learn This First

খা “eat” takes the same endings as কৰ with a small change in its stem, so learners need the present endings first.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.