करी / करै

Shall and Might: करी and करै

Level 3Sounds Like karī a'ura karai

The short forms करी and करै express shall, let or might.

How It Works

Awadhi has a short "might" form that works without a helper. It is used for offers, questions about what to do and polite wishes.

Whoकरबजाब
हमकरीजाई
तुमकरौजाव
ऊकरैजाय
ऊ (several, respect)करैंजाँय

With हम it means "shall I?" or "let us": हम का करी? (What shall I do?), चलौ, हम बजार चली. With ऊ it is a wish or a guess: ऊ आवै (let him come, he might come).

हम जाई? (shall I go?) looks like the future ऊ जाई (he will go). The subject tells them apart: with हम it is an offer, with ऊ it is a plain future.

The same short forms follow words like चाहत अहै कि (wants that) and जौ (if).

Examples (4)

  1. हम का करी?

    What shall I do?

    करी is the short form for हम.

  2. चलौ, हम बजार चली।

    Come on, let's go to the market.

    चली is an invitation.

  3. हम चाय बनाई?

    Shall I make tea?

    बनाई offers help.

  4. कउन जानै, ऊ काल्हि आवै।

    Who knows, he might come tomorrow.

    आवै is a guess.

How It Connects

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करी / करैLevel 3Shall and Might: करी and करै

Learn This First

करी looks like the ऊ future and matches the -ई ending of चली.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.