-ायचा

What Someone Used to Do

Level 3Sounds Like ̔āyacā

The ending agrees with the doer: तो पोहायचा, ती पोहायची, and with मी a man says पोहायचो and a woman says पोहायचे.

How It Works

Use this pattern for what someone used to do, often with लहानपणी (in childhood) or रोज (every day).

Whoपोहणे
मी (man)पोहायचो
मी (woman)पोहायचे
तू (man / woman)पोहायचास / पोहायचीस
तो / तीपोहायचा / पोहायची
आम्ही / तेपोहायचो / पोहायचे
आजी, त्यापोहायच्या

The ending follows the doer. A man says मी लहानपणी रोज क्रिकेट खेळायचो, and a woman says मी लहानपणी रोज गाणी म्हणायचे.

Add a time word such as लहानपणी, तेव्हा or पूर्वी to show that the habit belongs to the past. Without one, the listener still understands it as a past habit.

The pattern puts the habit in the past. It does not say whether the habit goes on today. To describe the habit as it is now, use the present form.

The negative uses नाही after the verb: तो रोज पोहायचा नाही. (He didn't use to swim every day.)

Examples (5)

  1. लहानपणी तो रोज नदीत पोहायचा.

    As a child, he used to swim in the river every day.

    पोहायचा agrees with तो.

  2. ती शाळेत पायी जायची.

    She used to walk to school.

    जायची agrees with ती.

  3. मी लहानपणी रोज गाणी म्हणायचे.

    As a child I used to sing songs every day. A woman is speaking.

    म्हणायचे shows a woman.

  4. आजी संध्याकाळी अंगणात बसायच्या.

    Grandmother used to sit in the yard in the evenings.

    बसायच्या is the respectful plural.

  5. मी लहानपणी रोज क्रिकेट खेळायचो.

    As a child I used to play cricket every day. A man is speaking.

    खेळायचो shows a man.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the मी ending -ायचो with तो.

    तो रोज पोहायचो.
    तो रोज पोहायचा.

    तो takes -ायचा.

  • Making a habit with the -ता form and होता.

    मी रोज पोहता होतो.
    मी रोज पोहायचो.

    A past habit takes -ायचा, so the verb is पोहायचो.

How It Connects

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

-ायचाLevel 3What Someone Used to Do

Learn This First

The past habitual says what used to happen.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.