Seller, goods, buyer, price · Hindi marking · working claim, revisable
बेचना · becnā. R. S. McGregor, The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary (p. 745), transitive: to sell (to, को, के हाथ; at a price, पर). John T. Platts, A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English (p. 207), transitive: to sell, dispose of; to endorse (a cheque or bill). Platts prints no postposition on this verb. His intensive is बेच डालना, to sell off. Hardev Bahri, Learners’ Hindi-English Dictionary (p. 466), transitive, to sell. The filled objects in his bracket are bare: गायें, घोड़े, बिस्कुट, मकान, संतरे.
The seller of a perfective transitive clause takes ergative ने. Bahri prints मैंने अपनी साइकल सौ रुपये में बेच दी है, ‘I have sold my bicycle for a hundred rupees.’ मैंने is मैं plus ने. McGregor’s ने (p. 579) is the postposition used in ergative constructions in the standard language. The example is उसने किताब पढ़ी, ‘he read the book.’ The verb is पढ़ी, not बेचना. The same entry prints उसने सोचा. Yamuna Kachru, Hindi (London Oriental and African Language Library), describes this marking: the subject of a transitive verb in the perfective takes ने. Outside that perfective the subject is unmarked, and the verb agrees with the subject. No page number is cited for Kachru. McGregor’s cost question is outside that perfective: कितने में बेचोगे? ‘How much will you sell (it) for?’ बेचोगे spells no seller noun and no ने.
The goods, where a sell line prints them, are bare. Bahri’s bracket is गायें, घोड़े, बिस्कुट, मकान, संतरे. Cows and horses are in that bare list with biscuits, a house, and oranges. The finite clause prints अपनी साइकल. अपनी is the feminine of the reflexive possessive. दी is the feminine singular participle, in बेच दी है. सौ रुपये is under में, so it is not the nominal the participle matches. The unmarked bicycle is the one that matches अपनी and दी. McGregor’s उसने किताब पढ़ी is the same pattern on another verb: the feminine participle matches the unmarked object. McGregor’s को, sense 1 (p. 215), is ‘specifier of a definite direct object’: दर्ज़ी को बुलाओ, ‘call the tailor.’ That tailor is not goods of बेचना. No opened sell line puts को on the goods. The cows and the horses stay bare in Bahri’s list, so these lines do not mark animacy with को. A को on the bicycle is the general definite-object pattern. It is constructed. Kachru: a को-marked object does not control agreement, and the verb is then the default masculine singular. No page number is cited.
The buyer is को or के हाथ. That is McGregor’s parenthesis: to, को, के हाथ. को sense 2 is the indirect object: उसको किताब दिजिए, ‘please give him a book.’ The verb is दिजिए. The same postposition is the definite object and the recipient. हाथ sense 11 (p. 1069) is ‘into the hands or keeping (of, के).’ The sell entry prints के हाथ, not के हाथ में. A different adverb in the same article is हाथ में (के), ‘in or into the hand (of).’ Bahri’s bicycle clause prints no buyer. कितने में बेचोगे? prints no buyer. Platts prints no buyer. A named buyer in को, and the same name in के हाथ, are constructed.
The sum is में. McGregor’s में (p. 831) sense 1 is ‘in (of place).’ Sense 8 is ‘for, at (of cost),’ and the example is कितने में बेचोगे? Bahri’s sum is सौ रुपये में, ‘for a hundred rupees.’ The entry does not call this cost sense instrumental. McGregor’s से is the separate ‘by means of’ postposition, printed on the bill page as क़लम से लिखना. A price noun is पर. The verb entry says ‘at a price, पर.’ Bahri prints कम दाम पर and लागत पर, glossed sold away below par, at cost, on बेच डाला. McGregor’s पर sense 3 (p. 601) is ‘for, at a cost of,’ and the example is सौ पाँच पर, a hundred for five, the cricket score, not a sale. Bahri’s घाटे से, लाभ से, and नीलाम से are ‘at a loss, at a profit, by auction.’ They are not the sum. महँगा, सस्ता, फुटकर, and थोक are the adverbs: dear, cheap, retail, wholesale.
बिकना · biknā · is a separate headword. McGregor (p. 729), intransitive. Sense 1: to be sold. Sense 2, figurative: to be dependent (on, के हाथ); to be the servant, or slave (of). Bahri (p. 456), intransitive: to sell, to be sold. गेहूँ सस्ता बिक रहा है, ‘wheat is selling cheap.’ इस दुकान में जूते बिकते हैं, ‘in this shop shoes are sold.’ यह माल मुश्किल से बिकता है, ‘these goods sell with difficulty.’ हाथों हाथ बिकना, ‘to find a ready sale.’ The triangle idiom किसी के हाथ बिक जाना is ‘to come under someone’s complete control.’ That के हाथ is McGregor’s sense 2, not the buyer of बेचना. इस दुकान में is the place, McGregor’s में sense 1, not the cost sense. The subject is the goods: गेहूँ, जूते, यह माल. There is no ने. Platts: intransitive, to be sold, to sell; बिक जाना the intensive; metaphorically, to be dependent (on). His etymology offers बेचना as ‘or caus. of biknā,’ and calls बिकना a passive of the Sanskrit root. McGregor prints two headwords and two etymologies, vetyayati and vikrīyate, one transitive and one intransitive. A degree ‘well’ is unprinted. सस्ता and मुश्किल से are the printed manner.
Where this frame diverges from English sell X to Y for Z. The English page prints Pat sold a lawnmower to Chris, Pat sold Chris a lawnmower for twenty dollars, and Wasn’t Chris sold a lawnmower for twenty dollars. The seller is the subject in every tense. The goods are one object form. The buyer is to plus a noun, or a bare first object. The price is for plus the sum. The passive can make the buyer the subject. The fullest printed Hindi clause is Bahri’s मैंने अपनी साइकल सौ रुपये में बेच दी है. The seller is ergative ने, because the clause is perfective and transitive. कितने में बेचोगे? has no ने. English has no ergative split. The goods are bare, and the feminine दी matches साइकल. A bare English object has no second form and no agreement. McGregor’s definite-object को is unprinted on these goods. Bahri’s cows and horses are bare, so animacy is not what these lines mark. The buyer is not English to and not a bare first object. McGregor prints two markers, को and के हाथ. के हाथ is ‘into the hands or keeping (of, के).’ No finite sell line prints either buyer. English for plus the sum is में on सौ रुपये and on कितने. A price noun is the other marker, पर, on दाम and लागत. The cost sense of में is ‘for, at,’ on the postposition whose place sense is ‘in.’ The entry does not call it instrumental. बिकना makes the goods the subject: wheat is selling cheap, shoes are sold, goods sell with difficulty. It does not make the buyer the subject. English Chris was sold a lawnmower has no pair here.