LEARN HINDI – LESSON 2

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2

A.  COMMON PHRASES

 

hindii bol chalen!: Let’s speak Hindi!

Note the nasalised e in chalen.

kyaa aap hindii bolte hain?: Do you speak Hindi?

jii haan, main hindii boltaa huun: Yes, I speak Hindi

kyaa aap urduu bolte hain?: Do you speak Urdu?

jii nahiin, main urduu nahiin boltaa: No, I do not speak Urdu

Urdu is a Hindi dialect mainly spoken in Pakistan. It contains a disproportionate number of Videshi (Arabic, Persian, etc.) words and is therefore sometimes difficult to understand. Another drawback of Urdu is that it is written in Arabic alphabet as opposed to the Devanagari alphabet of Hindi, Sanskrit and most other Indian (Deshi) languages.

bhaarat baRaa desh hai: India is a big country

parvat baRaa hai: the mountain is big

The sound R is a so-called retroflex flap. It is somewhat similar to English r as in rather but is pronounced by curling the tip of the tongue up and back towards the upper palate without touching it. It never occurs initially in a word.

ghar chhoTaa hai: the house is small

Chh is an aspirated ch (ch followed by h as in March hare). T is another retroflex sound (similar to the R above) which is pronounced by curling the tip of the tongue and touching the upper palate.  It should be remembered that o is always pronounced as in English shore and not as in go etc.

pustak kaisii hai? baRii hai?: How is the book? Is it big?

U in pustak is short and closed as in put; a is pronounced as in but; aa as in father.  

jii nahiin, pustak baRii nahiin hai, chhoTii hai: No, the book is not big, it is small

lekhnii bhii chhoTii hai: The pen is also small

yaeh kyaa hai? yaeh hindii pustak hai: What is this? This is a Hindi book

aur yaeh kyaa hai? yaeh aangrez samaachaar-patr hai: And what is this? This is an English newspaper

kyaa aap aangrezii bolte hain?: Do you speak English?

Jii haan, main aangrezii boltaa huun: Yes, I speak English

pitaajii kahaan hain?: Where is (lit. are) Father?

ve ghar men hain: He is (lit. they are, respectful plural) in the house

gaaRii kahaan hai? Where is the car?

vo galii men hai: it is in the street

pustak kahaan hai? Where is the book?

pustak mez par hai: The book is on the table

 

B. GRAMMAR

THE VERB BOL-NAA “TO SPEAK”

The infinitive form of Hindu verbs always has the ending NAA: ho-naa (to be), bol-naa (to speak), etc. Thus ho, bol, constitutes the root of the verb to which is added an ending  expressive of number, gender, voice, mood or tense. Like many other verbs, BOL-NAA is used in conjunction with the auxiliary HO-NAA.

SINGULAR

 

            Main boltaa huun

    I   speak

            Tuu  boltaa hai

    You (familiar) speak

            Vo    boltaa hai

    He, she, it  speaks

 

 

 

PLURAL

 

            Ham  bolte hain

       We   speak

            Tum   bolte ho

       You (polite) speak

            Aap    bolte hain

       You (formal) speak

            Ve      bolte hain

       They speak

NOTE: Hindi nouns can be either masculine or feminine. In general, gender is recognisable by two factors: (1) the word designates a being which is naturally male or female, (2) its ending.  Most masculine nouns end in aa and most feminine nouns end in ii. Exceptions will be learnt as they occur.

Adjectives are usually placed before the noun and take the latter’s gender and number. Thus  baRaa ghar (big house); baRe ghar (big houses); baRii lekhnii (big pen); baRii lekhniiaan (big pens).

Verbs similarly assume the masculine or feminine gender of the subject. Thus a male speaker would say “main hindii boltaa huun” (I speak Hindi) whereas a female speaker would say “main hindii boltii huun”. Thus aa is the masculine and ii the feminine ending of a verb. In plural, the endings are e for masculine and iin for feminine.

THE GENDER OF VERBS

Hindi verbs generally take the gender of the noun to which they refer. However, there are two main exceptions to this:

(1) when the nouns are a group of male and female humans or other living beings, the verb takes the masculine plural form;

(2) if the nouns are inanimate objects, then the verb takes the gender of the noun nearest to it in the sentence.

 

C.  VOCABULARY

bol-naa                                 to speak

chal-naa                                to go, walk, move                              

chal-naa commonly has the sense of “to come along”, “accompany”. In conjuction with other verbs, however, it may be used to convey a request (imperative mood).

hindii                                      Hindi

urduu                                     Urdu

bhaarat  (m.)                          India (= Hindustan)

baRaa                                    big (masculine)

baRii                                      big (feminine)

baRe                                       big (plural)

desh    (m.)                             country

parvat   (m.)                           mountain

ghar     (m.)                            house

chhoTaa                                 small

pustak    (f.)                            book

kaisaa                                     how (masculine)

kaisii                                       how (feminine)

kaise                                       how  (plural)

lekhnii   (f.)                              pen

aur                                          and

aangrez                                  English (nationality)

aangrezii                               English (language)

samaachaar-patr  (m.)          newspaper

kahaan                                   where

men                                         in

gaaRii   (f.)                             motorcar

galii     (f.)                               street

mez  (f.)                                  table

par                                          on

 

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