All Lessons Version 1

lesson 1: devanagari

letter

pronounciation example

अ (क)

a

alive

आ (का)

aa

faather

इ (िक)

i

kit

ई (की)

ee

heat

उ (कु)

u

foot

ऊ (कू)

oo

fool

ऋ (कृ )

ri

wrist

ए (के)

e

when

ऐ (कै)

ai

man

ओ (को)

o

go (not a dipthong)

औ (कौ)

au

autumn

क

k

skit (minimalise breath)

क

q

quran

ख

kh

cough (more aspirated)

ख

kh

bach

ग

g

gift

ग

g

(no equivalent - like g, but further back in throat)

घ

gh

dog-house (more aspirated)

च

c

cheese (minimalise breath)

छ

ch

pitch-hook (more aspirated)

ज

j

joy

ज

z

zebra

झ

jh

large house (more aspirated

ट

t

retroflex, or hard, t - ie. talk, but harder

ठ

th

same as above, but aspirated.

ड

d

retroflex d - as in do but harder

ढ

dh

aspirated form of d

ड

r

no english equivalent - the rolling 'r' as in spanish

ढ

rh

aspirated form of r

त

t

t' sound made with the tongue touching the front teeth

थ

th

aspirated form of 't'

द

d

d' sound made like the soft 't'

ध

dh

aspirated form of 'd'

न

n

another

प

p

spin

फ

ph

top-hat

फ

f

for

ब

b

bill

भ

bh

club-house

म

m

mill

य

y

yes

र

r

rain

ल

l

level (tongue against front teeth)

व

v

between 'v' and 'w' sound in english, closer to spanish 'v'

श

sh

shell

ष

sh

retroflex "sh" - close to german "sch" (i.e. schmidt)

स

s

sell

ह

h

hot, or, of course, hindi :p

lesson 2 personal pronouns and the verb "to be" all of you who watch bollywood films should already be familiar with the pronouns and "hona" - to be. here's the full list:

मै हूँ

i am

हम है

we are

तू है

you(intimate. sing)

तुम हो

you (familiar)

आप है

you (formal)

यह है

he/she/it is

ये है

these/they are, he/she is (formal)

वह है

he/she/it is

वे है

those/they are, he/she is (formal)

remember the honourific levels in hindi: •

तू is used only in addressing someone very close, a child, a lover etc.

•

तुम is casual in used with anyone not expecting formality - a friend, a servant etc.

•

आप is formal and indicates respect. when in doubt, always use "aap". note that aap applies to third

person as well, so if you're speaking about a person you would address as आप, use ये or वे: वे मेरे अधयापक है । he is my teacher. note that everything on the right hand column is grammatically plural, even though it may indicate one person only. to specify more than one person, add "log" - people: आप कैसे है , साहब? how are you, sir? आप लोग कैसे है ? how are you people? yes/no questions these are formed simply by adding "kya" to the beginning of a statement. सब ठीक है । everything is ok. कया सब ठीक है ? is everything ok? of course, one can also, like in english, simply use a rising tone to express a question. सब ठीक है ? nouns and adjectives: remember that every noun in hindi is either masculine or feminine. this affects the grammar, the plural form of the nouns and sometimes the adjectives describing them. masculine nouns ending in -aa usually change this ending to -e. the exception is sanskrit loan-words. लडका/लडके - boy/boys कमरा/कमरे - room/rooms राजा - king/kings चाचा - uncle/uncles all other masculine nouns stay the same: आदमी - man/men मकान - house/houses िदन - day/days feminine nouns are also of two types: those ending in -iyaa, -ee or -i will all change this ending to -iyaa.n लडकी/लडिकयाँ - girl/girls गाडी/गािडयाँ - car/cars िचिडया/िचिडयाँ - bird/birds all other feminine nouns will have -e.n added on to the end: िकताब/िकताबे - book/books माता/माताएँ - mother/mothers भाषा/भाषाएँ - language/languages note that if the feminine noun ends in -oo, shorten this sound to -u before adding -e.n:

बहू/बहुएँ - daughter-/daughters-in-law adjectives ending in -aa almost always inflect according to the noun they describe. it will change to -e for masculine plural, and -ee for feminine singular and plural. बडा लडका - big boy बडे लडके - big boys बडी लडकी - big girl बडी लडिकयाँ - big girls all other adjectives do not change: लाल कमरा - red room लाल कमरे - red rooms लाल कुरसी - red chair लाल कुरिसयाँ - red chairs the simple sentence as i'm sure many of you have noted, in hindi the verb comes at the end. if the sentence is negative, "nahee.n" is added before the verb. also note that there is no direct article (i.e. 'the') in hindi. sometimes 'ek' - one - is used to mean 'a'. pronouns can be implied, as in the sentence below: this car isn't japanese. [it] is german. यह गाडी जापानी नहीं है । जमन म है । similarly, 'hona' may be dropped in the negative: यह गाडी जापानी नहीं। जमन म है । word order can be quite important: note the difference between: यह कमरा छोटा है । this room is small and यह छोटा कमरा है । this is a small room. please note: m stands for masculine, and f for feminine.

और

सुनदर

and beautiful

पलंग m bed बडा

big

िचिडया f bird

िकताब f book लडका m boy गाडी f

car

मकान m house कैसा

how

भरात

india

भरातीय

indian

राजा m

king

भाषा f

language

आदमी m man माता f

mother

कुरसी f chair

ठीक

ok, all right, fine

बचचा m child

पुराना

old (things)

साफ

clean

एक

अलमारी cupboard िसफम f daughter-in-law लोग बहू f िदन

day

लाल

one, a only people red

बूढा

elderly

कमरा m

room

खाली

empty english (language)

साहब m

sir

छोटा

small

englishman

मूती f

statue

everything

पतथर m

stone

अँगेजी अँगेज m/f सब

पंखा m fan

मेज f

table

बगीचा m garden

अधयापक teacher m चाचा m uncle(paternal)

लडकी f girl

बहुत

िपता m father

very

यहाँ

here

सफेद

white

आशा f

hope

िखडकी f

window

lesson 3 this is a pretty short lesson, focusing mainly on conversational matters which i'm sure most of you are aware of. nevertheless, as i'm going by the book, here it is... interrogative words in the last lesson we looked at how "kya" is used to mark a yes-no question. however, as many of you know, "kya" also means "what". here's some more question-words: कया - what कौन - who कब - when कहाँ - where कयो - why कैसा* - how, of what kind िकतना* - how much, how many

* note that these two inflect as adjectives. thus kaisii for a girl, kitne for several masculine items etc. agreement of adjectives with mixed genders adjectives describing a mixed group of people are always in the masculine. यहाँ लमबे लडिकयाँ और लडके है । there are tall girls and boys here. when they describe inanimate objects, adjectives agree with the gender of the noun nearest to them गिडयाँ और हवाई जहाज महँ गे है cars and planes are expensive (agrees with planes, masculine) ये शबदकोश और िकताबे अचछी है these dictionaries and books are good. (agrees with books, feminine) another note on plurals, while we're here: type 1 masculine nouns (those ending in -a) will show the plural -e both numerically and honorifically, while feminine nouns will only show the plural numerically. so: तुम अचछे लडके हो you are good boys or you are a good boy, but... तुम अचछी लडकी हो you are a good girl and तुम अचछी लडिकयाँ हो you are good girls. conversational features most of you should be aware of some of these, and they tend to be commonplace in films. hello and goodbye, as you are all aware, is नमसते namaste, said with the hands folded in front of the chest. for those of you who are interested, it comes from sanskrit - "nama", to bow, and "te", you, i.e. "i bow to you." for a full explanation of all the symbolism, meanings and connotations of the word, check out this article: http://bollywhat.com/forum/index.php?topic=2995.0 namaskar, from what i understand, is used when adressing a group, and is also more formal. जी jii, following a surname, is the same as "mr", "mrs" or "ms" - it has a fairly cordial, fairly formal tone, and is often used with relationship terms, ie. "pitajii", "matajii" etc. साहब saahab is an urdu alternative which is used commonly in hindi, particularly to address strangers - you may have heard srk address a complete stranger as भाई साहब "bhai saahab" in a film. the female equivalent to bhai saahab, according to the book, is बिहन जी bahin jii, but i've been told that this is far too formal and it's far better to you दीदी "didii". for very formal language, use शी shri (lord, sir) / शीमती (lady, madam) shrimatii before a name. this is also used in addressing gods. कया हाल है ? "kya haal hai?" literally means "what's [your] condition" and is commonly used in place of "aap kaise hai.n", although it's far more colloquial. "accha" is a term so commonplace i trust i don't have to introduce it in too much depth. it literally means "good", but is also used as an exclamation meaning "really!", "i see!" etc. "na" placed at the end of a sentence means "no?" as if inviting a confirmation of the statement. thus "mai.n

hoo.n na" really translates to "i am [here], aren't i?" "aur" you already know means "and". it also is used to mean "more", "else" or "other". it tends to be emphasised when used to mean this: और लोग more people कौन और? who else? भी "bhii" means "also" and qualifies the noun directly before it. वह भी होिशयार है he, too, is clever (as she is clever) वह होिशयार भी है he is clever also (as well as tall) and that's all for this chapter! here's the vocabulary. हवाई जहाज m

aeroplane

जयादातर

mostly

हवा f

air

नया

new

सब

all

अखबार m

newspaper

भी

also

या

or

नाराज

angry, displeased

कगज m

paper(a piece of)

जवाब m

answer

कृ पया

please

खराब

bad

पदष ू ण m

pollution

बुरा

bad

सवाल m

question

कयोिक

because

चपपल f

sandal

भाई

brother

जुता m

shoe

पर

but

बीमार

sick

ससता

cheap

साहब

sir

िबलकुल

completely

बिहन/दीदी f

sister

हाल m

condition

बेटा

son

पागल

crazy,mad

सखत

strict

बेटी

daughter

छात m

student

शबदकोश m

dictionary

छाता f

student

गंदा

dirty

िवदाथी m/f

student

महँ गा

expensive

लमबा

tall

मोटा

fat, thick

धनयवाद

thank you

खुश

happy

दब ु ला/पतला

thin

मेहरबानी f

kindness

आज

today

िचटठी f

letter

परे शान

upset

बात m

matter/issue

मौसम m

weather, season

lesson 4 postpositions as we all know, in hindi prepositions come after the word they relate to - so where in english you would say, in the house, in hindi you say: मकान मे the house in! there are five simple postpositions: मे - in को - 'to', etc. 'ko' is used quite extensively, and will be elaborated on later. पर / पे - on से - the closest literal one, i find is "from", but it also means a variety of things and will be explored later as well. note the examples marked with stars below तक - 'up to', 'until', 'as far as', etc. some examples: पिरवार मे - in the family फशम पे - on the floor िदल से - from the heart* आदमी को - to the man अब तक - until now मुििकल से - with difficulty*

गाडी से - by car* think about the effect of prepositions in english on pronouns. one doesn't say "from i" or "to she" - one says "from me" and "to her". pronouns following a preposition are put in the oblique case. similarly, many hindi nouns preceeding a postposition are put in the oblique case. this is relatively simple: masculine type 1 nouns change their '-a' endings to '-e', and all plural nouns gain an '-o.n' at the end, which takes the place of the masculine plural '-e' and the feminine plural '-e' and 'iya.n' endings. note the examples below: masculine 1 लडके से - from the boy लडको को - to the boys masculine 2 घर पर - a home आदमी से - from the man घरो मे - in the homes आदिमयो को - to the men** feminine 1 लडकी से - from the girl गाडी से - by car लडिकयो को - to the girls गािडयो मे - in the cars feminine 2 मेज पर - on the table समसया मे - in the problem मेजो पर - on the tables समसयायो से - with problems once again, note the difference in word order: मेज पे कलम है on the table there is a pen (answers "what is on the table?") कलम मेज पे है the pen is on the table (answers "where is the pen?") the adjectives describing the objects in the oblique, also go into the oblique form. the only ones that are affected are the masculine singular adjectives ending in "-a". the others all remain: बडा मकान big house बडे मकान मे in the big house बडे मकानो मे in the big houses

बडी मेज big table बडी मेज पे on the big table (it is a single table for tables use बडी मेजो पे ) oblique pronouns below all the pronouns that change their form are listed. "ham", "tum" and "aap" remain the same in the oblique. मै - मुझ तू - तुझ यह - इस वह - उस कौन/कया - िकस ये - इन वे - उन कौन/कया (plural) - िकन the postposition may be added onto the oblique pronoun or the two may be kept as two separate words. मुझसे, मुझ से - from me आप को, आपको - to you possessive pronouns while on the subject of postpositions, we may as well introduce the possessive "ka" - equivalent to "'s" in english. note that it acts as a postposition and as an adjective agreeing with the object possessed: माता की गाडी - mother's car लडिकयो का कमरा - the girls' room बगीचे के फूल - the garden's flowers आदिमयो की इमारते - the men's buildings some pronouns take a special form in the possessive, while some just have "ka" added to them. the full list is below: मै - मेरा तू - तेरा हम - हमारा तुम - तुमहारा आप - आपका यह - इसका वह - उसका ये - इनका

वे - उनका कौन - िकसका(sing) / िकनका (plural) remember that all of these act as inflecting adjectives agreeing with the object possessed - try removing the "hai.n" and putting the subject after the possessive pronoun in the following line from one of my favourite songs: साँसे ये तेरी है (wrong) ये साँसे तेरी है (correct) these breaths are yours...

but in songs, sentences are often broken according to the requirements. तेरी साँसे your breaths.

and here's the vocab list. a good idea, since these are probably going to come weekly at best, and possibly fortnightly or more, is to print these out and put them up on your bedroom door, or somewhere where you'll see them often. you may want to add in transliteration for yourself. सारा

all

तिबयत f

health

गुसलखाना m

bathroom

िदल m

heart

काला

black

घर m

home

साँस f

breath

पित

husband

रसोईघर इमारत f

building

\ रसोई m

kitchen

बस f

bus

शायद

maybe

शहर m

city

सुबह f

morning

कपडा m

cloth/ garment

अब

now

आराम m

comfort

कलम m

pen

परदा m

curtain

तसवीर f

picture

मुििकल f

difficulty

समसया f

problem

दरवाजा m

door

दरी f

rug/mat

दराज f

drawer

वहाँ

there

वगैरह

etc.

चीज f

thing

रात f

evening

समय m

time

पिरवार m

family

गाँव m

village

फशम m/f

floor

दीवर f

wall

फूल m

flower

खैर

well/ anyways

सामान m

furniture, luggage

पती

wife ( pronounced patni)

ऐनक f, चिमा m

glasses

lesson 5 was/were in hindi, the past tense of the verb 'to be' is very different from the present tense. there are four forms: था - was (masculine) थे - were (masculine) थी - was (feminine) थीं - were (feminine) this applies across the whole range of pronouns: हम थे - we were (remember "ham hai.n") तुम थे, आप थे - you were (remember "tum ho", "aap hai.n") वे थे - they were वह थी - she was वह था - he was मै था - i was (remember "mai.n hoo.n") तो this is a nifty little word i love, and has a couple of meanings. it may take a while to grasp its usage properly. "to" can mean "so" at the beginning of a phrase: तो आप कौन है ? so who are you? तो काम खतम है ? so the work is finished? when it follows a word or phrase, it qualifies the word preceding it by contrasting it, as one would use in english, "as for". unlike english, that which contrasts it is usually omitted: मै तो दक ु ान पर कल था (लेिकन मेरा भाई घर पर था) i was at the shop yesterday (but my brother was at home) मै दक ु ान पर तो कल था (लेिकन मै घर पर नहीं था) i was at the shop yesterday (but i wasn't at home)

मै दक ु ान पर कल तो था (लेिकन आज मै नहीं था) i was at the shop yesterday (but i wasn't there today) play around with this word for a while, and you will begin to understand how it works. try and think up of some sentences of your own, maybe. i'm sure you'll come across many times in your life where you'll find it useful, and wonder why english never adopted it :p. comparison of adjectives unlike english, this isn't done with degrees of comparison. instead, the postposition "se" is used in the sense, "than": चाय कॉफी से अचछी है tea is better than coffee. to specify "more" or "less" use the words "zyaadaa/aur" and "kam" respectively: अँगेजी िहनदी से जयादा मुििकल \ किठन है english is more difficult than hindi आप उस से और होिशयार है you are more intelligent than him

the above sentence looks correct when we go for exact translation from english but it is wrong  when we try to understand the meaning आप उस से जयादा होिशयार है  is much better वह आपको कम बडा है he is younger (less big) than you. the above sentence is wrong as it should be वह आपसे कम बडा है   or even better वह आपसे छोटा है there is no superlative in hindi. instead, if something is the best then it must be better than all - and that's the superlative in hindi: सब से अचछा best of all वह सब से लमबा he is the tallest. constructions with "ko" "ko", as explained in the previous lesson, means "to". it is also the basis for a lot of grammatical constructions. "ko" is commonly used with abstract nouns and diseases, and it works like this: instead of saying, as in english, "i have a cold", the cold becomes the subject, and the sentence becomes: "to me there is a cold". it is very important that you realise that the abstract noun, previously the object, is the subject of the sentence. it thus doesn't matter how many people have a cold - the sentence will always agree with the singular masculine as below: मुझको जुकाम है i have a cold बिहनो को जुकाम था the sisters had a cold a few words that use this structure are listed below: जुकाम - cold (m) it is जुखाम but now जुकाम is also used which came from urdu बुखार - fever (m)

अफसोस - regret (m) आशा - hope (f) खुशी - happiness(f) मालूम - knowledge (m) पसनद - pleasing (m) these last two are really important, so here are example sentences: मुझको बॉलीवुड िफलमे पसनद है i like bollywood films (lit. bollywood films are pleasing to me) आप को मालूम है िक वह कहाँ है ? do you know where he is? (lit. is it known to you...?) the vocative this is used to address people (as in "o, friends"). it's basically the oblique, but the plural ending (-o.n) isn't nasalized: बचचो! - children! दोसतो! - friends! बेटे - son! and here's the vocab. before i say goodbye, let me remind you all that you may email me any questions at any time - just please be aware that i am under pressure, and will not be able to answer long questions in a short time.

उम

age

अकेला

alone

बनद

closed

कॉफी

coffee (f)

जुकाम

cold (disease)(m)

ठं डा

cold(adjective)

पयारा

dear, lovely

बुखार

fever (m)

खाना

food(m)

िवदे श

foreign country (m)

दोसत/िमत

friend

सोना

gold (m)

खूबसूरत

handsome

खुशी

happiness(f)

मेहनती

hardworking

पहाड

hill/mountain(m)

गरम

hot/warm

होिशयार

intelligent

दाल

lentils (f)

कम

less/little

मतलब

meaning (m)

जयादा

more/very

पडोसी

neighbour

दफतर

office (m)

बाहर

out/outside

महल

palace (m)

पसनद

pleasing

पहले

previously

अफसोस

regret(m)

िरितेदार

relative

दक ु ान चाँदी

shop (f) silver(f)

मजबूत

strong

गोली

tablet(f)

चाय

tea(f)

िक

that

काम

work

साल

year (m)

कल

yesterday/tomorrow

lesson 6 verbs in english, verbs are listed in the dictionary as their stem - do, eat, sit etc. to make the infinitive, we add a 'to' in front of the verb: to sit, to do etc. in hindi, verbs are listed as the infinitive, which is the stem + 'na'/ना at the end: to do

stem: कर infinitive:करना to go stem: जा infinitive:जाना to give stem: दे infinitive:दे ना to speak stem:बोल infinitive:बोलना to see/look stem: दे ख infinitive:दे खना to listen/hear stem:सुन

infinitive:सुनना commands and requests chances are you've picked up some of these. remember the heirarchal structure of hindi (tu, tum aap)? well, that plays a role here. तू सुन - for 'tu', use the stem as a command. its shortness shows how blunt and informal it is, so once again remember that 'tu' is only used with someone you're very close to, as it can be offensive. तुम सुनो - for tum, use the stem, and add -o. however, watch out for the two exceptions: तुम + दे ना = तुम दो give

तुम + लेना = तुम लो take आप सुिनये - for aap, there are two different ways to make a request. the first is to add 'iye' to the end. this is polite and mildly formal. again, note exceptions: आप + दे ना = आप दीिजये please give आप + लेना = आप लीिजये please take आप + पीना = आप पीिजये please drink/smoke आप + करना = आप कीिजये please do आप सुिनयेगा - to be extra polite, add '-iyega' to the stem. the exceptions to 'iye' count here. सुनना - you can also use the infinitive. this is deferred: ie, do this (whenever you may have the time) it's not bound by the heirarchy. for negative commands, add 'na' न or, for more strength, 'mat' मत उसको मत मारो don't hit him मुझसे शादी कर marry me िमठाई न खाओ don't eat the sweet the above sentence is correct but looks odd we can use िमठाई मत खाओ

आपका दोसत को सुिनये please listen to your friend. in the above sentence आपका is wrong instead we should use अपने and sentence should  be अपने दोसत को सुिनये "ko"/को and objects in a sentence like "give the clothes to the washerman" the clothes are a direct object, and the washerman is the indirect object. in hindi, the indirect object is marked with 'ko' even if it's not directly translatable to 'to': कपडे धोबी को दीिजये please give the clothes to the washer man हमको पानी लाओ bring us water the above sentence is exact translation of english sentence but in hindi it looks odd to say  like हमको पानी लाओ or हमको पानी िपलाओ which is like ordering in a princely manner  . instead we should use हमको पानी िपलाना or  हमको पानी दे ना for general uses

with the direct object, 'ko' acts almost in the same way as 'the' in english. it differentiates one object, as opposed to any object. use it to refer to something that is being discussed, and also always use it when the direct object is a person: इन समोसो को खाना eat these samosas (not the others) the above sentence is correct but while speaking it looks odd and is hardly used  we can use use इन समोसो को खाओ कृ पया िकताब को पिढये please read the book

वह िफलम अचछी है - उसको दे खो that film is good - watch it. मुझको न बताओ don't tell me.

note that most pronouns have an alternative version when used with ko. these are more colloquial, but are also used to avoid repetition : मुझको = मुझे तुझको= तुझे

इसको = इसे उसको = उसे

हमको = हमे तुमको = तुमहे इनको = इनहे

उनको = उनहे

िकसको =िकसे

िकनको = िकनहे

वह = वो = वे

i noticed many places वह is used which looks somewhat formal so try to use वो more

and, here's the vocab ^_^ धयान

attention

धयान से

attentively

थैला

bag(m)

कंबल/कमबल blanket (m) िसगेट/ िसगरे ट cigarette कुता

dog (m)

जलदी

early, soon

िफलम

film (f)

फल

fruit

इधर

here

घोडा

horse(m)

जरा / थोङा

just, a little, softly

चाबी

key (f)

खत

letter(m)

दध ू

milk(m)

पैसा

money

झगडा

quarrel(m)

खयाल/ खयाल opinion(m) \ khyal तैयार

ready

सचमुच

really

ऋिष

sage (m)

नौकर

servant(m)

सरल

simple

नारा

slogan(m)

िमठाई

sweet (m)

उधर

there

पूछना

to ask

होना

to be, to become

मारना

to beat, hit

लाना

to bring

बुलाना

to call, invite

साफ करना

to clean

बंद करना

to close

आना

to come

करना

to do

पीना

to drink, smoke

खाना

to eat(m)

ढू ँ ढना

to find, look for

दे ना

to give

जाना

to go

सुनना

to listen, hear

शादी करना

to marry

चलना

to move

ऱखना

to put, keep

झगडा करना

to quarrel

पढना

to read/study

कहना

to say

दे खना

to see, look

िखलाना

to serve

बैठना

to sit

बोलना

to speak

लेना

to take

बताना

to tell

छुना

to touch \ its chuna not dhuna

ठहरना जगाना धोना

िलखना

to wait, stop woken up by someone , जागना - to wake (someone up) to wash to write

िखलौना

toy (m)

पेड

tree

धोबी

washerman(m)

पानी

water

कौनसा

which

lesson 7 in the last lesson we looked at verbs and the difference between the infinitive (which ends in –na) and the stem. keep these terms in mind, they’re going to be useful as we work with verbs. the imperfective present tense this is the tense you use to describe habits, regular events and opinions, as well as describing personal traits to an extent, abilities. to put a verb into the imperfective tense, add ‘-taa’/’te’/’tii’ according to the subject and then add “hai/hai.n/ho/hoo.n” etc., also relating to the subject. here’s the full list of conjugations, and some examples:

masculine मै बोलता हूँ

feminine मै बोलती ह ूँ

वह बोलता ह ै

वह बोलती है

हम बोलते ह ै

हम बोलती है

तू बोलता है

तू बोलती है

तुम बोलती तुम बोलते हो

हो

आप बोलते ह ै

आप बोलती है

वे बोलते ह ै

वे बोलती है

मै िहं दी बोलता हूँ (masculine)

\

mein hindi bolta hoon

i speak hindi

वह सबजी खाती है (feminine) she eats vegetables वे रिववार पर चलते है they walk on sundays

\

wah sabjii khati hai

the above sentence means “they walk over sunday” instead we use  वे रिववार को चलते है

\ ve ravivar ko chalte hein

तुम कहाँ रहते हो? where do you stay?

\ tum kahan rehte ho ?

कया आप पीती है ? do you drink?

\

kya aap peeti hein?

in the above sentence the question is being asked to a female. the same question to a male  will be कया आप पीते है ? in the negative, just like with the basic sentence, sometimes ‘hai’ (and all its conjugates) is dropped. when this is done with the plural negative, be sure to nasalize the –tii ending. मै पीती नहीं \ i don’t drink. वह गोित नहीं खाता \  he doesn’t eat meat. वे यहाँ नहीं रहतीं \ 

mein peeti nahi wah gost nahi khata ve yahan nahi rehti

they don’t stay here in english above sentence is same for group of people whether feminine or masculine  but  in hindi the above sentence (वे यहाँ नहीं रहतीं) is feminine but if you want to refer to  ‘they’ in general then it should be  वे यहाँ नहीं रहते not रहतीं note that this describes habitual events, not things going on at the moment. however, it is sometimes used to describe things going on at the moment, which aren’t habitual: मै जाता हूँ - this is more formal, instead we use ­  मै जा रहा हूँ i’m going/i’m off (lit. i go) we’ll work with time later, but feel free to practise this by asking yourself “kitne baje…?” – at what time (do you wake up, eat etc.) knowledge of skills, especially speaking languages, works with a specific structure. the person in the know receives ‘ko’. the subject is the skill/language known (remember all languages are feminine) and the verb ‘aanaa’ “to come” is used in the imperfective: मुझको िहं दी आती है \ मुझे िहं दी आती है i speak hindi (lit. hindi comes to me) we’ll look at this more later when i discuss the gerund. to find out the hindi word for something, you can ask the following question, replacing ‘x’ with the word you want: ‘x’ को कया कहते है what do they call ‘x’? the imperfective of the verb ‘to be’/ ‘hona’ is used to imply a general statement, or one of lasting validity. note the difference in these sentences: अचछी सािडयाँ महँ गी होती है \  acchi saadiyaan mehgi hoti hein good saris are expensive हाँ, लेिकन यह तो ससती है \ haan, lekin yeh to sasti hai yes, but this one is cheap. using ‘maaluum hai’ (see lesson 5) in the imperfective implies that something appears: मालूम होता है िक वह नाराज है \ लगता है िक वह नाराज है it seems he’s angry. मालूम है िक वह नाराज है \ पता है िक वह नाराज\गुससा है

i know he’s angry

“apna”: one’s own this is a reflexive pronoun which possessively links a noun to the subject. the closest english equivalent is ‘one’s own’. note who possesses the room in the following sentences: वह \ वो अपने कमरे मे है \   wah \ wo apne kamre mein hai he is in his (own) room. वह \ वो उसके कमरे मे है \  wah\wo uske kamre mein hai he is in his (someone else’s) room be careful with this word, as it always links back to the subject, whether you want it to or not. it is not just a normal possessive word: मै अपने भाई से लंबा हूँ \ mein apne bhai se lambha hoon i am taller than my brother (i am the subject) मेरा भाई लंबा है \ mera bhai lambha hai my brother is tall (my brother is the subject, therefore no ‘apna’) मै और मेरा भाई लंबे है \ mein aur mera bhai lambhe hein note: there are 2 people in the sentence so it is plural so लंबे not लंबा my brother and i are tall (the subject is me and my brother – it’s a joint subject, therefore no ‘apna’) it can of course be used with a possessive pronoun to lend emphasis: यह or य़े मेरी अपनी गाडी है \ yeh or ye meri apni gaadi hai this is my very own car in a command, the subject is always ‘you’. thus ‘apna’ links to the person receiving the command: मुझे अपनी िकताब दो \ mujhe apni kitab do give me [your] book. here kitab (book) is feminine compound postpositions hopefully you all remember how to work with postpositions and possession. if not, revise them in lesson 4. the following is a list of some compound postpositions. they do put the nouns they follow in the oblique. की तरफ towards के अनदर inside

\

ki taraf

\

ke andar

के आगे in front of

\

ke aage

के ऊपर on top of

\

ke upar

के नीचे beneath

\

ke neeche

के/से पहले before

\

ke or se pehle

के पास near

\

ke paas

के पीछे behind

\

ke peeche

के बाद after

\

ke baad

के बारे मे about

\

ke bare mein

के बाहर outside

\

ke bahar

के िलये for

\

ke liye

के यहाँ at (the place of)

\

ke yahaan

के सामने opposite

\

ke samne

\

ke bina

के िबना without

you’ll notice that many of them use ‘ke/kii’ – this is no different from the word we use for the possessive, and it modifies pronouns accordingly: मेरे िलये \ मेरे िलए \ mere liye for my sake तुमहारे िबना \ tumhare bina without you हमारे यहाँ \ hamare yahaan at our place उसकी िकताब के बारे मे \ uski kitab ke bare mein about his book