Basic Hindi | Lesson 6 | Basic Interrogatives

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Namastē! Lesson 6 | Basic Hindi


Lesson object

1 Basic Interrogatives & Conversation


Revision: Etiquette conversation

English Hindi

Nice to meet you (formal) Āpsē milkar achā lagā

Nice to meet you too (common reply) Mujhē bhī


Revision

Name English Hindi

Mark Hi, who are you? Namastē, āp kauna hain?

Jane Good morning, I am Jane Suprabhāt, maiṁ Jane hūṁ

Mark I am an Indian Maiṁ ēk bhāratīya hūm̐

Jane I am Mark Maiṁ Mārk hūm̐

Mark I am an American Maiṁ ēk amērikan hūm̐

Jane Nice to meet you! Āpsē milkar khuśī hu'ī!

Mark Nice to meet you too! Mujhē bhī!


Revision

English Hindi

Hi! I am Maria Namastē maiṁ Māriā hūṁ

I’m Hispanic/British Maiṁ Hispanic / Briṭiśa hūm̐

Nice to meet you! Āpsē milkar achā lagā

Hi! I am Joe Namastē maiṁ Jōe hūṁ

I am an African Maiṁ ēka Afrīkī hūm̐

Nice to meet you too! Mujhē bhī


Lesson object

1 Basic Interrogatives & Conversation


Today's conversation!

How are you? I am fine.

Fine, and you? What is your name?

My name is ___

Āp kaisē hai ? Maiṁ acchā / acchī hooṁ

Thīk, aur āp ? Āpakā nāam kyā hai ?

Mera nāam ___ hai


To have this conversation, we need to learn a fewbasic

interrogatives such as How and What! So letsbegin!


Interrogatives

How

Kaisē


Use of interrogation -How

How are you?



How are you

Kaisā haiṁ Āp



How are you

Kaisē haiṁ Āp


Conversation

Question Structure Subject | Interrogation |'To-be' verb

How are you?

Āp kaisē haiṁ?


Note

Kaisā changes to kaisē,

As we are using the Āp form to show respect


Answering interrogation-How

I am fine



I am fine

Maiṁ hooṁ acchā / acchī



Answer StructureSubject | Adjective| 'To-be' verb

I am fine

Maiṁ acchā / acchī hooṁ


Grammar tip

While the general sentence structure is Subject | (Object) | 'To-be' verb

In a sentence with an adjective, the assumed object is replaced with the Adjective The answer structure then becomes:

Subject | Adjective| 'To-be' verb


Note

In Hindi, adjectives are defined by the gender of the noun being used

In this case, Acchā / Acchī depend on the gender of the person

speaking the sentence


Note

If a boy (ladkā), has to say 'I am fine', he would say

'Maiṁ acchā hooṁ'

If a girl (ladkī), has to say 'I am fine', she would say

'Maiṁ acchī hooṁ'


Note

One of the most useful words to know is Acchā

It is both an adjective and an exclamation Its meanings include good, excellent, healthy, well, OK, really?, awesome!,

hmm..., a-ha!, etc.!


Note

Another common all-purpose word is 'ṭhīk hai'

It has the same meaning as 'good' or 'acchā'

OK / all right, yes / understood, right / correct, etc


Answering interrogation - How

Fine, and you?



Fine and you

Thīk aur āp



Fine, and you?

Thīk, aur āp?


Let's see if you remember…>


Exercise : Pick the right option

'I am fine' translates to ___

1

ṭhīk hai

2

Thīk, aur āp

3

Maiṁ acchā hooṁ


Solution

'I am fine' translates to ___

1

ṭhīk hai

2

Thīk, aur āp

3

Maiṁ acchā hooṁ


Recall what the other options translate to!

English Hindi

Ok ṭhīk hai

Fine and you Thīk, aur āp


The next interrogative we learn is 'What' ; letsbegin!


Interrogatives

What

Kyā


Using interrogation - What

What is your name?



What is your name

Kyā hai Āp nāam


Grammar tip

In the sentence, 'What is your name'?, 'Your'

and 'name' come together to form the 'Subject' of the sentence



What is (You-r Name)

Kyā hai Āpa-kā nāam


Note

In Hindi You = Āp While 'Your' becomes 'Āpa-kā'


Conversation

Question Structure Subject| Interrogation |'To-be' verb

What is your name?

Āpakā nāam kyā hai?


Answering interrogation - What

My name is____



My name is ____

Merā nāam hai _____


Note

In this sentence, 'my' and 'name' come together to

form the subject of the Sentence!

'My' is a possessive pronoun and it translates

to 'Merā' in Hindi

We shall cover possessive pronouns in later lessons!



Answer Structure Subject | (Object)|'To-be' verb

My name is ____

Merā nāam ___ hai


Let's see if you remember…


Exercise : Pick the right option

'Āpakā' in Hindi translates to ___ in english

1

You

2

My

3

your


Solution

'Āpakā' in Hindi translates to ___ in english

1

You

2

My

3

your


Recall what the other options translate to!

English Hindi

You Āp

My Merā


Another important interrogative to learn is How much/many!


Interrogatives

How= Kaisē, howeverHow much= kitnā, How many= Kitnē

How much / many?

kitnā / kitnē


Note

While 'much' literally translates to 'bahut', it’s not used when translating ‘how much’

'How much' translates to a single word in Hindi = kitnā

We will learn where to use kitnā vs kitnē

via examples later


Basic interrogatives

English Hindi

How? kaisē?

What? kyā?

How much/many? kitnā / kitnē?


Revision : Today's conversation!

English Hindi

How are you? Āp kaisē hai?

I am fine Maiṁ acchā / acchī hooṁ

Fine, and you? Thīk, aur āp?

What is your name? Āpakā nāam kyā hai?

My name is ___ Merā nāam ___ hai


Culture leaf


Culture leaf- Education in India

Education in India is provided by the public sector as well

as the private sector

The Taxila University was the oldest university-

system of education in the world

Western education became ingrained into Indian

society with the establishment of the British Raj


Culture leaf

Indians made significant contributions to

calculus, trigonometry, and algebra

The decimal system was invented in

India in 100 B.C. The concept of zero

as a number is also attributed to India

For more information, read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_(number)


What's next?

Next time we will learn some more interrogations, and how they form questions

with postpositions!


Credits

Content

Culture Alley

Culture leaf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India

Image

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VESIT_new_building.JPG


Dhan'yavād! See you at the Alley!


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Basic Hindi | Lesson 6 | Basic Interrogatives