hindi

Friends, There is something very basic about what past participles mean, when a verb has a causative counterpart, that I can't fully grasp. As far as I know: Darnaa = to fear, to be frightened Daraanaa = to frighten However, every place I look, "frightened" is translated as Daraa huaa...

Friends: One of the answers given in this thread caught my attention. It deals with past participles used adjectivally. Essentially, it is said that adjectival participles denote "a process underwent" by the noun. But I noticed that there is a large usage in English (and in Spanish, for that...

Friends, What is the difference between: 1.maarii huii aurat 2.marii huii aurat 3.mirt aurat Would I use (1.) only if it were clear that someone killed her, or not necessarily? Thanks in advance

Is there any difference between the following sentences? She opened the door usne darvaaze ko khol diyaa usne ye/vo darvaazaa khol diyaa usne darvaazaa khol diyaa (I know this can mean "she opened a door (which has not been mentioned before)", but can it also mean "she opened the door (that...

If everyone in a group has something (a head, a jacket, etc.) would you refer to it in the singular or plural? I've encountered the following two sentences, which seem to be at odds: उन सभी ने अपने सिर झुका लिए un sabhi ne apne sir jhukaa liye They all bowed their heads दोनों ने अपनी जैकेट...

Friends: I am trying to understand the difference of meaning between the perfect and present participles, used adjectivally. If I said, for example: 1.Daraa huaa laRkaa rone lagaa versus 2.laRkaa Dartaa huaa rone lagaa 1. would mean that the boy, after (and maybe as a consecuence of) being...

Hi! I was hoping you could help me. I'm looking for the correct word to describe someone who survive/overcome an illness. I found the world उत्तरजीवी. Is it correct to use it in that context? Thank you for your help!

Friends, Another example I found in grammars, of an infinitive agreeing in gender/number with an object depending on it, is in sentences of the type "I started to do [X]" where [X] is an "infinitive + object " construction. For example: "I started to learn urdu", can be written equally as...

Friends, I am studying in which contexts an infinitive can be inflected, influenced by an object depending on it. One of the usages I see in grammatical works is: "with honaa or paRnaa used as verbs of compulsion" I wanted to validate this, because sometimes grammars tend to drift from real...

Hello! I was wondering if I could get some guidance on common usage for these verbs. I consistently use the wrong verb and get corrected by native speakers to use the other. There seems to be ideas about the nature of travel, participation, and location, but I can't quite figure out the...

Friends, How do we say "It is necessary to buy horses"? My attempt: ghoRe xariidne chaahie (I am sorry, I was trying to re-read this thread about plural infinitives) but my head started spinning. I would just like to know if xariidne is correct there, whatever it is that we call it...

Friends, I was wondering which ways one can express that an indirect object is indefinite (since ko in mandatory and there isn't a definite article). Please, how should I translate the following sentences? (My attempt below each one) Don't give chocolate to a dog. (because chocolate is...

Friends, What would be a register-neutral word for "a politician"? As in, for example: saNdeh hai ki is [x] ne sach kahaa ho raajnetaa? siyaasat-daan?

Hello, Good Day, please can anyone help me with the meaning and the correct spelling of these Indian names: Badal: The strong one, Tutya: kohl stone They are a boy's name and a girl's name I'm translating from Arabic and want to make sure the spelling is correct and also the meaning of each...

Dear Foreros, I opened this thread just to make sure I was internally processing these concepts correctly in my head. It is clear to me that chhuTnaa can mean a plethora of things for instance if you let something go I.e. miss it be it an opportunity or your train the term we use is chhuuTnaa...

Friends, From an orthographic starting point, is there any particular combination of two (written or intrinsic) vowels in devanagari that is automatically assumed to be pronounced together, as single syllable? For example, are कई kaii (many) हाए haae (ah!) होइ hoi (old/dialectal he...

Hello! I am wondering if anyone could explain the difference between these two phrases. I hear and read both versions often, but I've noticed that native speakers will correct me to use "mere xayaal mein" instead of "se". I also haven't heard an explanation that makes sense to me. Thanks!

Hello, The only word I've ever seen for opposite (adj.) is विपरीत, as in 'The two went in opposite directions': दोनो विप्रीत दिशाओं में गए (I think!). Is विपरीत the normal word you would use in speech for the previous example? Would you ever say दोनो विप्रीत तरफों में गए? I gather from...

I was reviewing a sweets shop and this idiom is perfect to describe it. ऊंची दुकान फीके पकवान But I've to write review in English so is there an English equivalent ?

Friends, I just noticed that, at all my posts in this forum, I have been transliterating the above letters indistinctly as "v" for all words (which didn't seem to hinder anybody's comprehension). The transliteration guide at the beginning of the IIR forum suggests both "v" and "w" as Latin...

Hello, How does one refer to room temperature (as in water)? So if you're in a shop buying a bottle of water, and you only see cold bottles in a fridge, how do you ask for room temperature bottles? Because it's not garam paani that we want, or even warm water. Or how would you say: White...

I find these English alphabets as alternative for hindi letters for beginners hard to understand. 1) main: is this "mey-in" like the English word "main"? or "Mah-In" like "mine"? 2) bhaarat: "bah-rat" or "b-hah-rat"? 3) kee: "ki" or "keh-eh"? 4) chehra: "che-h-ra" or "che-ra"? 5) R vs. L: "sar"...

Friends, Each couplet in a ghazal by kaliim 3Aajiz titled بیاں جب کلیمؔ اپنی حالت کرے ہے ends with the words ‘kare hai’. There is also a Hindi book titled दिल को मला करे है by Vishnu Chandra Sharma. Could you explain the meaning and usage of ‘kare hai’? There is also ‘paRhe hai’: غزل کیا پڑھے ہے...

Hello all Hindi (and Urdu) speakers! I had a doubt regarding two different sentence constructions that seem extremely similar to me. Apologies if this question has been asked in a similar form before (I did try to check if there was something similar before posting but sorry if I missed the...

Friends, How does one say "mortals" in the sense of all mankind as opposed to gods, etc.? (I know that this might not apply to all religions, as some gods are in fact finite, but you get the idea). Also, can it be used as a noun? For example, how would you say: "Zeus loves the...

Hi. Hello. What do the words "SALA GRAMA" mean? I have read it in the "Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" and I do not know what it means. Searching on YouTube "SALA GRAMA IN TELUGU" videos of a few small black stones appear but I do not understand what they say. Can someone explain the meaning...

Friends, My understanding is that, for the ie/iye combination, लिए is preferred over लिये on account of being more modern and simpler. But for the combination io/ iyo the opposite seems to be the case, i.e पियो (and forms in iyo in general) are overwhelmingly more numerous than पिओ (and...

How to say this in English: इस YouTube विडिओ पर बहुत कम व्यूस हैं। This video has got very few views or this video has got less(very) views? I think the first one is grammatically correct.

Hi, Is the common Pakistani girl’s name “Arsla” derived from the Arabic verb أرسل يرسل إرسالًا? Thanks.

Namaste! I just heard that the word 'chhapri' (छपरी), usually used as Bambaiyya (Bombay) slang for 'a street side loafer', is supposedly a casteist slur because it originates from 'chappar' or 'chapparband', a community of roof-thatchers in Karnataka and Maharashtra. Is there any truth to this...

Hi, Is the Hindi-Urdu word for "cart" टाँगा ٹانگا or ताँगा تانگا? Thanks!

Trying to understand 'mujhe' from this film dialogue in relation to Panjabi: Dialogue: "gaon vapas naa jaana mujhe" Subtitle: "I don't want to go back to the village" My Panjabi translation: "Pind vapas nahin jaana main" I don't know Hindi/Urdu apart those words that are the same as Panjabi...

So have been learning Hindi for a month now and discovering some very curious things that I hoped you could help with: Firstly noticed the use of object pronouns, i.e. mujhe (me) instead of subject pronouns, i,e. main (I), for instance 'mujhe tum pasand hai', 'mujhe paanee chahiye'. After quite...

Friends, The -gaa part in "even more respectful" 3pp imperatives like chaliegaa, khaaiegaa, kiijiyegaa is itself declinable? i.e. do kiijiegii, khaaiege exist? They appear on the Internet, but they seem to be used as oddly spelled futures rather than imperatives. For example: aur menDirin...

Friends, When verb conjugations are taught in school in Hindi/Urdu, what is the main, most comprenehsive category of analysis, to organize inflection sets? For example, in Spanish (and to a degree, in English too, I believe) the most comprehensive category is the mood. We start with the...

Dear Foreros, You'll all be too familiar with the various country-based variants of Coronavirus that are sprouting up in multiple corners of the globe but how would your translate the idea in the languages above? How would you say "South African/UK/Indian variant of concern/COVID-19"? For...

Hello, How do we express X is caused by Y-- Thunder is caused by lightning. Baadal ka garajna bijli ke chamakne se ho jaataa hai? And in the active voice? What causes thunder? baadal ke garajne ko kyaa ....? Thanks! (There is a post here that's sort of related, but 'cause' is...

Friends, Is there such a thing as 1st person plural imperative in Hindi/Urdu? (The equivalent to English "let us go!", French "allons!", etc.)? My impression after asking speakers is that: if I wanted myself and someone else to do something (such as walk), I would still use...

What is the etymology of the Lucknowi dessert called nimish? This dish is variously called makhan malai, malaiyya, and daulat ki chaat in other parts of UP.

I am doing a Hindi debut rap album and wanted to translate the popular 'Parental Advisory, Explicit Content' label into Hindi, for the album art. I thought of 'अभिभावकीय परामर्श' but couldn't find anything for 'explicit content'. Please help, thanks.

Hello friends, I have come here after a long time in fact for the first time in 2021. Hope everyone is doing well. I want to say this in English: आज एक और सुशान्त ने जन्म लिया है... Would it be "a new Sushant is born / has been born / was born today ?

Friends, In the proverb "ulTaa chor kotvaal ko DaaNTe" (something like "the thief chiding the policeman", i.e. "criticizing others whithout seeing the same fault in yourself") What does ulTaa mean? It means the thief "in the wrong", the "crooked thief"? Or it is an adverb referring to...

Dear Foreros, Considering Hamaams are most certainly not a new invention for the sub-continent nor a European import per se, I was wondering if there was a term for a bathtub in the languages above besides the English bathtub? Would love to hear your take on the matter along, with coinages if...

Friends, When the bindu stands for a nasal consonant conjunct that follows, is it obvious from the written word alone whether the first consonant is म or न ? Could the proper letter be deduced based on phonetic rules alone, without previous knowledge of how the word sounds? In other words...

Friends, What are the proper Hindi/Urdu words to refer to light, heavy, and super-heavy syllables, in the context of syllabication to determine the stress of a word? For example, the page here gives al algorithm in order to determine where the stress falls in some words. The idea is...

I'm reading the 18th lesson of Complete Hindi by Rupert Snell and I don't understand the use of causative in perfective participle form + जाना . सुहास : प्रताप, टैक्सीवाले को कहलवा दो कि वह चला जाए । सुरेश : हाँ, टैक्सी को तो बाद में वपास बुलवाया जा साकता है । and further : मेरे लन्दन में...

Re: liking things: I get the sense (I could be wrong; am hardly an expert) that, unlike Gujarati, where we hear bhaave chhe & game chhe fairly often and where some things bhaave chhe but can't game chhe and vice versa, in Hindi-Urdu bhaanaa isn't as widely used (though still common). Are there...

Dear Foreros, I was wondering what the official terms for working and non-working hours are in the languages above. From a quick Google search the following is what is returned so far as Urdu is concerned: Auqaat/Oqaat e kaar which would suggest that Ghair-auqaat/oqaat E kaar would be the...

Friends, What is "manvaa nagrii" in the stanza below? The polem is a generic lamentation for the beloved's absence, called "Balma", and it was featured in Coke Studio 2019 bechain, manvaa nagrii bechain haaN, birhaa kii maarii, more birhaa kii maarii more rovat nain [Youtube: Fx1Ec3Nd82w...

In cheejon kee keemat kitanee hai. I want to know here is that should I say "kitna" hai aur "kitni" hai with kimat? And kindly explain me the rules.