Hindi, Urdu: unfair / not fair

[amiramir]

Hi there,

How do Hindi-Urdu speaking children claim something is unfair / not fair? Certainly my children constantly complain about everything not being fair. Is there a word children would use to describe it? I come up with nothing normal-- either 'vo sahii nahiiN hai' which is not really equivalent, or a 'difficult' word from the dictionary as a synonym of 'unjust'.

Thanks

 

[littlepond]

Could you give an example, with imaginary dialogues? Usually, "sahii" is used in such cases (e.g. "yeh sahii nahiiN hai!"), but it depends. One could also say "yeh [to] koii baat nahiiN huii" (this sentence can also be used in some other contexts).

 

[amiramir]

Of course. Normally I would have; but (maybe it's just my kids) I've always thought of kids complaining about their parents' unfair decision making as a universal!

- Child: I want to sleep over my friend's house.
- Parent: No, you're not allowed to have sleepovers.
- Child: But all my friends are allowed to sleep over friends' houses. It's not fair!

And variations thereof, sadly for me!

Thanks.

 

[littlepond]

The "It's not fair" like that is an idiomatic sentence in English, not really in Hindi. In Hindi, the child would rather ask, but why not me then? ("par maiN kyoN nahiiN"), or something like that. He or she wouldn't pass a judgement like "yeh sahii nahiiN hai" or "yeh galat hai".

Things like "mean" and "fair" are much more in the English-speaking world's consciousness, I guess (no wonder, the Merchant of Venice was written by an Englishman).

 

[Qureshpor]

In Urdu, for this context I would say,

yih insaaf nahiiN hai.

yih kahaaN kaa insaaf hai?

yih jaa'iz nahiiN hai.

yih Thiik nahiiN hai.

 

[littlepond]

^ "Thiik" can work, but I would personally find "insaaf" and "jaayaz" too heavy for a child to say in such a context and very abnormal (unless a specific context demands so).

 

[amiramir]

Thank you both for your comments. All very helpful.