Current mood:	accomplished
Current music:	"When love and hate collide", Def Leppard

Is this house large?
Dialogue 1B from "Teach Yourself Hindi"

Thanks to bradius for the Devanagari!

Raam: क्या यह मकान बड़ा है ?
Umaa: जी हाँ, यह मकान बड़ा हे, लेकिन वे मकान धोटा हैं.
Raam: क्या यह कमरा बड़ा हैं ?
Umaa: जी नहीं, यह कमरा धोटा है, लेकिन वे ढो कमरे बड़े हैं. यहाँ सिर्फ़ एक मेज़ और एक कुरसी है, लेकिन वहाँ ढो मेज़ें और चार कुरसीयाँ हैं.
Raam: आज्छा. क्या यह छोटा कमरे साफ़ हौ ?
Umaa: जी हाँ, यह कमरा साफ़ हौ, लेकिन वे बड़े कनके साफ़ नहीं हैं.
Raam: क्या यह मेज़ साफ़ हैंय़
Umaa: जी नहीं, यह गन्ढी हौ, लेकिन वे बड़ी मेज़ें साफ़ हौं.

Raam: kyaa yah makaan baRaa hai?
Umaa: jii haan, yah makaan baRaa hai, lekin ve makaan choTe hain.
Raam: kyaa yah kamraa baRaa hai?
Umaa: jii nahiin, yah kamraa choTaa hai, lekin ve do kamre baRe hain. yahaan sirf ek mez aur ek kursii hai, lekin vahaan do mezen aur caar kursiyaan hain.
Raam: acchaa. kyaa yah choTaa kamraa saaf hai?
Umaa: jii haan, yah kamraa saaf hai, lekin ve baRe kamre saaf nahiin hain, gande hain.
Raam: kyaa yah mez saaf hai?
Umaa: jii nahiin, yah gandii hai, lekin ve baRii mezen saaf hain.

English, thanks to boddhy

Raam: Is this house large?
Uma: Yes. this house is large, but those houses are small.
Raam: Is this room large?
Uma: No, this room is small, but those two rooms are large. Here, there is only one table and one chair, but there, there are two tables and four chairs.
Raam: Good. What this small room is clean?
Uma: Yes, this room is clean, but those large rooms are not clean, they are dirty.
Raam: Is this table clean?
Uma: No, this one is dirty, but those big tables are clean.


Vocabulary:

makaan - house; kamraa - room
baRaa - large; choTaa - small
mez - table; kursii - chair
ek - one; do - two; tiin - three; caar - four; paanc - five
saaf - clean; gandaa - dirty
lekin - but


1) Making plural nouns
Hindi nouns are masculine or feminine gender. There's no Hindi word for 'the', but ek may be used to be 'a'. You need to know the gender of a noun to work out the plural.

Masculine nouns ending in -aa change that to -e e.g. laRkaa - boy:

ek laRkaa; do laRke

Other masculine nouns don't change e.g.

ek makaan; do makaan

Feminine nouns ending in -ii, -i, or -iyaa change that to -iyaan e.g. laRkii - girl

ek laRkii; do laRkiyaan

All the other feminine nouns just gain -ee e.g. mez

ek mez; do mezee

2) Making adjectives agree

Some 'describing words' have to change their endings to match the 'naming word' they're with; others don't.

e.g. saaf doesn't change:

ek saaf makaan; do saaf makaan; do saaf mezee

but e.g. baRaa does, ending in -aa, -e, or -ii depending on number and gender:

ek baRaa laRkaa; do baRe laRke; ek baRii laRkii; do baRii laRkiyaan

3) Making simple sentences

Usually, start with what you're talking about ('the subject'), and end with what's happening ('the verb') e.g.

yah kamraa baRaa hai

You're talking about 'this room', and making a simple statement about it how it 'is'. Make a simple question by starting with 'kyaa':

kyaa yah kamraa baRaa hai?

and turn the meaning around by putting 'not' before 'is':

yah kamraa baRaa nahiin hai.