LESSON TRANSCRIPT

Absolute Beginner S1 #16

Changing Hindi Statements into
Questions

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
LESSON CONVERSATION
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
VOCAB LIST
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
LESSON FOCUS

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INTRODUCTION
Neha:"Namaste," I'm Neha. and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 16, Changing Hindi
Statements into Questions.

Maya: "Namaste," I'm Maya In this lesson you'll learn how ask simple questions in Hindi.

Neha:The conversation takes place in a hotel.

Maya:This conversation is between Jane, the hotel guest, and Sita, the hotel receptionist.

Neha:Since they do not know each other and are at a formal setting, they will be using formal Hindi.

Maya:Let's listen to their conversation.

LESSON CONVERSATION
सीता:नम ते, जेनजी । आप ठ क ह?

जेन:म ठ क ँ, ध यवाद। आज ब त गम है!

सीता:जी ब त गम है। या म आपक मदद कर सकती ँ?

जेन:ध यवाद! या पीने के लए ठं डा पानी है?

Let's listen to the conversation one time slowly.

सीता:नम ते, जेनजी । आप ठ क ह?

जेन:म ठ क ँ, ध यवाद। आज ब त गम है!

सीता:जी ब त गम है। या म आपक मदद कर सकती ँ?

जेन:ध यवाद! या पीने के लए ठं डा पानी है?

Let's listen to the conversation with English translation.सीता:नम ते, जेनजी । आप ठ क ह?

Maya:Hello Ms Jane. Are you alright?

जेन:म ठ क ँ, ध यवाद। आज ब त गम है!

Maya:I am alright, thank you. Today is very hot!

सीता:जी ब त गम है। या म आपक मदद कर सकती ँ?

Maya:Yes it's very hot. Can I help you with anything?

जेन:ध यवाद! या पीने के लए ठं डा पानी है?

Maya:Thank you! Do you have some cold water to drink?

POST CONVERSATION BANTER

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Maya:A lot of the Hindi language is in the tone. Most statements in Hindi can turn into questions without
changing anything but the intonation.

Neha:Yes and Indian people use a lot of head gestures while speaking.

Maya:Some tourists need to get used to what a "yes" nod is, what a "no" shake is, and what a "maybe"
wriggle is.

Neha:Actually, "yes" might not be the typical nod from top to bottom that most people are used to. It
can be a swing of the head from side to side.

Maya:In fact, you can't rely on gestures alone... you also need to infer from other things like expressions
and body stance.

Neha:Subtle changes in the angle and degree of the head movement can imply totally opposite things,
"yes" or "no," so you need to be careful when interpreting these things.

Maya:Good advice. Okay, let's move onto the vocab.

VOCAB LIST
Maya:Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.

:The first word we shall see is:

Neha:आप [natural native speed]

Maya:you(formal)

Neha:आप [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Neha:आप [natural native speed]

:Next is:

Neha:ठ क [natural native speed]

Maya:alright/well

Neha:ठ क [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Neha:ठ क [natural native speed]

:Next is:

Neha:ध यवाद [natural native speed]

Maya:thank you

Neha:ध यवाद [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Neha:ध यवाद [natural native speed]

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:Next is:

Neha:आज [natural native speed]

Maya:today

Neha:आज [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Neha:आज [natural native speed]

:Next is:

Neha:ब त [natural native speed]

Maya:very/a lot

Neha:ब त [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Neha:ब त [natural native speed]

:Next is:

Neha:गम [natural native speed]

Maya:hot weather

Neha:गम [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Neha:गम [natural native speed]

:Next is:

Neha:मदद [natural native speed]

Maya:help

Neha:मदद [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Neha:मदद [natural native speed]

:Next is:

Neha:ठं डा पानी [natural native speed]

Maya:cold water

Neha:ठं डा पानी [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Neha:ठं डा पानी [natural native speed]

:Last we have is:

Neha:सकती [natural native speed]

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Maya:can (female)

Neha:सकती [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Neha:सकती [natural native speed]

KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES

Maya:Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.

Neha:A very useful word to know in Hindi is the adverb ब त, which means "very" or "a lot."

Maya:It's also easy to use because unlike some adverbs, it doesn't inflect according to the gender and
the number of the subject.

Neha:Yes, with adverbs the general rule is that those that end with a आ are inflecting adverbs while the
rest aren't.

Maya:Since ब त doesn't end with a आ, it stays the same. Let's listen to some examples. "Very hot" in
Hindi is…

Neha:ब त गम.

Maya:But “Very hot in terms of weather” is....

Neha:ब त गम .

Maya:"Very cold" is…

Neha:ब त ठं डा.

Maya:But “Very cold in terms of weather” is....

Neha:bahut sardii

Maya:"Very tall" in case of male subjects is…

Neha:ब त ल बा.

Maya:And "very tall" in case of female subjects is…

Neha:ब त ल बी.

Maya:Now let's look at another word.

Neha:मदद is a noun that means "help."

Maya:And all Hindi nouns have gender. They are either masculine or feminine and मदद is a feminine
noun.

Neha:So, all the pronouns and adjectives associated with it will take their feminine forms, which means
that whether you're a man or a woman, you'll always say मेरी मदद, which means "my help."

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Maya:"Your help" would be…

Neha:तु हारी मदद if you're speaking informally and आपक मदद if you are speaking formally.

Maya:The last word we'll look at is the verb "can," which is…

Neha:सकना. For singular masculine cases, you use सकता. For plural masculine cases you use सकते
("sakte"). And for singular and plural feminine cases you use सकती ("saktee").

Maya:So for example, if you are a male and you want to say, "I can," you'd say म सकता ँ।.

Neha:That's right! And if you are a female, you'd say, म सकती ँ।.

LESSON FOCUS
Maya:Let's move on to the main focus of this lesson. Today we’re going to learn how to ask simple
questions in Hindi.

Neha:Okay. So, in English if you were to change simple statements into questions you'd have to change
the verb order.

Maya:For example, if you wanted to turn the statement, "This is your house" into a question, you'd
arrange it such that the verb comes at the beginning and it becomes "Is this your house?"

Neha: Well, in Hindi, none of this is necessary! In Hindi sentences verbs always come last and in an
interrogative sentence they stay the same.

Maya:The question is indicated by the tone of the speech, you know, the questioning tone?

Neha:Why don't we look at some examples?

Maya:Yes, let's take the sentence "I can help you."

Neha:Now if you are a female speaker, you'd say, म आपक मदद कर सकती ँ।.

Maya:And its question form "Can I help you?" would be…

Neha:म आपक मदद कर सकती ँ?

Maya:Did you notice that nothing changed except for the tone?

Neha:Okay, another example, this time for a male speaker. Here you just need to change the words for
"I can" from सकती ँ to सकता ँ.

Maya:So if you are a male speaker and wanted to say "I can help you," you'd say…

Neha:म आपक मदद कर सकता ँ।.

Maya:And to change that into the question "Can I help you?" you'd say…

Neha:म आपक मदद कर सकता ँ?

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Maya:Instead of turning statements into questions with the change of tone, you can also add the word
या for emphasis.

Neha:Yes and it always goes at the beginning of the question and loses its usual meaning which is
"what."

Maya:So, if you are a female and wanted to ask "Can I help you?" you'd say…

Neha: या म आपक मदद कर सकती ँ?

Maya:Right! And if you are a male, you'd say…

Neha: या म आपक मदद कर सकता ँ?

Maya:Okay, now one final example before we end this lesson. So, how do you say "This is your house" in
Hindi?

Neha:Well, "this" is यह, "your" is आपका, and "house" is घर. So it would be यह आपका घर है।.

Maya:Now what would be its question form, "Is this your house?"

Neha: या यह आपका घर है?

Maya:Okay, let's practice the intonation. Listeners, please say "this is your house"

Neha:यह आपका घर है. [pause]

Maya:Okay, now make it a question and say, Is this your house?

Neha: या यह आपका घर है? [pause]

Maya:That was easy right? Just remember to change the tone or simply add या in front and you're good
to go.

Neha:Great! Please also read through the lesson notes for more examples and explanations on this
topic.

Maya:They will be a lot of help. Thank you for listening. Until next time!

Neha:"Shukriyaa aur fir milenge!"

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