Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Neha: "Namaste," I'm Neha, and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 13, Talking about Family in Hindi.
Maya "Namaste," I'm Maya. In this lesson you'll learn how to talk about your family members in Hindi.
Neha: The conversation takes place in a restaurant.
Maya: This conversation is between Carol and Rani.
Neha: Since they are friends, they will be speaking informal Hindi.
Maya: Let's listen to their conversation.

Lesson conversation

कैरल (kairaL): तुम्हारे कितने भाई हैं? (Tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii hain?)
रानी (raaNii): मेरे दो भाई हैं, किशन और प्रतीक। (mere Do bhaaii hain, kisaN aur praTiik.)
कैरल (kairaL): और तुम्हारी कितनी बहनें हैं? (aur Tumhaarii kiTaNii bahaNen hain?)
रानी (raaNii): केवल एक है, सोनल। तुम्हारे कितने भाई और बहनें हैं? (kevaL ek hai, SoNaL. Tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii aur bahaNen hain?)
कैरल (kairaL): मेरा एक भाई है लेकिन मेरी कोई बहन नहीं है। (meraa ek bhaaii hai LekiN merii koi bahaN Nahiin hai.)
Maya: Let's listen to the conversation one time slowly.
कैरल (kairaL): तुम्हारे कितने भाई हैं? (Tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii hain?)
रानी (raaNii): मेरे दो भाई हैं, किशन और प्रतीक। (mere Do bhaaii hain, kisaN aur praTiik.)
कैरल (kairaL): और तुम्हारी कितनी बहनें हैं? (aur Tumhaarii kiTaNii bahaNen hain?)
रानी (raaNii): केवल एक है, सोनल। तुम्हारे कितने भाई और बहनें हैं? (kevaL ek hai, SoNaL. Tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii aur bahaNen hain?)
कैरल (kairaL): मेरा एक भाई है लेकिन मेरी कोई बहन नहीं है। (meraa ek bhaaii hai LekiN merii koi bahaN Nahiin hai.)
Maya: Let's listen to the conversation with English translation.
कैरल (kairaL): तुम्हारे कितने भाई हैं? (Tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii hain?)
Maya: How many brothers do you have?
रानी (raaNii): मेरे दो भाई हैं, किशन और प्रतीक। (mere Do bhaaii hain, kisaN aur praTiik.)
Maya: I have two brothers, Kishan and Pratik.
कैरल (kairaL): और तुम्हारी कितनी बहनें हैं? (aur Tumhaarii kiTaNii bahaNen hain?)
Maya: And how many sisters do you have?
रानी (raaNii): केवल एक है, सोनल। तुम्हारे कितने भाई और बहनें हैं? (kevaL ek hai, SoNaL. Tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii aur bahaNen hain?)
Maya: Just one, Sonal. How many brothers and sisters do you have?
कैरल (kairaL): मेरा एक भाई है लेकिन मेरी कोई बहन नहीं है। (meraa ek bhaaii hai LekiN merii koi bahaN Nahiin hai.)
Maya: I have one brother but I don't have any sisters.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Maya: In this lesson you'll learn all the terms for your family members. And in India, that's very useful not only because you'll be able to talk about your family but also because you'll be able to address strangers.
Neha: What we mean is that, in India, strangers are addressed as brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, grandmothers, and grandfathers, depending on their age.
Maya: But the standard way of addressing older males or those who are strangers to you is as "big brother," or simply "brother," which is…
Neha: भैया (bhaiyaa) or भाई साहब (bhaaii Saahab).
Maya: And for "older females" and "strangers," you'd address them as…
Neha: दीदी (DiiDii) or बहनजी (bahaN jii).
Maya: These are often used in marketplaces when you're addressing the shopkeepers or in taxis when you're addressing the taxi driver.
Neha: Or even on the streets if you get lost and need to ask for anything.
Maya: Basically, in any kind of scenario you can address strangers with those terms that you use for your family members.
VOCAB LIST
Maya: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is...
Neha: तुम्हारे (Tumhaare).
Maya: your.
Neha: तुम्हारे (Tumhaare), तुम्हारे (Tumhaare).
Maya: Next is...
Neha: कितने (kiTaNe).
Maya: how many.
Neha: कितने (kiTaNe), कितने (kiTaNe).
Maya: Next is...
Neha: भाई (bhaaii).
Maya: brother
Neha: भाई (bhaaii), भाई (bhaaii).
Maya: Next is...
Neha: मेरे (mere).
Maya: my.
Neha: मेरे (mere), मेरे (mere).
Maya: Next is...
Neha: और (aur).
Maya: and
Neha: और (aur), और (aur).
Maya: Next is...
Neha: तुम्हारी (Tumhaarii).
Maya: your.
Neha: तुम्हारी (Tumhaarii), तुम्हारी (Tumhaarii).
Maya: Next is...
Neha: कितनी (kiTaNii).
Maya: how many.
Neha: कितनी (kiTaNii), कितनी (kiTaNii).
Maya: Next is...
Neha: बहनें (bahaNen).
Maya: sisters.
Neha: बहनें (bahaNen), बहनें (bahaNen).
Maya: Next is...
Neha: केवल (kevaL).
Maya: only/ just.
Neha: केवल (kevaL), केवल (kevaL).
Maya: The last is...
Neha: लेकिन (LekiN).
Maya: but.
Neha: लेकिन (LekiN), लेकिन (LekiN).
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Neha: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. We came across two words that mean the same thing - तुम्हारे (Tumhaare) and तुम्हारी (Tumhaarii).
Maya: They both mean "your" and are used informally. So, you cannot use them with superiors and elders.
Neha: And as with every Hindi possessive pronoun, they depend on the gender and number of the thing that is being possessed and not the subject that is doing the possessing. For singular males you use तुम्हारा (Tumhaaraa).
Maya: So to say "your brother" in Hindi, you'd say...
Neha: तुम्हारा भाई (Tumhaaraa bhaaii).
Maya: For plural males you use तुम्हारे (Tumhaare).
Neha: So, to say "your brothers" in Hindi, you'd say तुम्हारे भाई (Tumhaare bhaaii).
Maya: "Brother" and "brothers," for example, both singular and plural are the same in Hindi, भाई (bhaaii).
Neha: For singular and plural females you use तुम्हारी (Tumhaarii).
Maya: So "your sister" in Hindi is...
Neha: तुम्हारी बहन (Tumhaarii bahaN).
Maya: And "your sisters" in Hindi is…
Neha: तुम्हारी बहनें (Tumhaarii bahaNen). Now, if you noticed, singular "sister" is बहन (bahaN) while plural sister, for example, "sisters," is बहनें (bahaNen).
Maya: It follows a simple rule. In the case of feminine nouns, if the word ends with -ई (-ii) then it changes it into -इयाँ (-iyaan) when it becomes plural. But if it ends with anything else, then add -एँ (-en) or एं (-en).
Neha: In this case, बहन (bahaN) is the latter case so we add -एं (-en) and it turns into बहनें (bahaNen), which is the plural "sisters."
Maya: We also have an easy rule for changing singular masculine nouns into plural masculine nouns.
Neha: If the word ends with -आ (-aa) then change it into ए (-e), but if the words end with anything else, there's no need to change.
Maya: That is why the word भाई (bhaaii), which does not end with an -आ (-aa), remains the same whether you're talking about a single brother or many brothers.
Neha: On to the grammar point.

Lesson focus

Maya: The focus of this lesson is how to ask questions about family.
Neha: Let's now learn to ask the question तुम्हारे कितने भाई हैं? (Tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii hain?).
Maya: Which means, "How many brothers do you have?"
Neha: Here, तुम्हारे (Tumhaare) means "your," कितने (kiTaNe) means "how many," भाई (bhaaii) means "brothers," and हैं (hain) means "are." So, literally, it means "your how many brothers are," which translates as, "How many brothers do you have?".
Maya: How would you ask, "How many sisters do you have?"
Neha: Do you remember the Hindi words for "your sisters?" We just discussed this.
Maya: It is तुम्हारी बहनें (Tumhaarii bahaNen).
Neha: Yes, so to ask "How many sisters do you have?" you say, तुम्हारी कितनी बहनें हैं? (Tumhaarii kiTanii bahaNen hain?).
Maya: Let's listen and repeat. "How many brothers do you have?" in Hindi is...
Neha: तुम्हारे कितने भाई हैं? (tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii hain?), तुम्हारे कितने भाई हैं? (tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii hain?), तुम्हारे कितने भाई हैं? (tumhaare kiTaNe bhaaii hain?)
Maya: And "How many sisters do you have?" is...
Neha: तुम्हारी कितनी बहनें हैं? (Tumhaarii kiTaNii bahaNen hain?), तुम्हारी कितनी बहनें हैं? (Tumhaarii kiTaNii bahaNen hain?), तुम्हारी कितनी बहनें हैं? (Tumhaarii kiTaNii bahaNen hain?)
Maya: Great! Now, how do we answer these questions?
Neha: Well, all you need to remember is that the word "my" in Hindi changes just like the word "your," which are तम्हारा/ तुम्हारे (Tumhaaraa/ Tumhaare) and तुम्हारी (Tumhaarii). "My" also changes into मेरा/ मेरे (meraa/ mere) and मेरी (merii).
Maya: मेरा (meraa) for singular male, मेरे (mere) for plural male, and मेरी (merii) for singular and plural females. So, "I have one sister." in Hindi is...
Neha: मेरी एक बहन है। (merii ek bahaN hai.)
Maya: How about, "I have two sisters."?
Neha: It is मेरी दो बहनें हैं। (merii Do bahaNen hain.)
Maya: You can just replace the word for "two," which is दो (Do), with any other numbers besides one. Please repeat after Neha. "I have one sister."
Neha: मेरी एक बहन है। (merii ek bahaN hai.)
Maya: Great. Now, "I have two sisters."
Neha: मेरी दो बहनें हैं। (merii Do bahaNen hain.)
Maya: Let's try another example. How would you say, "I have five sisters."?
Neha: The word for "five" in Hindi is पाँच (paanc), so the sentence would be मेरी पाँच बहनें हैं। (merii paanc bahaNen hain.)
Maya: Similarly, "I have one brother." in Hindi is...
Neha: मेरा एक भाई है। (meraa ek bhaaii hai.)
Maya: And "I have two brothers." is...
Neha: मेरे दो भाई हैं। (mere Do bhaaii hain.)
Maya: Please repeat after Neha. "I have one brother."
Neha: मेरा एक भाई है। (meraa ek bhaaii hai.)
Maya: "I have two brothers."
Neha: मेरे दो भाई हैं। (mere Do bhaaii hain.)
Maya: As we discussed earlier, भाई (bhaaii) can mean both "one brother" or "many brothers." What changes are the verbs "is" and "are."
Neha: है (hai) for "is" and the nasal हैं (hain) for "are."
Maya: Very simple, right? Now, all you need to do is practice these out loud a couple of times and you'll easily be able to talk about how many siblings you have!
Neha: Well, that's all for our lesson today. Don't forget to read the lesson notes for more examples and explanations!
Maya: Thank you for listening. Until next time!
Neha: शुक्रिया और फिर मिलेंगे! (sukriyaa aur phir miLenge!)

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