Learn about Hindi words that are taken from English
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Neha: "Namaste," I'm Neha, and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 22, Are you Speaking Hindi or English? |
| Maya: "Namaste," I'm Maya. In this lesson you’ll learn about the borrowed words from English in Hindi that have become part of the Hindi language. |
| Neha: The conversation takes place on a beach. |
| Maya: It's between Mita and Gita. |
| Neha: They are tourists on the same tour group and since they don't know each other, they will be speaking formal Hindi. |
| Maya: Let's listen to their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| मीता (miiTaa): आपका कैमरा बहुत अच्छा है। (aapakaa kaimaraa bahuT acchaa hai.) |
| गीता (giiTaa): शुक्रिया। वास्तव में यह मेरा फ़ौन है। (sukriyaa. vaaSTav men yah meraa foN hai.) |
| मीता (miiTaa): अरे वाह! क्या यह बहुत महंगा था? (are vaah! kyaa yah bahuT mahangaa THaa?) |
| गीता (giiTaa): थोड़ा। यह एक अच्छा वीडियो भी ले सकता है। (THodaa. yah ek acchaa viidiyo bhi Le SakaTaa hai.) |
| Neha: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. |
| मीता (miiTaa): आपका कैमरा बहुत अच्छा है। (aapakaa kaimaraa bahuT acchaa hai.) |
| गीता (giiTaa): शुक्रिया। वास्तव में यह मेरा फ़ौन है। (sukriyaa. vaaSTav men yah meraa foN hai.) |
| मीता (miiTaa): अरे वाह! क्या यह बहुत महंगा था? (are vaah! kyaa yah bahuT mahangaa THaa?) |
| गीता (giiTaa): थोड़ा। यह एक अच्छा वीडियो भी ले सकता है। (THodaa. yah ek acchaa viidiyo bhi Le SakaTaa hai.) |
| Maya: Let's now listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| मीता (miiTaa): आपका कैमरा बहुत अच्छा है। (aapakaa kaimaraa bahuT acchaa hai.) |
| Neha: "Your camera is really nice." |
| गीता (giiTaa): शुक्रिया। वास्तव में यह मेरा फ़ौन है। (sukriyaa. vaaSTav men yah meraa foN hai.) |
| Maya: "Thank you. Actually, this is my phone." |
| मीता (miiTaa): अरे वाह! क्या यह बहुत महंगा था? (are vaah! kyaa yah bahuT mahangaa THaa?) |
| Neha: "Wow! Was it very expensive?" |
| गीता (giiTaa): थोड़ा। यह एक अच्छा वीडियो भी ले सकता है। (THodaa. yah ek acchaa viidiyo bhi Le SakaTaa hai.) |
| Maya: "A little. It can also take a really good video." |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Neha: If you look at most of the languages around the world you will find that the English language has infiltrated so many of them. |
| Maya: Obviously this is a sweeping statement but colonization in the early days and now the media aided by globalization has helped quite a bit in this process. |
| Neha: In Hindi too, there are quite a few words that are directly taken from English words. |
| Maya: Yes, all the modern technological inventions have the same English names. |
| Neha: Even the names of vehicles and sports have their English names. |
| Maya: But this is not a one-way process. |
| Neha: And what we mean by that is that although more of Hindi has been influenced by English, we can also find traces of Hindi words that have become part of the English language. |
| Maya: Perhaps it is more apt to say that most of them have their origins in Persian, Urdu, and Arabic languages. |
| Neha: But in any case, "jungle" comes from the Hindi word जंगल (jangaL). |
| Maya: Or the word "thug" comes from the Hindi word ठग (thag), which means "to rob and steal." Even "loot" in English also comes from लूट (Luut) in Hindi. |
| Neha: "Bungalow" is from बंगला (bangaLaa), "pajamas" from पजामा (pajaamaa), and "shawl" from शाल (saaL). You get the idea. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maya: Okay then, let's look at some of the words that came up in the conversation. |
| Neha: We'll first say the words at natural speed, then a bit slower, and finally we'll give you the meaning. |
| Maya: Our first word is... |
| Neha: कैमरा (kaimaraa), कै-म-रा (kai-ma-raa), कैमरा (kaimaraa). |
| Maya: Which means "camera." |
| Neha: Next, we have वास्तव में (vaaSTav men), वास्तव में (vaaSTav men), वास्तव में (vaaSTav men). |
| Maya: Which means "actually." |
| Neha: Then is फ़ोन (foN), फ़ोन (foN), फ़ोन (foN). |
| Maya: Which means "phone." |
| Neha: Next is अरे वाह (are vaah), अरे वाह (are vaah), अरे वाह (are vaah). |
| Maya: Which means "wow." |
| Neha: Then is, महंगा (mahangaa), महंगा (mahangaa), महंगा (mahangaa). |
| Maya: Which means "expensive." |
| Neha: Next is था (THaa), था (THaa), था (THaa). |
| Maya: Which means "was." |
| Neha: Then we have थोड़ा (THodaa), थोड़ा (THodaa), थोड़ा (THodaa). |
| Maya: Which means "little." |
| Neha: Next is वीडियो (viidiyo), वीडियो (viidiyo), वीडियो (viidiyo). |
| Maya: Which means "video." |
| Neha: then is भी (bhii), भी (bhii), भी (bhii). |
| Maya: Which means "also." |
| Neha: And finally, we have सकता (SakaTaa), सकता (SakaTaa), सकता (SakaTaa). |
| Maya: Which means "can." |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Maya: Now let's look at some of these words in more detail. |
| Neha: वास्तव में (vaaSTav men) which means "actually." |
| Maya: Like in English, it is quite commonly used while speaking. |
| Neha: वास्तव (vaaSTav) on its own means "real" and में (men) is a postposition which means "in." |
| Maya: And postpositions are prepositions except they come after the subject unlike before in English. So, together they literally mean, "real in." |
| Neha: And translates as "in truth," or "actually," or "indeed." |
| Maya: Okay, let's listen and practice. We'll first say it at natural speed and then a bit slowly |
| Neha: वास्तव में (vaaSTav men), वास्तव में (vaaSTav men). |
| Maya: Great! In this lesson, we have introduced a new tense, the past tense, which we'll talk in detail in Lesson 24, but here, we'll give you a brief introduction. |
| Neha: So, था (THaa) and थी (THii) are the verb "was." They are the past tense of the verb "is" which is है (hai). |
| Maya: Although है (hai), for example, "is," does not change according to the gender, the verb "was" does. |
| Neha: था (THaa) is used for singular masculine and थी (THii) is used for singular feminine. |
| Maya: Next let's talk about the verb सकता (SakaTaa), which means "can" and comes from the verb सकना (SakaNaa). |
| Neha: This also changes according to the gender and number of the subject. |
| Maya: So if you are a male speaker and want to say "I can do it." in Hindi, you say... |
| Neha: मैं कर सकता हूँ। (main kar SakaTaa huun.) |
| Maya: If you are a female speaker, you say... |
| Neha: मैं कर सकती हूँ। (main kar SakaTii huun.) |
| Maya: And finally if you are a group of people, you say... |
| Neha: हम कर सकते हैं। (ham kar SakaTe hain.) |
| Maya: Which means "We can do it." |
Lesson focus |
| Neha: Okay, time to familiarize ourselves with the commonly used English words in Hindi. |
| Maya: You might be wondering why we have a separate lesson to learn about these English words. |
| Neha: Well, that's because some of those borrowed words might sound exactly the same but there are some that are pronounced a bit different in Hindi. |
| Maya: Mostly the "aa” sounds in English are changed to "ai" in Hindi. For example, "badminton" is बैडमिंटन (baidamiNtaN). |
| Neha: Also, a few of the "a" sounds change into "aa" in Hindi. For example, "dishwasher" is डिश वॉशर (dis wausar). |
| Maya: Let's look at some more examples. |
| Neha: Okay, we'll first start with electronic goods. |
| Maya: Now this part is easy because the words like "TV," "computer," "microwave," and "AC" sound the same in Hindi, टीवी (tiivii), कंप्यूटर (kampyuutar) and माइक्रोवेव (maaikrovev), and एसी (eSii). |
| Neha: But "tablet" becomes टैबलेट (taibaLet), "laptop" becomes लैपटॉप (laipataup), "fax" becomes फ़ैक्स (fax), "calculator" becomes कैलकुलेटर (kaiLakuLetar), and "camera" becomes कैमरा (kaimaraa). |
| Maya: In all these, the "aa" sounds changed into "ai" sounds. |
| Neha: Let's continue with sports. |
| Maya: "Football" is... |
| Neha: फ़ुटबॉल (futabauL). |
| Maya: "Hockey" is... |
| Neha: हॉकी (haukii). |
| Maya: "Volleyball" is... |
| Neha: वॉलीबॉल (vauLibauL). |
| Maya: While the rest like "tennis," "cricket," and "skating" are the same, टेनिस (teNiS), क्रिकेट (kriket), and स्केटिंग (Sketing). |
| Neha: Then there are other words that are neither technology related nor sports related that are part of the Hindi language. |
| Maya: Some of them have their Hindi equivalents that are rarely used while others are as commonly used as their English equivalents. |
| Neha: Like फ़िल्म (fiLm) for "film," or बस (baS) for "bus." |
| Maya: "School" in Hindi is also... |
| Neha: स्कूल (SkuuL). But विद्यालय (viDyaaLay) also means "school" in Hindi and is also commonly used. |
| Maya: There is also the Hindi word for "number," which is... |
| Neha: अंक (ank) but नम्बर (Nambar) itself is commonly used. We also have टैक्सी (taikSii) for "taxi" and बोतल (boTaL) for "bottle." |
| Maya: Well, that's all we have for our lesson. |
| Neha: Also, please don't forget to look at the lesson notes for more examples and explanations on this topic. |
| Maya: Thank you for listening. Until next time! |
| Neha: शुक्रिया और फिर मिलेंगे! (sukriyaa aur phir miLenge!) |
Comments
Hide