Learn how to reply "yes" and "no," to negate sentences, and a little bit about Indian cuisine
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| INTRODUCTION | |
| Neha: "Namaste," I'm Neha. | |
| Maya: "Namaste," I'm Maya, and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 4, Yes, No, and Not in Hindi. | |
| Neha: In this lesson you’ll learn how to say "Yes" and "No" to questions in Hindi and also to change statements into their negatives. | |
| Maya: The conversation takes place in a restaurant. | |
| Neha: It's between Carol and Kalpana who have only met recently. | |
| Maya: They don't know each other all that well since they are new acquaintances and so they will be using formal Hindi. | |
| Neha: Let's listen to their conversation. | |
Lesson conversation |
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|---|---|
| क्यारोल: आप शाकाहारी हैं? | |
| कल्पना: नहीं, मैं शाकाहारी नहीं हूँ। | |
| क्यारोल: तो आप मांसाहारी हैं? | |
| कल्पना: जी हाँ। लेकिन मैं सिर्फ गोमांस नहीं खाती हूँ। | |
| Neha: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. | |
| Kyaarol: Aap shaakaahaaree hain? | |
| Kalpanaa: Naheen, main shaakaahaaree naheen hoon. | |
| Kyaarol: To aap maansaahaaree hain? | |
| Kalpanaa: Jee haan. Lekin main sirf gomans naheen khaatee hoon. | |
| Maya: Let's now listen to the conversation with English translation. | |
| Kyaarol: "Aap shaakaahaaree hain?" | |
| Neha: "Are you a vegetarian?" | |
| Kalpanaa: "Naheen, main shaakaahaaree naheen hoon." | |
| Maya: " No, I am not a vegetarian." | |
| Kyaarol: "To aap maansaahaaree hain?" | |
| Neha: "So you are a non-vegetarian then?" | |
| Kalpanaa: "Jee haan. Lekin main sirf gomans naheen khaatee hoon." | |
| Maya: "Yes. But I just don't eat beef." | |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER | |
| Neha: Most of you are probably familiar with Indian cuisine. | |
| Maya: Yes, I think a lot of you have tried at least some variation of Indian curry, - rich with spices and herbs. | |
| Neha: Just talking about Indian food makes my mouth water. | |
| Maya: Mine too! | |
| Neha: But you know, one usually thinks of chicken curry and mutton curry when talking about Indian curries, but there are also so many vegetarian dishes in Indian cuisine. | |
| Maya: I was actually very surprised when I first found out that the majority of people in some states are vegetarians! | |
| Neha: That's very true. Gujarati cuisine is mostly vegetarian. Many other states like Rajasthan and Punjab Haryana have a large vegetarian population. | |
| Maya: And there are many reasons why people practice it. Some do it for health reasons while others for ethical and religious reasons. | |
| Neha: And let's not forget economic reasons. - Meat products are more expensive than vegetables. | |
| VOCAB LIST | |
| Maya: : Yes, but enough about food or else I won't be able to concentrate with all those delicious "samosas" and "dosas" and "tandoories" swimming in my head. | |
| Neha: Haha, that's no good. We need Hindi words swimming in everyone's head! Anyway, going on to our vocabulary section.... | |
| Maya: We'll first say the words at natural speed, then a bit slower, and finally we'll give you the meaning. | |
| Neha: So, are you ready? Our first word is आप "aap," "aa-p," "aap…" | |
| Maya: Which is a formal "you." | |
| Neha: Next, we have शाकाहारी "shaakaahaaree," "shaa-kaa-haa-ree," "shaakaahaaree…" | |
| Maya: Which means "vegetarian." | |
| Neha: Then is नहीं "naheen," "na-heen," "naheen…" | |
| Maya: Which means "no" or "not." | |
| Neha: Next is तो "to," "to," "to…" | |
| Maya: Which is a conjunctive word meaning "so." | |
| Neha: Then is, मांसाहारी "maansaahaaree," "maan-saa-haa-ree," "maansaahaaree…" | |
| Maya: Which means "non-vegetarian." | |
| Neha: Next is जी हाँ "jee haan," "je-e haa-n," "jee haan…" | |
| Maya: Which is a formal way of saying "yes.": | |
| Neha: Next we have लेकिन "lekin," "le-kin," "lekin…" | |
| Maya: Which is a conjunctive work meaning "but." | |
| Neha: Next is सिर्फ "sirf," "sir-f," "sirf…" | |
| Maya: Which means "only." | |
| Neha: Next we have गोमांस "gomaans," "go-maa-ns," "gomaans…" | |
| Maya: Which means "beef." | |
| Neha: And lastly, we have खाती हूँ "khaatee hoon," "khaa-tee ho-on," "khaatee hoon…" | |
| Maya: Which means "I eat.". | |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES | |
| Neha: Wow, there are a lot of new words in this lesson. | |
| Maya: Which is good news, right? Okay, let's look at the phrase, "I eat." | |
| Neha: खाती हूँ. Actually to make a complete sentence, this must be, मैं खाती हूँ where मैं means "I,", खाती is "to eat," and हूँ is the to-be verb "am.". | |
| Maya: So, मैं खाती हूँ literally means, "I eat am," but translates as "Ii eat.". | |
| Neha: Here, खाती comes from the root verb खाना, which means "to eat.". | |
| Maya: Wait! Before you go any further, I want to remind the listeners of one important thing. Do you all remember that in Lesson 3, we talked about adjectives and how they inflect depending on the gender of the subject, i.e.., whether it's masculine or feminine?. | |
| Neha: And they must also agree with the number of the subject, i.e. whether it is singular of plural? | |
| Maya: Well, verbs behave the same way in Hindi. | |
| Neha: When the subject is a male, then the root verb ends with a ता but when the subject is a female, it ends with a ती. | |
| Maya: So can you guess the gender of the person saying " मैं खाती हूँ" ? | |
| Neha: Easy. The verb खाती ends with a ती and therefore it's being said by a female. | |
| Maya: Perfect. What would you say if you were a male? | |
| Neha: For this remember that all you have to do is change the verb by adding ता. So it would be मैं खाता हूँ | |
| Maya: Easy right? खाता for a male and खाती for a female. | |
Lesson focus |
|
| Neha: Yes. Let's now focus on learning how to say "yes", and "no" in Hindi. So, हाँ means "yes," and नहीं means "no" and "not" both. | |
| Maya: You see, in Hindi, नहीं can mean either "no" or "not" depending on where it's placed in a sentence. | |
| Neha: हाँ and नहीं both have a nasal sound to them. | |
| Maya: Let's listen and repeat. | |
| Neha: हाँ "haan," "ha-an," "haan…" | |
| Maya: Which means "yes." | |
| Neha: नहीं "naheen," "na-heen," "naheen…" | |
| Maya: Which means "no" or "not." | |
| Neha: If you want to be respectful you add "jee" in front of "haan" and say जी हाँ. | |
| Maya: And we can do the same with "naheen" and say "jee naheen" to be more respectful. | |
| Neha: That's right. But in this case, जी नहीँ "(jee naheen") only means "no" and cannot be used as "not.". | |
| Maya: Let's now talk about how to negate a sentence in Hindi. | |
| Neha: Negating a sentence simply means to add "not" i.e. नहीँ to a statement. | |
| Maya: And how do we do this? Well, you just take this नहीँ and add it before the verb so that the sentence structure is always नहीँ plus+ verb. | |
| Neha: Let's look at some examples. मैं ठीक हूँ means… | |
| Maya: "I am good." Here, "main" is "I," "theek" is "okay," and "hoon" is the to-be verb "am." | |
| Neha: To change this into a negative, you need to add "naheen" in front of the verb "hoon." | |
| Maya: So the new sentence is… | |
| Neha: "Main theek naheen hoon." | |
| Maya: "I am not okay." | |
| Neha: Easy right? Let's do another sentence. | |
| Maya: How about "you are nice" ? | |
| Neha: Okay, so, the word for nice is अच्छा for a male and अच्छी for a female. Who are we addressing in this sentence? | |
| Maya: Let's say a girl. | |
| Neha: Okay, the sentence is आप अच्छी हैं. | |
| Maya: Which means "You are nice." | |
| Neha: Let's turn this into "You are not nice.". | |
| Maya: Aadd "naheen" in front of the verb "are," which in this case is हैं, and it becomes… | |
| Neha: आप अच्छी नहीं हैं. Very simple! | |
| Maya: Let's have one final example for this lesson. | |
| Neha: हिन्दी कठिन है।… | |
| Maya: Which means "Hindi is difficult." And its negative is… | |
| Neha: हिन्दी कठिन नहीं है।. | |
| Maya: Which means "Hindi is not difficult.". | |
| Neha: Okay, that's all for our lesson. Don't forget to read the lesson notes for more examples and explanations! | |
| Maya: Thank you for listening. Until next time! | |
| Neha: "Shukriyaa aur fir milenge!" |
50 Comments
HideIs anyone here a vegetarian?
Namaste Megan,
That is quite good! Pav Bhaji is a favourite of many Indians!
For the language part, you could also replace "vegetarian" with "saakaahaarii".
All the best!
Roohi
Team HindiPod101.com
Namaste❤️️,
Mai vegetarian hu, mujhe pav bhaji bahut pasand hai.
Dhanyavad,
Megan
Hi Mats,
Thanks for writing in. Your sentence is absolutely correct. 'शाकाहारी' is neutral and can be used for both male and female.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Manali
Team HindiPod101.com
जी हाँ, मैं शाकाहारी हूँ।
Namaste!
Is this sentence correct if I am male and vegetarian to answer question about if I am vegetarian?
Not correct to change adjective to शाकाहारा ?
Yes, I am vegetarian since 31 years, mostly Indian food: basmati rice, subji, Daal soup, chapati... But today pulao rice and puris.
Pranams!
Hi Meriem,
Thanks for writing in. Your sentence formations are absolutely correct. Enjoy!
Cheers!
Manali
Team HindiPod101.com
Main shakaharee naheen hoon
Main mansaharee hoon
Hello VeganistaMama,
Thank you for writing in.
Let us know if you have questions!
Cheers,
Manali
Team HindiPod101.com
Hello Angelika,
Thank you for writing in.
Let us know if you have questions!
Cheers,
Manali
Team HindiPod101.com
Namaste,
main bhee maans nahin khaatee hoon, lekin main machhalee khaatee hoon.
Phir milenge,
Angelika
Namaste, I am vegan as well.