Learn about family structures and how to ask someone where they live
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| INTRODUCTION | |
| Neha: "Namaste," I'm Neha, and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 9, Asking Where do you live? in Hindi | |
| Maya:"Namaste," I'm Maya. | |
| Neha: In this lesson you'll learn how to ask and answer the question "Where do you live?" in Hindi. | |
| Maya: The conversation takes place in a bus. | |
| Neha: This conversation is between Emily and Anita who happen to sit next to each other. | |
| Maya: Since they are strangers and do not know each other, they will be using formal Hindi. | |
| Neha: Let's listen to their conversation. | |
Lesson conversation |
|
|---|---|
| एमिली: आप कहाँ रहती हैं? | |
| अनिता: मैं मुंबई में रहती हूँ। | |
| एमिली: आप अकेली रहती हैं? | |
| अनिता: नहीं, मैं अपने माता पिता के साथ रहती हूँ। | |
| Maya: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. | |
| Emilee: Aap kahaan rahatee hain? | |
| Anitaa: Main mumbai men rahatee hoon. | |
| Emilee: Aap akelee rahatee hain? | |
| Anitaa: Naheen, men aapane maataa pitaa ke saath rahati hoon. | |
| Neha: Let's now listen to the conversation with English translation. | |
| एमिली: आप कहाँ रहती हैं? | |
| Neha: " Where do you live?" | |
| अनिता: मैं मुंबई में रहती हूँ। | |
| Maya: " I live in Mumbai." | |
| एमिली: आप अकेली रहती हैं? | |
| Neha: " Do you live alone?" | |
| अनिता: नहीं, मैं अपने माता पिता के साथ रहती हूँ। | |
| Maya: "No, I live with my mother and father." | |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER | |
| Neha: You know Maya, most of the foreigners are always surprised to hear that I also still live with my parents. | |
| Maya: Well, that's because in Western countries kids leave the house as soon as they are able to. | |
| Neha: I guess in a lot of Asian countries you see children still living with their parents even if they are thirty years old, even if they are working and are fully independent. | |
| Maya: Women in India live with their parents until they're married after which they move in with their husband's family while men continue living with their parents and their wife. | |
| Neha: Yes, joint family system is very common in India. | |
| Maya: That's why you know in the early days and.. well, even now in some places, families prize sons over daughters. | |
| Neha: Because they consider daughters to eventually become part of another household whereas sons would remain with them and hopefully look after them in their old age. | |
| Maya: I'm so glad attitudes have changed, or are at least are changing slowly. | |
| Neha: Yes, me too. | |
| VOCAB LIST | |
| Maya: Well, let's move to our vocabulary section and look at the words that were used 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:आप " aap," "aap," "aap…" | |
| Maya: Which is a formal "you." | |
| Neha: Next, we have कहाँ "kahaan," "ka-haanm," "kahaan…" | |
| Maya: Which means "where." | |
| Neha: Then is रहती "rahatee," "ra-ha-tee," "rahatee." | |
| Maya: Which means "live." | |
| Neha: Next is मुंबई "mumbai," "mum-bai," "mumbaiMumbai…" | |
| Maya: Which is the city "Mumbai." | |
| Neha: Then is में "men," "me-n," "men…" | |
| Maya: Which means "in." | |
| Neha: Next is अकेली "akelee," "a-ke-lee," "akelee…" | |
| Maya: Which means "alone." | |
| Neha: Next we have अपने " apne," "ap-ne," "apne…" | |
| Maya: Which is a formal "my own." | |
| Neha: Next is माता " maataa," "maa-taa," "maataa…" | |
| Maya: Which means "mother." | |
| Neha: Then we have पिता "pitaa," "pi-taa," "pitaa…" | |
| Maya: Which means "father." | |
| Neha: And finally we have के साथ "ke saath," "ke-saa-th," "ke saath…" | |
| Maya: Which means "with." | |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES | |
| Neha: Now, let's look at at some of the words that came up in the conversation. | |
| Maya: The word "alone," which in Hindi is… | |
| Neha: अकेली… | |
| Maya: Is used only if you are a female or are talking about a female subject that is either one or many in number. | |
| Neha: And you use अकेला if you are a male or are talking about a male subject,- just a single male subject. | |
| Maya: And you use अकेले if you are a group of males or are talking about many male subjects. | |
| Neha: Let's use them in a sentence. | |
| Maya: Okay, so if you are a girl and you want to say, "I live alone," then you would say…, | |
| Neha: मैं अकेली रहती हूँ।. | |
| Maya: Where मैं means "I,", अकेली means "alone,", रहती means "live," and हूँ means "am." | |
| Neha: So literally you're saying, "I alone live am," but it translates as "I live alone.". | |
| Maya: Okay, next sentence. What would you say if you were a male and wanted to say, "I live alone"?. | |
| Neha: You'd say मैं अकेला रहता हूँ. | |
| Maya: Did you notice that both अकेली and रहती used by a female changed into अकेला and रहता when used by a male? | |
| Neha: And finally if you are a group of boys or a group of mixed gender, you would use अकेले and रहते. | |
| Maya: So the sentence would be… | |
| Neha: हम अकेले रहते हैं. | |
| Maya: Where हम means "we,", अकेले means "alone,", रहते means "live," and हैं means "are.". | |
| Neha: Literally, you're saying "we alone live are," but it translates as "we live alone.". | |
Lesson focus |
|
| Maya: Let's now turn our focus on how to say "where do you live?" in Hindi. | |
| Neha: This question is a bit tricky because you'd need to adjust the question depending on whether you're asking a male or a female. | |
| Maya: In Hindi, verbs must agree with both the gender and the number of the subjects. | |
| Neha: So in this sentence, the verb "to live," which in Hindi is रहना, changes accordingly. | |
| Maya: For a single female you say… | |
| Neha: रहती. | |
| Maya: And for the rest, which includes single males, as well as a group of males or females, you say… | |
| Neha: रहते. | |
| Maya: So when asking a female, you'd say… | |
| Neha: आप कहाँ रहती हैं? | |
| Maya: Where. आप is a formal "you,", कहाँ means "where,", रहती means "live," and हैं means "are."? | |
| Neha: So literally you would be saying, "You where live are?" which translates as "Where are you living?" or rather, "Where do you live?" | |
| Maya: And to a male you would ask…, | |
| Neha: आप कहाँ रहते हैं? | |
| Maya: Okay, let's practice this one more time. We'll also say it slowly so that you can hear every syllable. Ready? Okay, "Where do you live" asked to a female is… | |
| Neha: आप कहाँ रहती हैं? "aap kahaan rahtee hain," "aap ka-haan ra-h-tee hai-n," "aap kahaan rahtee hain." | |
| Maya: Asked to a male is… | |
| Neha: आप कहाँ रहते हैं? "aap kahaan rahte hain," "aap ka-haan rahte hai-n," "aap kahaan rahte hain." | |
| Maya: Now, you need to be able to answer this. | |
| Neha: As you might have already guessed the answers would be slightly different for a male and a female. | |
| Maya: Let's suppose that we want to say "I live in India.". So, if you are a female, you'd say… | |
| Neha: मैं भारत में रहती हूँ।. | |
| Maya: If you are a male you'd say… | |
| Neha: मैं भारत में रहता हूँ।. | |
| Maya: Here, मैं means "I,", भारत is "India,", में means "in,", रहती means "live" when said by a female, and रहता means "live" when said by a male, and हूँ means "am." | |
| Neha: So literally it means, " I India in live am," which translates as "I live in India." | |
| Maya: So the only difference is between रहता and रहती. रहता for male and रहती for female. | |
| Neha: If you wanted to say "We live in India,", you'd say, हम भारत में रहते हैं।. | |
| Maya: Here हम means "we,", भारत is "India",, में means "in,", रहते means "live"," and हैं means "are.". | |
| Neha: So it literally is "We India in live are." | |
| Maya: Note that the verb "live" for a group of people changed to रहते. | |
| Neha: Okay, let's do one last example. | |
| Maya: Sure, how would you say, "I live in Japan" if you were a guy, | |
| Neha: You'd say, "मैं जापान में रहती हूँ." | |
| Maya: Great! Well, we hope you found this lesson helpful. | |
| Neha: Check out the lesson notes for more examples on this topic. | |
| Maya: Thanks for listening! Until next time. | |
| Neha: "Shukriya aur fir milenge!" |
46 Comments
HideWhere do you live?
Hi Jamie,
Thanks for your question.
"rahaNaa" means "to live". "rah" means "live". Depending on the sentence, it changes to rahaTaa (male singular), rahaTii (female singular), rahaTe (plural and singular respectful).
These changes in the verb help you differentiate between a male and female and singular and plural. If you could just learn this rule, you will find it very easy to ascertain whether a sentence is referring to a male or female.
It is simple, as the lesson says, just take the word for "live", that is, "rah", add "Taa" for male, "Tii" for female", "Te" for plural and respectful.
It works with most verbs!
All the best!
Roohi
Team HindiPod101.com
I've got a question. When asking the question, rahTae is for male singular as well as for plural males and females. When answering, रहता (rahTaa) for male singular, and रहते (rahTe) for plural males and females. But their original verbs are all rahnaa ("to live") . Why rahnna changes into more forms in answering?
Hi Beatriz,
Thanks for writing in and Namaste :). I hope you are doing well!
Cheers,
Manali
Team HindiPod101.com
Namastê. Main Brazil men rahatee hoon
Hi Alison,
Thanks for writing in. Your response is correct and precise. :) Keep learning!
Cheers,
Manali
Team HindiPod101.com
मैं न्यू जालंद मैं रहती हूँ
मैं न्यू जालंद रहती हूँ
Hi Vgaloosh,
Thanks for writing in - seems like a lovely place to live in!
Cheers,
Udita
Team HindiPod101.com
Main California, Amrika mein rahti hoon.
मैं कैलीफोरण अमेरिकेत में महती हँ|
Hi Ian,
Thank you for posting!
मैं जापान के शहर में रहती हूँ| (I live in a city in Japan)
Cheers,
Udita
Team HIndiPod101.com