Learn about Hindi negation
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Intro |
|---|
| Alisha: How do I say "no" in Hindi? |
| Shakti: And how do I make negative sentences? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Mallika Manchanda makes a mistake and her teacher, Rashmi, corrects her. Mallika starts by saying, |
| "I like to do 'yoga.'" |
| मल्लिका: मुझे योगा करना पसंद है। (mujhe yogaa karaNaa paSaND hai.) |
| Dialogue |
| मल्लिका: मुझे योगा करना पसंद है। (mujhe yogaa karaNaa paSaND hai.) |
| Rashmi: योगा नहीं, योग। (Yogaa Nahiin, yog.) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| मल्लिका: मुझे योगा करना पसंद है। (mujhe yogaa karaNaa paSaND hai.) |
| Alisha: "I like to do 'yoga.'" |
| Rashmi: योगा नहीं, योग। (Yogaa Nahiin, yog.) |
| Alisha: "Not 'yoga,' but 'yog.'" |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: In this lesson, we will learn how to make negative sentences in Hindi using words like 'no' and 'not'. In Hindi, negation can be called |
| Shakti: नकारना (NakaaraNaa) or इनकार करना (iNakaar karaNaa). |
| Alisha: Negation is when you turn an affirmative statement into a negative statement. In many languages, there are specific adverbs that we use to form the negative. These are called negative particles. For example, take the phrase 'I understand'. To form the negative, we can simply add the words 'do not' or 'don't' just before the verb, and we will get 'I don't understand'. |
| Alisha: Hindi also has a process for changing an affirmative statement to give it the opposite meaning. To understand better, we should start with the basic word for 'no', |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] नहीं (Nahiin) [SLOWLY] नहीं (Nahiin). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: This means 'no', and, in a simple sentence, we could say |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] कोई बात नहीं! (koii baaT Nahiin!) [SLOWLY] कोई बात नहीं! (koii baaT Nahiin!) |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: meaning 'No problem!' We can use this structure in many ways. For instance, the phrase meaning 'nothing' is |
| Shakti:[NORMAL] कुछ नहीं (kuch Nahiin) [SLOWLY] कुछ नहीं (kuch Nahiin). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: And if you want to say 'never', it is |
| Shakti:[NORMAL] कभी नहीं (kabhii Nahiin) [SLOWLY] कभी नहीं (kabhii Nahiin). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: 'No-one' will be |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] कोई नहीं (koii Nahiin) [SLOWLY] कोई नहीं (koii Nahiin). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: And 'not yet' is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] अभी नहीं (abhii Nahiin) [SLOWLY] अभी नहीं (abhii Nahiin). |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: Have you noticed what all of these phrases have in common? They all ended with the word for 'no'. It is easy enough to remember these short negative phrases, but to be able to make the negative form of any Hindi sentence, you should know how to correctly use this word. Now, listen to this sentence: |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] मैंने यह किताब नहीं पढ़ी। (mainNe yah kiTaab Nahiin padhii.) |
| [SLOWLY] मैंने यह किताब नहीं पढ़ी। (mainNe yah kiTaab Nahiin padhii.) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: 'I did not read this book'. Did you hear the word for 'no' again? Well, it also means 'not'! Yes, the same word. Listen for it again in this next sentence, and take note of where it is placed: |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] वह यहाँ नहीं है। (vah yahaan Nahiin hai.) [SLOWLY] वह यहाँ नहीं है। (vah yahaan Nahiin hai.) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: 'He is not here'. In both of these sentences, the word for 'not' was |
| Shakti: नहीं (Nahiin). |
| Alisha: and, in both sentences, this word was placed before the main verb. In English, we follow the same pattern, so this is not too tricky. Let us try out a few more examples, and you can repeat after Shakti. First is 'I do not know!' |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] मुझे नहीं पता! (mujhe Nahiin paTaa!) [SLOWLY] मुझे नहीं पता! (mujhe Nahiin paTaa!) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: The verb here is |
| Shakti: पता (paTaa). |
| Alisha: and the word 'not' came just before it. We can try another one: |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] मैं नहीं लिखता हूँ। (main Nahiin LikhaTaa huun.) [SLOWLY] मैं नहीं लिखता हूँ। (main Nahiin LikhaTaa huun.) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: meaning 'I don't write'. Okay, see if you can do this next one. If the affirmative 'I will go' in Hindi is |
| Shakti: मैं जाऊँगा। (main jaauungaa.) |
| Alisha: what is 'I won't go'? |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: The answer is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] मैं नहीं जाऊँगा। (main Nahiin jaauungaa.) [SLOWLY] मैं नहीं जाऊँगा। (main Nahiin jaauungaa.) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: Did you get that? Well done! Now, can you remember that the words for 'no' and 'not' are the same? Because of this, sentence constructions that use a double negative will have the word |
| Shakti: नहीं (Nahiin). |
| Alisha: twice. Like in this example: |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] नहीं, यह मेरा भी नहीं है। (Nahiin yah meraa bhii Nahiin hai.) |
| [SLOWLY] नहीं, यह मेरा भी नहीं है। (Nahiin yah meraa bhii Nahiin hai.) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: which means 'No, this is not mine either'. |
| Recall |
| Alisha: For deeper understanding, let us take another look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Mallika says "I like to do 'yoga'?" |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Mallika: मुझे योगा करना पसंद है। (mujhe yogaa karaNaa paSaND hai.) |
| Alisha: In this conversation, Mallika incorrectly pronounced the word 'yoga'. Do you remember how her teacher, Rashmi, corrected her with "No, not 'yoga', but 'yog'?" |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| रश्मि: नहीं, योगा नहीं, योग। (Nahiin, yogaa Nahiin, yog.) |
| Alisha: The important grammar point here is the double negation, meaning more than one negative in the clause. 'No' and 'not' are the two negatives. In Hindi, the doubled negatives simply intensify the negation. The interesting part about this sentence is that there is no verb. Without a verb, where does one put the word 'not'? In English, it comes before the object, so we say 'not yoga'. In Hindi, it comes after the object, so we say |
| Shakti: योगा नहीं (yogaa Nahiin) |
| Alisha: Should we try another example in a sentence that has a verb? |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] नहीं, वह उससे प्यार नहीं करता। (Nahiin, vah uSaSe pyaar Nahiin karaTaa.) |
| [SLOWLY] नहीं, वह उससे प्यार नहीं करता। (Nahiin, vah uSaSe pyaar Nahiin karaTaa.) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: She said, 'No, he doesn't love her." The negating word |
| Shakti: नहीं (Nahiin) |
| Alisha: comes just after the verb 'love' |
| Shakti: प्यार (pyaar). |
| Alisha: Just in case you wonder about this, I should also point out that, even in the plural, the negating words will stay the same. Like in this sentence: |
| Shakti: हम मुस्कुरा नहीं सकते हैं। (ham muSkuraa Nahiin SakaTe hain.) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Shakti: हम मुस्कुरा नहीं सकते हैं। (ham muSkuraa Nahiin SakaTe hain.) |
| Alisha: which means 'We can't smile'. |
| Expansion |
| Alisha: In Hindi, the rules change a bit when using the imperative form. So, if you want to say something like 'Don't worry!', you will not use the word |
| Shakti: नहीं (Nahiin). |
| Alisha: Instead, you will use the negative particle |
| Shakti: मत (maT) |
| Alisha: and it will sound like this: |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चिंता मत करो! (ciNTaa maT karo!) [SLOWLY] चिंता मत करो! (ciNTaa maT karo!) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: 'Don't worry!' Should we try one more? |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] ऐसे मत करो! (aiSe maT karo!) [SLOWLY] ऐसे मत करो! (aiSe maT karo!) |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: And this means 'Don't do that!' |
| Alisha: Sometimes in colloquial Hindi, though, people might say things like 'Don't cry', using the other form, since it's more frequently used with familiar or intimate imperatives. |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रो मत। (ro MaT.) [SLOWLY] रो मत। (ro MaT.) |
| Cultural Expansion |
| Alisha: Just as in any language, the tone of voice, context, and personal relationships affect politeness. In colloquial Hindi, one way of keeping your tone polite is to add the negative particle |
| Shakti: ना (Naa) |
| Alisha: after an imperative. When it follows an imperative, this conveys the sense of 'please'. It can be used like this: |
| Shakti: मेरा एक काम कर दो ना। (meraa ek kaam kar Do Naa.) |
| Alisha: which literally means 'Do a thing for me, no?' but it's understood to mean, "Do a thing for me please." |
Outro |
| Alisha: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Shakti: फिर मिलेंगे! (phir miLenge!) |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
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