Learn how to tell time in Hindi
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Intro |
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| Alisha: How do you ask for the time in Hindi? |
| Shakti: And how do you tell the time? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine this situation: During a school break, Sasha Lee asks her classmate, Sharmila Sharma, about the time. They don't want to be late for their next class. Sasha asks, |
| "What time is it?" |
| साशा: समय क्या हुआ है? (Samay kyaa huaa hai?) |
| Dialogue |
| साशा (Sasha): समय क्या हुआ है? (Samay kyaa huaa hai?) |
| शर्मिला (Sharmila): सवा तीन बजे हैं। (Savaa TiiN baje hain.) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| साशा (Sasha): समय क्या हुआ है? (Samay kyaa huaa hai?) |
| Alisha: "What time is it?" |
| शर्मिला (Sharmila): सवा तीन बजे हैं। (Savaa TiiN baje hain.) |
| Alisha: "It's a quarter past three." |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: Knowing how to ask for the time, as well as how to tell time, is fundamental when you're learning Hindi. In this lesson, you will learn how to do both. You can always ask for the time and read it in English when you're in India, but knowing how to tell time or |
| Shakti: समय (Samay) |
| Alisha: in Hindi will help you connect with the locals more. Keep in mind that the Hindi language has its own terms for A.M and P.M. In Hindi, A.M. is known as |
| Shakti: पूर्वाह्न (puurvaahN) |
| Alisha: and P.M. is known as |
| Shakti: अपराह्न (apraahN). |
| Alisha: However, these are not commonly used. Most people say the time and then add the Hindi word for "morning" |
| Shakti: सुबह (Subah) |
| Alisha: or "afternoon" |
| Shakti: दोपहर (Dopahar) |
| Alisha: or "evening" |
| Shakti: शाम (saam) |
| Alisha: or "night" |
| Shakti: रात (raaT) |
| Alisha: to indicate the time of the day. Let's see how to use this in a sentence. |
| Shakti: सुबह पाँच बजे मिलते हैं। (Subah paanc baje miLaTe hain.) |
| Alisha: That is, "Let's meet at five in the morning." or "Let's meet at 5 A.M." Let's take another example. |
| Shakti: वह स्कूल के लिए दोपहर बारह बजे निकल गई थी। (vah SkuuL ke Liye Dopahar baarah baje NikaL gayii THii.) |
| Alisha: "She left for school at twelve in the afternoon." or "She left for school at 12 P.M." |
| Let's take another example and see how to say "He came here at 7 P.M." |
| Shakti: वह यहाँ शाम सात बजे आया था। (vah yahaan saam SaaT baje aayaa THaa.) |
| Alisha: or "He came here at seven in the evening." Here is how you can use 10 P.M. in a sentence. |
| Shakti: कार्यक्रम रात के दस बजे शुरू होगा। (kaaryakram raaT ke DaS baje suruu hogaa.) |
| Alisha: "The program will begin at ten in the evening" or "The program will begin at 10 P.M." |
| [Recall 1] |
| Alisha: This time, let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sasha Lee asks "What time is it?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Shakti as Sasha Lee: समय क्या हुआ है? (Samay kyaa huaa hai?) |
| Alisha: As we mentioned before, the Hindi word for "time" is |
| Shakti: समय (samay). |
| Alisha: In Hindi, the question asked by Sasha Lee is the most common way to ask for the time. But often, native speakers replace the Hindi word for "time" with the English word. Just like this. |
| Shakti: टाइम क्या हुआ है? (taaim kyaa huaa hai?) |
| Alisha: Another way to ask for the time in Hindi is by saying, |
| Shakti: कितने बजे हैं ? (kiTaNe baje hain?) |
| Alisha: "What's the time?" If you want to be polite, you can also say, |
| Shakti: क्या आप बता सकते हैं समय कितना हुआ है ? (kyaa aap baTaa SakaTe hain Samay kiTaNaa huaa hai?) |
| Alisha: or "Do you have the time please?" Here too, you can replace the Hindi word with the English "time" like this. |
| Shakti: क्या आप बता सकते हैं टाइम कितना हुआ है ? (kyaa aap baTaa SakaTe hain taaim kiTaNaa huaa hai?) |
| [Recall 2] |
| Alisha: Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Sharmila Sharma says "It's a quarter past three?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Shakti as Sharmila: सवा तीन बजे हैं। (Savaa TiiN baje hain.) |
| Alisha: In Hindi, "a quarter past" is said as |
| Shakti: सवा (Savaa) |
| Alisha: as in |
| Shakti: फ़्लाइट सवा चार बजे की है। (fLaait Savaa caar baje kii hai.) |
| Alisha: "The flight is at a quarter past four." Now, what if you want to express a time that's a quarter to an hour? In Hindi, you say |
| Shakti: पौने (pauNe). |
| Alisha: This stands for "a quarter to," as in |
| Shakti: कक्षा पौने बारह बजे शुरू होगी। (kaksaa paune baarah baje suruu hogii.) |
| Alisha: "The class will begin at a quarter to twelve." Here is how you can say "half past" in Hindi. |
| Shakti: साढ़े (Saadhe). |
| Alisha: You can use this word like this. |
| Shakti: मैं साढ़े सात बजे पहुँच जाऊँगा। (main Saadhe SaaT baje pahunc jaauungaa.) |
| Alisha: "I will be there at half past seven." You can add this word to all but two numbers. These are one and two. That is, you don't use this word for indicating "half past one" or "half past two." If you would like to say "half-past one," you need to say |
| Shakti: डेढ़ (dedh). |
| Alisha: You can use it in a sentence like this. |
| Shakti: डेढ़ बजे से बारिश हो रही है। (dedh baje Se baaris ho rahii hai.) |
| Alisha: "It's been raining since half past one." Now, let's see how you say "half past two." |
| Shakti: ढाई (dhaaii). |
| Alisha: Let's hear how to say "I've been waiting since half past two." |
| Shakti: मैं ढाई बजे से इंतज़ार कर रहा हूँ। (main dhaaii baje Se iNTazaar kar rahaa huun.) |
| [Summary] |
| Alisha: In this lesson, you learned some of the basics of telling time and reading time in Hindi. Let's take this time to review some of the things we've learned. |
| Shakti: समय क्या हुआ है? (Samay kyaa huaa hai?) |
| सवा तीन बजे हैं। (Savaa TiiN baje hain.) |
| Alisha: "What time is it? It's a quarter past three." |
| Shakti: कितने बजे हैं ? (kiTaNe baje hain?) |
| पाँच बजे हैं। (paanc baje hain.) |
| Alisha: "What's the time? It's five o'clock." |
| Shakti: क्या आप बता सकते हैं समय कितना हुआ है ? (kyaa aap baTaa SakaTe hain Samay kiTaNaa huaa hai?) |
| पौने बारह हुए हैं। (pauNe baarah huye hain.) |
| Alisha: "Do you have the time please? It's a quarter to twelve." |
| Shakti: वहाँ कितने बज रहे हैं ? (vahaan kiTaNe baj rahe hain?) |
| यहाँ डेढ़ बज रहे हैं। (yahaan dedh baj rahe hain.) |
| Alisha: "What time is it there? It's half past one here." |
| Shakti: खेल कितने बजे शुरू होगा? (kheL kiTaNe baje suruu hogaa?) |
| ढाई बजे शुरू होगा। (dhaaii baje suruu hogaa.) |
| Alisha: "When is the game going to start? It will start at half past two." |
| Shakti: आप कब पहुँचे? (aap kab pahunce?) |
| मैं साढ़े पाँच बजे पहुँच गया था। (main Saadhe paanc baje pahunc gayaa THaa.) |
| Alisha: "When did you arrive? I got here at half past ten." |
| Shakti: तुम कितने बजे निकलोगी? (Tum kiTaNe baje NikaLogii?) |
| मैं सुबह आठ बजे निकलूँगी। (main Subah aath baje NikaLuungii.) |
| Alisha: "What time will you leave? I will leave at 8 A.M." |
| Shakti: आपकी ट्रेन कितने बजे की है? (aapakii treN kiTaNe baje kii hai?) |
| दोपहर बारह बजे की। (Dopahar baarah baje kii.) |
| Alisha: "What time is your train? It's at 12 P.M." |
| Shakti: तुम घर कितने बजे पहुँचोगे? (Tum ghar kiTaNe baje pahuncoge?) |
| मैं शाम छह बजे पहुँच जाऊँगा। (main saam chah baje pahunc jaauungaa.) |
| Alisha: "When will you reach home? I will be there at six in the evening." |
| Shakti: तुम रात को कितने बजे सोते हो? (Tum raaT ko kiTaNe baje SoTe ho?) |
| मैं रात नौ बजे सोता हूँ। (main raaT Nau baje SoTaa huun.) |
| Alisha: "When do you sleep at night? I go to sleep at 9 P.M." |
| Expansion |
| Alisha: You learned earlier that the Hindi word for time is |
| Shakti: समय (Samay). |
| Alisha: We also learned that the English word "time" is commonly used by native speakers. There is another way the word "time" is expressed in the Hindi language. It's with the word |
| Shakti: वक़्त (vaqT). |
| Alisha: The first one |
| Shakti: समय (Samay) |
| Alisha: is commonly used when asking for time, like what we've seen through our examples. You can also use it when saying something like, |
| Shakti: कृपया समय पर आएं। (kripayaa Samay par aayen.) |
| Alisha: or "Please come on time." Meanwhile, the second expression for time is used when saying something like |
| Shakti: दवा लेने का वक़्त हो गया है। (Davaa LeNe kaa vaqT ho gayaa hai.) |
| Alisha: or "It's time for your medicine." Another important thing to learn about telling time in Hindi is the difference between "hour" and "o'clock." In Hindi, the word used for "hour" is |
| Shakti: घंटा (ghantaa) |
| Alisha: with its plural form as |
| Shakti: घंटे (ghante) |
| Alisha: or "hours." You can use it when saying something like |
| Shakti: आप एक घंटा देर से आए हैं। (aap ek ghantaa Der Se aaye hain.) |
| Alisha: "You are two hours late" or |
| Shakti: वह छह घंटे से पढ़ रही है। (vah chah ghante se padh rahii hai.) |
| Alisha: "She has been studying for six hours." Perhaps you're wondering how to say the word "o'clock" in Hindi. We have already used this word in our previous examples and it is |
| Shakti: बजे (baje) |
| Alisha: as in |
| ShaktI: विमान चार बजे आएगा। (vimaan caar baje aayegaa.) |
| Alisha: or "The plane will arrive at four o'clock." |
| Cultural Insight |
| Alisha: In Western cultures like the United States, time is viewed as being linear. In India, however, time is viewed in a polychronic manner. This means most Indians consider time as elastic. |
| And since this is the case, time is not always considered as the main guideline for planning or scheduling one's activities, particularly when it comes to business. Thus, meeting times can be flexible. |
| When it comes to business transactions, people in India will work toward establishing trust and strong relationships with their clients. In a polychronic culture like India, making deals requires a lot of personal interactions. That's because Indians value face-to-face or personal contact. However, just because they consider time flexible doesn't mean it's okay to come late to a meeting. Indians have an appreciation for commitment and punctuality, or |
| Shakti: समय की पाबंदी (Samay kii paabaNdii). |
| Alisha: So, when attending a business meeting in India, always strive to arrive at the venue on time. |
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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