Learn about augmentatives in Hindi
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Intro |
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| Alisha: What are augmentatives and how are they formed in Hindi? |
| Shakti: And are they commonly used? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben Lee is confused about a word he came across in a history magazine. He asks his friend, Tarun Talwar, |
| "What does 'mahā-rājā' mean?" |
| बेन: महाराजा का क्या मतलब है? (mahaaraajaa ka kyaa maTaLab hohai?) |
| Dialogue |
| बेन: महाराजा का क्या मतलब है? (mahaaraajaa ka kyaa maTaLab hai?) |
| तरुण: महाराजा का अर्थ है महान राजा। (mahaaraajaa ka arTH hai mahaaN raajaa.) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| बेन: महाराजा का क्या मतलब है? (mahaaraajaa ka kyaa maTaLab hai?) |
| Alisha: "What does 'mahā-rājā' mean?" |
| तरुण: महाराजा का अर्थ है महान राजा। (mahaaraajaa ka arTH hai mahaaN raajaa.) |
| Alisha: "It means a great king or emperor." |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: In Hindi, as in with most languages, words can change shape in order to convey extra information about the size or the appearance of something, as well as the way the speaker feels. The resulting word is referred to as an augmentative, or in Hindi, |
| Shakti: बृहद् वाचक शब्द (brihaD vaacak sabD) |
| Alisha: An augmentative is a form of word that expresses greater intensity. In English, for instance, we often attach the word "grand" or "super" to a noun to emphasize that the object we are describing is of great importance. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Alisha: Let's see the augmentative word from the lesson's conversation. Do you remember how Ben Lee asks "What does 'mahā-rājā' mean?" |
| (Pause 4 seconds) |
| Shakti as Ben Lee: महाराजा का क्या मतलब है? (mahaaraajaa ka kyaa maTaLab hai?) |
| [Recall 2] |
| Alisha: And do you remember how Tarun Talwar says "It means a great king or emperor"? |
| Shakti as Tarun: महाराजा का अर्थ है महान राजा। (mahaaraajaa ka arTH hai mahaaN raajaa.) |
| Alisha: In Hindi, the most common way to form augmentatives is through compounding, a process of combining two words to create a new one. In this case, the main word is |
| Shakti: राजा। (raajaa) |
| Alisha: or "king," to which another word, |
| Shakti: महान (mahaaN) |
| Alisha: or "great," is added. This results in a new word, |
| Shakti: महान राजा। (mahaaN raajaa.) |
| Alisha: or "Great King." Using an augmentative, in this case, shows us that we're not just talking about any king, but a great one. In this sense, an augmentative can be used to show honor and respect to someone in authority. Here's another example showing how augmentatives can convey courtesy or respect: |
| Shakti: उच्चतम न्यायालय (uccaTam NyaayaaLay) |
| Alisha: Here, we used the superlative adjective, |
| Shakti: उच्चतम (uccaTam) |
| Alisha: or "highest," with the noun, |
| Shakti: न्यायालय (NyaayaaLay) |
| Alisha: or "court," to form the augmentative, "supreme court," a term used to refer to the final arbiter of the law in a nation. |
| [Summary] |
| Alisha: In this lesson, we learned that, in Hindi, words can change shape in order to convey extra information about the size or the appearance of something, as well as the way the speaker feels. The resulting word is referred to as an augmentative, or in Hindi, |
| Shakti: बृहद् वाचक शब्द (brihaD vaacak sabD) |
| Alisha: a form of word that expresses greater intensity. We also learned that, in Hindi, the most common way to form augmentatives is by combining two words, normally by attaching an adjective to a noun, such as in the expression, |
| Shakti: महान राजा। (mahaaN raajaa.) |
| Alisha: which means "Great King." |
| Expansion |
| Alisha: Let's take this time to practice with more Hindi augmentatives, starting with the word, |
| Shakti: उच्च शिक्षा (ucc siksaa) |
| Alisha: Here, we attached the word |
| Shakti: उच्च (ucc) |
| Alisha: or "high," to the word |
| Shakti: शिक्षा (siksaa) |
| Alisha: to form the augmentative "high education." For our next example, we have, |
| Shakti: परमात्मा (parmaaTmaa) |
| Alisha: This literally means "the ultimate soul," although the expression "supreme god" would be more appropriate. Here, we compounded the words |
| Shakti: परम (param) |
| Alisha: or "ultimate" and the word, |
| Shakti: आत्मा (aaTmaa) |
| Alisha: or "soul." Here's another example: |
| Shakti: महाकाव्य (mahaakaavy) |
| Alisha: This literally means "big poem" or "great poem," combining the words, |
| Shakti: महान (mahaaN) |
| Alisha: which means "great" or "large," and |
| Shakti: काव्य (kaavy) |
| Alisha: or "poem." It's also not uncommon in Hindi to use the adverb |
| Shakti: अति (aTi) |
| Alisha: or "very" to form augmentatives, such as in the expression, |
| Shakti: अति विशेष (aTi vises) |
| Alisha: which means "very special." Or |
| Shakti: अत्यावश्यक (atyaavasyak) |
| Alisha: which means "of great importance" and combines the words |
| Shakti: अति (aTi) |
| Alisha: with the word for "important" or |
| Shakti: आवश्यक (aavasyak) |
| Cultural Expansion |
| Alisha: Hindi also uses augmentative words that have been borrowed from the English language. The expression "blockbuster," for instance, is expressed in Hindi as the augmentative, |
| Shakti: सुपरहिट (Suparahit) |
| Alisha: or "Superhit." It's often used in the movie and music industry, particularly when referring to a successful performance by an artist. Here's an actual line from an article describing the previous success of Hindi actor Anwar Hussain, with his work being described as a "superhit:" |
| Shakti: फ़िल्म और गीत दोनों सुपरहिट थे; इसलिए अनवर को काम और पहचान मिलने लगी। (fiLm aur giiT DoNon Suparahit THe; iSaLiye aNvar ko pahacaaN miLaNe Lagii.) |
| Alisha: "Both the film and the song were superhits; so Anwar started getting work and recognition." |
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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