December 2010
15 posts
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नया साल मुबारक हो - Happy New Year!
The Christmas Celebrations may have only just finished, but that does not stop the New Year’s celebrations from beginning! I wanted to use this opportunity to wish every single reader of this blog and very happy and wonderful new year!
I really hope this new year brings you lots of luck and success in everything you do. Oh and, of course, I hope your adventure in Learning...
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Lesson #85: चाहिए caahie - Want / Need Something
In today’s lesson we’re just going to cover one very simple Hindi word. How easy does that sound? The word is (quite unsurprisingly!) चाहिए caahie and it’s used to show that someone ‘wants’ or ‘needs’ something. To make our lives a whole lot easier we’re going to recap something first…
Can you remember right back to Lesson #63 where we learnt...
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Lesson #84: What Time is it? Part 2
Today we’re going to learn some more about telling the time in Hindi, then at the end of the lesson we’ll see some example sentences using the things we’ve learnt! It was a long time ago, back in Lesson #57, that we learnt how to ask ‘What time is it?’ in Hindi. Can you remember what it was? That’s right we say…
कितने बजे हैं? kitne baje hain - What time...
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Merry Christmas - शुभ क्रिसमस
As you all know it’s coming up very close to Christmas so as I’m such a kind teacher I’m going to give you some time off from lessons! Also I want to wish every single reader of this blog a very Merry, Wonderful and Lovely Christmas!
In Hindi we can say शुभ क्रिसमस shubh krismas - and literally this means Happy Christmas!
Christmas in India...
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Lesson #83: The Past Tense for Transitive Verbs
Our main topic over the last few lessons has been Transitivity. In Lesson #79 we learnt what it means (please read over the lesson again if you are at all unsure!) and we learnt that in Hindi the Past Tense is different for Transitive and Intransitive verbs. Then in Lesson #81 we learnt how to create Past Tense sentences for Intransitive Verbs. Can you remember?
Today we’re going to learn...
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Lesson #82: An Introduction to The Urdu Alphabet
Last time we looked at Urdu, in Intro #4, we saw a bit of an introduction to the language and learnt how to greet someone in Urdu; assalaam ‘alaikum السلام علیکم .
Urdu street signs in Pakistan
Today we’re going to have a very brief introduction to the Urdu alphabet and writing sytem. Luckily for us, many of the Urdu letters...
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Lesson #81: The Past Tense for Intransitive Verbs
Transitivity. This is the big word we started talking about in Lesson #79. Can you remember what it means? I know it was quite a tricky concept, so read back over Lesson #79 once more if you’re at all confused.
I mentioned that the Past Tense (that’s sentences like ‘I walked’, ‘He ate’, ‘They Slept’ etc) is more difficult in Hindi because the way we...
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Lesson #80: Imperatives Part 3; तू too
Can you remember what we’ve learnt about Hindi Imperatives so far? Back in Lesson #75 saw the आप aap imperative this is easy - we just add इए ie to the verb root, for example खाना khaanaa - To Eat becomes खाइए khaaie - Please eat. Then we saw the तुम tum imperative in Lesson #77 which is also quite straightforward, this time we just add ओ o to the verb root, so खाना khaanaa - To Eat this...
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Lesson # 79: Transitivity
What have we learnt so far about the past tense in Hindi? All the way back in Lesson #69 we learnt the words था thaa, थे the, थी thee and थीं theen which are used for ‘was’ and ‘were’. Then in Lesson #70 we learnt how to make sentences like ‘I was eating’, ‘We were reading’, which is known as the Past Continuous Tense.
But how do we say ‘I...
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Anonymous asked: Is there a place on this site to hear how the characters are pronounced?
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Lesson # 78: मौसम कैसा है? - How’s the Weather?
Today we’re going to simply look at the phrase मौसम कैसा है? mausam kaisaa hai - this means ‘What’s the Weather like?’ or ‘Hows the Weather?’ and of course we’re going to learn some common replies. This is another great conversation starter when you’re having real life conversations in Hindi!
Do you know the meaning of all the...
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Intro #4: An Introduction to Urdu - اردو
If you’re learning Hindi then I’m willing to bet you’ve come across the word ‘Urdu’ at least once, I even briefly mentioned it in Intro #1. But what even is Urdu and what does it have to do with Hindi?
Well simply Urdu is a language strikingly similar to Hindi. They’re so similar in fact that sometimes when spoken you can’t even tell them apart. When...
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Lesson #77: Imperatives Part 2; तुम tum
In Lesson #75 we started learning about Imperatives in Hindi. Imperatives are simply taking a verb and changing it into a command or request, just like saying ‘eat the food!’.
What did we learn last time then? Can you remember? We saw that Imperatives in Hindi follow the different words for ‘you’, आप aap, तुम tum and तू too. Have a look at Lesson #75 again if you’re...
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Lesson #76: Jobs and Occupations
Today we’re going to learn some Job names in Hindi and some sentences to go with them. By the end of this lesson you should be able to ask ‘What’s your job?’ in Hindi the reply ‘I am a ….’.
So firstly let’s learn some job names in Hindi…
And some more;
Accountant - मुनीम muneem
Policeman - पुलिसवाला pulisvaalaa
Farmer - ...
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Answers to Quiz #4
It was a few days ago now that I posted Quiz #4. This should have given you plenty of time to try and answer the questions! Did you have a go at it? How far did you get?
I’m going to go through the answers now but please make sure you’ve attempted as much as you can yourself first. It’s really important that you work hard and struggle because that’s really the best way to...