Learn about India's architecture and how to ask for directions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Neha: "Namaste," I'm Neha, and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 10, Asking for Directions in Hindi. |
| Maya: "Namaste," I'm Maya. |
| Neha: In this lesson you'll learn how to ask for directions and where things are. |
| Maya: The conversation takes place on a street. |
| Neha: This conversation is between Emily and Dipti. |
| Maya: Emily is lost and asks Dipti for some help. Since they are strangers they will be speaking formal Hindi. |
| Neha: Let's listen to their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| एमिली (emiLii): ताज महल कहाँ है? (Taaj mahaL kahaan hai?) |
| दिप्ती (DipTii): इस तरफ़ से... (iS Taraf Se...) |
| एमिली (emiLii): धन्यवाद! और टैक्सी स्टैंड कहाँ है? (DHaNyavaaD! aur taikSii Staind kahaan hai?) |
| दिप्ती (DipTii): सीधे आगे। (SiiDHe aage.) |
| एमिली (emiLii): धन्यवाद। (DHaNyavaaD.) |
| Maya: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. |
| एमिली (emiLii): ताज महल कहाँ है? (Taaj mahaL kahaan hai?) |
| दिप्ती (DipTii): इस तरफ़ से... (iS Taraf Se...) |
| एमिली (emiLii): धन्यवाद! और टैक्सी स्टैंड कहाँ है? (DHaNyavaaD! aur taikSii Staind kahaan hai?) |
| दिप्ती (DipTii): सीधे आगे। (SiiDHe aage.) |
| एमिली (emiLii): धन्यवाद। (DHaNyavaaD.) |
| Neha: Let's now listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| एमिली (emiLii): ताज महल कहाँ है? (Taaj mahaL kahaan hai?) |
| Neha: "Where is the Taj Mahal?" |
| दिप्ती (DipTii): इस तरफ़ से... (iS Taraf Se...) |
| Maya: "This way....." |
| एमिली (emiLii): धन्यवाद! और टैक्सी स्टैंड कहाँ है? (DHaNyavaaD! aur taikSii Staind kahaan hai?) |
| Neha: "Thank you! And where is the taxi stand?" |
| दिप्ती (DipTii): सीधे आगे। (SiiDHe aage.) |
| Maya: "Straight ahead." |
| एमिली (emiLii): धन्यवाद। (DHaNyavaaD.) |
| Neha: "Thank you." |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maya: Neha, have you been to the Taj Mahal? |
| Neha: Why, yes. It is as beautiful as it looks in the photos. |
| Maya: It's amazing that India is filled with so many of these marvelous architectural attractions! |
| Neha: I would recommend anybody who is interested in India to visit any of these sites because they would get a glimpse of India's distant past and the many different ideals, values, and accomplishments that will partly help them understand this present India. |
| Maya: Is there any place you would recommend in particular? |
| Neha: Well, I don't know. There are so many like the the Red Fort or Lal Quila in Delhi, the Qutab Minar also in Delhi, and the Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra. |
| Maya: I also especially like the sound of the Hawa Mahal or the Palace of the Winds in Jaipur. |
| Neha: Sounds pretty fantastic, doesn't it? |
| Maya: Absolutely. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Neha: Well, time to move on to our vocabulary section. |
| Maya: We'll first say the words at natural speed, then a bit slower, and finally we'll give you the meaning. |
| Neha: Our first word is कहाँ (kahaan), क-हाँ (ka-haan), कहाँ (kahaan). |
| Maya: Which means "where." |
| Neha: Next, we have है (hai), है (hai), है (hai). |
| Maya: Which is the to-be verb "is." |
| Neha: Then is इस (iS), इस (iS), इस (iS). |
| Maya: Which means "this." |
| Neha: Next is तरफ़ (Taraf), त-रफ़ (Ta-raf), तरफ़ (Taraf). |
| Maya: Which means "way" or "direction." |
| Neha: Then is से (Se), से (Se), से (Se). |
| Maya: Which means "from." |
| Neha: Next is धन्यवाद (DHaNyavaaD), धन्य-वाद (DHaNya-vaaD), धन्यवाद (DHaNyavaaD). |
| Maya: Which means "thank you." |
| Neha: Next we have सीधे (SiiDHe), सी-धे (Sii-DHe), सीधे (SiiDHe). |
| Maya: Which means "straight." |
| Neha: Finally, we have आगे (aage), आ-गे (aa-ge), आगे (aage). |
| Maya: Which means "ahead" or "in front." |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Neha: Now, let's look at at some of the words that came up in the conversation. |
| Maya: In Hindi, the word for the preposition "from" is… |
| Neha: से (Se), but in Hindi, it is called a postposition. |
| Maya: Basically it means the same thing. Postpositions are prepositions like from, to, on, in, until, at, with, under, etc. |
| Neha: They are called so because in Hindi, unlike in English, they come after the noun. So in Hindi, घर से (ghar Se)... |
| Maya: Means "from home." |
| Neha: Which literally is "house from." |
| Maya: Another example would be "from under," which in Hindi is… |
| Neha: नीचे से (Niice Se), which literally is, "under from." |
| Maya: In the conversation, it was used as… |
| Neha: इस तरफ़ से (iS Taraf Se). |
| Maya: इस (iS) means "this," तरफ़ (Taraf) means "way," and से (Se) means "from." |
| Neha: Which literally is, "this way from," and translates as "from this way," or rather just, "this way." |
| Maya: If you've been paying attention, then you might be wondering why we use इस (iS) and not the standard pronoun for the word "this" which is… |
| Neha: यह (yah). |
| Maya: Well, that's because in Hindi, pronouns change their forms, to be more specific, they change into their oblique cases when they are used with postpositions. |
| Neha: यह (yah) which means "this," turns into इस (iS) while वह (vah) which means "that," turns into उस (uS). |
| Maya: So, because of the postposition "from" in the phrase "from this way,", we need to use इस (iS) instead of यह (yah) and it becomes… |
| Neha: इस तरफ़ से (iS Taraf Se). |
| Maya: How do you say "from that way" in Hindi? |
| Neha: Well, because of the postposition "from," the pronoun "that," or वह (vah), will change into its oblique case which is उस (uS), and so the sentence will be - उस तरफ़ से (uS Taraf Se). |
Lesson focus |
| Maya: Okay, moving on to our main focus of this lesson, which is… |
| Neha: How to ask for where things are, that is, be able to ask the "Where is...?" question. |
| Maya: So, to ask where the Taj Mahal is, we say…, |
| Neha: ताज महल कहाँ है? (Taaj mahaL kahaan hai?) |
| Maya: Where कहाँ (kahaan) means "where", and है (hai) means "is." |
| Neha: Literally you're saying, "Taj Mahal where is?" |
| Maya: As you know, Hindi follows the subject-object-verb order which means that the verb always comes at the end. |
| Neha: So, to ask where anything is, just follow the format… |
| Maya: subject + कहाँ है (kahaan hai). |
| Neha: Where subject is the person, place, or the thing you are looking for. |
| Maya: This is easy and pretty straightforward and is also an important survival phrase. You will definitely need it at some point. |
| Neha: One thing to point out is that, the verb in the question changes slightly, like in English. |
| Maya: Yes, so you can either ask "where are..." questions or "where is..." questions. |
| Neha: If it is a singular subject, you use है (hai) and if it is a plural subject, you use the nasalized हैं (hain). |
| Maya: Why don't we look at some examples. |
| Neha: Sure, so how would you say "Where are those people?" in Hindi? |
| Maya: Well, we know that we use the format subject + कहाँ हैं (kahaan hain). |
| Neha: Where the nasalized हैं (hain) is the to-be verb "are," and the subject is… |
| Maya: It's "those people," which in Hindi is… |
| Neha: वे लोग (ve Log). |
| Maya: So, "Where are those people in Hindi?" is… |
| Neha: वे लोग कहाँ हैं? (ve Log kahaan hain?) |
| Maya: Okay. Another example. How do you say "Where is your house?" in Hindi? |
| Neha: Well, the subject here is "your house," which is आपका घर (aapakaa ghar) and it is singular so the verb is है (hai). |
| Maya: And so the sentence is आपका घर कहाँ है? (aapakaa ghar kahaan hai?). |
| Neha: Great! Well, that's all for this lesson! Be sure to read the lesson notes for more examples on this topic. |
| Maya: Thanks for listening! Until next time. |
| Neha: शुक्रिया और फिर मिलेंगे! (sukriyaa aur phir miLenge!) |
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