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!) |
Comments
HideWhere are you planning to go in India?
नमस्ते Amanda! 🌟
यह सुनकर बहुत अच्छा लगा कि आप दिल्ली जा रही हैं और अपने पति के माता-पिता के घर जाने वाली हैं! (It's great to hear that you're going to Delhi and will visit your husband's parents' home!) हमें उम्मीद है कि आपकी यात्रा बहुत ही सुखद और यादगार होगी। (We hope your trip will be very pleasant and memorable.) ❤️
If you have any questions in your language learning journey, please let us know.
धन्यवाद।
Team HindiPod101.com
नमस्ते HindiPod। मैं दिल्ली जाऊंगी और मेरे पति के माता-पिता के घर जाऊंगी! ❤️
Hello Curiouzkalai,
Thanks for your post!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Best wishes,
Roohi
Team HindiPod101.com
Super initiative
Hello Ashok,
Thanks for the positive comment!
I am glad to hear that you found this lesson interesting.❤️ I hope you like the rest of our series. 😊
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Ali
Team HindiPod101.com
very interesting👍
Namaste Torrie,
Thanks for your post and you feedback!
Our content team will definitely consider your suggestion.
In the meanwhile, if you have any questions, feel free to let us know.
All the best!
Roohi
Team HindiPod101.com
नमस्ते !
I've been listening to the Absolute Beginner series on spotify and had a suggestion. When Maya & Neha quiz us on what we've learned, the brief pause they give is so incredibly brief that oftentimes the sentence could not possibly be uttered even at native speaking speed. If I want to participate in this element of the lessons I am forced to pause the recording, which isn't very doable when I'm driving or things like that. It's truly the briefest pause, the speakers should at the very least think the answer at speaking speed in their head before deciding the pause is over, because it is often, if not most of the time, impossible to answer in that short second.
Hello Sajini,
Thank you for your message.
When the media doesn’t stream well, please try to log in with a different browser. You can also try downloading the file and playing it with a software/application on your device. If you experience any other technical issues, please send us an email at contactus@hindipod101.com.
Have a great day!
Cheers,
Ali
Team HindiPod101.com
Why i can't to listen this audios? I already listened 10 lessons. After 10th lesson i couldn't listen. I don't know what is the reason
Hi Marjorie,
Thank you for studying with us.😄
Looking forward to seeing you often here.👍
Cheers,
Lena
Team HindiPod101.com
😇this was very good. Thank you.
Hi Emine,
Thanks for posting!
Excellent sentences. Keep learning and let us know if you have any questions.
All the best!
Roohi
Team HindiPod101.com
Namaste. Mera nam Emine hai. Mey Delhi mein rehati hoon. Mey Amerikaa se hoon. Mujhe Himalayas jaanaa hai.
Hi Kakai,
Thanks for answering the question!
Good choice picking the financial and entertainment capital of India :)
If you have any questions, feel free to let us know.
All the best!
Roohi
Team HindiPod101.com
I want to go to Mumbai.
Hi Sravya,
Thanks for posting!
If you meant to say, "I want to stay on your left side forever/always", here is the best way
मुझे हमेशा आपकी बाईं तरफ़ रहना है। (mujhe hamesaa aapakii bayiin taraf rahaNa hai.)
I hope this helps!
Roohi
Team HindiPod101.com
Mei hameshaa aapkae baaen mein rehna. Is this right?
Hi Precious,
Thanks for posting and you are welcome!
If you have any questions, feel free to let us know.
All the best!
Roohi
Team HindiPod101.com
Dhanyavaad