Learn about popular Indian television programs and how to tell time
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Neha: "Namaste," I'm Neha, and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 11, Telling the Time in Hindi, Part 1. |
| Maya "Namaste," I'm Maya. |
| Neha: In this lesson you'll learn how to read time in Hindi. |
| Maya: The conversation takes place at Rita's house. |
| Neha: This conversation is between Rita and Bhawana. |
| Maya: They are friends and so they will be speaking informal Hindi. |
| Neha: Let's listen to their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| रीता (riiTaa): कितने बजे हैं? (kiTaNe baje hain?) |
| भावना (bhaavaNaa): एक बजा है। (ek bajaa hai.) |
| रीता (riiTaa): हमारा टीवी कार्यक्रम कितने बजे शुरू होता है? (hamaara tiivii kaaryakram kiTaNe baje suruu hoTaa hai?) |
| भावना (bhaavaNaa): साढ़े तीन बजे। (Saadhe TiiN baje.) |
| Maya: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. |
| रीता (riiTaa): कितने बजे हैं? (kiTaNe baje hain?) |
| भावना (bhaavaNaa): एक बजा है। (ek bajaa hai.) |
| रीता (riiTaa): हमारा टीवी कार्यक्रम कितने बजे शुरू होता है? (hamaara tiivii kaaryakram kiTaNe baje suruu hoTaa hai?) |
| भावना (bhaavaNaa): साढ़े तीन बजे। (Saadhe TiiN baje.) |
| Neha: Let's now listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| रीता (riiTaa): कितने बजे हैं? (kiTaNe baje hain?) |
| Neha: "What time is it?" |
| भावना (bhaavaNaa): एक बजा है। (ek bajaa hai.) |
| Maya: "It's one o'clock." |
| रीता (riiTaa): हमारा टीवी कार्यक्रम कितने बजे शुरू होता है? (hamaara tiivii kaaryakram kiTaNe baje suruu hoTaa hai?) |
| Neha: "What time does our TV program start?" |
| भावना (bhaavaNaa): साढ़े तीन बजे। (Saadhe TiiN baje.) |
| Maya: "Half past three." |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Neha: In this conversation, you know Rita is eagerly waiting for a TV program. |
| Maya: Yeah, what is she waiting for? |
| Neha: Well, you know Indian movies and TV programs are very popular. |
| Maya: I know and it probably wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they are part of Indian culture. |
| Neha: I agree. Anyway, there are these TV series on family dramas that are a big hit among Indian house wives. |
| Maya: Really? |
| Neha: Yes, they are aired in the afternoons so that the house wives can enjoy the many different but similar programs for a couple of hours every day. |
| Maya: Sounds like they may be the Indian versions of British and American soap operas. |
| Neha: You're exactly right! |
| Maya: And what are they usually about? |
| Neha: Well, they're mostly centered around the drama of joint families, the relationship between the newly-wed wife and her in-laws, you know, things like that. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maya: I see. Well moving on, let's talk about the words that were used in the conversation. |
| Neha: We'll first say the words at natural speed, then a bit slower, and finally we'll give you the meaning. |
| Maya: Our first word is… |
| Neha: कितने (kiTaNe), कित-ने (kiTa-Ne), कितने (kiTaNe). |
| Maya: Which means "how many" or "how much." |
| Neha: Next, we have बजे (baje), ब-जे (ba-je), बजे (baje). |
| Maya: Which means "time" or "o'clock." |
| Neha: Then is बजा (bajaa), ब-जा (ba-jaa), बजा (bajaa). |
| Maya: Which also means "time" or "o'clock." |
| Neha: Next is हमारा (hamaaraa), ह-मारा (ha-maaraa), हमारा (hamaaraa). |
| Maya: Which means "our." |
| Neha: Then is टीवी कार्यक्रम (tiivii karyakram), टीवी कार्यक्रम (tiivii karyakram), टीवी कार्यक्रम (tiivii karyakram). |
| Maya: Which means "TV program." |
| Neha: Next is शुरू (suruu), शु-रू (su-ruu), शुरू (suruu). |
| Maya: Which means "start." |
| Neha: Next we have साढ़े (Saadhe), सा-ढ़े (Saa-dhe), साढ़े (Saadhe). |
| Maya: Which means "half." |
| Neha: Finally, we have तीन (TiiN), ती-न (Tii-Na), तीन (TiiN). |
| Maya: Which means "three." |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Neha: Now, let's look at at some of these words. |
| Maya: The word for "how many" or "how much" in Hindi is… |
| Neha: कितना (kiTaNaa), कितने (kiTaNe), or कितनी (kiTaNii). |
| Maya: They all mean the same but are used differently for different genders and for different numbers. |
| Neha: So, कितना (kiTaNaa) is used for asking the number of a singular masculine subject, कितने (kiTaNe) is used for asking the number of plural masculine subjects, and finally, कितनी (kiTaNii) is used for asking the number of both singular and plural feminine subjects. |
| Maya: Okay, so कितना (kiTaNaa) for single male, कितने (kiTaNe) for many males, and कितनी (kiTaNii) for one or many females. |
| Neha: Yes. Since all Hindi nouns have genders, whether they are objects or people, you need to know be aware of them if you want to speak correctly. |
| Maya: Don't worry though. There are ways to recognize which words are masculine and which are feminine. |
| Neha: Yes. So for the most part, words that end with -आ (-aa) are usually masculine and words that end with -ई (-ii) are usually feminine. |
| Maya: But this is not always the case because all Hindi nouns do not always end in either -आ (-aa) or -ई (-ii) and even if they do, they might not fit the rule. |
| Neha: So, the best thing is to learn as you go. |
| Maya: Anyway, the next word we'll look at is… |
| Neha: बजा (bajaa), which means "time" or "o'clock." |
| Maya: Can you guess what gender बजा (bajaa) is? |
| Neha: Well, since बजा (bajaa) ends with an -आ (-aa), it is masculine. |
| Maya: Now, बजा (bajaa) is used only with a singular noun, or to be more specific, only with one o'clock. |
| Neha: The plural form of बजा (bajaa) is बजे (baje) and is used with plural nouns, or to be more specific, for all other times except for one o'clock. |
| Maya: Actually, there is a formula to change singular masculine nouns into plural. |
| Neha: Yes. So, if the word ends with -आ (-aa) then change it into -ए (-e), like we did, बजा (bajaa) to बजे (baje). |
| Maya: And for any other masculine words that don't end with an -आ (-aa), their plural forms remain the same. No change! |
Lesson focus |
| Neha: Okay, next in our lesson is how to read time in Hindi. |
| Maya: But before we get into that, let's learn how to ask for time. So in Hindi, to say "What time is it?" you say… |
| Neha: कितने बजे हैं? (kiTaNe baje hain?) |
| Maya: Here कितने (kiTaNe) means "how much" or "how many," हैं (hain) means "are," and बजे (baje) means "time." |
| Neha: Actually, बजे (baje) comes from the verb बजना (bajaNaa), which means "to ring." So literally, कितने बजे हैं? (kiTaNe baje hain?) means "How many rings are." |
| Maya: Unlike in English where we use the singular form "is" when asking the question "What time is it?", in Hindi we use the plural "are," which is हैं (hain), but it still means the same thing. |
| Neha: Let's practice this. First I'll say it at natural speed and then slowly. कितने बजे हैं? (kiTaNe baje hain?). कितने बजे हैं? (kiTaNe baje hain?), कितने बजे हैं? (kiTaNe baje hain?). |
| Maya: Great! So let's now focus on reading time in Hindi. |
| Neha: For this, you'll of course need to know numbers from 1 to 12. So, let's recap those numbers. |
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 |
| Maya: Telling time in Hindi is pretty straightforward and therefore easy! There is a formula you can use which works for all except one o'clock. |
| Neha: Let's start with the exception. |
| Maya: Okay. So "It is is one o'clock" in Hindi is… |
| Neha: एक बजा है। (ek bajaa hai.). |
| Maya: Where एक (ek) is "one," बजा (bajaa) is "o'clock," and है (hai) is "is." |
| Neha: For the rest, the verb turns into plural. So instead of है (hai), which is the singular "is," we need to use हैं (hain), which is the plural "are." |
| Maya: In addition, बजा (bajaa) turns into its plural form बजे (baje). So, let's hear it. "It is two o'clock" in Hindi is… |
| Neha: दो बजे हैं। (Do baje hain.) |
| Maya: Great! And for the rest, you just substitute दो (Do) with other numbers. |
| Neha: Like चार बजे हैं। (caar baje hain.) for "It is four o'clock," or आठ बजे हैं। (aath baje hain.) for "It is eight o'clock." |
| Maya: Okay, now let's learn how to say "It is half past...." So how do you say "It is half past three." in Hindi? |
| Neha: साढ़े तीन बजे हैं। (Saadhe TiiN baje hain.) |
| Maya: Basically everything is the same as before - you just add साढ़े (Saadhe) in front of the time. |
| Neha: The catch though is that, this works for all except half past one and half past two. |
| Maya: Half past one in Hindi is… |
| Neha: डेढ़ बजा है। (dedh bajaa hai.) |
| Maya: And half past two is… |
| Neha: ढाई बजे हैं। (dhaaii baje hain.) |
| Maya: And one more before we finish this lesson. |
| Neha: Okay, so... "It is half past five." in Hindi is साढ़े पाँच बजे हैं। (Saadhe paanc baje hain.) |
| Maya: Excellent. Well, make sure you read the lesson notes for more examples on this topic. |
| Neha: Thanks for listening! |
| Maya: शुक्रिया और फिर मिलेंगे! (sukriyaa aur phir miLenge!) |
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