Learn about the names of colors
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Neha: "Namaste," I'm Neha. and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 18, All the Colors of the Indian Rainbow. |
| Maya: "Namaste," I'm Maya In this lesson you'll learn how to name colors in Hindi. |
| Neha: The conversation takes place in a street. |
| Maya: This conversation is between two friends, Parvati and Aditi who are window shopping. |
| Neha: They know each other very well so they will be speaking informal Hindi. |
| Maya: Let's listen to their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| पार्वती (paaravaTii): यह लाल साड़ी बहुत सुंदर है। (yah LaaL Saadii bahuT SuNDar hai.) |
| अदिति (aDiTi): हाँ। वह सोने पैटर्न की काली साड़ी भी सुंदर है। (haan. vah SoNe paitarN kii kaaLii Saadii bhii SuNDar hai.) |
| पार्वती (paaravaTii): सब कुछ अच्छा है! (Sab kuch acchaa hai!) |
| अदिति (aDiTi): बिल्कुल! (biLkuL!) |
| Let's listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| पार्वती (paaravaTii): यह लाल साड़ी बहुत सुंदर है। (yah LaaL Saadii bahuT SuNDar hai.) |
| अदिति (aDiTi): हाँ। वह सोने पैटर्न की काली साड़ी भी सुंदर है। (haan. vah SoNe paitarN kii kaaLii Saadii bhii SuNDar hai.) |
| पार्वती (paaravaTii): सब कुछ अच्छा है! (Sab kuch acchaa hai!) |
| अदिति (aDiTi): बिल्कुल! (biLkuL!) |
| Let's listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| पार्वती (paaravaTii): यह लाल साड़ी बहुत सुंदर है। (yah LaaL Saadii bahuT SuNDar hai.) |
| Maya: This red sari is very beautiful. |
| अदिति (aDiTi): हाँ। वह सोने पैटर्न की काली साड़ी भी सुंदर है। (haan. vah SoNe paitarN kii kaaLii Saadii bhii SuNDar hai.) |
| Maya: Yes. That black saree with gold pattern is also beautiful. |
| पार्वती (paaravaTii): सब कुछ अच्छा है! (Sab kuch acchaa hai!) |
| Maya: Everything is great! |
| अदिति (aDiTi): बिल्कुल! (biLkuL!) |
| Maya: Totally! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maya: You know Neha, one of my favorite festivals in India is Holi. |
| Neha: Oh yes, Holi, the festival of colors. |
| Maya: And music and dancing too! It's so much fun. Everyone fills up water balloons and throws them at one another. |
| Neha: Young people often start celebrating this a couple of weeks in advance by throwing water balloons at unsuspecting passerbies. |
| Maya: Which as you can imagine, is sometimes frowned upon, but mostly it is taken with a good spirit. |
| Neha: On the day of the Holi festival, people mix water with colored powder while some just use the powder and rub it all over each other's faces and bodies. |
| Maya: Actually, it can be quite difficult to clean off all the colors from your body. But that's also the fun part. |
| Neha: And you can even find people indulging in the bhang, you know, that intoxicating substance... they mix it with sweets and snacks and munch on it during the day. |
| Maya: All right, now let's move onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maya: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Neha: यह (yah). |
| Maya: this. |
| Neha: यह (yah), यह (yah). |
| Maya: Next is... |
| Neha: लाल (LaaL). |
| Maya: red. |
| Neha: लाल (LaaL), लाल (LaaL). |
| Maya: Next is... |
| Neha: साड़ी (Saadii). |
| Maya: sari. |
| Neha: साड़ी (Saadii), साड़ी (Saadii). |
| Maya: Next is... |
| Neha: बहुत (bahuT). |
| Maya: very/ a lot. |
| Neha: बहुत (bahuT), बहुत (bahuT). |
| Maya: Next is... |
| Neha: सुंदर (SuNDar). |
| Maya: beautiful. |
| Neha: सुंदर (SuNDar), सुंदर (SuNDar). |
| Maya: Next is... |
| Neha: सोने (SoNe). |
| Maya: gold. |
| Neha: सोने (SoNe), सोने (SoNe). |
| Maya: Next is... |
| Neha: पैटर्न (paitarN). |
| Maya: pattern. |
| Neha: पैटर्न (paitarN), पैटर्न (paitarN). |
| Maya: Next is... |
| Neha: की (kii). |
| Maya: of. |
| Neha: की (kii), की (kii). |
| Maya: Next is... |
| Neha: सब कुछ (Sab kuch). |
| Maya: everything. |
| Neha: सब कुछ (Sab kuch), सब कुछ (Sab kuch). |
| Maya: Last is... |
| Neha: बिल्कुल (biLkuL). |
| Maya: totally/ absolutely. |
| Neha: बिल्कुल (biLkuL), बिल्कुल (biLkuL). |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Maya: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Neha: The first word we'll look at is पैटर्न (paitarN). |
| Maya: Means "pattern" and actually comes from the English word itself. |
| Neha: It has been so well integrated into the Hindi language that even though it comes from English, it can be understood anywhere in India. |
| Maya: But as you can hear, it has a slightly different pronunciation. Usually, English words with the "aa" pronunciation as in "paa" for "pattern" turn into "ai" in Hindi. |
| Neha: Yes, so "pattern" becomes पैटर्न (paitarN). Another example would be "Tablet computer" that turns into टैबलेट (taibaLet) "computer" in Hindi. |
| Maya: Next we have the postposition की (kii), which means "of." |
| Neha: It is used to show possession and is used only if the thing being possessed is of feminine gender. |
| Maya: For example, "hers" in Hindi would be... |
| Neha: उसकी (uSakii), which literally means, "her of." |
| Maya: If the thing being possessed is a singular masculine gender, you use का (kaa). |
| Neha: And so "his" would be उसका (uSakaa), which literally means "his of." |
| Maya: If the thing being possessed is a plural masculine then you use के (ke). |
| Neha: So "theirs" would be उसके (uSake), which literally means "their of." |
| Maya: And the final word we'll talk about is... |
| Neha: सब कुछ (Sab kuch). |
| Maya: Which means "everything." |
| Neha: And just like in English, it takes the singular verb "is." Therefore, you'd say सब कुछ अच्छा है। (Sab kuch acchaa hai.) |
| Maya: To mean "Everything is good." But, if you wanted to say "everybody," unlike in English it takes the plural verb "are," for example, हैं (hain). |
| Neha: So, सब लोग अच्छे हैं। (Sab Log acche hain.) for "Everyone is good." |
Lesson focus |
| Maya: The focus of this lesson is the names of the colors in Hindi. |
| Neha: We'll say them in English and then give you the Hindi pronunciation, first in natural speed, and then a bit slowly. |
| Maya: "Black." |
| Neha: काला (kaaLaa), का-ला (kaa-Laa), काला (kaalaa). |
| Maya: "Red." |
| Neha: लाल (LaaL), लाल (Laa-La), लाल (LaaL). |
| Maya: "Yellow." |
| Neha: पीला (piiLaa), पी-ला (pii-Laa), पीला (piiLaa). |
| Maya: "Blue." |
| Neha: नीला (NiiLaa), नी-ला (Nii-Laa), नीला (NiiLaa). |
| Maya: "Green." |
| Neha: हरा (haraa), ह-रा (ha-raa), हरा (haraa). |
| Maya: "Pink." |
| Neha: गुलाबी (guLaabii), गु-ला-बी (gu-Laa-bii), गुलाबी (guLaabii). |
| Maya: "Orange." |
| Neha: नारंगी (Naarangii), ना-रंगी (Naa-rangii), नारंगी (Naarangii). |
| Maya: "Purple." |
| Neha: बैंगनी (baingaNii), बैं-गनी (bain-gaNii), बैंगनी (baingaNii). |
| Maya: And lastly, "brown." |
| Neha: भूरा (bhuuraa), भू-रा (bhuu-raa), भूरा (bhuuraa). |
| Maya: Great! Colors are adjectives and so like all other adjectives in Hindi, some colors inflect, that is change, according to the gender and the count of the subjects, while some others don't. |
| Neha: Lucky for us, it is very easy to spot those colors that inflect! All those that end with an -आ (-aa) are inflecting adjectives. And there are very simple rules for inflection. |
| Maya: For describing things that are masculine and singular, they don't change and retain -आ (-aa) in the end. For example, काला (kaaLaa), which is "black," stays काला (kaaLaa). |
| Neha: For describing masculine plural nouns, -आ (-aa) is replaced by -ए (-e). So for example, काला (kaaLaa) changes into काले (kaaLe). |
| Maya: And for describing singular and plural feminine nouns, -आ (-aa) is replaced by -ई (-ii). For example, काला (kaaLaa) changes into काली (kaaLii). |
| Neha: Let's try some more examples. |
| Maya: Okay. How would you say "This book is black." in Hindi? |
| Neha: Remember, that "book" in Hindi is किताब (kiTaab) and it's a feminine noun. So you have to use the feminine case of "black," which is काली (kaaLii). The sentence then is यह किताब काली है। (yah kiTaab kaaLii hai.) |
| Maya: How about the sentence, "This dog is black."? |
| Neha: Well, "dog" in Hindi is कुत्ता (kuTTaa) and it is a masculine noun. So you have to use काला (kaaLaa) and the sentence would be यह कुत्ता काला है। (yah kuTTaa kaaLaa hai.). Now you try. How would you say "These dogs are black."? |
| Maya: Okay, so "dogs" in Hindi is कुत्ते (kuTTe) and I have to use the plural masculine case for "black," which is काले (kaaLe). So the sentence would be ये कुत्ते काले हैं। (ye kuTTe kaaLe hain.). |
| Neha: Perfect! ये कुत्ते काले हैं। (ye kuTTe kaaLe hain.). |
| Maya: How about for "These apples are red."? |
| Neha: See, this is easy because the word "red" in Hindi is लाल (LaaL) and since it doesn't end with an -आ (-aa) it stays the same in all situations. So the sentence would be ये सेब लाल हैं। (ye Seb LaaL hain.) |
| Maya: Let's practice saying some of those sentences. How about, "The dog is black.". |
| Neha: यह कुत्ता काला है। (yah kuTTaa kaaLaa hai.) |
| Maya: And now the plural form, "These dogs are black.". |
| Neha: ये कुत्ते काले हैं। (ye kuTTe kaaLe hain.) |
| Maya: Okay, well, that's all we have for this lesson. |
| Neha: Please make sure you read the lesson notes for more explanations on this topic! |
| Maya: Thank you for listening. See you next time! |
| Neha: शुक्रिया और फिर मिलेंगे! (sukriyaa aur phir miLenge!) |
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