Learn about some of the ways of transportation in India and a word that can mean multiple things
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Neha: "Namaste," I'm Neha, and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 23, A Multipurpose Hindi Word. |
| Maya: "Namaste," I'm Maya. In this lesson you'll learn how to use the versatile word वाला (vaaLaa) in Hindi. |
| Neha: The conversation takes place on a street. |
| Maya: The conversation is between Mahima and Poonam. |
| Neha: They are friends and so they will be speaking informally with each other. |
| Maya: Let's listen to their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| महिमा (mahimaa): क्या उस रिक्शा वाले के पास जूते नहीं हैं? (kyaa uS riksaa vaaLe ke paaS juuTe Nahiin hain?) |
| पूनम (puuNam): शायद नहीं हैं। (saayaD Nahiin hain.) |
| महिमा (mahimaa): उसको एक अच्छे वाले जूते की जोड़ी चाहिए। (uSako ek acche vaaLe juuTe kii jodii caahiye.) |
| पूनम (puuNam): हाँ, उसे लख़नऊ वाले जूते चाहिए। (haan, uSe LakhaNauu vaaLe juuTe caahiye.) |
| Neha: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. |
| महिमा (mahimaa): क्या उस रिक्शा वाले के पास जूते नहीं हैं? (kyaa uS riksaa vaaLe ke paaS juuTe Nahiin hain?) |
| पूनम (puuNam): शायद नहीं हैं। (saayaD Nahiin hain.) |
| महिमा (mahimaa): उसको एक अच्छे वाले जूते की जोड़ी चाहिए। (uSako ek acche vaaLe juuTe kii jodii caahiye.) |
| पूनम (puuNam): हाँ, उसे लख़नऊ वाले जूते चाहिए। (haan, uSe LakhaNauu vaaLe juuTe caahiye.) |
| Maya: Let's now listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| महिमा (mahimaa): क्या उस रिक्शा वाले के पास जूते नहीं हैं? (kyaa uS riksaa vaaLe ke paaS juuTe Nahiin hain?) |
| Neha: "Does that rickshaw driver not have shoes?" |
| पूनम (puuNam): शायद नहीं हैं। (saayaD Nahiin hain.) |
| Maya: "Maybe not." |
| महिमा (mahimaa): उसको एक अच्छे वाले जूते की जोड़ी चाहिए। (uSako ek acche vaaLe juuTe kii jodii caahiye.) |
| Neha: "He needs a nice pair of shoes." |
| पूनम (puuNam): हाँ, उसे लख़नऊ वाले जूते चाहिए। (haan, uSe LakhaNauu vaaLe juuTe caahiye.) |
| Maya: "Yes, he needs shoes from Lucknow." |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Neha: Let's talk about transportation in India. |
| Maya: In the conversation, Mahima and Poonam were talking about the rickshaw driver. Have you ever ridden on one? |
| Neha: Yes, apparently it's not as easy as it looks. It's very difficult to keep it steady because steering the rickshaw in a certain direction needs a lot of practice, or so they say. |
| Maya: I bet you're right. It can't be easy. |
| Neha: Did you also know that many parts of India, especially the villages, use bullock carts for transportation? |
| Maya: And in the early days, if you were fortunate enough to have been born into a wealthy family, you could be transported on a palanquin or on elephants! How fun would that be! |
| Neha: Well, there are still some interesting means of transport even now. In the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, you can travel on camels. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maya: Okay then, let's look at some of the words that came up 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: रिक्शा वाला (riksaa vaaLaa), रिक्शा वाला (riksaa vaaLaa), रिक्शा वाला (riksaa vaaLaa). |
| Maya: Which means "rickshaw driver." |
| Neha: Next, we have के (ke), के (ke), के (ke). |
| Maya: Which means "of." |
| Neha: Then is पास (paaS),पास (paaS), पास (paaS). |
| Maya: Which means “to have” or “to possess”. |
| Neha: Then is जूते (juuTe), जूते (juuTe), जूते (juuTe). |
| Maya: Which means "shoes." |
| Neha: Next is शायद (saayaD), शायद (saayaD), शायद (saayaD). |
| Maya: Which means "maybe." |
| Neha: Then is उसको (uSako), उसको (uSako), उसको (uSako). |
| Maya: Which means "to her." |
| Neha: Next is उसे (uSe), उसे (uSe), उसे (uSe). |
| Maya: Which also means "to her." |
| Neha: Then we have अच्छे वाले (acche vaaLe), अच्छे वाले (acche vaaLe), अच्छे वाले (acche vaaLe). |
| Maya: Which means "nice." |
| Neha: Next is जोड़ी (jodii), जोड़ी (jodii), जोड़ी (jodii). |
| Maya: Which means "pair." |
| Neha: Then is लख़नऊ वाले (LakhaNauu vaaLe), लख़नऊ वाले (LakhaNauu vaaLe), लख़नऊ वाले (LakhaNauu vaaLe). |
| Maya: Which means "from Lucknow." |
| Neha: And finally, we have चाहिए (caahiye), चाहिए (caahiye), चाहिए (caahiye). |
| Maya: Which means "need." |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Maya: Now let's look at some of these words in more detail. |
| Neha: We've said that उसे (uSe) and उसको (uSako) which mean the same thing, "to him" in this context. |
| Maya: And actually we've already discussed this in Chapter 20 on apologies but let's review it. |
| Neha: को (ko) is a postposition that means "to" and उस (uS) means "him," "her," "it," or "that." उस (uS) is actually the oblique case for the pronoun वह (vah), which means the same "him," "her," "it," or "that." |
| Maya: The oblique case is simply the form that pronouns change into when they are used with postpositions. |
| Neha: उस (uS) is always about someone or something that is a bit further away, as denoted by the term "that." |
| Maya: And so उसको (uSako) means "to him," "to her," "to it," or "to that." |
| Neha: You can also say उसे (uSe) to mean the same things. They are both exactly the same. |
| Maya: For things that are a bit closer, you use the term इस (iS), which is an oblique case for the pronoun यह (yah), which also means "he," "she," "it," or "this." |
| Neha: Now, इसको (iSako) means "to him," "to her," "to it," or "to this." You can use इसे (iSe) to mean the same things. |
| Maya: Let's move to our next word. |
| Neha: लख़नऊ वाले (LakhaNauu vaaLe). It can mean a lot of things. The meaning always depends on the context. It could mean people from Lucknow or things and goods that are from Lucknow. |
| Maya: Similarly, another word with वाले (vaaLe)." It was used in the conversation as... |
| Neha: अच्छे वाले (acche vaaLe). |
| Maya: It means "nice." |
| Neha: Although अच्छे (acche) on its own also means "nice," the phrase अच्छे वाले (acche vaaLe) can be used as a similar adjective. |
Lesson focus |
| Maya: वाला (vaaLaa) actually does not have a proper translation in Hindi. It is always used with something else and that determines its meaning. |
| Neha: When वाला (vaaLaa) is used with a commodity it means the seller of that commodity. For example, दूध (DuuDH) is "milk" in Hindi and दूध वाला (DuuDH vaaLaa) is "milkman." |
| Maya: What would you call a "vegetable seller"? |
| Neha: सब्ज़ी (Sabzii) is "vegetable" and सब्ज़ी वाला (Sabzii vaaLaa) is a "vegetable seller." |
| Maya: What about "fruit seller"? |
| Neha: It would be फल वाला (phaL vaaLaa). You know "flower" in Hindi sounds very similar to "fruit." It is फूल (phuuL). |
| Maya: So a "flower seller" would be फूल वाला (phuuL vaaLaa)? |
| Neha: That's right! But when वाला (vaaLa) is used with a place it means a person or a thing that is from that place. |
| Maya: So a person or a thing from Delhi would be... |
| Neha: दिल्ली वाला (DiLLii vaaLaa). In the same way, you can say राजस्थान वाला (raajaSTHaaN vaaLaa), जापान वाला (jaapaaN vaaLaa), and so on. |
| Maya: And when वाला (vaaLaa) is used with vehicles it mostly means a person who rides that thing. For example, a "rickshaw driver" is... |
| Neha: रिक्शा वाला (riksaa vaaLaa). |
| Maya: A "taxi driver" is... |
| Neha: टैक्सी वाला (taikSii vaaLaa). But you know all these examples are very basic examples and general interpretations of the वाला (vaaLaa) words. Their meanings always change with context. |
| Maya: So even though we said that टैक्सी वाला (taikSii vaaLaa") means "taxi driver," it could also mean other things like the "owner of the taxi," the "person standing next to the taxi," the "person sitting inside the taxi," and so on. |
| Neha: वाला (vaaLaa) is also used not only with nouns but also with action words, that is, with verbs. In such a case, it describes someone who is performing the action. |
| Maya: Let's listen to some examples. |
| Neha: Sure. पढ़ने (padhaNe) means "to study" and if you add वाला (vaaLaa) to it, it becomes पढ़ने वाला (padhaNe vaaLaa), which means, "the one who is studying." |
| Maya: "The one who is singing" would be... |
| Neha: गाने वाला (gaaNe vaaLaa). |
| Maya: And for our last example, "the one who is dancing" would be... |
| Neha: नाचने वाला (NaacaNe vaaLaa). |
| Maya: Well, we hope that this lesson wasn't too confusing. It's a very common term and you'll frequently hear it in conversations. |
| Neha: Please practice some of these more general uses of वाला (vaaLaa). Also make sure you look at the lesson notes for more examples and explanations on this topic. |
| Maya: Well, that's all we have for our lesson. Thank you for listening. Until next time! |
| Neha: शुक्रिया और फिर मिलेंगे! (sukriyaa aur phir miLenge!) |
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