Learn about why Indians are so fluent in English and the "-ing" verb
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Neha: "Namaste," I'm Neha, and welcome to the Absolute Beginner Series, Lesson 25, Present Continuous. |
| Maya: "Namaste," I'm Maya. In this lesson you'll learn how to say things in the present continuous form, for example, "I am doing," "I am saying," and so on. |
| Neha: The conversation takes place in a classroom. |
| Maya: The conversation is between Kajol and Rani. |
| Neha: They are friends and so they will be speaking informally with each other. |
| Maya: Let's listen to their conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| काजोल (kaajoL): तुम क्या कर रही हो? (Tum kyaa kar rahii ho?) |
| रानी (raaNii): मैं बोल रही हूँ। (main boL rahii huun.) |
| काजोल (kaajoL): तुम अंग्रेज़ी नहीं बोल रही हो। गुरु जी सुन रहे हैं! (Tum angrezii Nahiin boL rahii ho. guru jii SuN rahe hain!) |
| रानी (raaNii): ओह, मुझे पता नहीं था। (oh, mujhe paTaa Nahiin THaa.) |
| Neha: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. |
| काजोल (kaajoL): तुम क्या कर रही हो? (Tum kyaa kar rahii ho?) |
| रानी (raaNii): मैं बोल रही हूँ। (main boL rahii huun.) |
| काजोल (kaajoL): तुम अंग्रेज़ी नहीं बोल रही हो। गुरु जी सुन रहे हैं! (Tum angrezii Nahiin boL rahii ho. guru jii SuN rahe hain!) |
| रानी (raaNii): ओह, मुझे पता नहीं था। (oh, mujhe paTaa Nahiin THaa.) |
| Maya: Let's now listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| काजोल (kaajoL): तुम क्या कर रही हो? (Tum kyaa kar rahii ho?) |
| Neha: "What are you doing?" |
| रानी (raaNii): मैं बोल रही हूँ। (main boL rahii huun.) |
| Maya: "I am speaking." |
| काजोल (kaajoL): तुम अंग्रेज़ी नहीं बोल रही हो। गुरु जी सुन रहे हैं! (Tum angrezii Nahiin boL rahii ho. guru jii SuN rahe hain!) |
| Neha: "You're not speaking in English. Teacher is listening!" |
| रानी (raaNii): ओह, मुझे पता नहीं था। (oh, mujhe paTaa Nahiin THaa.) |
| Maya: "Oh, I didn't know." |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Neha: You know in the conversation Rani is reminding Kajol to speak in English. |
| Maya: Yes, is that very normal in Indian schools? |
| Neha: In a way, yes, because a lot schools teach English in India. |
| Maya: So they're like international schools? |
| Neha: Well, not quite. Most local schools are also structured to hold classes in English and we're talking not only about special English classes once a day, but actually teaching every subject in English. |
| Maya: What about Hindi then? |
| Neha: Well, of course, they will have Hindi classes too. |
| Maya: I see. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Neha: Let's now look at some of the words that came up in the conversation. |
| 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 तुम (Tum), तुम (Tum), तुम (Tum). |
| Maya: Which is an informal "you." |
| Neha: Next, we have क्या (kyaa), क्या (kyaa), क्या (kyaa). |
| Maya: Which means "what." |
| Neha: Then is कर रही (kar rahii), कर रही (kar rahii), कर रही (kar rahii). |
| Maya: Which means "doing." |
| Neha: Next is बोल रही (boL rahii), बोल रही (boL rahii), बोल रही (boL rahii). |
| Maya: Which means "speaking." |
| Neha: Then is अंग्रेज़ी (angrezii), अंग्रेज़ी (angrezii), अंग्रेज़ी (angrezii). |
| Maya: Which means "English." |
| Neha: Next is गुरु जी (guru jii), गुरु जी (guru jii), गुरु जी (guru jii). |
| Maya: Which means "teacher." |
| Neha: Then we have सुन रहे (SuN rahe), सुन रहे (SuN rahe), सुन रहे (SuN rahe). |
| Maya: Which means "listening." |
| Neha: Next is ओह (oh), ओह (oh), ओह (oh). |
| Maya: Which is the exclamation word "oh." |
| Neha: Then is मुझे (mujhe), मुझे (mujhe), मुझे (mujhe). |
| Maya: Which means "to me." |
| Neha: And finally, we have नहीं (Nahiin), नहीं (Nahiin), नहीं (Nahiin). |
| Maya: Which means "not." |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Neha: Let's now go over some of these words in more detail. |
| Maya: We've come across the word क्या (kyaa) which means "what." But often times when it is used at the beginning of a sentence, it no longer means "what" but just becomes a way to ask a question. |
| Neha: For example, let's look at the sentence "Are you eating?" In Hindi, the sentence is क्या तुम खा रही हो? (kyaa Tum khaa rahii ho?). Its literal translation is, "What you eating?" but it translates as "Are you eating?" |
| Maya: Whereas the same question with a slightly different order of words will have a completely different meaning. |
| Neha: Yes, so, "What are you eating" in Hindi is तुम क्या खा रही हो? (Tum kyaa khaa rahii ho?) Its literal translation is, "You what eating?" and translates as, "What are you eating?" |
| Maya: So here, क्या (kyaa) came after तुम (Tum) and not before the beginning of the sentence. Let's hear the two examples side by side to make it clearer. The first question will be "Are you eating?" and the second one will be "What are you eating?" |
| Neha: क्या तुम खा रही हो? (kyaa Tum khaa rahii ho?) and the next तुम क्या खा रही हो? (Tum kyaa khaa rahii ho?). |
| Maya: Let's listen to another example. |
| Neha: क्या तुम गा रही हो? (kyaa Tum gaa rahii ho?) |
| Maya: In this sentence, since क्या (kyaa) comes at the very beginning it tells us that it doesn't necessarily mean "what." So its translation is "Are you singing?" when asked to a female. |
| Neha: And तुम क्या गा रही हो? (Tum kyaa gaa rahii ho?) |
| Maya: Means "What are you singing?" |
| Neha: This might sound a little confusing but as long as you get used to the sentence formations and recognize them instantly, you'll have no problem. |
Lesson focus |
| Maya: Now in this lesson, we'll learn how to make sentences using the present continuous tense, which means using verbs in the "-ing" form that show an ongoing action. Let's start with an example. "I am singing" in Hindi is... |
| Neha: मैं गा रही हूँ। (main gaa rahii huun.). Here, मैं (main) means "I," गा (gaa) means "to sing," हूँ (huun) means "am," and रही (rahii) is the "-ing" part of the verb. |
| Maya: Here, the main verb गा (gaa) is part of the verb गाना (gaaNaa) without the ना (Naa) at the end. गाना (gaaNaa) means "to sing." |
| Neha: In fact, all Hindi verbs end with a ना (Naa) and so this part of the verb in the present continuous sentence is always formed by removing the ना (Naa). |
| Maya: Then you add the "-ing" part रही (rahii), which in this case denotes a female speaker. |
| Neha: Let's look at another verb जाना (jaaNaa), which means "to go." So the verb we need for the present continuous tense is जा (jaa). |
| Maya: And if you are female speaker and wanted to say "I am going home," you'd say... |
| Neha: मैं घर जा रही हूँ। (main ghar jaa rahii huun.) |
| Maya: Let's now look at how this "-ing" part of the present continuous changes according to the gender and the count of the subject. |
| Neha: Okay, for singular masculine subjects you use रहा (rahaa). |
| Maya: For plural masculine subjects, you use रहे (rahe). |
| Neha: For both singular and plural feminine subjects, you use रही (rahii). |
| Maya: Let's have some example sentences. In Hindi, "What is he saying?" is... |
| Neha: वह क्या बोल रहा है? (vah kyaa boL rahaa hai?) |
| Maya: "What is she saying?" is… |
| Neha: वह क्या बोल रही है? (vah kyaa boL rahii hai?) |
| Maya: Notice how बोल रहा (boL rahaa), which means "saying," changes into बोल रही (boL rahii) in case of a female. Also, बोल (boL) comes from the verb बोलना (boLaNaa), which means "to say." |
| Neha: Next sentence, "What are they saying?" in Hindi is ये क्या बोल रहे हैं? (ye kyaa boL rahe hain?). Notice again how ये (ye), which means "they," took the plural form बोल रहे (boL rahe). |
| Maya: Well, that's all we have for our lesson. Please look at the lesson notes for more explanations and examples on this topic. |
| Neha: This is our very last lesson for the Absolute Beginners Series and we hope that it has been an educational journey for you all. |
| Maya: Remember to practice, practice, practice. That's the only way you can get better. Well, thank you for listening. |
| Neha: शुक्रिया! (sukriyaa!) |
Comments
Hide