Learn how to use the Hindi conjunction to mean "therefore" or "so"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Maya: "Namaste," I'm Maya, and welcome back to HindiPod101.com’s Beginner Series. This is Season 1, Lesson 15 - What Would You Like to Eat at this Indian Restaurant? |
| Udita: "Namaste, I’m Udita in Hindi". In this lesson, you’ll learn how to converse with waiters or servers about an order at a restaurant, and how to use the conjunction “तो”. |
| Maya: The conversation is between A and B. A is a customer at a restaurant and B is a server. |
| Maya: Since they are strangers and have a server-customer relationship, the speakers will be using Polite Hindi. |
| Udita: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:दो मटन बिरयानी एक रायता और एक प्लेट शिक कबाब दीजिए. (Do mataN biryaaNii ek raayta aur ek plet sik kabaab Diijie.) |
| B:माफ़ कीजिए, अभी कबाब नहीं है. बदले में तंदूरी मुर्गी लेंगे? (maaf kiijie, abhii kabaab Nahiin hai. baDLe mein TaNDuurii murgii LeNge?) |
| A:दूसरा कोई कबाब है? शम्मी कबाब? (DuuSraa koii kabaab hai? sammii kabaab?) |
| B:शम्मी कबाब नहीं है, कलमी कबाब, टंगड़ी कबाब, चिकन मलाई कबाब है. (sammii kabaab Nahiin hai, kaLmii kabaab, taNgdii kabaab, cikaN maLaaii kabab hai.) |
| A:ठीक है, टंगड़ी कबाब दे दीजिए. और हम थोड़ी जल्दी में है तो जितना हो सके जल्दी देंगे? (thiik hai, taNgdii kabab De Diijie. aur ham THodii jaLDii mein hai To jiTNaa ho Sake jaLDii Denge?) |
| B:हाँजी ज़रूर. (haanjii zaruur.) |
| Maya: Now, let’s listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. |
| A:दो मटन बिरयानी एक रायता और एक प्लेट शिक कबाब दीजिए. (Do mataN biryaaNii ek raayta aur ek plet sik kabaab Diijie.) |
| B:माफ़ कीजिए, अभी कबाब नहीं है. बदले में तंदूरी मुर्गी लेंगे? (maaf kiijie, abhii kabaab Nahiin hai. baDLe mein TaNDuurii murgii LeNge?) |
| A:दूसरा कोई कबाब है? शम्मी कबाब? (DuuSraa koii kabaab hai? sammii kabaab?) |
| B:शम्मी कबाब नहीं है, कलमी कबाब, टंगड़ी कबाब, चिकन मलाई कबाब है. (sammii kabaab Nahiin hai, kaLmii kabaab, taNgdii kabaab, cikaN maLaaii kabab hai.) |
| A:ठीक है, टंगड़ी कबाब दे दीजिए. और हम थोड़ी जल्दी में है तो जितना हो सके जल्दी देंगे? (thiik hai, taNgdii kabab De Diijie. aur ham THodii jaLDii mein hai To jiTNaa ho Sake jaLDii Denge?) |
| B:हाँजी ज़रूर. (haanjii zaruur.) |
| Maya: Let’s now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| A:दो मटन बिरयानी एक रायता और एक प्लेट शिक कबाब दीजिए. (Do mataN biryaaNii ek raayta aur ek plet sik kabaab Diijie.) |
| A: Two plates of mutton biriyani and one plate of sheek kabab, please. |
| B:माफ़ कीजिए, अभी कबाब नहीं है. बदले में तंदूरी मुर्गी लेंगे? (maaf kiijie, abhii kabaab Nahiin hai. baDLe mein TaNDuurii murgii LeNge?) |
| B: I'm sorry, we don't have sheek kabab right now. Would you like tandoori chicken instead? |
| A:दूसरा कोई कबाब है? शम्मी कबाब? (DuuSraa koii kabaab hai? sammii kabaab?) |
| A: Do you have any other kabab? Shammi kabab? |
| B:शम्मी कबाब नहीं है, कलमी कबाब, टंगड़ी कबाब, चिकन मलाई कबाब है. (sammii kabaab Nahiin hai, kaLmii kabaab, taNgdii kabaab, cikaN maLaaii kabab hai.) |
| B: We don't have shammi kabab either. We have kalmi kabab, tangdi kabab, and creamy chicken kabab. |
| A:ठीक है, टंगड़ी कबाब दे दीजिए. और हम थोड़ी जल्दी में है तो जितना हो सके जल्दी देंगे? (thiik hai, taNgdii kabab De Diijie. aur ham THodii jaLDii mein hai To jiTNaa ho Sake jaLDii Denge?) |
| A: Okay, we'll take tangdi kabab. Also, we're in a bit of a hurry, so could you please serve us quickly? |
| B:हाँजी ज़रूर. (haanjii zaruur.) |
| B: Yes, of course. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maya: Let’s talk a bit more about Indian food. In this conversation, we heard about some interesting dishes in the Mughlai cuisine style. It’s a combination of Persian and North Indian styles of cooking and flavours. |
| Udita: Mughlai food is delicious! If you’ve heard of the Mughal empire, then you can tell that Mughlai food is related to that. |
| Maya: Exactly. Mughlai cuisine, like Mughal culture, is a mix of Persian and Indian. This fusion came about in the era of Mughal rule across the subcontinent, from the 16th to the 19th century AD, which was a time of great cultural and economic progress. |
| Udita: Mughlai food still has that aura of regality. It’s rich in flavours and texture, and uses a lot of whole and ground spices, nuts and dried fruits. |
| Maya: A lot of the food is grilled on a ‘TaNDuur’, which is a Mughlai-style barbecue. That’s where you get the ‘TaNduurii’ chicken, naan, and kabab. |
| Udita: Right, there were many kinds of ‘kabab’ mentioned in the conversation. This is one of the specialties of “Mughlai Khaanaa”, as the cuisine is known in Hindi. |
| Maya: The kabab recipes in India use various spices and lentils or beans, which are ground and mixed in with the minced meat, which makes the kabab. And they are delicious! If you like grilled meat dishes, you should definitely try as many kinds of kabab as you can. |
| Udita: Did you know that the English word ‘mogul’ comes from the Mughal emperors? They were as grand as they were powerful. The greatest of the Mughals was Emperor Akbar, who ruled a large part of the Indian subcontinent in the 16th and 17th centuries. |
| Maya: Akbar as a historical figure is very much alive in literature, arts and the social consciousness of Indians today. |
| Udita: Well, he was a patron of the arts and literature apart from being a great ruler. But what makes him especially relevant today is the tolerance he exercised towards all religions as a powerful Muslim ruler. He was known to be very spiritual himself, but embraced different philosophies, and really led the way for secularism in modern India. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maya: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Udita: बिरयानी (biryaaNii) [natural native speed] |
| Maya: biryani, spicy fried rice |
| Udita: बिरयानी (biryaaNii) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Udita: बिरयानी (biryaaNii) [natural native speed] |
| Udita: रायता (raayTaa) [natural native speed] |
| Maya: seasoned yogurt dish |
| Udita: रायता (raayTaa) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Udita: रायता (raayTaa) [natural native speed] |
| Udita: शिक कबाब (sik kabaab) [natural native speed] |
| Maya: skewered meat kabab - “Shish Kebab” |
| Udita: शिक कबाब (sik kabaab) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Udita: शिक कबाब (sik kabaab) [natural native speed] |
| Udita: माफ़ कीजिए (maaf kiijie) [natural native speed] |
| Maya: Please excuse me |
| Udita: माफ़ कीजिए (maaf kiijie) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Udita: माफ़ कीजिए (maaf kiijie) [natural native speed] |
| Udita: बदले में (baDLe mein) [natural native speed] |
| Maya: as a substitute, instead |
| Udita: बदले में (baDLe mein) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Udita: बदले में (baDLe mein) [natural native speed] |
| Udita: मुर्गी (murgii) [natural native speed] |
| Maya: chicken |
| Udita: मुर्गी (murgii) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Udita: मुर्गी (murgii) [natural native speed] |
| Udita: तंदूरी (TaNDuurii) [natural native speed] |
| Maya: skewered roasted meat |
| Udita: तंदूरी (TaNDuurii) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Udita: तंदूरी (TaNDuurii) [natural native speed] |
| Udita: हो सके (ho Sake) [natural native speed] |
| Maya: if possible |
| Udita: हो सके (ho Sake) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Udita: हो सके (ho Sake) [natural native speed] |
| Udita: मलाई (maLaaii) [natural native speed] |
| Maya: cream, clotted cream |
| Udita: मलाई (maLaaii) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Udita: मलाई (maLaaii) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Udita: Now let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Maya: The first one is the phrase ‘माफ़ कीजिए maaf kiijie’ which means “excuse me” or “please forgive me”. |
| Udita: This is a commonly used phrase, especially in the service industry, and with customers. It is usually said at the start of the sentence to mean “I am sorry but...”. |
| Maya: This is Polite Hindi. For example, if someone comes up to talk to you and you don’t recognise them, you might say ‘माफ़ कीजिए लेकिन मैं ने आपको पहचाना नहीं maaf kiijie LekiN maiNe aapko pehcaaNaa Nahiin’, which means “I’m very sorry but I don’t quite remember you”. |
| Udita: Yes, it’s a bit like saying that I don’t recognise you, have we met before? This is a common and polite way of telling someone that you don’t recall them or know them, and of asking them to identify themselves to you. |
| Maya: The next phrase is “बदले में baDLe mein”. This means ‘as a substitute’ or ‘instead of’, and can also mean ‘in return’. |
| Udita: The particle “के ke” usually precedes the phrase. So if you wanted to say “instead of this book” in Hindi, you would say “इस किताब के बदले में iS kiTaab ke baDLe mein”. |
| Maya: For example in Hindi news, you may often hear news readers talking about corruption in elections and bribery with phrases like “नोट के बदले में वोट “ Not ke baDLe vot” which means “votes in return for money”. |
| Udita: The next is the phrase “हो सके ho Sake”, which means “if possible” or “as is possible”. |
| Maya: “हो ho” comes from the verb “होना hoNaa” which means “to be or to happen” and “सके Sake” comes from the special verb “सकना SakNa”, which means “can” in special situations, so literally it means “if it can happen”. This phrase is often used for making requests. |
| Udita: It’s a polite way of asking for a favour. For example “हो सके तो सुबह तक पहुँचा दीजिएगा ‘ho Sake To Subah Tak panhucaa Diijiegaa’ means “Please deliver this by morning if you can”. |
| Maya: Okay, let’s move on to grammar now. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Udita: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the usage of the conjunction “तो”. |
| Maya: “तो” means ‘so’ or ‘therefore’. This conjunction has 2 main uses. |
| Udita: One is as the conjunction “so”. This simply joins clauses. For example “दुकान बन्द है तो कल आइए DukaaN baND hai To kaL aaiie” means “The store is closed, so please come tomorrow”. |
| Maya: In the same way, it is used in the phrase “so what” which is “तो क्या To kyaa”. |
| Udita: In Hindi, this comes after the first clause. For example, if we were to say “So what if it is difficult, we will finish it” in Hindi, we’d say “कठिन हुआ तो क्या, हम पूरा करेंगे kathiN huaa To kyaa, ham puuraa kareNge”. In this sentence “it” refers to some task, but that isn’t explicitly named in the Hindi sentence. |
| Maya: The second usage of “तो” extends the meaning to function as “if”. Normally to make a sentence using “if”, the word “agar” is required, which means “if”. But in many occasions “अगर agar” is omitted because “तो” is being used, and the verb is in the future tense. |
| Udita: Yes, “तो” actually functions as “then” in these sentences - If A then B. But often the “if”, ‘अगर agar’, is skipped. |
| Maya: For example, in the conversation, A says “आप आएंगे तो मुझे बहुत अच्छा लगेगा". This means ‘I would really appreciate it if you came’. |
| Udita: There is no “अगर agar” used in the sentence, and what it literally means is “You will come then I will really appreciate”, which actually means “I would really appreciate it if you came.” |
| Maya: Yes, when the verbs are in the future tense, the word for “if” can be skipped, and “तो” preserves its function in the sentence. |
| Udita: Let’s try an example. How would you say “Let me know if you find it”? |
| Maya: “Let me know” can be said in the future imperative form, with “बताना baTaaNaa”. To find is “मिलना miLNaa”. So that will be “मिल जाए तो बताना miL jaae to baTaaNaa”. |
| Udita: That’s right. |
Outro |
| Udita: Well, that’s all for this lesson. We hope you enjoyed it! |
| Maya: Be sure to read the lesson notes for more examples and explanations. Thank you for listening. Until next time! |
| Udita: “sukriyaa aur phir miLeNge”! |
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