Learn how to ask someone if they speak a language
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Maya: Namaste, I'm Maya. Welcome back to HindiPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 13 - Do You Speak Hindi? |
| Udita: Namaste, मैं उदिता हूँ। (main uDiTaa huun.). I'm Udita. In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask someone if they speak a language. |
| Maya: The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Udita: The conversation is between Kate and her new colleague Reema. |
| Maya: They are strangers, so they will be speaking formally with each other. |
| Udita: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| केट (ket): आप कौन से राज्य से हैं? (aap kauN Se raajy Se hain?) |
| रीमा (riimaa): मैं बंगाल से हूँ। (main bangaaL Se huun.) |
| केट (ket): क्या आप बंगाली बोलती हैं? (kyaa aap bangaaLii boLaTii hain?) |
| रीमा (riimaa): हाँ, मैं बोलती हूँ। (haan, main boLaTii huun.) |
| Maya: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| केट (ket): आप कौन से राज्य से हैं? (aap kauN Se raajy Se hain?) |
| रीमा (riimaa): मैं बंगाल से हूँ। (main bangaaL Se huun.) |
| केट (ket): क्या आप बंगाली बोलती हैं? (kyaa aap bangaaLii boLaTii hain?) |
| रीमा (riimaa): हाँ, मैं बोलती हूँ। (haan, main boLaTii huun.) |
| Maya: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| केट (ket): आप कौन से राज्य से हैं? (aap kauN Se raajy Se hain?) |
| Kate: Which state are you from? |
| रीमा (riimaa): मैं बंगाल से हूँ। (main bangaaL Se huun.) |
| Reema: I am from Bengal. |
| केट (ket): क्या आप बंगाली बोलती हैं? (kyaa aap bangaaLii boLaTii hain?) |
| Kate: Do you speak Bengali? |
| रीमा (riimaa): हाँ, मैं बोलती हूँ। (haan, main boLaTii huun.) |
| Reema: Yes, I do. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maya: So Udita, I’m sure our listeners already know, but India is a very diverse nation! |
| Udita: That’s right! It consists of twenty-eight states and seven union territories, which means that there are many languages, customs, traditions, and cultures. |
| Maya: And as many as 30 different languages are spoken in the many cities of India. |
| Udita: There are many cities that qualify as the top metropolitan cities in the country, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Pune. |
| Maya: Delhi lies in the North of India. Being the capital of India, it is an interesting blend of diverse people, culture, traditions, and cuisine. |
| Udita: Mumbai lies in the south west of India. It’s the most dynamic, cosmopolitan, and crowded city. It’s also the country's financial center, and home to the world's biggest cinema industry, Bollywood. |
| Maya: The other major cities are Kolkata which lies in the northeast, Ahmedabad and Pune in the west, Bengaluru in the south west, Hyderabad and Chennai in the south. |
| Udita: We could talk about this all day, but let’s move onto the vocab now. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maya: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Udita: आप (aap). |
| Maya: "you" (formal). |
| Udita: आप (aap), आप (aap). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: कौन से (kauN Se). |
| Maya: "which." |
| Udita: कौन से (kauN Se), कौन से (kauN Se). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: राज्य (raajy). |
| Maya: "state." |
| Udita: राज्य (raajy), राज्य (raajy). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: से (Se). |
| Maya: "from." |
| Udita: से (Se), से (Se). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: बंगाल (bangaaL). |
| Maya: "Bengal State." |
| Udita: बंगाल (bangaaL), बंगाल (bangaaL). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: बंगाली (bangaaLii). |
| Maya: "Bengali." |
| Udita: बंगाली (bangaaLii), बंगाली (bangaaLii). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: हाँ (haan). |
| Maya: "yes." |
| Udita: हाँ (haan), हाँ (haan). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: बोलती (boLaTii). |
| Maya: "speak." |
| Udita: बोलती (boLaTii), बोलती (boLaTii). |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Maya: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Udita: First, we have कौन से (kauN Se). कौन (kauN) means "who" and से (Se) means "from." So, it becomes "who from" but means "which." |
| Maya: It’s an interrogative word which changes forms according to the number and gender of the noun we are asking about. For example, to say "which floor," we’d say कौन सी मंज़िल (kauN Sii maNziL). |
| Udita: The postposition से (Se) is used to indicate association or mutual dealing. |
| Maya: It can also be used to indicate a sense of separation, or keeping away from something. |
| Udita: For example, मैं बंगाल से हूँ। (main bangaaL Se huun.) which means "I am from Bengal." |
| Maya: If you are from a different state, simply replace "Bengal" with your state. |
| Udita: For example, if I am from "Delhi," I’d say, मैं दिल्ली से हूँ। (main DiLLii Se huun.) |
| Maya: If you are from Punjab, you’d say, मैं पंजाब से हूँ। (main paNjaab Se huun.) |
| Udita: Great, now let’s move onto the grammar! |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Maya: In this lesson you’re going to learn how to ask someone if they speak a language. |
| Udita: The question is fairly simple. Just say क्या (kyaa) which is a question marker, आप (aap) which is the formal “you,” then the name of the language and then बोलती हैं (boLaTii hain) if you are asking a female. |
| Maya: So, if you are talking about Hindi, it becomes क्या आप हिंदी बोलती हैं? (kyaa aap hiNDii boLaTii hain?). So, what do we say if we were to ask this question to a guy? |
| Udita: Simple, replace बोलती हैं (boLaTii hain) with बोलते हैं (boLaTe hain). So, it becomes क्या आप हिंदी बोलते हैं? (kyaa aap hiNDi boLaTe hain?) |
| Udita: Let’s talk about the verb used here a bit. |
| Maya: बोलती (boLaTii) comes from the verb बोलना (boLaNaa) which means “to speak.” |
| Udita: We use बोलती (boLaTii) for singular and plural feminine nouns, बोलता (boLaTaa) for singular masculine nouns, and बोलते (boLaTe) for plural masculine nouns. |
| Maya: To say “I speak” we’d say, |
| Udita: मैं बोलती हूँ। (main boLaTii huun.) when said by a female, |
| Maya: and मैं बोलता हूँ। (main boLaTaa huun.) when said by a male, |
| Udita: and finally हम बोलते हैं। (ham boLaTe hain.) when said by a group of people. |
| Udita: Since language forms the basis of communication, this question is very useful when you meet people for the first time. |
| Maya: Now, in our first example we asked about the Hindi language. What if we were to ask someone if they speak any other regional language like Punjabi or let’s say Gujarati? |
| Udita: Simply replace Hindi with Gujarati or any other language you wish to ask. |
| Maya: So, it becomes क्या आप गुजराती बोलती हैं? (kyaa aap gujaraaTii boLaTii hain?). |
| Udita: Correct! Isn’t that easy? |
| Maya: Yes, but is it true that the languages spoken in a particular state are always very similar to the name of the state? Like Punjabi being spoken in Punjab and Gujarati in Gujarat? |
| Udita: Well, most of the states have languages very similar to their state names. However, there is no fixed rule, but if you add the suffix -ई (-ii) to the name of the state, what you will get is most likely the language spoken in that state. |
| Maya: For example, the language of Bengal is Bengali, is it? |
| Udita: Right! But this rule does not hold true for all the states. For example, Marathi is the language spoken in Maharashtra and Telugu is the language spoken in Andhra Pradesh. |
| Maya: Ok, so how do we ask if someone speaks English? |
| Udita: क्या आप अंग्रेज़ी बोलती हैं? (kyaa aap angrezii boLaTii hain.) |
| Maya: Let's see how this grammar point was used in the dialogue. |
| Udita: In the dialog Kate says, क्या आप बंगाली बोलती हैं? (kyaa aap bangaLii boLaTii hain?) which means “Do you speak Bengali?” |
Outro |
|---|
| Maya: Well, that's all for our lesson. Be sure to read the lesson notes for more examples! |
| Udita: Listeners, how would you ask someone “Do you speak Assamese?” If you know, please leave us a comment at HindiPod101.com. |
| Maya: Thank you for listening. Until next time! |
| Udita: शुक्रिया और फिर मिलेंगे! (sukriyaa aur phir miLenge!) |
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