Learn about using the postposition को (ko)
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Maya: Namaste, I'm Maya. Welcome back to HindiPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 23 - Giving Gifts in India. |
| Udita: Namaste, मैं उदिता हूँ। (main uDiTaa huun.). I'm Udita. In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the postposition को (ko) in Hindi. |
| Maya: The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Udita: It’s between Kate and Arti. |
| Maya: They are friends, so they’ll be using informal Hindi. |
| Udita: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| आरती (aaraTii): मैंने आज अमित को उपहार दिया। (mainNe aaj amiT ko upahaar Diyaa.) |
| केट (ket): क्या दिया? (kyaa Diyaa?) |
| आरती (aaraTii): एक महंगी घड़ी। (ek mahangii ghadii.) |
| केट (ket): वह आज बहुत ख़ुश होगा! (vah aaj bahuT khus hogaa!) |
| Maya: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| आरती (aaraTii): मैंने आज अमित को उपहार दिया। (mainNe aaj amiT ko upahaar Diyaa.) |
| केट (ket): क्या दिया? (kyaa Diyaa?) |
| आरती (aaraTii): एक महंगी घड़ी। (ek mahangii ghadii.) |
| केट (ket): वह आज बहुत ख़ुश होगा! (vah aaj bahuT khus hogaa!) |
| Maya: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| आरती (aaraTii): मैंने आज अमित को उपहार दिया। (mainNe aaj amiT ko upahaar Diyaa.) |
| Arti: I gave a gift to Amit today. |
| केट (ket): क्या दिया? (kyaa Diyaa?) |
| Kate: What did you give him? |
| आरती (aaraTii): एक महंगी घड़ी। (ek mahangii ghadii.) |
| Arti: An expensive watch. |
| केट (ket): वह आज बहुत ख़ुश होगा! (vah aaj bahuT khus hogaa!) |
| Kate: He must be very happy today! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maya: Udita, tell us more about gift giving in India. |
| Udita: Okay! Well, giving gifts is a very old custom in India. If you are invited to the home of an Indian friend, it would be a good idea to take the host a small gift of sweets, chocolates or fruit. |
| Maya: But keep in mind that alcohol might not make a good gift, as not all Indian people drink. |
| Udita: Since Indians consider the colors black and white inauspicious, the gift wrapping should ideally be a bright color like red, yellow or green. |
| Maya: That’s a good tip! Also, avoid giving gifts made out of leather to Hindus. Similarly, avoid giving gifts made of pigskin to Muslims. |
| Udita: Ah yes, that is good to know too. |
| Maya: And if you’re giving money, keep in mind that people prefer to give 101 as opposed to 100 and 1100 vs 1000, for auspicious reasons. |
| Maya: So keep these things in mind when you’re buying a gift for your Indian friends! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maya: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Udita: आज (aaj). |
| Maya: "today." |
| Udita: आज (aaj), आज (aaj). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: उपहार (upahaar). |
| Maya: "gift/present." |
| Udita: उपहार (upahaar), उपहार (upahaar). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: दिया (Diyaa). |
| Maya: "gave." |
| Udita: दिया (Diyaa), दिया (Diyaa). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: महंगी (mahangii). |
| Maya: "expensive." |
| Udita: महंगी (mahangii), महंगी (mahangii). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: घड़ी (ghadii). |
| Maya: "watch." |
| Udita: घड़ी (ghadii), घड़ी (ghadii). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: ख़ुश (khus). |
| Maya: "happy." |
| Udita: ख़ुश (khus), ख़ुश (khus). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: विश्वविद्यालय (visvaviDyaaLay). |
| Maya: "university." |
| Udita: विश्वविद्यालय (visvaviDyaaLay), विश्वविद्यालय (visvaviDyaaLay). |
| Maya: Next... |
| Udita: पढ़ (padh). |
| Maya: "study." |
| Udita: पढ़ (padh), पढ़ (padh). |
| 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 उपहार (upahaar) meaning "gift." Another very common word used is तोहफ़ा (Tohafaa). |
| Maya: Yes, and speaking of gifts, what’s the next word? |
| Udita: महंगा (mahangaa), which is an adjective that means "expensive." Adjectives in Hindi always have to agree with the noun they describe. In this case, we are referring to a watch, so महंगा (mahangaa) becomes महंगी (mahangii). |
| Maya: So, it becomes महंगी घड़ी (mahangii ghadii). |
| Udita: Similarly, if you use महंगा (mahangaa) with a masculine noun, it stays the same. For example, "house" in Hindi is a masculine noun. So, it becomes महंगा घर (mahangaa ghar). |
| Maya: Another common word used for "expensive" is क़ीमती (qiimaTii). It is one of the non-inflecting adjectives. These adjectives never change when they are used, so they are a lot easier than inflecting adjectives. |
| Udita: Another example of a non-inflecting adjective is सुन्दर (SuNDar) which means "beautiful." |
| Maya: Ok. What’s next? |
| Udita: ख़ुश (khus) means "happy" and ख़ुशी (khusii) means "happiness." The opposite of ख़ुश (khus) is दुखी (Dukhii). So to say "I am happy," we’d say मैं ख़ुश हूँ। (main khus huun.) |
| Maya: But to say "I am sad", we’d say मैं दुखी हूँ। (main Dukhii huun.) |
| Udita: To show extreme happiness or distress, we can add the prefix बहुत (bahuT) to these adjectives. So, we could say मैं बहुत ख़ुश हूँ। (main bahuT khus huun.), which means, "I am very happy." |
| Maya: Okay, now let’s move onto the grammar! |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Maya: In this lesson, you’ll learn the usage of the postposition को (ko) in Hindi. |
| Udita: The postposition को (ko) is used in different types of sentences and is placed after nouns. |
| Maya: In this lesson, we will focus on the four main situations where को (ko) can be used. |
| Udita: It’s optional when used with object nouns that are followed by verbs. |
| Maya: For example, घर साफ़ करो। (ghar Saaf karo.) which means, "Clean the house." We could optionally say घर को साफ़ करो। (ghar ko Saaf karo.). |
| Udita: किताब यहाँ रखो। (kiTaab yahaan rakho.) which means "Keep the book here." We could optionally say किताब को यहाँ रखो। (kiTaab ko yahaan rakho.). |
| Maya: Another very simple usage of को (ko) is "to" when giving something to someone, just like we use it in English! |
| Udita: The postposition को (ko) is used in the secondary object plus को (ko) plus main object plus verb constructions. |
| Maya: For example, मैं मोहन को किताब देता हूँ। (main mohaN ko kiTaab DeTaa huun.) which means, "I give Mohan a book." |
| Udita: We said मोहन को (mohaN ko) to mean "to Mohan." Similarly, मैं राधा को गुलाब देता हूँ। (main raaDHaa ko guLaab DeTaa huun.) which means "I give a rose to Radha." |
| Maya: In situations where the verbs express a state of mind, involuntarily actions, physical experience, feelings and emotions, the structure becomes subject plus को (ko) plus complement plus verb. |
| Udita: For example, राम को दर्द हुआ। (raam ko DarD huaa.) which means "Ram felt pain." |
| Maya: Similarly, सना को ख़ुशी हुई। (SaNaa ko khusii huyii.) which means "Sana felt happy." |
| Udita: An important thing to note is that pronouns plus को (ko) have the following alternative forms. For example, वह (vah) plus को (ko) equals उसको (uSako) /उसे (uSe), यह (yah) plus को (ko) equals इसको (iSako) /इसे (iSe). |
| Maya: Similarly, इन (iN) plus को (ko) equals इनको (iNako) /इन्हें (iNhen), and उन (uN) plus को (ko) equals उनको (uNako) /उन्हें (uNhen). |
Outro |
|---|
| Maya: Well, that's all for this lesson. Be sure to read the lesson notes for more examples! |
| Udita: Listeners, can you say "I gave mom a birthday present." in Hindi? If you can, please leave us a comment saying it at HindiPod101.com. |
| Maya: Thank you for listening. Until next time! |
| Udita: शुक्रिया और फिर मिलेंगे! (sukriyaa aur phir miLenge!) |
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