Learn how different ways to say "can" and "know how to"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hi everyone. I'm Brandon and welcome back to HindiPod101.com. This is Upper Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 4: You Can’t Take a Video Camera into an Indian Movie Theater! |
| Ayesha: Namaste, I'm Ayesha. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn about using the different verbs for “can” and “know how to” for discussing ability and possibility in Hindi. This conversation takes place at the entrance of a movie theater. |
| Ayesha: The conversation is between a customer and the guard at the movie theater. |
| Brandon: Since they're strangers, they'll be speaking polite Hindi. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Guard: यहाँ सिनेमा हॉल में कामेरा ले जाना मना है। |
| Customer: अो मुझे पता नहीं था! अब क्या कर सकते हैं? |
| Guard: अाप चाहे तो अपनी गाड़ी में या कहीं रख अा सकती हैं। |
| Customer: हम गाड़ी से नहीं अाए हैं। |
| Guard: तो फिर अाप इसे हमारे पास छोड़कर जा सकते हैं। |
| Customer: अच्छा, यह ठीक होगा, दूसरी रखने की जगह तो वैसे भी नहीं है। |
| Guard: निकलते वक्त याद करके ले जाइएगा। |
| Customer: जी शुक्रिया। |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Guard: यहाँ सिनेमा हॉल में कामेरा ले जाना मना है। |
| Customer: अो मुझे पता नहीं था! अब क्या कर सकते हैं? |
| Guard: अाप चाहे तो अपनी गाड़ी में या कहीं रख अा सकती हैं। |
| Customer: हम गाड़ी से नहीं अाए हैं। |
| Guard: तो फिर अाप इसे हमारे पास छोड़कर जा सकते हैं। |
| Customer: अच्छा, यह ठीक होगा, दूसरी रखने की जगह तो वैसे भी नहीं है। |
| Guard: निकलते वक्त याद करके ले जाइएगा। |
| Customer: जी शुक्रिया। |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Guard: यहाँ सिनेमा हॉल में कामेरा ले जाना मना है। |
| Brandon: You're not allowed to take cameras into the movie theaters here. |
| Customer: अो मुझे पता नहीं था! अब क्या कर सकते हैं? |
| Brandon: Oh, I didn't know! What should I do now? |
| Guard: अाप चाहे तो अपनी गाड़ी में या कहीं रख अा सकती हैं। |
| Brandon: If you want, you can go and keep it in your car or somewhere. |
| Customer: हम गाड़ी से नहीं अाए हैं। |
| Brandon: We haven't come by car. |
| Guard: तो फिर अाप इसे हमारे पास छोड़कर जा सकते हैं। |
| Brandon: In that case, you can leave this here with us. |
| Customer: अच्छा, यह ठीक होगा, दूसरी रखने की जगह तो वैसे भी नहीं है। |
| Brandon: Okay, that sounds good, since I don't have anywhere else to keep it. |
| Guard: निकलते वक्त याद करके ले जाइएगा। |
| Brandon: Please remember to pick it up on your way out. |
| Customer: जी शुक्रिया। |
| Brandon: Yes, thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: In our conversation, there was a security guard outside the theater. Listeners, did you know that it's actually very common to have security guards outside buildings everywhere in urban India? |
| Ayesha: And not only in downtown areas, but also in suburban neighborhoods. In the suburbs, guards patrol the street at night making loud noises with whistles or their sticks to keep thieves away. |
| Brandon: That’s right. This is a sound that Indians living in city suburbs are quite accustomed to. In the daytime, guards regulate the flow of visitors going into the neighborhoods. |
| Ayesha: Yes, depending on the neighborhood, people have to sign in at the gate or have the guard call and get permission from the resident they're visiting. |
| Brandon: Cities are known for petty thefts and crimes too, unlike rural areas, where the communities are considered more trustworthy. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ayesha: सिनेमा [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “Movies” or “movie theater.” |
| Ayesha: सिनेमा [slowly - broken down by syllable] सिनेमा [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have... |
| Ayesha: मना [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “Refuse; deny; or decline.” |
| Ayesha: मना [slowly - broken down by syllable] मना [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: The next one is... |
| Ayesha: चाहे तो [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “If you like…” This phrase can also be used with “he,” “she,” or “they.” |
| Ayesha: चाहे तो [slowly - broken down by syllable] चाहे तो [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next... |
| Ayesha: कहीं [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “Somewhere.” |
| Ayesha: कहीं [slowly - broken down by syllable] कहीं [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have... |
| Ayesha: रखना [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “To keep” or “to put away.” |
| Ayesha: रखना [slowly - broken down by syllable] रखना [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: The next word is... |
| Ayesha: छोड़ना [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “To leave; to let go; or to release.” |
| Ayesha: छोड़ना [slowly - broken down by syllable] छोड़ना [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next... |
| Ayesha: निकलना [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “To come out” or “to emerge.” |
| Ayesha: निकलना [slowly - broken down by syllable] निकलना [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: And our last word is... |
| Ayesha: वक्त [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “Time” or “moment.” |
| Ayesha: वक्त [slowly - broken down by syllable] वक्त [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases in the vocabulary. |
| Ayesha: The first word we have is मना (maNaa). मना (maNaa) means “forbidden” or simply “not allowed.” This is a participle. You often use it with the verb karNaa, meaning “to do.” Together, मना करना (maNaa karNaa) means “to refuse” or “to decline.” |
| Brandon: You use this when you’re responding to an offer or to say “no” to something that’s about to happen. There's a slight difference from its English translation, and different particles have to be used to fit different situations with this verb phrase. |
| Ayesha: When using it with actions, such as, “I refused to do,” or “I refused to eat,” the particle से (Se) would have to be used before मना करना (maNaa karNaa). |
| Brandon: Can you give us an example? |
| Ayesha: Sure. For example, “I refused to go” is “मैंने जाने से मना किया (maiNe jaaNe Se maNaa kiyaa). |
| Brandon: Please note that this can't be used in the first-person present tense to say “I refuse.” Also, it can't be used with simple nouns such as, “I declined the offer,” because... |
| Ayesha: ...maNaa karNaa simply means … |
| Brandon: ...“to say no to.” And we can’t really “say no to the offer” in Hindi. Instead you'd say “no” to the person making the offer. |
| Ayesha: The next word is कहीं (kahiin), which is the feminine form of the question word कहाँ (kahaan), meaning “where.” The meaning of this word is different from कहाँ (kahaan) even though it's the feminine form. In common use though, कहाँ (kahaan) means “where” and कहीं (kahiin) means “somewhere.” |
| Brandon: This applies to the other location pronouns as well; their feminine forms have a different emphasis. |
| Ayesha: कहीं नहीं (Kahiin Nahiin) is also slightly different. Nahiin means “no” or “not,” and the combined meaning is “nowhere.” Another different usage is with the particle भी (bhii), which means “also.” With कहीं (kahiin), it becomes कहीं भी (Kahiin bhii) and means “anywhere.” |
| Brandon: Okay. Now on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn the different ways of saying “can” and “know how to” in Hindi, with verbs. |
| Ayesha: In Hindi, there are multiple verbs for this with slightly different meanings. |
| Brandon: Let’s take a look at the main ones. |
| Ayesha: Sure! Let’s start with SakNaa because it’s the most simple one. |
| Brandon: Okay. It means “can” in the sense of “to be able to,” mostly relating to general physical ability. To form a sentence with this verb, like “He can jump,” the verb... |
| Ayesha: ...SakNaa... |
| Brandon: ...will come second. |
| Ayesha: The first verb is “to jump,” which is kuuDNaa, and it will be in its root form. So the sentence is vah kuuD SakTaa hai. |
| Brandon: It can be used for simple physical ability, but it's also used to mean “could,” where there's an unsaid meaning of “if I wanted to” or “if I had to.” If you want to imply this, you use this word as well. |
| Ayesha: Right, so if you want to say, “I could show you,” but you want to put it in the present tense, you say main Tumhe Dikhaa SakTaa huun OR SakTii huun. This is like saying, “I could show you if you want.” |
| Brandon: The second verb that means “can” is.. |
| Ayesha: ...paaNaa. |
| Brandon: It also means “to be able to”, but in the sense of “to manage to.” |
| Ayesha: paaNaa refers not just to physical ability, but also to the situation, circumstances, or time. |
| Brandon: This is most useful in the past tense for things you weren’t able to do. |
| Ayesha: If I tried to run a long race, and I couldn’t finish it, I'd say, main reS khaTam Nahiin kar paayaa, which means, “I wasn’t able to finish the race.” With this verb, it automatically means that “I tried, but couldn’t.” |
| Brandon: Right, and in the future tense it means “I won’t be able to.” To say that it’s... |
| Ayesha: main Nahiin kar paauNgaa, or paauNgii. The third verb that has a similar meaning to “can” is जानना (jaaNNaa). This verb means “to know how to,” and goes with nouns and verbs. |
| Brandon: So, if you can do something, not because of physical ability, but because you've learned it, then you'll express that ability with this verb. |
| Ayesha: For example, if I want to say, “I can speak Hindi,” I can just say, main hiNDii jaaNTii huun. I don’t need to say hiNDii boLNaa jaaNTii huun, unless I want to specify that I can only speak Hindi. |
| Brandon: Right, and you do the same with other actions. To say, “I know how to tap dance,” you just say... |
| Ayesha: main tap DaaNS jaaNTaa or jaaNTii huun. |
| Brandon: This is true when the action is obviously associated with the noun. If it’s not a simple relationship, you should state the verb too. |
| Ayesha: For example, main khaaNaa jaaNTii huun sounds like, “I know food” rather than “I know cooking,” which is main khaaNaa pakaaNaa jaaNaTii huun. |
| Brandon: In this case, however, another verb is a better fit, because cooking involves not just knowledge and ability, but also skill. It’s better to say... |
| Ayesha: mujhe khaaNaa pakaaNaa aaTaa hai. aaTaa hai means “can do” and “know how to” as well, but it shows mastery. This is a special verb that doesn’t take any other tense, so you'll only hear it as aaTaa hai or aaTii hai, or just as a root verb with other verbs, aa jaaega. |
| Brandon: Listeners, one important point is that there's no separate word for “may.” |
| Ayesha: Instead, “can” is used for “may” as well, most often with SakNaa. |
Outro |
| Brandon: Well, that's all for our lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Ayesha: Sukriyaa aur aLviDaa! |
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