To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.

com/Hindi

Namast! Lesson 1 | Basic Hindi

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Lesson objects

Introduction 2 Hello and Goodbye

3 Basic question and sentence structure

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Lesson objects

Introduction 2 Hello and Goodbye

3 Basic question and sentence structure

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Introduction

The language An official language of India One of the most widely spoken languages : ~500 Mil speakers WW Significant communities in US, UK, Canada, Nepal, South Africa

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Introduction

/ Hindi Member of Indo-Euro language family Vocabulary evolved from Sanskrit Alphabet scheme - Devanagari

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

lesson object

Introduction 2 Hello and Goodbye

3 Basic question and sentence structure

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Greetings : Hello!

Hello

Namast

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Greetings
There are generally no time elemental greetings in Hindi such as good morning, good afternoon, etc Namast is the most universal greeting It is said with hands folded and a small gesture of bowing Namast literally means 'I bow to you'

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Greetings

It is customary to touch the feet of elders Namaskr is the more formal form of Namast

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Pronunciation Tip

Did you notice the '' in Namaskr The sound of is 'aa' like in father The same goes for '' in Namast The sound is like 'e' in eight

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Common Gestures

The infamous Indian head bobble Indians are often seen performing a cryptic 'head bobble' indicating a 'YES' or 'OK' if moved up and down and 'NO' if moved from side to side!

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Norms in India

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Culturally Speaking Showing respect

j () may be added to the words 'yes' and 'no' to give it a more polite tone J may also be added to a person's name as a sign of respect -to relations like 'grandfather (dd j) -to peoples names/ surname to show respect *Eg: In India, Mahatma Gandhi is known simply as Gandhij ( )

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Culturally Speaking Comfort zone

In India, even shaking hands with a member of the opposite sex is not very common in smaller towns and villages Casual hugging and kissing on the cheek may also be considered inappropriate - although these are slowly becoming common in the larger towns or metros

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Goodbye

Goodbye

Namast

In Hindi, the salutation for hello and goodbye remains 'namast' itself To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Culturally Speaking - Showing respect

Older people or authority figures (bosses, Govt. officers etc.) are generally addressed with 'Sir' or 'Maam' after their names

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Lesson objects

Introduction to India and cultural norms 2 Hello and Goodbye

3 Basic question and sentence structure

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Basic question structure

Who are you?

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Common Interrogations

Who Kaun

are hai

you p

You = p is usually used when addressing someone formally We will stick to the formal forms for the introductory lessons To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Grammar Tip

In English, we usually have the interrogation at the beginning of the sentence This is not the case in Hindi The interrogation follows the subject for 'Wh' type of questions

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Basic question structure

Who are you?

p kaun hai?

'Wh' Question Structure Subject | Interrogation |'to-be' verb To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Pronouncing p

You (p) stresses on the first The pronunciation follows the same pattern as in harp Phonetically, we would write harp as hrp

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Pronouncing hai

The last in hai is pronounced nasally and carries a slight 'n' sound to it like in 'angst'

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

So, remember!

The order for Hindi is Subject | Interrogation |'to-be' verb This is the format in case of 'What / How' questions

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Sentence Structure

Moving on, lets look at the basic sentence structure in Hindi!

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Sentence Structure
Lisa eats Apples Lisa = subject Eats = verb Apples = object English sentence structure Subject | Verb | Object

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Hindi sentence structure

Lisa Lis

eats kht hai

apple sb

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Hindi sentence structure

Lisa eats apples Lis sb kht hai Here, sentence structure becomes subject | object | verb + 'to-be' verb (SOV) It becomes kht, as Lisa is a female We shall discuss verbs, and gender later

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Hindi sentence structure

In some sentences, there are no objects Eg : I am Lisa has no direct object For the sake of simplicity, we assume Lisa to be the object of the sentence

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Basic sentence structure

I am Lisa

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Basic sentence structure

I Mai

am hoo

lisa Lis

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Hindi sentence structure

I = Mai = Subject Lisa = Lis = (Object) Am = Hoo = 'to-be' verb Remember, Hindi sentence structure: Subject | Object | 'to-be' verb

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Basic sentence structure

I am Lisa

Mai Lis hoo

Sentence structure Subject | (object) | 'to-be' verb To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Remember!

Sentence structure Subject | (object*) | 'to-be' verb

*An assumed object will always To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi be put in brackets

Examples

English I am British I am pretty

Hindi Mai Bri iha hoo Mai sundar hoo

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Try yourself

Problem 1 : Who are you? (hint : who = kaun) Problem 2 : I am Lisa (hint : am = hoo)

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Solution : Sentence Structure

English Who are you? I am Lisa

Hindi p kaun hai? Mai Lis hoo

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Try yourself

Problem 1 : Lisa eats oranges (hint : Oranges = Santar) Problem 2 : I am Indian (hint : Indian = Bhratya)

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Solution Problem 1

Lisa Lis

eats kht hai

oranges santar

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Solution Problem 1

Lisa eats oranges

Lis santar kht hai

Sentence structure Subject | object | verb | 'to-be' verb To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Solution Problem 2

I Mai

am hoo

Indian Bhratya

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Solution

I am Indian

Mai Bhratya hoo

Sentence structure Subject | (object) | 'to-be' verb To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Revision
English Hello Who are you? Lisa eats apples I am Lisa I am British I am pretty Lisa eats oranges I am Indian Hindi Namast p kaun hai? Lis sb kht hai Mai Lis hoo Mai Bri iha hoo Mai sundar hoo Lis santar kht hai Mai Bhratya hoo

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Culture Leaf

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Culture Leaf
A culture leaf each lesson gives you a taste of the peculiarities, eccentricities and traditions that are the bearers of Indian culture We hope that you blend in their environment and soak in all their goodness! Happy learning!

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Culture Leaf

The world's first University was established in India The University was established in 700 B.C. at the place of Taxila

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Whats Next?

In the next lesson, we will learn basic pronouns, the to-be verb and use them in sentences!

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Credits

Content : CultureAlley Culture Leaf http://tinyurl.com/2qusr7 Images http://tinyurl.com/n9brl76

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi

Dhan'yavd! See you at the Alley!

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Hindi