Masterclass 1!

Moderator:vijayjohn

Jamie*On
Posts:379
Joined:2005-09-10, 21:53
Gender:female
Location:GB, London
Country:SDSudan (السودان / Soudan)
Masterclass 1!

Postby Jamie*On » 2005-10-22, 20:14

If you are totally new to Hindi, start here...

Vowel sounds - rough guide

a the U in cup
aa the A in after
e the A in cake
ai the AI in air
i the I in sit
ii the EE in seed
o the O in coke
au the O in corn
u the U in put
uu the OO in food

(Any of which may be nasalised, in which case I write a ñ after it)

Consonant sounds

b
bh
ch
chh
d
dh
D
Dh
f
g
gh
G
h
j
jh
k
kh
q
Kh
l
m
n
N
p
ph
r
R
Rh
s
sh
t
th
T
Th
v
y
z

Notes

Roughly the same as English, except capital letter means the consonant is "retroflex" - the tongue touches the roof of the mouth. If an "h" follows then it is pronounced with a short burst of breath. The lower case equivalents of D, T, etc. are "dental", i.e. the tongue touches the teeth rather than the roof of the mouth. If a consonant is doubled, hold it for a little while longer than normal.

The Arabic / Persian Q is k but at the back of the throat, G is g in the same place.

"r" is rolled, "sh" is as in English.

The best thing is to practise using a tape or listen to a native speaker.


First words

ek, do, tiin, chaar, paañch
one, two, three, four, five

chhe, sat, aaTh, nau, das
six, seven, eight, nine, ten

maiñ huuñ
I am

tuu hai
you are (singular, intimate)

tum ho
you are (plural, informal)

aap haiñ
you are (plural, polite)

ye
this, these

vo
this, these

hai
is

haiñ
are

hindii
Hindi

bolnaa
to speak

(infinitives are always a stem (e.g. "bol") + "naa")

Some simple sentences

meraa naam juulii hai
My name is Julie

aap kaise haiñ?
How are you? (polite)

maiñ Thiik huuñ, shukryaa
I'm fine, thank you

The simple present tense

Take the stem of a verb (remove the "-naa"):

bolnaa --> bol

add:

-taa (masculine singular)
-te (masculine plural)
-tii(feminine singular and plural)

then say "is" (hai) or "are" ("huuñ", "ho", or "haiñ")

For example:

maiñ boltaa huuñ

I speak

aap bolte haiñ

you (masculine, plural or polite) speak

Word order

Normally the word order is subject - object - verb.

Examples:

tumhaaraa naam kyaa hai?
(word-for-word: Your name what is?)
What is your name?

Some other question words

kaun? who?
kaunsaa? which?
kyoñ? why?
kahaañ? where?
kab? when?

Examples:

vo kaun hai?
Who is s/he?
(word-for-word: S/he who is?)

kaunsaa kuttaa?
Which dog?

kyoñ? -- kyoñkii!
Why? -- Because!

nyuu york kahaañ hai?
Where is New York?

Some useful adjectives

laal
red

safed
white

goraa
white (skin colour)

kaalaa
black

niilaa
blue

piilaa
yellow

haraa
green

chhoTaa
small

baRaa
big

achchhaa
good

Thiik
OK, alright

OK, then! If you want to learn this lesson remember to take your time and make it fun. Look for the similarities with other languages you know (don't the numbers feel familiar?) and if you liked what you saw, please keep coming back.

Comments, suggestions, corrections?.. Please post!

Oric
Posts:98
Joined:2004-11-07, 0:18
Real Name:Benjamin Vickers
Gender:male
Location:Georgetown
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Postby Oric » 2005-10-22, 21:14

I would really like this lesson if you used X-SAMPA or IPA for pronunciation... otherwise, it's good.
*wants to learn Hindi*

Also... you may have put too much stuff into one lesson. It might be better to stick with one thing at a time, then have questions about it, and have people PM answers, or post on here, or whatever.

Jamie*On
Posts:379
Joined:2005-09-10, 21:53
Gender:female
Location:GB, London
Country:SDSudan (السودان / Soudan)

Postby Jamie*On » 2005-10-23, 10:49

Thanks for your advice, Devnagari spelling will come soon, and I'll look into IPA pronunciation guide, but so far I have no idea where to look up the sounds in IPA.

Oric
Posts:98
Joined:2004-11-07, 0:18
Real Name:Benjamin Vickers
Gender:male
Location:Georgetown
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Postby Oric » 2005-10-23, 16:51

Well, to really get what's going on in the IPA, you have to know some basic phonetics.

Here's a chart, with some other stuff:
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/fullchart.html

See, for someone to really understand the pronunciation guide, IPA is a big help. The English equivalents can be really vague, 'cause different people pronounce things (especially vowels...) differently.

User avatar
pasalupo
Posts:908
Joined:2005-08-01, 11:19
Real Name:Wolfgang
Gender:male
Location:Jutlando (DK)
Country:DKDenmark (Danmark)

Postby pasalupo » 2005-10-24, 5:41

There is a Unilang resource with IPA indications:

http://static.unilang.org/resources/pro ... i_urdu.png
Gentles do not reprehend.

User avatar
pasalupo
Posts:908
Joined:2005-08-01, 11:19
Real Name:Wolfgang
Gender:male
Location:Jutlando (DK)
Country:DKDenmark (Danmark)

Postby pasalupo » 2005-10-25, 5:06

On second thoughts: this is supposed to be a rough guide and not a scientific treatise, so an approximative description of the sound values is fine. - You might want to indicate if it's English like in RP.
Gentles do not reprehend.

Oric
Posts:98
Joined:2004-11-07, 0:18
Real Name:Benjamin Vickers
Gender:male
Location:Georgetown
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Postby Oric » 2005-10-26, 2:51

pasalupo wrote:On second thoughts: this is supposed to be a rough guide and not a scientific treatise, so an approximative description of the sound values is fine. - You might want to indicate if it's English like in RP.


Including IPA is hardly scientific. That's just convenience.

Jamie*On
Posts:379
Joined:2005-09-10, 21:53
Gender:female
Location:GB, London
Country:SDSudan (السودان / Soudan)

Postby Jamie*On » 2005-10-26, 14:29

The "aa" is a long A like the British pronunciation of father. The "au" is the British "corn", etc. (the English sounds given are southern British).

It's best not to get too hung up about the pronunciation at first, the best way to learn it is through listening to a speaker.

User avatar
Nechayev
Posts:116
Joined:2005-11-15, 0:23
Real Name:Nechayev
Gender:male
Location: New York
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Postby Nechayev » 2005-12-07, 1:37

I'm not studying Hindi, but I'm curious about something.

Was "shukryaa" a loan word from Arabic, or vice versa? The Arabic word for "thank you" is "shukran", which seems very similar, though Arabic and Hindi aren't linguistically linked...the former is Semitic and the latter is Indo-European.


Return to “Hindi/Urdu (हिन्दी/اُردو)”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests