Comments on: Hindi Bolo

By: Anamika

Anamika — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:15:35 +0000

Yes, I think Paani is masculine. Paani gir gaya nor paani gir gayi. And this logic about ee and aa…what about words ending with others sounds…like u…which is what started Chandni’s post
Too much confusion. I say, just speak confidently and assume you are right. The listeners can figure it out ))

Me: I always do that and pretend that the other person is wrong.

By: serendipity

serendipity — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:54:27 +0000

well this reminds me of an incident i had abt a year back

There was this colleague who use to sit across the room and me the opposite side…

So once he happened to come by and was troubling me regarding something..

I wanted to tell him ” dont trouble me /dont embarass me …”

sumtin like that ..instead i said ” mera izzat math lootna ”

He was recently married then and he said “OMG…mein aisa ghor paap nahi karunga..abhi abhi meri shaadi hui hain “…

he calls me ” danger ” ever since .

Me: hahahahah ghor paap.

By: Dee

Dee — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:48:45 +0000

The DH claims that the only way to learn a language was to master the swear words and the vulgar sentences

By: surabhi

surabhi — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:20:03 +0000

I absolutely love this mish mash of languages – it carries with it stories of 150 years of migration.
lovely post asaan- and MiM, loved your little story.

Me: It does, doesnt it. I love what I speak with my family back in Singapore. A mixture of Hindi/Bhojpuri(like I never use sakaar, always cheeni and apparently people dont use cheeni)Hokkien and Malay. A pity my kids wouldnt get to experience it

By: Poonam

Poonam — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:25:45 +0000

yeah genders are pretty tricky. but when im not sure, i juz make up a gender for a thing. got a 50% chance of getting it right anyway.

By: Sue

Sue — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:18:21 +0000

But it makes perfect sense to me. The grammar and gender differences in hindi freaks me out too. I don’t speak the language though!

By: Trish

Trish — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:29:33 +0000

LOL!
I have one rule..anything that ends with I or ee sound is feminine.
what ends with aa sound is masculine.so,
Roti is feminine and paratha is masculine. I am a marathi gal and Dh is a Mallu guy..we speak to each other in hindi/english.I end up using many marathi words..like they belong to Hindi..
Our Child(oh i like ring of that!) speaks hindi,english and follows marathi.but she knows..whatever is mine/hers(girl’s) she uses ki..Like Mamma ki/aadi ki..
For him/boys she uses ka..Baba ka..so there she is simplified it..to work for her..It sounds cute so we dont correct..Mamma ki mobile..baba ka roti..lol

Me: I like that rule, Simpliflies everything.

By: maidinmalaysia

maidinmalaysia — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:56:30 +0000

i was telling firstborn a story from mythology about a bird called sampati….
and firstborn wants to know if sampati is a “dirty” bird…

i asked him what made him think so…

“sampa” in malay means garbage — that’s where he got this notion(!)

Me: rofl.. I can imagine! Sampah is trash. Have you picked up any Malay words? Do you keep finding Sanskrit words in them?

By: Prashanti

Prashanti — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:29:20 +0000

I have been speaking hindi since I was maybe 6 and I also get my genders wrong sometimes so no worries dear !!!

By: athika

athika — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:39:47 +0000

i too mess up with genders though i have learnt hindi from kindergarden and i end up not speaking in hindi to anyone in fear of making this gender mistakes…. but now i have decided to speak in broken hindi until their ears bleed.. temme how else will i learn then

Me: True. You need to speak it and then it will improve. Back in 97, when I first started speaking Hindi, I used to stammer and stutter in trying to find the right word in hindi. I have at least improved that much since then