Hindi Lesson #1

Alright, all my Indian friends, in an effort to align my visual skills with my audio, I thought I would ask upon your help to correctly spell those words which my ear has learned through a program called Pimsleur. For those non-Hindi speaking peeps, maybe this will help expand your knowledge as well.

want - chahta
understand - samajhta/samajha
to eat - khanna
to drink - bheena peena
please listen - suniya
but - mugar/laiken
where - kahaan/kidtar
a little - tori tori thodi thodi
much - zyaada
very - bahut
well/good - achche/achchaa
and - aur
or - ya
speak - bolte/bolta
please tell me - batayea
here - idhar
it/they - voh
over there - udtar udhar
something/some - kuch
know - jhanta/jhante jaanta/jaanate
at my place - mere ghar par
too/also - bhi
how - kaise
later - badme
now - abhi
in the ..... - ..... mein
okay/alright - theek hai
yours - tumhara
ours - humara
when - gab kab
afternoon - doopahare dopahar
to do - karna


Well, that will do for now. That covers pretty much half of my lessons. Any and all corrections would be immensely appreciated.

18 Response to "Hindi Lesson #1"

  1. dunkdaft says:
    November 28, 2009 at 8:23 PM

    hey thats nice. Great you are learning. I hope you want mind some corrections.

    to drink - Peena
    a little - thodi thodi [pronounce as in 'cody']
    well/good - achche , achchaa
    know - Jaanta / Jaanate
    when - Kab
    afternoon - Dopahar


    Hindi would be little tough. But great going and best of luck :)

  2. Shellie says:
    November 28, 2009 at 9:01 PM

    Thanks Darshit!!!!

  3. Soul Seared Dreamer says:
    November 29, 2009 at 8:07 AM

    Most of them vary on accent and dialect.

    But drink is the only one I noticed as incorrect. It is pronounced with a 'P' but Darhit already beat me to it.

    I would have said 'ud-dhar' for over there.

    uch-char means okay. Theek hai is 'I'm ok' or 'are you okay?'

    Looks impressive :)

  4. Soul Seared Dreamer says:
    November 29, 2009 at 8:08 AM

    or rather "uch-ah" might be more accurate for okay.

  5. Shellie says:
    November 29, 2009 at 8:23 AM

    I've heard theek hai also used as alright?

    Thanks for your input A!

  6. Shellie says:
    November 29, 2009 at 8:25 AM

    It's difficult to distinguish the b sound for the p sound with the audio. I thought money was bessa until I realized it was paisa (and that too only until reading a blog with it in the title).

    The other stuff must be fairly accurate I'm assuming?

  7. Filmbuff Says:
    November 29, 2009 at 6:01 PM

    Cool, that is the way to go. Soon u will start enjoying hindi movies by hearing the dialogues rather than depend on crappy sub titles (most often the sub titles don't do justice or downright bad in case of old movies)

  8. Jules says:
    November 29, 2009 at 10:00 PM

    OMG, this just makes it seem harder!!! LOL Holy hannah. If you master this language you will have my admiration forever, Sis. As for me, I think I'll be happy knowing some basics...

  9. Shellie says:
    November 29, 2009 at 10:20 PM

    Filmbuff - Funny you should say that. I actually watched my first movie without subs last week and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I even understood some of it. Shoud really get my butt in gear and put up a review.

    Jules - I will never be happy with basics. I wish we could learn together. I need someone to practise with! Cross your fingers that Santa is good to me and brings me some good ol Hindi learning.

  10. bollyviewer says:
    November 30, 2009 at 1:48 PM

    You've already got a lot of Hindi! Yay for Bollywood's Hindi ambassador-ship. :-)

    English spellings for Hindi words are difficult, since English doesnt always have phonetic equivalents for Hindi sounds. So, spellings differ from person to person. I try to spell words that come closest to the way I pronounce them. Verbs and adjectives take the gender of the noun - feminine or masculine (no neutral in Hindi) - and then of course, verbs change with the tense too, like in English.

    Here's how I'd spell some of them:
    want - chaahta/chaahti (masc/fem)
    understand - samajhta/samajh (also samajhti/samjhi for fem)
    to eat - khaana
    please listen - suniye
    where - kahaan/kidhar (no "t" sounds!)
    a little - thoda/thodi
    please tell me - batayiye
    know - jaanta/jaanate (jaanti for fem)
    later - baad mein
    yours - tumhara/tumhari
    ours - humara
    when - kab (as in When are you coming? Tum kab aaoge?) or jab (as in When he went Jab woh gaya).

  11. Filmbuff Says:
    November 30, 2009 at 4:13 PM

    Yes pls do write up a review based on the movie you have seen/heard minus sub titles. I am sure it will be good like all your other reviews.

  12. Shellie says:
    November 30, 2009 at 6:00 PM

    bollyviewer - It's good to know that there's a little leeway for the English spelling. I am really a visual learner, so for me to know I'm pronouncing it correctly I like to have that reference (like I was saying beesa for Paisa). I especially have a hard time distinguishing p & b's and g & k's on the audio lessons.
    I didn't type in all that I've learned (there's stuff like Main, kya, haan, nahin, numbers - I'm pretty sure I know how to say and spell those correctly.)

    Filmbuff - It's on it's way.

  13. Anonymous Says:
    November 30, 2009 at 8:43 PM

    Nice,
    I keep a little notebook (neglected lately) where I too write down the words I've learned from the filums. How fun! Eventually I should get around to getting a book or taking a class, or even following something online. After 2-3 years of watching 10-12 Hindi films each month, my receptive Hindi language skills have grown, but I still need to buckle down and learn to conjugate some verbs. Well done!

    All the best,
    Sita-ji

    p.s. love this site:
    http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/shakespear/

  14. Shellie says:
    December 1, 2009 at 6:44 AM

    Hi Sita-ji. That's a great idea to keep a notebook. There's many more words I've picked up (probably more than I realize) watching movies for sure. I'll have to head over to the site you provided. Thanks for stopping by.

  15. Anonymous Says:
    December 22, 2009 at 5:56 AM

    You should check out the Namaste Dosti and Learn Urdu podcasts if you haven't already

  16. Shellie says:
    December 22, 2009 at 6:58 AM

    Namaste moviemeh and welcome. Thanks for those links. I happened to find one learn Hindi podcast through iTunes, but it wasn't either of those, so I'll have to also check them out! Shukriya!

  17. yves says:
    January 3, 2010 at 2:02 PM

    Hi Shell,

    Let me also add to Bollyviewer's corrections:
    but: lekin / magar
    A little is often spelt "thodi", but the d sound resembles very closely an r sound, for example "ek ladka" (a boy) sounds almost all the time "ek larka".
    Since you know afternoon, you might like to learn morning: savera, and evening: sham.

    Continue the good work!
    cheers

  18. Shellie says:
    January 3, 2010 at 2:26 PM

    Thanks yves! (and thanks for the new words!)