English and Hindi/ Contrastive Grammar
Contents
ENGLISH AND HINDI- Study in languages
This page covers difference between English and Hindi.
English belongs to the Indo-European language family. English is one of the most spoken languages in the world, with 360 to 400 million speakers for whom it is their mother tongue, 400 million speakers for whom it is their second language and 600 to 700 speakers for whom it is a foreign language. Whereas Hindi is one of the most studied languages and one of the richest languages in the world as enlisted by the UN. There are total (including language 1 and language 2 speakers) 380 million speakers in the whole world.
For more information on English language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language For more information on Hindi language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi
Here are a few differences between two of the richest languages in the world enlisted below
Sentence Structure
In English the sentence structure is subject-verb-object (SVO)
Like:-
- I like to play basket ball. (S- I V- play O-basketball)
Similarly:-
- Stacy is writing about the water}} .
- Ren is fixing the pole.
However, in Hindi, the sentence structure is subject-object-verb (SOV). Below is an example of translations done literally according to word to word :-
- (hindi) माँ ने मुझे स्कूल भेजा → Mother me school sent [In Hindi: S-माँ (mother) O-स्कूल (school) V-भेजा (sent)]
Below is the previous sentence rearranged to English grammar standards.
- (hindi) माँ ने मुझे स्कूल भेजा → My mother sent me to school (in English: S-Mother V-sent O-school)
Similarly:-
- (hindi) रानी पानी पीने गयी → Rani water drink went :: Rani went to drink water
- (hindi) आदमी खाना खाने गया → man food to eat went :: Man went to eat food
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
A personal pronoun is a pronoun that is associated primarily with a particular person, in the grammatical sense. In English, there are sets of Personal pronouns which can be used to differentiate gender. In Hindi, often the same words are used even in cases of different gender. Examples of such pronouns:-
- (Eng) He → वह
- (Eng) She → वह
- (Eng) His → उनके/उसके
- (Eng) Her → उनके/उसके
Some translations of sentences:-
- (hindi) मुझे गाने सुनना पसंद है → I like listening to songs
- (hindi) वह सड़कों पर कुत्ते को बाहर ले गया → He took the dog out in the streets.
- (hindi) तुम मेरी बेटी हो → You are my daughter
- (hindi) वह एक नर्तकी है → She is a dancer
Possessive Pronouns
In Hindi, the possessive pronouns mean the same thing as in English language- Pronouns which show possession.
Here are few examples of possessive pronouns in Hindi. You may notice that the pronoun usually precedes the object same as in the English, but the action/ verb usually is after the pronoun and object. Some are shown below:-
Literal translations (word to word) and actual translations:-
- (hindi) रोजी अपना हार खरीदना चाहता है → Rosie her necklace buy want :: Rosie wants to buy her necklace
- (hindi) आर्य उसकी बहन है → Arya her sister is. :: Arya is her sister
- (hindi) वह बारिश में गा रहा है → He rain in singing :: He is singing in the rain
But the main differences are:-
- Same pronouns often used for different genders (even non-living)
- The gender of the object (Yes in Hindi objects have genders)
Here are few examples to explain previous section:-
Between the genders of the subject:-
- (Eng) His / Her / Its → इसका (near)/ उसका (far)
(hindi) इसका बहन आर्य है → Arya is his/her/its sister.
(hindi) उसका नोट दीवार पर लटका दिया गया है → his/its/her note is hung on the wall.
- (Eng) Their (Near) or His / Her (Formal) → इनका
(hindi) इनका जूता काले रंग के है → His/ Her/ their shoes are black.
- (Eng) Their (Far) or His / Her (Formal) → उनका
(hindi) उनका शहर में ठण्ड है → His/ Her/ their city is cold.
Words may vary. Reason will be explained in the next section
Between the genders of the object:-
Every Hindi noun is either Masculine or Feminine. Our Possessive Pronouns must agree with the gender of the word:-
- (Eng) My → मेरा (for male)/ मेरी (for female)
(hindi) मेरा घर → My house (House in Hindi is a male word)
(hindi) मेरी किताब → My Book. (Book in Hindi is a female word)
- (Eng) Their → उनके (male) /उनकी (female) (this is in case of plural)
(hindi) उनके केले → Their bananas. (Banana is a male word)
(hindi) उनकी जूते → Their shoes. (Shoe is a female word)
- (Eng) Her/ His (depends on object) → उसकी (female) / उसके (male)
(hindi) उसकी साडी → Her Sari. (Sari is a female word i.e. it is a type of cultural Indian clothing)
(hindi) उसके आलू → his potatoes. (potatoes are male words here.)
Verbs
Verb are words to indicate any action taking place in a particular time frame. It should be clear whether that action is current, occurred in the past or expected to occur in future. Like most of the problems listed above, the translation is difficult due to the different sentence structure and genders (the use of genders in pronouns are given above). Here are few examples:-
- (hindi) पढ़ना → To Read (or To Study)
- (hindi) बोलना → To Speak
- (hindi) सोना → To Sleep
- (hindi) खाना → To Eat
- (hindi) सीखना → To Learn
- (hindi) जाना → To Go
Here are few more examples of verbs as classified by tenses.
Present tense
Literal translation and Actual translations :-
- (hindi) में चलके स्कूल जाता हूँ → I walking to school go. :: I walk to school
- (hindi) साहिब तेज से दौङता है। → Sahib fast runs. :: Sahib runs fast
- (hindi) बच्चे फुटबॉल खेलते हैं। → Children football play :: Children play football
Past tense
Literal Translation:-
- (hindi) मैं स्कूल के लिए चला गया → I school for went.
- (hindi) साहिब तेजी से भागा। → Sahib fast ran
- (hindi) बच्चों ने फुटबॉल खेला → Children football played
Actual translation:-
- (hindi) मैं स्कूल के लिए चला गया → I went to school
- (hindi) साहिब तेजी से भाग गया। → Sahib ran fast
- (hindi) बच्चों ने फुटबॉल खेला → Children played football
Future tense
Literal translation:-
- (hindi) मैं स्कूल जाऊँगा → I school will go
- (hindi) साहिब तेजी से दौङेगा। → Sahib fast will run
- (hindi) बच्चे फुटबॉल खेलेंगे। → Children football will play
Actual translation:-
- (hindi) मैं स्कूल जाऊँगा → I will go to school
- (hindi) साहिब तेजी से दौङेगा। → Sahib will run fast
- (hindi) बच्चे फुटबॉल खेलेंगे। → Children will play football
Types of Verbs
1. Transitive verb: Transitive verb are those verb which normally have a direct object:
Examples:-
Literal translation:-
- (hindi) राम समाचार पत्र पढ़ रहा है। → Ram a newspaper is reading
- (hindi) सीता बाजार जा रही है। → Sita the market is going to
- (hindi) जॉनसन क्रिकेट खेल रहा है। → Johnson cricket is playing
Actual translations:-
- (hindi) राम समाचार पत्र पढ़ रहा है। → Ram is reading a newspaper
- (hindi) सीता बाजार जा रही है। → Sita is going to the market
- (hindi) जॉनसन क्रिकेट खेल रहा है। → Johnson is playing cricket
2) Intransitive verb: Intransitive verbs which does not have any specific object on which the action being done:
Examples:-
Literal translations:-
- (hindi) बच्चों रो रहे हैं। → Children crying are
- (hindi) रंजन खेल रहा है। → Ranjan playing is.
- (hindi) मोहन सो रहा है। → Mohan sleeping is.
Actual translations:-
- (hindi) बच्चों रो रहे हैं। → Children are crying
- (hindi) रंजन खेल रहा है। → Ranjan is playing.
- (hindi) मोहन सो रहा है। → Mohan is sleeping.
As mentioned earlier the word order is not quite the same.
CONCLUSION
Hindi is a split-ergative language. Therefore the translation from Hindi to English poses as a major barrier for learners as their grammatical differencees vary by structure a lot.
Our world have over a thousand languages, and over a million dialects. We should learn more about our varied languages, cultures and lives. These two languages and considered to be one of the most richest languages in the world and there are more. Let us explore the sweetness of our varied heritage even more by stepping forward to embrace our lingual differences and start adopting them.
