"मेरे बेटे का नाम पीटर है।"
Translation:My son's name is Peter.
50 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Yes, when the noun phrase is the object of a preposition as it is here, it changes into the oblique case. Marked singular masculine nouns like मेरा बेटा change to मेरे बेटे
How can you tell if this is singular oblique or plural oblique, then? Is there a different inflection for plural oblique nouns?
It's based on context. For example, its unlikely that many sons are named Peter, so we can derive that we are only talking about a single son.
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Moreover, in the odd case of multiple sons named "Peter", "name" would also be pluralized. I.e. "My sons' names are Peter." So the verb would be plural हैं and the singular oblique बेटे would be replaced by the plural form बेटों. So, George Foreman might say
मेरे बेटों के नाम जॉर्ज हैं
Mind you, take that with a grain of salt. Someone who actually already knows the language may end up correcting me. :-)
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if it was plural it would be मेरे बेटे के नाम (mere beʈe ke nām) singular is मेरे बेटे का नाम (mere beʈe kā nām)
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That's true if the "it" in your statement refers to the name.
- मेरे बेटे के नाम (mere beʈe ke nām) -> my son's names
- मेरे बेटे का नाम (mere beʈe kā nām) -> my son's name
- मेरे बेटों के नाम (mere beto~ ke nām) -> my sons' names
What do you mean by oblique case? How can I tell that this is oblique case? What would a sentence using, "मेर बेटा," look like?
I have boiled it down to this. Oblique case is what happens to the words in front of the postposition. When using 'ke', something must happen to mera beta. If not it will sound wrong. So whenever there is a postposition there will be an oblique case. I am still learning. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Yes. Every postposition will make an oblique case. So it is the same case when using पर and से as well.
What I have found helpful is to search on "postpositions Hindi" and "oblique case Hindi" on YouTube.
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I do not understand why it's मेरे वेटे and not मेरा वेटा
Very frustrated. I wish the Hindi course had little intro chapters/tips like French and Spanish do
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I agree with you 100%. Tips would be really helpful.
But read the rest of the thread. I've been trying to help people out on this particular issue. Search this page for the entries with "George Foreman" and "I feel your pain".
I translated it into " The name of my son is Peter." Would this be acceptable?
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Ka:
- masculine singular direct case
Ke:
- masculine plural direct case
- masculine singular oblique case
- masculine plural oblique case
It is के in the example here because it is oblique, not plural.
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It's never wrong to use the honorific plural. But when Duolingo is expecting singular, it usually doesn't accept plural.
Note that the statement you gave has two errors.
- I think you mean बेटे, not बेते.
- But if you use a plural verb, you also have to pluralize "son". And because of का नाम it needs to be oblique. So you'd need to use the oblique plural बेटों.
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"direct" and "oblique" are references to different cases. These are covered in the tips to a couple of the early skills. I forget which.
"plural" and "singular" refer to how many.
Also see the reply I just posted to Sunnymonie's question, "So how do I know if we're talking about my son or sons?"
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It's in the oblique case because of the postposition का.
- My son -> मेरा बेटा
- My son's ... -> मेरे बेटे का ...
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I found this confusing too. I feel your pain. :-)
I'll start with examples:
- मेरा बेटा - My son
- मेरे बेटे - My sons
- मेरे बेटे का दोस्त - My son's friend
- मेरे बेटों का दोस्त - My sons' friend
What makes it hard is that there are four ways to inflect बेटा, but two of them happen to be the same. So there are only three different words.
- बेटा - This is the direct singular. E.g. "son" without any postposition.
- बेटे - This could be direct plural. E.g. "sons" without any postpostion.
- बेटे - This could also be oblique singular. E.g. "son" with a postposition.
- बेटों - This is oblique plural. E.g. "sons" with a postposition.
If there's no postposition, बेटे has to be direct plural.
If there is a postposition, बेटे has to be oblique singular.
Caveat: above is oversimplified. There are multiple things to watch out for. The big two are:
- Honorific plural.
- Implied postpositions (a.k.a. "ghostpositions")
-> See the first post and thread. The replies were helpful to me. Also look at the other JerryCurry3 replies about your question. He explains why the sentence requires the oblique case. Also,-> Dyveke794501 suggested "...to search on "postpositions Hindi" and "oblique case Hindi" on YouTube." Good luck.
What if you only use singular articles instead of plural ones in this sentence? Will no one know what you were trying to say?
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Since you've made this complaint at least 3 times on this forum thread, I should point out:
- Duolingo developers (and other staff) don't read what you post here. So, complaints made here won't lead to fixes. But if complaining makes you feel better, have at it.
- Fellow students like you read this forum. Some of us are looking for help, and some of us are giving help. We can help you if you give us more to go on, like what answer you tried.
You should look over the thread. I don't know why you were called wrong, because I can't see your answer. But I'll bet all the change in my pocket that your issue is already addressed here.
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Amazing. You are so patient and helpful:) Could you pls elaborate about the honorific plural - what would happen there? TNX
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It's a reference to a set of situations where you use a differently inflected form of the word. "Oblique" vs. "direct" in Hindi is similar to "me" vs. "I" or "whom" vs. "who" in English.
More information was given in the tips for the "Family" skill. https://www.duolingo.com/skill/hi/Family/tips-and-notes
