"तेरे पिता अमेरिका में हैं।"
Translation:Your father is in America.
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I don't understand it. Why is it तेरे and हैं instead of तेरा and है? It seems to me that this sentence means Your fathers are in America. Am I missing something?
Every subject (person) that needs to be treated respectfully requires all the plural endings in Hindi. This is the reason why fathers, mothers, grandparents, elders, leaders, and so on are mostly referred with the plural endings! :)
Thanks. However, is it possible to translate this sentence as Your fathers are in America? I know it doesn't make any sense (one person can have only one father) but is it grammatically correct?
Yes, it is grammatically correct. And one might even have more than one father! (Sense8 reference) :D
You can be adopted by a gay couple, so it's very well possible to have two fathers.
Yes, पिता is also the direct plural form, but note that 'your' would refer to one person's fathers, not a group of people's, due to तेरे। If it were तुम्हारे or आप के, you'd have that further ambiguity (without context).
In the last question I wrote America as America. But the answer given was 'the USA'. So, in this question I wrote America as USA. But then my answer was denoted as wrong.
I have a question: Does the fact that पिता ends in ा mean that it is singular, and that if it were पिते, we would be saying “fathers”? Or can पिता be translated as “fathers”? I am confused because it is a typical masculine noun, and by the earlier pattern, I thought it should be switched to end in “e” any time we actually mean to say “fathers”. I understand that we should use तेरे and हैं plurals for respect either way.
Thank you!
in this sentence the respect is toward the father and not/less to whom the sentence is addressed to? could the sentence start with "आप" - giving respect to the man whom the sentence is spoken to?
Yes I think you'd achieve that with आप के। Everything else the same.
Or आपका ।।। है if you wanted to remove respect to the father at the same time.
Also bear in mind that you don't know you're talking to a man here, the gender of the personal pronoun, whichever you choose, is agreeing with their father, not theirself.
tere (तेरे) is very familiar (rude if said to someone you don't know)
tumhare (तुम्हारे) is informal/casual
aapke (आपके) is formal/polite
You can use any of the three depending on whom you're talking to.
There is no "there" or "thumhare". The consonant is /t/ त - an unaspirated dental voiceless stop.
The subject of that sentence is नाम - which is a normal singular noun, hence है ... it doesn't matter whose name it is.
Here the subject is पिता and we treat it as a plural noun to show respect, hence हैं.
And also if it is तेरे it is not a respectful approach so wht plural, who am i to come and say तेरे पिता हैं
It is respectful to their पिता by being plural, just not to them (by being तू form).