- Forum >
- Topic: Hindi >
- "बिल्लियाँ सेब नहीं खाती ।"
23 Comments
Can someone explain what tells us in this sentence that apples is plural? What would the sentence read if the word was singular apple. Thank you!
I think it's the same as the English sentence "The cats do not eat the sheep."
189
From my understanding, एक would be needed to refer to a single apple. However, I'm guessing you want to know how to say 'The cats do not eat THE apple.' I'm guessing that would be सेब बिल्लियाँ नहीं खाती.
ONE is not necessary so the lack of it does not imply plural. The answer must be something else.
'Cats don't eat apple' is my answer. Firstly, 'don't' and 'do not' is the same mean Secondly, the word 'apple' can be both singular and plural. Considering all these, my answer should be accepted
Except "cats don't eat apple" is not good American English, because apple is not a mass count noun. It would have to be "cats don't eat apples" or " Cats don't eat an/the apple."
That not true. '... don't eat apple' is perfectly sound, as apple can be both count and non count. When you cut apple in pieces, it's not AN apple anymore (it could be exactly one apple, or a half or two or even a bowl of apple), but the substance is still called apple. This applies to virtually all foods that are otherwise count nouns: as soon as they become food they can be either count our non count. The typical joke is: I like dog. As opposed to: I like dogs. If you're still doubting, replace dog with chicken. [edited for spelling/grammar]
why don't we have to use "hote" since this is a general statement of fact?
I think this needs the nasal symbol on khatee ---> Khateen (because the 'hain' is left off)
The nasal symbol that you are referring to is only ever placed on है. So, when the हैं is dropped, we understand that the subject is plural because बिल्लियाँ is plural.
I have a question about this - I read in a textbook that if the subject is feminine plural, and the sentence is negative and हैं is dropped, then the imperfect participle (here, खाती) is nasalized. Is this just a formal grammatical rule that's generally not used in everyday speech? Is it a regional thing? Thanks!
I've just been doing some text book exercises (Usha Jain) that definitely have the main verb nasalized if the sentence is negative, the हैं is dropped, and the noun the verb takes gender/number form is plural feminine. So I am curious too if this is a regional thing?
The reason I downloaded this is because of the inaccuracy of Google translators
