"वे मेरे भाई के बेटे हैं।"

Translation: They are my brother's sons.

[legatrix]

Shouldn't it be brothers' (plural), given मेरे?

[emrys29]

No.
It would have to "bhai-on ke bete" for it to be brothers'.

[OleAgersna]

So the मेरे being in plural is because of the बेटे, not the भाई? That seems a bit confusing to me... Also, what does bhai-on mean? I thought bhai was the same in singular and plural?

[Psi-Lord]

भाई is the same in both singular and plural in the nominative/direct case. However, in this sentence, के requires it to be in the oblique case, in which भाई is singular, but भाइयों is plural.

मेरे भाई के बेटे = my brother's sons

मेरे भाइयों के बेटे = my brothers' sons

[khF1S]

मेरे is oblique (not plural) because of the के, not because of the भाई. के is a postposition, and generally everything touched by a postposition has to go oblique.

[paul.ens]

The existence of bhai-on has never been mentioned so far in this course, so I, and probably many others, wrote the answer as "brothers' "

[Srawrs]

This is my problem too. How is it possible that 4-5 bubbles in I am already missing vital grammar lessons.

[vinay92]

If someone is not tired with Hindi kinship terms yet, the word to use here would be भतीजा (brother's son).

वे मेरे भतीजे हैं - They are my brother's sons.

[Kaamat]

Why can't I say children?

[kirangarewal]

Because it is a different word. Children is 'baccche,' while sons is 'bete.'

[ritahira2]

What's the difference in pronunciation for sons bete and betee.. Is it just the elongated e at the end?

[iUzYfvDw]

beṭā (baytaa) बेटा son // beṭe (baytay) बेटे sons // beṭī (baytee) बेटी daughter // beṭiyāṃ (baytiyaa.) बेटियाँ daughters