24 Comments
1376
But literally, "his three daughters are," right? Can the final verb to be there also mean "there are"?
Literally it's more like "to him three daughters are". And yes, the final verb can also mean "there are"
I am getting confused again. How do we know that it is he and not she in this case?
- 1376
I'm pretty sure this could mean she has three daughters or even it has three daughters as well.
Uhhh, in a way, I guess? But this sentence "Uski teen betiyan hain" actually has "hain" in the sentence which makes the "has" in the translation: "He has 3 daughters". If I wanted to say "Their three daughters", I'd say "Unki teen betiyan/उनकी तीन बेटियां".
So this verb means 'to be' and 'to have'? These are pretty different words in english...
does it mean हैं is also used to mean "have", not only to "be"? Please respond.
- 211
The transliteration of the sentence is "He of three daughters are" without the "hain" verb ending there would be no sentence. It would be a meaningless phrase like "three daughters of he" with the translation "his three daughters". When you add the "hain" at the end you are saying that those three daughters exist and then we translate it to "He has three daughters."
Wouldn't we use the verb "to have" here?
Is there a reason we aren't using that verb (does it exist?) or do you always have to get around it by showing possession (उसकी) and saying they "are" (हैं) ?
- 60
There is no "to have" in Hindi. For my own personal understanding, and the way I remember how to structure this, is to think of it as 'To him/her are three daughters. That's not a transliteration, but it helps me understand the flow of the language better.
As a native speaker, I'd say "उनकी तीन बेटियां हैं" but someone can correct me if I'm wrong. There's a change from उसकी to उनकी.
Is there a verb for "to have"? I did read all the other comments, and I sort of understand what is going on here, but is this the only way to say He/She has three daughters?
- 1381
“He’s three daughters,” literally means, “He is three daughters.” “He’s,” is the contraction of, “He is.”
- 1381
Only in relation to the perfect tense like ‘he has done something’ but not to show possession.
