"An elephant does not eat grass."
Translation:हाथी घास नहीं खाता ।
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I dont understand,
"एक 'noun'" is often accepted in duolingo to mean "A(n) 'noun'". In english you can use "a(n)" to mean there is one of a thing, like "I have an apple" or to refer to a nonspecific noun (indefinite article) "an apple is round".
Since hindi doesnt have a definite article (like "the") it seems like usually whenever you use a noun on its own it is assumed to be specific. So हाथी (singular) on its own is "the elephant", unless you use एक to specify that this is a nonspecific elephant. From that understanding I would think that I need to use एक here.
I understand that I am wrong but I can't find a way to intuitively know when I should use एक and when I should not. Is this just something to be memorized?
i think एक in hindi is really needed when you mean "one" (1), not necessarily "an", which even en english is used to talk about nonspecific things. In this sentence with elephant, using एक would mean one specific elephant, as well as if you wanted to talk about 'the' elephant that is there or here, in which case you'd have to use vah or yah. since it is a general statement, a generalization, a universal truth or things like that, hindi does not use articles, so you can translate it in english as 'an (nonspecific) elephant' which represents the elephants worldwide, or 'elephants' as a group of individuals. that's my wild guess, please correct me if i'm wrong.
275
VallabChan1, I disagree. If there are several elephants and one of them does not eat grass, the correct sentence is "an elephant does not eat grass"
131
Many nouns ending in ी are feminine, but it's not a hard rule.
हाथी, like आदमी, is masculine. These are exceptions you just have to memorize.
Note that this was already asked and answered elsewhere in the thread. :-)