"An elephant does not eat grass."
Translation:हाथी घास नहीं खाता ।
39 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I wrote एक हाथी घास नहीं खाता है. Marked incorrect. Anyone know why? Only difference seems to be the एक
This sentence (in english) means "elephants in general do not eat grass". It is a general statement and not means one elephant (if so, the english sentence would be 'one elephant do not eat grass').
So the corresponding translation (for the generalised statement) should not contain "ek"
If the phrase is a generalization, shouldn't it (or could it) contain "hota"?
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.
But in this same lesson, they ask us to translate "An elephant drinks tea" and they accept "एक हाथी चाय पीता है," so I'm guessing it's just an oversight and they were supposed to accept एक in this case.
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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"
I just realised why the elephant in Disney's Jungle Book is called Colonel Hathi
Just to nitpick, it's bhaloo - भालू
And what about शेर - lion and बाघ - tiger
*Kipling's Jungle Book, that is.
Rudyard Kipling grew up in (British) India, and the story's at least implicitly (I think some place names may be mentioned though) set there.
Note that as a colonial-era text it might (I don't know for sure, just guessing) not be that well received by all.
Its widely received by all here.We appreciate the literary contribution of british. We hated colonialism,not their contributions and Britishers.
Hati - though it ends with ī, it is an exception.
Elephant is masculine in hindi
It's not necessary (but can be used anyway if you like) when negating a verb.
Nehin khata == nehin khata hai.
If the intention here was to say "the elephant doesnt eat grass" (not "an elephant doesnt eat grass") wouldn't that be written the same way? And if so how can you tell the difference between the two different meanings?
If the words of the same meaning are replaced still it marks incorrect, i think something is wrong with this app
If this sentence is a general statement about the elephant species, why is हाथी घास नहीं खाते हैं wrong?Or does the singular/plural difference gives another meaning to it?
Is the reason that खाता is not feminine because elephant can be translated as feminine or masculine?
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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. :-)
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