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- "Peter is a very good boy."
"Peter is a very good boy."
Translation:पीटर बहुत अच्छा लड़का है।
14 Comments
429
A literal translation of "एक": पीतर एक बहुत अच्छा लड़का है। would be
"One Peter is a very good boy" or "A Peter is a very good boy"
Just like in English, an article is not needed for a proper noun, so Peter does not need एक.
The word "boy" is a common noun, and needs an article, so "एक लड़का" = a boy. Now let's add the adjective "good" = अच्छा
So it becomes एक अच्छा लड़का = a good boy
Now let's add the superlative, बहुत = very
एक बहुत अच्छा लड़का = a very good boy
Next, add the proper noun, Peter. Remember that "is" or "are" in Hindi comes at the end of the sentence, so: Peter is a very good boy = Peter a very good boy is = पीतर एक बहुत अच्छा लड़का है
The एक is not required grammatically, but it is also grammatically correct and a legitimate translation for this specific sentence. Adding एक changes the emphasis and meaning a bit, is all, but could still be translated the same way in English.
I'm submitting पीटर एक बहुत अच्छा लड़का है as "should be accepted" the next time this sentence comes up in the lesson, and I suggest others do so as well.
For comparison and validation, see this sentence:
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/32416065
यह एक अच्छी किताब है is the preferred answer there, even. Same exact construction grammatically.
- 429
Agree. However, slight difference. You are referring to one particular book amongst many, hence the एक is needed.
On the other hand, here we know that we are speaking of the boy called Peter amongst many; so the एक can be skipped.
- 134
Why is it that in this example you cannot use एक ("ek") for the indefinite article but in other examples you can? Should the sentence using एक ("ek") as the indefinite article be counted as correct too?
For example:
In this exercise: "Peter is a very good boy" = पीटर बहुत अच्छा लड़का है but NOT पीटर एक बहुत अच्छा लड़का है
In another exercise in this same lesson: "A tall man!" = एक लम्बा आदमी!
Thanks for the help!
In Hindi the there are no definite and indefinite articles so no "a", no एक. You literally say "Peter very good boy is."
There have been many dozens of examples where indefininte article was translated "एक". E. g. वह एक सेब है। Why not now?
An article is generally use in english.but in hindi,there is no need to add an article.
- 429
That construction is indeed sometimes used in colloquial spoken Hindi by native speakers. However, grammatically, बड़ा means big - so the sentence translates as Peter is a big nice boy. For learning the language, or even while speaking it, बहुत is a better choice.
