"यहाँ कोई नहीं पढ़ सकता।"
Translation:Nobody can study here.
14 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Is there a rule of thumb for where नहीं belongs in "X can not Y" sentences? Here, it's placed before पढ़ सकता. But with राज गा नहीं सकता it's between गा and सकता.
The alternative was also accepted but I would also like to know of any rule if there is.
The sentence without the 'nahin' will be यहाँ कोई पढ़ सकता है - Somebody can study here.
Adding the nahin negates the sentence (similar to 'ne' in French). यहाँ कोई नहीं पढ़ सकता है - Nobody can study here
Alternatively, you can think of कोइ as somebody/anybody and कोई नहीं as nobody. Similarly, कुछ is something/anything and कुछ नहीं is nothing.
I translated this as "There's no one here that can read". I'm curious if anyone knows how my translation would be said in Hindi.
Your sentence can be translated in two ways: by using a relative pronoun and by using a relative participle. Relative pronouns work in the same way in Hindi and English.
There's no one here that can read. - यहाँ कोई नहीं है जो पढ़ सकता है।
The indicative mood (सकता है) can also be replaced by the subjunctive mood (सके): यहाँ कोई नहीं है जो पढ़ सके।
There is little difference between the two forms and you can say either. I feel the latter gives a more "diffused", as in, generalized, nonspecific, account of the inability of the people in question to read.
Hindi just uses a distinct set of words for relative pronouns (all starting with ज), unlike English, which uses interrogative pronouns and "that".
A relative participle is basically a verb phrase modified to act as an adjectival phrase (or noun phrase). These are quite common in Hindi and often not directly translatable into English. I'm rewriting the Hindi sentence with the relative pronoun first and then giving the other construction.
यहाँ कोई नहीं है जो पढ़ सकता है। - Relative clause in bold, containing and starting with the relative pronoun जो.
यहाँ पढ़ सकने वाला कोई नहीं है। - Relative participle in bold. Here, the verb पढ़ सकना (to be able to read) has been modified into an adjective form by using वाला.
Translating the above sentence word for word won't give a meaningful sentence, so here are some simpler examples to help understand how the relative participle works.
चिल्लाने वाला लड़का। - The boy who screams. (चिल्लाना - To scream)
उड़ने वाली बिल्ली। - The cat that flies.
यहाँ आने वाले लोग। - The people who come here.
अपना काम नहीं करने वाले। - Those who don't do their work.
यह घर चल नहीं सकने वाले लोगों के लिए है। - This house is for the people who cannot walk.
यह घर चल नहीं सकने वालों के लिए है। - This house is for those who cannot walk.
Oh my goodness, that was an awesome explanation! Please contribute to the course master!
so a verb before "saknaa" drops the "-na" but before "chaahnaa" it stays in the infinitive?
That's right! It's interesting that it works the same way in English as well. "I can swim" vs "I want to swim".
