"मेरा भाई ज़मीन पर सो रहा है।"

Translation: My brother is sleeping on the floor.

[KyoCobran]

Doesn't Zamin mean "Land" as opposed to floor?

[shukal_punit]

Yeah, being a native speaker I assure both are correct. Land and Floor.

[neftali_7]

A more appropriate word for floor is "farsh". But it's only for smooth floors. "Zamin" can be any type of ground.

[aliceriot]

I think it can mean both, although I'm not sure.

[Rohit6109]

True. Even Zamindaar means 'landlord' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamindar

[MyokoChan]

All this debate... Yet no one cares why the brother is sleeping on the floor...

[AarnaSachd]

People should not take the dots lightly. or else they would change the pronounciation of the whole word. Like what is jindangi? Its supposed to he Zindagi

[aliceriot]

I've noticed online and in print items that the dot underneath ज to make it ज़ in words like this one seems to be very often left out - are people just not bothered to add it? Is it considered overly fussy to use the dot?

[Zerenei]

It's technically correct to add the dot, I do, though colloquially many people leave it out. And interestingly people will actually start pronouncing it that way as well, you'll often hear zindagi incorrectly said as jindagi, not even just spelled that way, spoken. Strange phenomenon. I would include the dot when you type though, it's more correct

[aliceriot]

cool, thanks for the info! I will include the dot :) I'm a fan of most of the 'dotted' versions of those consonants anyway, lovely words like ज़रूर and अख़बार.

[OJFord]

Generally (perhaps always, not sure) words with ज़, ख़, etc. are from Persian, and sometimes have a secondary etymology from Sanskrit (i.e. they are 'doublets') without the dot.

I understand preference between the two is thus essentially regional, and spills over into other words similar sounds to which that etymologyical reason doesn't actually apply, so you get mixed pronunciation like sabji & sabzi.