"मैंने हाथी देखे ।"
Translation:I saw elephants.
19 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
When the "subject" takes ने, the verb agrees with the "object" (elephants). Since that's plural, it's देखे.
Yep but in Hindi you can often use the singular version of the noun even if you are meaning plural, not sure if that's 100% grammatically correct, but everyone speaks like this. Then the way you tell whether they are talking about singular or plural elephants is the verb at the end, here देखे, so plural. हाथियों would also be correct though.
If you use हाथियों then the sentence needs to change to - मैंने हाथियों को देखा।
Why would you need to change the sentence if you changed elephant to elephants?
Sometimes in English we use singular when talking about game, but it's a very special locution.
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In direct case (which is what "elephants" is in here since it is the direct object), हाथी is the same in both singular and plural. हाथियों would be plural oblique case.
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At the moment. I hope they continue!
Note that they have re-defined the checkpoints, so this is now checkpoint 2. (8/21)
What's the difference between "I saw" and "I looked at"? Just curious
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To really see something indicates you are more emotionally involved than just looking at that thing. You perceive more subtle aspects of it.
"I looked at" means I deliberately did something with my eyes. I was paying attention and pointed my eyes toward something. "I saw" is more passive: "I was looking at the sky, and I saw a bird pass by."
This is subject to interpretation. e.g. when you make a point and I respond with "I see", it denotes paying attention. I won't choose "I look at your point" to confirm that I've been paying attention.
"Seeing is believing" again indicates paying attention to confirm accuracy before you decide to believe it. etc...