"आमिर को मेरे घर आना है।"
Translation:Aamir has to come to my home.
31 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Can someone explain when to/not to use the word 'को' in these sentences? Thank you!
Vinay92 gave a good explanation here https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/33480818 of how (to someone)+(infinitive)+(hai) expresses "have to".
Basically, you always use ko when saying "has to" or "have to". Sometimes, it's built into the pronoun your using, so you might not notice it. But for example मुझे is a contraction of मुझको, which is "to me".
I remember to use "ko" by thinking of the infinitive as representing a duty that "falls to" someone. "आमिर को मेरे घर आना है।" --> "the duty of coming to my home falls TO Aamir." It's a bit of a distortion, but at least it keeps me remembering to use "to".
Edit: to be clear, even though the way I remember to use 'ko' makes it sound like "the duty of ..." is the subject, it is not. The subject of the sentence is still "Aamir". Another reference from Vinay92: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/29214093.
Someday, maybe. Just maybe. I'll get my brain around the fact that sometimes the subject is in the oblique case (which in English makes it feel like an indirect object) and remains the subject, even though the verb agrees with something else in the sentence. Sigh. :-)
-- edit 9-december-2020 --
itsmeyash31 is correct in that "must" and "have to" (which my original post used) are not equivalent. And I updated my multiple posts here accordingly. (Google "must vs have to" for more details.)
I also offset downvotes against itsmeyash31's posts. (a) he's right and (b) downvoting discourages contribution.
I'll add that it's not just "have to" but also "want(s) to".
आमिर को मेरे घर आना है। could be translated as both "Aamir has to come to my home" and also "Aamir wants to come to my home."
If it isn't then it must be reported.
In Hindi the cases are marked by postpositions. को is the dative/accusative marker. It means that the only function of को is to mark the direct object of the sentence. However, in Hindi when dative/accusative case is used with the Infinitive participle, the dative marker actually marks the subject of the sentence and not the object.
Note, here in the given Duolingo sentence, को is used in its dative sense. It's a very common structure in Hindi.
- Noun/Pronoun (in dative) + Infinitive Participle + Copula (होना) [conjugated].
The Infinitive participle always uses the pronoun/noun in the dative case. Such sentences are equivalent to "have to" or "want to" of English. Both are equally valid translations. It is the Infinitive participle and not the Infinitive because the Infinitive marker ना here changes depending on the gender and the number of the object of the sentence. For example, किताब (book) is feminine singular, किताबें (books) is feminine plural, काम (work) is masculine singular and plural. So,
- आमिर को किताब लिखनी है। (Aamir wants/has to write a book)
- आमिर को किताबें लिखनीं हैं। (Aamir wants/has to write books) (nasalisation is optional for लिखनी)
- आमिर को काम करना है। (Aamir wants/has to (do) work)
- आमिर को काम करने हैं। (Aamir wants/has to (do) works)
In English "work" is both singular and plural but I wrote "works" just to show it's in plural.
Also note that the noun/pronoun in the dative case is actually the subject of the sentence and not the object.
Guys seriously you count Amir instead of Aamir as a mistake? That's ridiculous!
Is there a reason that "Aamir must come to my house" is not accepted?
Yes. Using "must" is wrong here. Sentences like these which use the noun/pronoun in the dative case with the infinitive participle must always translate as either "have to" or "want to" any other translation is wrong.
Next time you run into this, replace "must" with "have to". If it is still rejected, then Duolingo isn't properly handling मकान vs घर
FYI, घर and मकान are only approximately interchangeable. घर has connotations of the place you call "home", and can be used for broad statements like "India is my home" -> "भारत मेरा घर है" as well as referring to exactly where you live. मकान refers to the structure. "I live in a house" -> "मैं एक मकान में रहता हूँ".
-- updated 9-december-2020 --
itsmeyash31 is correct that "must" and "have to" are not interchangeable. I updated this post.
I disagree that it must be reported. "Must" is a wrong translation here. The only correct translations are "have to" and "want to".
This is nonsense in English, surely should be either Aamir has come to my home or Aamir must come to my home. Might be different in a related paragraph but out of context it is not intuitive.
I'm curious. Where I'm from it's common to say "place" instead of "home" in many cases: "Aamir has to come to my place." Is this common worldwide?
Some verbs, like आना have an implied "को", so since he must "come to" the home, home is in the oblique case. घर doesn't change because its singular oblique form is the same as its singular direct form.
You'll sometimes hear an implied postpostion (in this case "को") referred to as a "ghostposition".
because there is already an implied postposition. You can choose to use it. Using a postposition there is not wrong. So, the sentence is actually like that below:
- आमिर को मेरे घर (में/को) आना है।
But, remember if you choose to use the postposition here the meaning conveyed (or better said the nuance conveyed) would often be very different and that is why Duolingo probably will not accept any postposition there.
Often with motion verbs like आना, जाना etc postposition is implied. But only for certain generic nouns such as "one's home", "a country", "a city", "a zoo". And very specific non-generic nouns such as "a union" will always have a postposition after them. So, roughly, using the oblique case there marks whether it's a generic thing or a very specific thing you're talking about.
Examples:
-
आमिर को मेरे घर आना है। - Aamir has/wants to come to my home.
-
आमिर को मेरे घर में आना है। - Aamir has/wants to come in my house.
-
आमिर को मेरे यूनियन में आना है। - Aamir has/wants to come to my union. (you cannot skip the postposition here).
Does "Aana" indicate past tense? Because "aatha" also means come right. "Aamir ko mere gar aatha hai" Is this right.
Aana (आना) is the infinitive. The formula for constructing a "so and so has to" statement uses the infinitive. The formula was addressed elsewhere in the thread. Search it for "Vinay92 gave a good explanation here".
Aata (आता) would be the present tense for a singular male subject. If you took the "ko" out of your example "Aamir ko mere gar aatha hai" you'd have a valid sentence meaning "Aamir comes to my house". As stated, it's not quite the right phrasing for anything.
BTW, "th" is generally used to represent "थ" and "t" to represent "त".
आना is not the Infinitive here. It's the Infinitive partciple. The are different things.
And your sentence doesn't make sentence. It's grammatically wrong. आमिर को मेरे घर आता है doesn't make sense. You must not add the को there. It has no meaning.
आमिर मेरे घर आता है is the only way you can say "Aamir comes to my home."
And, आता ia not the present tense but the habitual aspect marker. आता है is the present habitual form (or tense). Hindi has no Present Simple tense unlike English.
Thank you for clarifying "infinitive participle" vs. "infinitive."
Regarding the sentence you corrected me on, I was quoting the person I was replying to.
And I said the same thing to him that you said to me, just in different words. :-)
And without a down-vote. :-)
I'm so impressed that everybody who's taking this course seems to be able to follow this new twist without any introduction. I got lost at the future tense where I still haven't figured out how the verbs are conjugated and now this ... Am almost glad the course has practically come to an end because I'm totally lost.
I framed a right sentence 'Amir has to come to my home' still it is showing wrong
Could be valid the sentence below? तुम मेरे घर जरूर आना। It's from hindi book for children, but I doubt it's correct. Should be तुझे ... आना।
Why "come to (my)house" and not "come (my)house" I am not English man, explain plz. Thanks
TL/DR: English uses helper words where other languages might instead:
- use different cases
- rely on position within the sentence
- rely on context.
This statement expresses (1) movement or an intention to move, and (2) its destination.
Different languages mark the destination in different ways.
English generally uses a lot of little helper words and uses the helper word "to" to signify "destination".
In Hindi, the object of the verb आना is presumed to be a destination. No को is necessary here. Simply putting मेरे घर in the right place in the sentence is good enough.
Other languages might use something like a lative case (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lative_case) to mark the destination.