"No, not tea. Water is fine."
Translation:नहीं, चाय नहीं। पानी ठीक है।
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973
As no admins have replied to Amylafleur above - what determines the word order so that the negative follows the noun?
That translates as "No, it is not tea, water is fine." due to the first है.
509
Yet another instance where it would have been great to have seen this sentence structure in Hindi before being expected to translate it into Hindi
When you negate something in Hindi, the नहीं goes after the subject (ie, before the verb if it is explicitly included).
Eg:
Q: 'Who is going to Delhi'? A: 'Not me'.
Q: ' दिल्ली कौन जा रहा है?' A: 'मैं नहीं (जा रहा)।
Similarly,
Q: Do you want tea? A: No, not tea.
Q: क्या तुम्हे चाय चाहिए? A: नहीं, चाय नहीं (चाहिए)।
509
But "not tea" is surely short for "I don't want tea" in which tea is the object. I don't see how tea could be the subject. What is tea doing?