"No, not tea. Water is fine."
Translation:नहीं, चाय नहीं। पानी ठीक है।
48 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
What determines the placement of the second negative behind chai in this?
this is a difficult question in getting the correct word order. I got नहीं, चाय पानी ठीक है। but I did not put in नहीं and it was incorrect. Any ideas?
Yeah, this sentence needs two नहीं to be a correct translation of 'no, not tea'. Your translation needs a sentence break too (as the english sentence has).
If you put चाय नही है , it will mean "it is not tea" or "there is no tea"
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.
I know there's not the option to select two है, i'm just wondering if my instinct is wrong
- 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
i didn't see the sentence break, first time encountering it and there was no explanation of where it is invoked, will try the space bar or the period character next time i get the chance.
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?
The way to phrase 'I don't want tea' in Hindi is मुझे चाय नहीं चाहिए which is roughly 'Tea is not wanted by me' when translated literally.
