"His sisters read a book."

Translation: उसकी बहनें किताब पढ़ती हैं।

[ShomariML]

Why is this correct? I thought translating उसकी बहनें किताब पढ़ती हैं would give "His sisters read book", which doesn't make sense.
I thought the correct way of saying it would be उसकी बहनें एक किताब पढ़ती हैं.
So far, in all other cases before this Duolingo always specified if the object was singular by putting एक before the object.

[vinay92]

उसकी बहनें किताब पढ़ती हैं would translate to either 'His sisters read a book' or 'His sisters read the book'.

Hindi does not have a definite article and the word for 'one', एक serves as the indefinite article. However, in practice, you can drop the एक in many cases and the definiteness is inferred from context.

So, 'His sisters read a book' can be translated as both 'उसकी बहनें एक किताब पढ़ती हैं' and 'उसकी बहनें किताब पढ़ती हैं।'.

Also, the plural of किताब is किताबें so there is no confusion that we are talking about a single book.

[SanjayChellaram]

Great explanation thank you.

[neil.shah__]

Why doesn't उसके बहनें किताब पढ़ते हैं work?

[vinay92]

उसकी is used when it is followed by a feminine noun (either singular or plural) like बहनें. उसके is used when followed by a plural masculine noun and उसका for a singular masculine noun.

[ph.dLU0ZQ]

Ya

[ph.kFGzed]

Yes

[Peter298223]

how can I type in Devanagari script?

[Zerenei]

https://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/devanagari.htm

[vinay92]

On your phone, you can download the Hindi keyboard from your phone settings.

On your computer, you can use the phonetic Hindi input option or the Devanagari (INSCRIPT) keyboard on Google input tools. If you're on Chrome, you can add the Google input tools extension that will allow you to easily switch between keyboards. If you use the INSCRIPT keyboard, it will also show you the keyboard layout on your screen for easy typing.

[SanjaySati1]

सही जवाब होगा कि

उसकी बहन एक किताब पढ़ती है।

[megankse]

How do you know it's his sisters vs her sisters?

[vinay92]

It can be both.

If 'Her sisters read a book' is not accepted hen you encounter the sentence again, you can report it.

[Elizabatha1]

Can anyone explain the difference between padthi and padthe

[vinay92]

पढ़ती is used for a feminine subject ('sisters' in this case). पढ़ता is used for a masculine singular subject and पढ़ते for a masculine(or mixed gender) plural subject.

[PARAMESWAR13]

So here, it is sisters (Plural), shouldnt it be "Padthe"?

[DevikaMishra]

No. Like @vinay92 said, पढ़ते is for masculine or mixed gender plurals. Feminine plurals remain the same as feminine singulars in verbs, except for the fact that है changes to हैं.

[Girl_Just_Stop]

It should be उसकी बहन किताब पढ़ते है ।

[Girl_Just_Stop]

It should be उसकी बहन किताब पढ़ती हैं ।