"We should study."

Translation: हमें पढ़ना चाहिए।

[inbetweener]

Why does this not mean "we want to read"? How would you say that?

[vinay92]

That would be 'हम पढ़ना चाहते हैं'. The form चाहिए expresses modality ('should') while all other forms of the verb चाहना mean 'want'.

[MarlenLore4]

So does चाहिए mean 'should' when used with a verb (like in this sentence) and 'want' when used with a noun (such as हमें पानी चाहिए - we want water)?

[vinay92]

Correct.

चाहिए with verb - 'should'/'need to'
चाहिए with noun - 'want' (when the desire is strong or urgent)/ 'need'
All other forms of चाहना - 'want'

[ph.qbUXIV]

Hi

[Prya_hindi]

Why not parne ?

[vinay92]

पढ़ने is the masculine plural and also the oblique form of the infinitive पढ़ना.

As the plural form, it is used when it has a masculine plural object. Eg: हमें दोनों अख़बार पढ़ने है (We have to read both the newspapers).

As the oblique form, it is used when the infinitive is the object of a postposition. Eg: मैं पढ़ने से पहले कुछ देर खेलूँगा (I will play for a while before studying).
It is also used when the infinitive is an object of the intransitive verbs आना and जाना where the postposition is dropped but is still assumed to be present for grammatical purposes ('ghostposition'). Eg: मैं अब पढ़ने जा रहा हूँ (I am going to study now).

[Prya_hindi]

Thank you :-)

[harishabbe2]

You can also say " tumhe parhayi karni chahiye". ....

[Moa2001]

Nooo! But you will know all this if you are an Indian