"What is behind you?"
Translation:तुम्हारे पीछे क्या है?
11 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Apne अपने means "(the subject's) own." So, no. Aapke आपके (formal "your"), however, does work.
359
The 'kya'/'what' is the subject, not the person spoken to/about. Same as in English.
The verb is always "hai"/"is" no matter who is spoken to/about. "What is behind you?" "What is behind me?" "What is behind them?" If the person spoken to/about was the subject, the sentences would be "What are behind you?", "What am behind me?", ... :-)
Good question, btw. The only reason I happened to see your question is that I brain-cramped, made the same mistake, and opened up the discussion topic before I realized my mistake. :-)
- 1510
Anybody know why तुम्हारे is not तुम्हारा ? Is it because of the oblique case? Is there a "ghost-position"? Does पीछे always have respect? This sentence doesn't make any sense to me, so can anyone help?
- 359
के पीछे is a two-word postposition.
तुम + के == तुम्हारे
तुम + के पीछे == तुम्हारे पीछे
The same thing happens with के पास and के साथ. तुम + के पास == तुम्हारे पास. तुम + के साथ == तुम्हारे साथ.
Not all two-word postpositions start with के. Duolingo doesn't teach it, but "toward" is की तरफ़. And that likewise would combine with तुम to form तुम्हारी तरफ़.
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The above description is practical. Just learn the postpositions that way.
But if you really want to find a ghostposition, पीछा basically means "the area behind someone" (along with other meanings), and the implied ghostposition is "in". तुम्हारे पीछे क्या है == "what is in the area behind you"
- 1510
Typically, क्या is either at the beginning of the sentence or right before the verb. The meaning of the sentence will change depending on where you put it. Here is an example. तुम क्या खाते हो translates to "what do you eat?" but क्या तुम खाते हो translates to "do you eat?"
If you said क्या right before पीछे, native Hindi speakers would probably still understand you, but you unknowingly be putting an emphasis on something.