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- "Cows give milk."
"Cows give milk."
Translation:गायें दूध देती हैं।
9 Comments
Why isn't there a word such as होते/हेती/हेता to show the habitual aspect of this sentece?
हेता is used in generalisations when there is no other verb except for है in the sentence. In other sentences, it is mostly a matter of context.
As far as the habitual aspect goes, that is the main function of the simple present tense so this sentence would be understood as a habitual action as it stands.
Why देती instead of देते, are there a rule around plural and gender? So, when it's feminine and plural, should I use feminine?
Yes. The feminine singular and the feminine plural forms are the same. Only the masculine singular and plural forms are different.
Why is plural of गाय गायें, but plural of केला केले, and not केलें?
I thought it was because banana is masculine, and cow feminine. This is also true for books किताबें (feminine) and boys लड़के (masculine).
Is that the rule?
Yes. The rules to make plural words depend both on the word ending and the gender of the noun. For masculine nouns, we leave the noun unchanged unless it ends with an ा in which case we change the ा to an े. For feminine nouns, we add an ें / एँ to the singular form unless the noun ends with an ी in which case we change the ी to ियाँ
