A Door Into Hindi: Lesson 1

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Devanagari Writing System

Digital Dictionaries

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1.2	Questions - क्या,कहाँ, कैसे

Most questions are formed by placing a question word (like "what" or "where") right before the verbal phrase.

Examples:

Subject	Modifiers/ Object (if any)	Question Word	Verb
Your name		what	is?
आपका नाम		क्या	है?
Vegetable		where	is?
सब्ज़ी		कहाँ	है?
This		what	is?
यह		क्या	है?
These tomatoes		how	are?
ये टमाटर		कैसे	हैं?

Any statement can be turned into a "yes-no" question by putting the question word क्या in front of the sentence. In this kind of question sentence, the word क्या is not translated.

Examples:

Question Word	Subject	Modifiers/ Object	Verb
---	Your name	Deepa	is?
क्या	आपका नाम	दीपा	है?
---	This	sweet	is?
क्या	यह	मीठा	है?

Note that in English, this kind of "yes-no" question is usually made by putting the verb or auxiliary verb at the beginning of the sentence:

"Is your name Deepa?"

"Is this sweet?"