A Door Into Hindi: Lesson 23

This construction is used for comparisons of quality. For example:

यह फ़िल्म वैसी नहीं (है) जैसी मैंने सुनी थी। = This film is not the same as I heard (it was).

मेरा पति ऐसा नहीं (है) जैसा आपका पति है। = My husband is not like your husband (is).

यह कार वैसी ही है जैसी तुमने कहा था। = This car is just like you said (it was).

Note: ऐसा and वैसा are nearly interchangeable, with the following subtle difference: ऐसा is prefered for refering to things close to the speaker, while वैसा would be used to refer to things distant from the speaker.

See Snell's Teach Yourself Hindi (2000) Section 14.6 page 183