A Door Into Hindi: Lesson 23

This construction is used for comparisons of quantity or degree. It can be translated “as much as” or “as many as.” For example:

यह फ़िल्म उतनी अच्छी नहीं (है) जितनी मैंने सुनी थी । = This film is not as (much) good as I had heard.

मेरा पति इतना छोटा नहीं (है) जितना आपका (पति है)। = My husband is not as (much) short as yours.

मैंने उतने समोसे खाये जितना मेरा इरादा था। = I ate as many samosas as I intended.

Note: इतना and उतना are nearly interchangeable, with the following subtle difference: इतना is prefered for refering to things close to the speaker ("this much"), while उतना would be used to refer to things distant from the speaker ("that much").

तुम इतनी सी बात पर रोने लगे? = You started to cry at such a small thing?

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See Snell's Teach Yourself Hindi (2000) Section 14.5 page 183