Reflexive Pronoun: Āphū

Can you learn a language by yourself?  The answer depends on you, but do you know what is a reflexive pronoun? Notice how the above statement uses the word ‘yourself’. The word ‘yourself’ is a reflexive pronoun. A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun which describes the subject itself. (or so according to its Nepali Definition) In … Read more

Honorific Speech: Low Respect

You were briefly told about honorific speech in the lesson ’Honorific Speech: Introduction’. As I told, speech depends on the society that speaks it. As such, there are different ways on how to speak to different people. You don’t use the same level of speech when you talk to your friends as to when you … Read more

Vocabulary: Flowers

Flower = फूल (phul) Bud = कोपिला (kopila) Rose = गुलाब (gulaab) Lotus = कमल (kamal) Camellia = क्यामेलिया (kyameliya) Rhododendron = गुराँस (guras) Gladiolus = ग्लेडुलस (gledulas) Chrysanthemum = गोदावरी (godavari) Blue passion flower = घडीफूल (ghadiphul) Jasmine = चमेली (chameli) Tulip = ट्यूलिप (tyulip)  Hibiscus = जिभ्रे फूल (jibro phul) Indian trumpet flower = टोटला (totala) Moss-rose Purslane = दशबजे फूल (dashbaje phul) Angel’s Trumpet = धोक्रे … Read more

Compound Verbs Formed By Joining Auxiliaries

Verbs are perhaps the most important part of Nepali Language. A whole sentence can be completed by a verb and infact a sentence can have only a verb! Verbs are also one of the most – if not the most – difficult parts on learning Nepali. Did you learn all your basic verbs? That’s cute, … Read more

Determiners And Relative-Interrogative Pronouns

INTRODUCTION A determiner is a word, phrase or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. Determiners are words like ‘This’, ‘The’ etc. DETERMINERS IN NEPALI Nepali doesn’t have articles. That means, Nepali lacks ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ in the Language. When translating to and forth, articles must be added or subtracted … Read more

Story: The Vanity Brought By Wealth

Today, on the occasion of Word Earth Day, I will tell you a story completely unrelated to it. Fanfares aside, the title of the story in Nepali is ‘धनको घमण्ड’ (dhan ko ghamanda) which literally means ’Wealth’s Vanity’ but is more close to saying ’Vanity brought by Wealth’. This story is a GRADE 4 story and it contains elements … Read more

Applying Conjugated Verbs In Sentences: Intermediate

So you have learnt how to make simple sentences with the right conjugations in the previous chapter, which was published around seven months ago. Let’s learn how to use Agyaat and Habitual Form of Verb! Also, we will learn how ‘Present’ tense is used for ‘future tense’. ____ INTRODUCTION So, you probably know that Nepali is a SUBJECT + OBJECT + … Read more

Story: Cook Kit! Cook!

Today, I will tell you a short story entitled ‘पकाऊ भाँडा पकाऊ’ (pakau bhada pakau). This short story is a grade 3 Story, hence the words used are simple and clear. The title literally translates into ’Cook Utensil Cook’ but I wanted the title to be a pun, so it is ’Cook Kit! Cook’. Get … Read more

The Oblique Form Of Pronouns

INTRODUCTION Why is it that I can only give ‘him’ an item and not ‘he’? Why can’t I say ‘you’s’ instead of ‘your’? Pronouns are strange things in many languages, because they are stubborn to change. Similarly in Nepali, ancient sound changes have stubbornly remained, without which this lesson wouldn’t exist. What am I talking … Read more

Active, Passive and Impersonal Voice

I baked a cake, so the cake was baked by me.Do you know active and passive voices from those grammar lessons of English? Active voice gives priority to the Subject whereas Passive voice gives priority to the Object. We have something like that in Nepali too.  So, in Nepali, we recognize three types of Voices. Voice (like active voice) is called ‘वाच्य’ (baachya) … Read more