Guffgaff: Rice Queen

I wanted the title to be a pun, but a-rice-ing a pun was too difficult for me. Too bad… Have you been to Nepal? If yes, then you certainly know about Dal and Bhat. You might have had also tasted it! Well, today I will tell about the cultural aspects that Rice holds in Nepal.  First, let’s see … Read more

Honorific Speech: Introduction

What influences a language’s lexical and grammatical parts? The society that speaks it, of course. Culture defines what you will speak. Here, in Nepal, we have a system called ’Honorific Speech’ which differentiates speech between various levels of Respect. You don’t talk the same way (use the same wordings) to your seniors as you would … Read more

Infinitive Form Of Verbs In Nepali

INTRODUCTION An Infinitive form of verb is the basic form of a verb, without an inflection binding it to a particular subject or tense. For example, in English, it is the basic verb like ‘to eat’ or ‘to drink’. As such, they function like adverbs. An example use of an infinitive is: To live is to die Twice. Infinitives are also … Read more

Adjective Order In Nepali

Nepali is a Subject + Object + Verb language. Hence, verbs come at the end of the sentence. That means, John oranges ate would be a standard sentence. Here, John would be the subject whereas Oranges would be the object.  Adjectives, like in English, comes before the word it modifies. Hence, the word order would be like: Adjective + Noun  So, ’thulo ghar’ … Read more

Song: Phoolko Aankhama – Ani Choying Dolma

Hello! If you have been to Nepal, then you must have had heard this song at least once…if you haven’t, then it’s still okay! The song in the question is ’Phul ko aakha ma’ which means ’In the eyes of a flower’. The song is sang by Ani Choying Dolma. To listen to the song, … Read more

Showing Potential In Nepali

This lesson can make you a better person…or perhaps not. To be or not to be; clearly we do see a homage being paid to Shakespeare…perhaps not. We can’t really see anything much now so let’s learn how to show Potentiality in Nepali! So, what does it mean ‘to show potential’? Read these sentences: “John … Read more

Conditional Sentences In Nepali

“If you are reading this, then you are trying to Nepali” Do you know what are conditional sentences? Look at the above sentence…that was a conditional sentence. It has three primary elements, a ‘reason’ otherwise a ’cause’ which leads to an ‘outcome’. It is connected by ‘if’. So, If “you are reading this” then “you are … Read more

Gendered Speech: Adjectives

Last time you learnt how to convert gender between nouns. This time, you will learn how to convert gender of adjectives.  An adjective is a type of word which modifies a noun to describe it. An example of an adjective in English is ’Cold’. Translating, you get ‘चिसो’ (chiso). You will encounter two types of Adjectives. They are: … Read more

Folktale: The Rhododendron And The Alder Tree

Today, I will narrate you a story about The Rhododendron and The Alder Tree. First and foremost, you must know what those trees are!  A Rhododendron tree (specifically the Tree Rhododendron) is a type of plant that blooms around The Spring Season. It is called as ‘लालीगुराँस’ (lali guras) in Nepali and is found in Hilly … Read more

Gendered Speech: Nouns

You have already been briefed about ‘Gendered Speech’ in the previous lesson. Just in brief, Gendered Speech is a type of differentiation in speech according to the object’s gender. As you know, there are three genders in Nepali. They are:  Most of the times, neutral words are sometimes masculine words too. That doesn’t mean neutral words … Read more