Ergativity

Exercises

Translate the following sentences. Use ergative alignment when appropriate.

  1. Did you eat any food?
  2. I sent him a book.
  3. Rohit talked with his sister yesterday. [use बात करना]
  4. Anjali ate three parathas.
  5. Raj tried to speak Hindi.
  6. I forgot her name.
  7. Did they give you any water?
  8. I met my friend in the store.
  9. Have you ever read the ‘Mahabharata’?
  10. Raj married Preeti last year.

Answers

  1. क्या तुमने कुछ खाना खाया?
  2. मैंने उसको किताब भेज दी
  3. रोहित ने अपनी बहिन से बात की
  4. अंजलि ने तीन पराठे खाए
  5. राज ने हिंदी बोलने की कोशिश की
  6. मैं उसका नाम भूल गया
  7. क्या उन्होंने तुम्हें थोड़ा पानी दिया?
  8. मैं अपने दोस्त को दूकान में मिला
  9. क्या तुमने कभी महाभारत पढ़ी है?
  10. राज ने पिछले साल प्रीति से शादी कर ली

4 replies on “Ergativity”

Hai..In the sentence, मैं अपने दोस्त को दूकान में मिला…shouldnt it be ‘dosth se mila’? pls clarify

Hai..Which is the correct infinitive form of the verb ‘pahunchna’ or ‘pahunchaana’ ??Or do both exist? If so, pls let me know.Thanq..Sorry if I am disturbing you with more questions..I am really willing to learn Hindi and I have found your site as the right place..Thanq

Hey, Divija. It’s okay; you’re welcome to ask questions. I’m glad this site is useful to you. You’ve discovered another example of a pair of transitive/intransitive verbs in Hindi. Read this article for more examples: https://hindilanguage.info/hindi-grammar/verbs/transitivity/ Both पहुंचना and पहुंचाना are verbs in Hindi. पहुंचना is intransitive. That means that it has no object. It means “to arrive”, “to reach (a destination)”. Notice the vowel change: we just change “अ” to “आ” to make “पहुंचाना”. “पहुंचाना” means, literally, “to make something arrive”, i.e. “to deliver”. Do you see the pattern? Read the article about transitivity for many more examples of this pattern.

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