नाम – name (What is your name? (7/29/2009) My name is.. (8/5/2009) And yours? (8/17/2009) Questions and Answers about Names)
What is your name?? आपका नाम क्या है? (aap-ka naam kyaa hai?)
One of the first things you want to learn when meeting someone is their name. Use the phrase आपका नाम क्या है? (aap-ka naam kyaa hai?).
Let us look at each of the words in this sentence.
आपका (aap-kaa) is made of two parts. First is the word “आप” (aap) which means “you”. There are several versions of “you” in Hindi. This is the most formal and polite. When we add “का” (kaa) to it, we change the meaning from “you” to “yours”. The का (kaa) show’s possession and can be used in much the same way as apostrophe s, i.e. ” ‘s ” is in English.
The next word is नाम (naam). This word means “name”.
क्या (kyaa) means “what”
है (hai) means “is”.
Notice that in English we say “What is your name?” but the structure of this sentence in Hindi is “Your name what is?”. You will notice this different sentence order in a lot of Hindi sentences with the verb coming at the end of the sentence.
Let us hear some other Hindi speakers say this phrase. Try repeating it just like they do.
Now, next time you meet a Hindi speaker, you can ask their name!
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6 Comments
mianda October 28, 2009 at 3:26 pm
plzz tell me what my name means because no one in my family knows & i realli want to know th emeaning of it, so that o can be able to tell people when they ask me. Thank you!
suresh July 9, 2010 at 1:14 am
Dear Miranda:
The good search indicates the following. I could not get Mianda word. You need to remember one thing, as the decades/century paas bye, the spellings also have changed. Like I have seen in Dakshinachatra, a Heritage center in chennai, India how Tamil alphabets went on changing over centuries.
The girl’s name Miranda \m(i)-ran-
da, mir(a)-nda\ is pronounced mer-ANN-dah. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is “worthy of admiration”. In Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, Miranda is an innocent girl raised and educated on an isolated island by her magician father.
Thank you.
You learned how to ask what someone’s name is, but how do you answer it? With the phrase “मेरा नाम ____ है।” (meraa naam _____ hai.) For example, if my name was राम (raam) then I would say, “My name is Ram.” by saying “मेरा नाम राम है।” (meraa naam raam hai). Try putting your name in this sentence.
Let us look at each work in this phrase:
मेरा (meraa) means “my”.
नाम (naam) means “name”.
The next word should be your name.
And finally the sentence is ended with है (hai) which means “is”.
Let us look at the word order. In English we say “My name is Ram.” but in Hindi we would say “My name Ram is.”. The verb comes at the end of the sentence.
Now let us hear some other speakers say this phrase.
Do you remember how to ask what someone’s name is? आपका नाम क्या है? (aapka naam kyaa hai?) What is your name?
Let us hear some examples of Hindi speakers asking “What is your name?” with the answer in the format “My name is _____.”
» And yours? और आपका? (aur aapkaa?)
Someone has asked you for your name. You tell them. Now you want to ask them their name. You could use the phrase “What is your name?” (आपका नाम क्या है? – aapkaa naam kyaa hai?). However, there is a shorter phrase you could use “And yours?” (और आपका? – aur aapkaa?).
» Questions and Answers about Names
This is the first of four follow up lessons on the Feb. 20, 2010 episode Conversation with Sandeep and Meenakshi. This one will be about asking about people’s names and answering those questions. The next one will be about asking about people’s work. The third one will be about asking if people are vegetarians. And the final one will go over the parts regarding people’s preference for tea or coffee.
Before we get started, I wanted to point out that we have created a special treat for our Paid ISpeakHindi.com subscriber’s related to this. We have broken up the conversation into 39 parts, which can be played individually. Each line will be explained giving the text in Hindi, transliterated in the Latin script, and the meanings explained. This can make it more convenient to understand the audio. If you are paid subscriber, just follow this link:
http://www.ispeakhindi.com/nathan-with-sandeep-and-meenakshi-line-by-line/
Here is a screenshot to give you an idea of what to expect:
If you are interested in becoming a paid ISpeakHindi.com subscriber, it is only $12 for 6 months. You can find out more here: http://www.ispeakhindi.com/become-a-member/
First, let us look at asking about someone’s name:
आपका नाम क्या है? (aap-kaa naam kyaa hain) What is your name?
आपकी पत्नी का नाम क्या है। (aap-kii pat-nii kaa naam kyaa hai) What is your wife’s name?
आपके पति का नाम क्या है। (aap-kii pa-ti kaa naam kyaa hai) What is your husband’s name?
आपके मित्र का नाम क्या है? (aap-ke mi-tra kaa naam kyaa hai) What is your friend’s name?
उसका नाम क्या है? (us-kaa naam kyaa hai?) What is his name?
(What is her name?)
(What is its name?)
मेरा नाम संदीप है। (me-raa naam san-diip hai) My name is Sandeep.
मेरी पत्नी का नाम मीनाक्षी है। (me-rii pat-nii ka naam mii-naa-kshii hai) My wife’s name is Meenakshi.
मेरी मित्र का नाम सोनिया प्राईस है। (me-rii mi-tra kaa naam so-ni-yaa praa-ii-s hai) My friend’s name is Sonia Price.
उसका नाम राम है। (us-kaa naam raam hai) His name is Ram.
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