# Hindi: Hindi nahi atta (or atti) hai



## albondiga

Hi all,

I've gotten conflicting information on this, hope someone can resolve it for me... if I want to say in Hindi "I don't understand X, I only understand Y," would I say (for example): "Hindi nahi _atta _hai, silf Gujarati _atta _hai" or "Hindi nahi _atti _hai, silf Gujarati _atti _hai"... I was taught the former originally, was corrected to say the latter, then was corrected again to use the former...

Does it vary by dialect? (I was getting input from people all over India)... Does it depend on whether you're male or female (I'm male, but maybe someone was playing a trick on me by teaching me what a woman would say!)

Any input greatly appreciated!


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## panjabigator

"I don't understand X, I only understand Y."  You are pretty close.

/mujhe x nahii aataa hai, sirf Y aataa hai/
/mujhe hindi nahii aatii hai, sirf gujarati aatii hai/

The /mujhe/ can be optional...but it depends on the context.

In this case, the phrase would be the same for both men and women.  As for dialects, the phrase would be different in different dialects, but I only know standard Hindi.


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## albondiga

Thanks, sorry about not being familiar with the standard transliteration of the sounds...

So, I'm guessing the "aataa" vs. "aatii" is based on the gender of the noun?  Would all languages (English, Spanish, etc.) get "aatii" if I was talking about whether I understand them or not?

Incidentally, it has been mostly Gujaratis giving me input on the little bit of Hindi I've learned so far, so if anyone familiar with dialects of Hindi as spoken in different regions can contribute that would be great as well...


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## linguist786

I would definitely say "aataa"! 

"Mujhe Hindi nahii aatii hai" sounds a bit.. strange to me. Maybe this is because I am Gujarati?
"aatii" would be used for feminine words, but who said "Hindi" is feminine? (I'm not saying it isn't, I'm just interested - really)



> So, I'm guessing the "aataa" vs. "aatii" is based on the gender of the noun?


Yes that's right. But what gender is "Hindi"? I'm not actually sure.. I've never "studied" Hindi so I wouldn't know. Have you seen somewhere that it is feminine? If so, then it would certainly be "aatii".


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## albondiga

Interesting... two responses so far, one says "aatii" and the other "aataa"... so nothing has been cleared up!

Maybe the question of the gender of the noun "Hindi" (or other languages) varies by region? (i.e., in some regions the noun "Hindi" is considered feminine and in others the noun "Hindi" is considered masculine?) 

Oddly enough, the first person who taught me "aataa" in this phrase was actually a Tamil from Pondicherry, living then in Gujarat...  I can't recall who first corrected me to "aatii," or who then corrected me back to "aataa" (it was a little while ago; at the very least, they were living in Gujarat at the time, but may not have been Gujarati themselves)...  Then I ask the question here, and I get told "aatii" by a Panjabi and "aataa" by a Gujarati...

Anyone else care to contribute?


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## panjabigator

I am pretty sure that languages are feminine.


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## albondiga

Follow-up question:

I was taught the above in India... *(mujhe) hindi nahii aatii hai

*However, now I'm using a course that has been telling me: *main hindi nahii samajhtaa hoon*... (sorry if this is transcribed poorly, it's audio-only)

I can tell there's a slight grammatical difference (If I'm interpreting right, the first is something like "for me there is no understanding" and the second is a bit closer to a literal translation of "I don't understand," though still not exactly literal... is this an accurate interpretation?)...  I have also encountered this other word for "understand" elsewhere (e.g., in song titles like "samjho na", etc.)...

But, practically speaking, are these two phrases interchangeable?  Do they have any slightly different connotations/meanings?  Is one more formal than the other?  (I ask the latter question since this course in general seems much more formal than what I was taught in India...)

Thanks!


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## panjabigator

Well, here is my two bits:

/mujhe hi.ndii nahii.n aatii hai/ 
English: I don't know Hindi.
It could also mean "I don't understand it" but in this case, I feel the statement focuses on your ability to not only comprehend the language but speak it as well (implicit in this type of "understanding").

/mai.n hi.ndii nahii.n samajhataa  huu~n/
English: I don't understand Hindi.
In this sentence, the speaker doesn't necesarily have to be able to speak the language.  They just don't understand it.  

The diference between the statements is between knowing and understanding.  I hope this is clear in my explanation (let me know and I can try and explain it better.  Or perhaps Linguist can too

In a song title like /samjho na/, it can be several things.  The /samjho/ is the informal /tum/ command for "to understand."  The /na/ can be several things.  It can either be a polite statement the loosely translates to "won't you?"  Or it can be a negative "don't."  So your options are:
1) Understand [this or me (implied)], wont you? 
2) Don't understand.
These are literal interpretations.



> But, practically speaking, are these two phrases interchangeable?


No

There is no diference in formality either.


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## albondiga

panjabigator said:


> The diference between the statements is between knowing and understanding.  I hope this is clear in my explanation (let me know and I can try and explain it better.  Or perhaps Linguist can too



Thanks, it makes a lot of sense! 



panjabigator said:


> The /na/ can be several things.



Yes, I'm somewhat familiar with the many uses of "na" already


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## linguist786

Panjabigator has given a top-notch explanation, but I will still give my two cents:

*(mujhe) hindi nahii aatii hai

*literally this means: "to me - hindi - not - coming - is" (word for word)
so it's trying to say "hindi is not coming to me"/"hindi does not come to me" meaning that you just don't know Hindi.

_*main hindi nahii samajhtaa hoon
(or samajhtee hooN if you're female)

*_This literally means "I - Hindi - not - understand - am"
so it's trying to say "I do not understand Hindi"

like panja explained, the difference is not huge (just like the English really). If you say "I don't know English", obviously you just can't speak it or understand it. If you say "I don't understand English", then how can you be able to speak it? Obviously if you don't understand it, then you can't speak it! So I'd say they're all really the same thing.
Just think about it in terms of English - it's the same concept ("I don't know English"/"I don't understand English")

I would say they _are _interchangeable.

As for the "samjho na", I would definitely say it means "understand, (won't you?)" as opposed to the other interpretation panja explained. The reason is because it's in a song title. The title is probably what a guy is saying to a girl (or vice-versa) - "please understand". The "na" makes it slightly more emphatic and makes you sound more "desperate".

If it was the other interpretation that panja explained ("don't understand") then it would be the other way round "na samjho". I don't think you'd spontaneously say "samjho na" if you wanted to say "don't understand".


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## panjabigator

Na samjho is correct.  But you can also say it the other way (although less likely).  I feel like this could be executed with proper usage of tone.

Aisii chiizen karo na (dont do).
or
Aisii chiizen karo mat.


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## linguist786

panjabigator said:


> Aisii chiizen karo na (dont do).


To me, that would mean "do these (type of) things, will you?", rather than "Don't do these type of things". No matter what kind of tone you say it in.

What kind of tone are you suggesting? (Where do you place the stress for instance?)


> Aisii chiizen karo mat.


I agree this is another good way of expressing it


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## panjabigator

Oh you know what the issue was...it is correct to say "karo na" in Panjabi for the Hindi/Urdu "karo mat."  I was confusing languages...it sounds fine to me for that reason!  Thanks for helping me realize!


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## albondiga

Thanks, I've got a better sense of this now... but now that I'm understanding the sentence *(mujhe) hindi nahii aatii hai *as "I don't know Hindi" I've got one final thing to confirm.  Please let me know if my understanding of the below is correct...

*(mujhe) X nahii aatii hai* would be used in the sense of "having knowledge" only for something like a language, while _*main nahii jaantaa hoon*_ would still be the expression to use to express knowing a piece of information or something similar, correct?  For example:

-Do you know Hindi?  *(mujhe) hindi nahii aatii hai

*-Do you know how to say "airplane" in Hindi?  _*main nahii jaantaa hoon
*_
Are those both accurate?


(Finally, I simply can't resist this: if someone asks me how to say "I don't know" in Hindi, should I say _*main nahii jaantaa hoon*_? )


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## linguist786

albondiga said:


> Thanks, I've got a better sense of this now... but now that I'm understanding the sentence *(mujhe) hindi nahii aatii hai *as "I don't know Hindi" I've got one final thing to confirm. Please let me know if my understanding of the below is correct...
> 
> *(mujhe) X nahii aatii hai* would be used in the sense of "having knowledge" only for something like a language, while _*main nahii jaantaa hoon*_ would still be the expression to use to express knowing a piece of information or something similar, correct? For example:
> 
> -Do you know Hindi? *(mujhe) hindi nahii aatii hai*
> 
> -Do you know how to say "airplane" in Hindi? _*main nahii jaantaa hoon*_
> 
> Are those both accurate?
> 
> 
> (Finally, I simply can't resist this: if someone asks me how to say "I don't know" in Hindi, should I say _*main nahii jaantaa hoon*_? )


Yes, you have hit the nail on the head.

"kuCh jaannaa" is to know a piece of information, or one certain "thing".
"[mujhe/tujhe etc] kuCh aanaa" is to know a concept, an idea, or something that usually needs to be learnt.

I don't know whether that's the best explanation. Panjabigator should add 

You're examples are spot on  (all correct)

Finally, *I don't know* is, as you said, _*maiN nahiiN jaantaa hooN*_ (or _*jaantee*_ if you're female). You would also hear *mujhe nahiiN pataa* which is just the same thing.


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## albondiga

linguist786 said:


> "kuCh jaannaa" is to know a piece of information, or one certain "thing".
> "[mujhe/tujhe etc] kuCh aanaa" is to know a concept, an idea, or something that usually needs to be learnt.



Thanks, that's exactly the distiction I was perceiving


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