# Hindi: jana



## lcfatima

I heard a Hindi speaker calling people _jana_, but this person is not a native, and I couldn't figure out if this was interference from her first language or if this is possible in Hindi. 

e.g.

Yeh sirf ek jana ke liye theek hai.


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## panjabigator

Yes, we use this in my family too.  I think it derives from the Hindi for "people" <ja.ntā> (Devanagari: जन्ता).  In Panjabi, it's common to hear <janānī> for "woman" as well, and this seems to be a cognate with the Persian "zanān."


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## BP.

Yeah its the word for _person_. Every Gujrati and Khoja person in Karachi as well as some Urdu speakers call people _*jan/jun*_ or *jannay*. But most of us don't use it, since we're caught in the mire of higher-register usage and call people *afraad* - _individuals_.

I see the french _gens_ coming from the same origins.


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## lcfatima

Yes, I have heard of janaani in Potohaari, I didn't know it was in all Punjabi. I always thought it was some derivative of zanaana. But that is true, they say jana, too. Must actually be from Sanskrit. I think Faylasoof mention zan used to be jan before that j to z shift in Farsi.


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## Faylasoof

lcfatima said:


> I heard a Hindi speaker calling people _jana_, but this person is not a native, and I couldn't figure out if this was interference from her first language or if this is possible in Hindi.
> 
> e.g.
> 
> Yeh sirf ek jana ke liye theek hai.



Wow! I'm hearing this after a long time. The way some of my non-native Hundi-Urdu friends used this at school would make your sentence slightly different:

<Yeh sirf ek _*jayne*_ ke liye Theek hai>

<This is enough / appropraite for one _*person*_ only>

- they used it without gender distinction.


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## BP.

So is it *جنا* or *جنہ*? The first may have the implication of having been born as flesh and blood, like humans are.


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## Faylasoof

Hard to say. The way I recall it they would use the same for singular and pural, masculine and feminine. I never found out where they got it from. Well, in middle primary school I wasn't that keen on such details.

Edit! 

After some hard recollection I think I ought to correct the above. I feel there perhaps was a difference between singular and plural but certainly not between gender! So it quite likely was <ek jana> and <do jayne> or the <ek jayne> of inflection in the example in post #5


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## arsham

Just a side note: in Old Persian, zana- (cf. Sanskrit janah-)meant people and as you know in Middle Persian and New Persian zan means woman (cf. Sanskrit jan- to be borne, MPers. and NPers. zaadan). Do you still use naarii for woman in Hindi/Urdu?


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## Faylasoof

In Urdu-Hindi for woman we use: 3urat 

  For <lady> we have:   SaaHibah / khaToon / xaanam / begum SaaHibah / biibii etc.

<naarii> we never used in my family. Come to think of it I have not read it in any Urdu text either. Hindi is a different matter.


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## panjabigator

Yes, you can but it's not all that common.  <nār> and <nārī> both mean woman.  I don't know how often it is used in Urdu, but it's certainly present in Hindi.  I've only encountered it in song and literature, however.

The common word for woman in Hindi/Urdu is <'aurat>, but <mahila> (Hindi) and <xātūn> (Urdu) are preferred in higher registers.


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## player3

Till the extent I know NAR is for male while NARI is for female in purest form of Hindi. But 'aurat' and 'mahila' is more popular.


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## arsham

Thanks every body, I encountered naarii in my small Sanskrit glossary and thought it might still be alive! Its Middle Persian equivalent, naarig, is completely obsolete!


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## Illuminatus

Here we use jan (zabar)/jana.

Eg. Koi ek jan/jana aao.
yah ek jane ke liye hai.


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## panjabigator

So is this idiomatic Urdu in Lahore?  It's certainly used in Panjabi, but is it something that has trickled into Pakistani Urdu?


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## cweeetguy2000

The term Jane (जने) is used in awadhi a distorted form of Jan (जन) in hindi, I think it made its way into pakistani urdu from awadhi Migrants.


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## akak

Adding, jan/jane is pretty common in Delhi too.


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## Faylasoof

Actually, when in Pakistan I found _jane_ जने being used more by my Gujarati friends than any others.


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## BP.

^ will second that.


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## saarah7

I've never used jana for people and never heard it till today. So its not Pakistani Urdu definitly. We use, (loag aadme) for people, and auret for woman.nari I've heard only in Indian movies.


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## Faylasoof

Actually, _jane_ जने is not Urdu proper, be it spoken in India or Pakistan. I have heard it in Pakistan  but as I say above, mostly from my Gujarati friends -and those (rare) Urduphones who were either influenced by them or were being just   obliging.


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## saarah7

Could any of you write this word in urdu script?I am still at wits end about how is the word pronounced.


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## BP.

It might be written جنا but I'm not absolutely sure.


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## Faylasoof

Yes, for singular it'll be جنا but for plural, جنے.
However, as I said above, it is really not used in Urdu proper.


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## Qureshpor

lcfatima said:


> I heard a Hindi speaker calling people _jana_, but this person is not a native, and I couldn't figure out if this was interference from her first language or if this is possible in Hindi.
> 
> e.g.
> 
> Yeh sirf ek jana ke liye theek hai.



In Punjabi, the "n"is retroflex.

ik jaNRaa te janaanii

A man and a woman.

For person, we use "bandah"!

In Dilip Kumar's Devdas, when he is talking to Paro, he says something like.. "agar do jane pyaar kar baiTheN..." (If two persons happen to fall in love...)

In


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## rahulbemba

lcfatima said:


> I heard a Hindi speaker calling people _jana_, but this person is not a native, and I couldn't figure out if this was interference from her first language or if this is possible in Hindi.
> 
> e.g.
> 
> Yeh sirf ek jana ke liye theek hai.



Yes, "jana" is Hindi word meaning "person". 

Yeh sirf ek jana ke liye theek hai. => This is ok only for one person.

Its root word is Sanskrit. Even it appears in India's national anthem which starts with "jana gana mana adhikayak jaya he". 

"Democracy" is called "jan-tantra" in Hindi. Another word is "Lok-tantra". "Jan" and "lok" both means person (singular of people/public).


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## Qureshpor

rahulbemba said:


> Yes, "jana" is Hindi word meaning "person".
> 
> Yeh sirf ek jana ke liye theek hai. => This is ok only for one person.
> 
> Its root word is Sanskrit. Even it appears in India's national anthem which starts with "jana gana mana adhikayak jaya he".
> 
> "Democracy" is called "jan-tantra" in Hindi. Another word is "Lok-tantra". "Jan" and "lok" both means person (singular of people/public).




Did you mean to write "jane" for "jana" in your sentence?


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## flyinfishjoe

I think the word is जन, pronounced as _jan _in Hindi. In Sanskrit, where the final inherent vowel is kept, it is pronounced _jana_ with a schwa at the end.


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## Faylasoof

QURESHPOR said:


> Originally Posted by *rahulbemba*
> Yes, "jana" is Hindi word meaning "person".
> 
> Yeh sirf ek jana ke liye theek hai. => This is ok only for one person.
> 
> Its root word is Sanskrit. Even it appears in India's national anthem which starts with "jana gana mana adhikayak jaya he".
> 
> "Democracy" is called "jan-tantra" in Hindi. Another word is  "Lok-tantra". "Jan" and "lok" both means person (singular of  people/public).
> 
> 
> 
> Did you mean to write "jane" for "jana" in your sentence?
Click to expand...

 I think you are right! _jana_ is inflected as far as I know here to _jane_: _ek jane ke liye = for one person._... At least that is how I have always heard it being used.



flyinfishjoe said:


> I think the word is जन, pronounced as _jan _in Hindi. In Sanskrit, where the final inherent vowel is kept, it is pronounced _jana_ with a schwa at the end.


 I can see the point you are making but I have always heard it pronounced as _jana_, as in _ek jana_ = _ek shaxs_ (Urdu) = one person, _do jane_ = _do shaxs / ashxaas_ (Urdu) = two persons / people.


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## flyinfishjoe

So with a long a at the end (जना)?


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## Faylasoof

flyinfishjoe said:


> So with a long a at the end (जना)?


 I have only heard it with a short 'a'! Hence I am writing it as '_jana_' and not '_janaa_' in the transliterated form! 

जन
Pronunciation  
jana


Meanings
(noun) 

    body (m)
    fellow (m)
    folks (m)
    person (m)
    tribe (m)
    wight (m)
    population (m)
    public (m)

From Shabdkosh.com


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## flyinfishjoe

Hmm...interesting. I wonder why the last vowel isn't dropped.


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## Qureshpor

Faylasoof said:


> I have only heard it with a short 'a'! Hence I am writing it as '_jana_' and not '_janaa_' in the transliterated form!
> 
> जन
> Pronunciation
> jana
> 
> 
> Meanings
> (noun)
> 
> body (m)
> fellow (m)
> folks (m)
> person (m)
> tribe (m)
> wight (m)
> population (m)
> public (m)
> 
> From Shabdkosh.com



PLATTS gives "janaa" to mean a man/person.


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