Posted by Nash Biani
Neelam and Parvez :
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English Aam Kulfi
Mast Mast !
SEASON 1
No 2
No 2
Neelam and Parvez :
Mangoes and Milk Page 2
HOW TO LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH THE FUN WAY AND ENJOY ENGLISH GRAMMAR LESSONS
Hello and welcome to the second part of English Aam Kulfi # 2. As I had mentioned in the first part of this episode, we have a lot to learn from this small conversation. Before we start off, I must say I am sorry for the very long interval between my last post and this one. The fact is that I haven't been too well and my lectures at my centre in Navi Mumbai have been taking up a lot of my time too. But I think everything should be better now.
Coming to the conversation between our friends Neelam and Parvez, let's see what we can get out of it and how it will help us speak more natural sounding English. Always remember, word to word translations don't really work all the time. It is better to use what sounds natural (and sensible) in English.
नीलम : वो सब छोड़ो।
Some of you might have thought of translating this as 'Leave all that.' If Neelam was talking about leaving some objects at some place and going away from there, that would make sense. Suppose Neelam and Parvez were at the local grocery store where they bought a lot of stuff. Neelam needs some of that urgently and the rest could be delivered later by the store. So, she could say to Parvez,"Let's take just these things with us. Leave all that here, they'll send it home later."
But in this conversation, what Neelam really means is stop thinking about those weird ideas of yours. So, she says:
'Forget all that.'
This is an imperative sentence (you don't have to remember that it is an imperative sentence!) and it is also a collocation so you need to practice saying it.
नीलम : एक बात कहूं - I bet many of you were stumped by this small phrase. What did you try? Did you try something like these?
'Tell you one talk.'
'Say you a talk.'
Well, no. That would not fit the bill here.They are grammatically wrong too.What you need is one of these collocations:
'Tell you what?'
Or
'Tell you something?'
These collocations also need to be practised.
नीलम : हम आम का मिल्कशेक बनाते हैं। In the translation of this, we find a very helpful contraction and, in a way, a small structure : let's.
This small word 'let's' is so very helpful and can be used with the first form of many verbs:
1. 'Let's make mango milkshake.'
2. 'Let's go.'
3. 'Let's eat.'
4. 'Let's eat out tonight.'
5. 'Let's watch the serial on TV.'
In fact, we will come across this word very often in our lessons and we will also do a small mehfil on this sometime.
परवेज़ : अच्छा आईडिया है।
This of course can be translated easily. The word 'idea' has become a part of our modern Hindi.
Some of the collocations that can be used here are:
That's a good idea.
Good idea!
Wonderful idea!
Great idea!
That's an idea.
That's a nice idea.
Nice idea!
नीलम : तुम बाज़ार से आम और दूध ले आओ।
Here the collocation used by Neelam is 'Go get some'.
She could also have said,'Get some'. Both of these are very useful and you should practise these. You can use them in many situations:
1. 'Go get some pencils from the stationery shop.'
2. 'Get some salt from the kitchen please.'
3. 'Get some tomatoes when you go to the market today.'
4. 'Go get yourself a haircut.'
परवेज़ : अभी जाऊं ?
This we have translated as 'Shall I go now?'
This falls somewhere between making an offer and making a suggestion in this case. Generally, this can be used for either of these purposes. Look at these examples:
1. 'Shall I call a taxi for you?'
2. 'Shall I get you something to drink?'
3. 'Shall I close the window? It's getting quite cold in here.'
नीलम : नहीं, परसों जाना।
Neelam is teasing Parvez, telling him he should go the day after tomorrow. These terms for the days around the time of speaking are important for us and we will discuss them in an English Aam Spoken English Mehfil some other time.
परवेज़ : क्या मतलब?
Did you try
'What meaning?'
or
'What is meaning?'
That would be wrong.
Remember what I said about word to word translations? We get here a very nice and useful collocation:
What do you mean?
This small question can be very handy as you can see in these examples:
1. 'Sometimes I wonder if I'm working in the right place.'
'What do you mean?'
'I mean, my education is being wasted in this company.'
2. 'We'll have to cancel the bus booking we did.'
'What do you mean?'
'The picnic has been put off till next month.'
नीलम : जैसा सवाल वैसा जवाब।
Here I have used a saying in English:
Ask a silly question, get a silly answer.
(Some people substitute 'stupid' for 'silly'.)
Sayings, idioms, a line of poetry, quotations all add to the beauty of any language. Here, this often used saying fits so nicely.
नीलम : तुम्हे क्या लगता है?
This of course is very simply translated as:
What do you think?
This question also is a very useful collocation (as we use the term) because we can use it to our advantage quite frequently:
1.'I need a leave from work for a week but I got two days off just a fortnight ago.What do you think? Will the boss agree?'
2. 'So, what do you think? Will this movie be a hit?'
'I don't know... What do you think?'
'Well, the chances are it might be the biggest flop
of the year.'
3. 'What do you think? Will it rain today?'
'Yes, I think so.'
नीलम : कब जाना चाहिए तुम्हे?
In this question we find the use of the modal verb should. No, you don't have to remember it's a modal :) Just try to understand how and where it has been used in this sentence. I carries a sense of duty or something required of somebody. In fact, we should be looking at other question words too. (Notice the 'should' in this sentence!)
1. 'When should you pay?'
2. 'How should I fill this form?'
3. 'Where should we set up our stall at the fair?'
4. 'How many branches should the company have in
India?'
5. 'Whom should Danish talk to at your office?'
6. 'There are two files on the table. Which (one) should I send to you?'
7. 'Who should go to Delhi - Vijay or Yunus?'
परवेज़ : ठीक है, ठीक है।
This word can mean different things in English.
Here, it can be :
'Okay, okay!'
or
'All right, all right!'
or even,
'Fine, fine!'
परवेज़ : अभी चला जाता हूँ।
This form of the present tense in Hindi can be variously translated into English as:
I'll go now.
I'll go right now.
or, loosely,
I'm going now.
I'm going right now.
नीलम : अब क्या हुआ?
We may be tempted here to say:
'What happened now?'
But, once again, remember what I said about word to word translations. Very often they don't work or they don't make sense. So, use:
'Now what?'
This small collocation will help you many,many times in your daily conversations.
You have left your home to go to the movies and you are rather late for the show. You have barely reached the bus stop when your sister (it could be anyone) says, 'Oops!'
You say, 'Now what?'
She says,'I forgot to get the tickets. They are in my drawer.'
You say, 'Great!'
नीलम :जाते क्यों नहीं ?
Once again a small but very handy collocation.
Here, we have translated as:
'Why don't you go?'
But the collocation actually is:
'Why don't you...'
For example:
In these questions, we are asking for a reason.
1. 'Why don't you come on time? Do you have a
problem waking up early?'
2. 'Why don't you eat sweets? Are you diabetic?'
3. 'Why don't you speak with your sister? Have you
quarrelled?'
In the questions below, we are making a suggestion.
1. 'Why don't you take a bus? It will be cheaper than a
taxi.'
2. 'Why don't you talk with your father? I'm sure he'll
understand.'
3. 'Why don't you try the dosas here? They are marvellous!'
परवेज़ : पैसे तो दो...
No prizes for guessing the collocation here:
give me some
It could be anything:
1. 'Give me some money.'
2. 'Give me some paper.'
3. 'Give me some pins.'
4. 'Give me some more time.'
5. 'Give me some water.'
नीलम : क्या ?
Quite simply,
'What?'
परवेज़: मज़ाक कर रहा हूँ बाबा।
This is helpful when you are teasing someone lightly:
'Im joking!'
'I'm just joking!'
'I'm kidding!'
'I'm just kidding!'
So, you see the conversation in English consists almost entirely of collocations. Now are you starting to understand the incredible power of collocations in learning to speak English the natural way?
Please write down these collocations in your
English Aam Spoken English Collocations Book.
forget all that
fit the bill
Tell you what?
Tell you something?
let's make
let's go
let's eat
let's watch
That's a good idea.
Good idea!
Wonderful idea!
Great idea!
That's an idea.
That's a nice idea.
Nice idea!
go get some
get some
Shall I...
What do you mean?
Ask a silly question, get a silly answer.
What do you think?
Okay, okay!
All right, all right!
Fine, fine!
why don't you...
give me some
Im joking!
I'm just joking!
I'm kidding!
I'm just kidding!
to be stumped (I was stumped by his question)
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