ENGLISH CONVERSATION PRACTICE-English Aam Kulfi Season 1# 3-Parvez & Sushil:Waiting For The Lift-How To Improve My Spoken English? Grammar Lesson:Learn To Speak

Posted by Nash Biani 

English Aam Kulfi 

                   Mast Mast !

                    SEASON 1

                   No 3    

           Parvez and Sushil :
            Waiting for the Lift                    Page 2 

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Hey guys, today is a really wonderful day. I mean we are celebrating two festivals today. It is Eid-e-Milad and Makar Shankranti together today, so - double fun! How many of you guys flew kites today? Have fun everybody but spare a few minutes for your English Aam Kulfi Mast Mast!

How to learn to speak English by speaking with people  in English. 

I hope you have tried the translation quiz I posted yesterday. It is the sort of conversation we have with our friends and neighbours almost every day. Were you able to make out who Sushil is? There is a small clue in the conversation. We know that Parvez has just left for the market and there is a mention of a lift in the conversation. What that does that tell you about Sushil? Who could Sushil be?

As we go along in our story with English Aam Kulfi Mast Mast! you will be introduced to many people. In a story, such people are called characters. So up to now we know something about three characters in our …serial! J

Of course, we will meet more people and get to know a lot about them as we go along. We will try to be with them as they go along with their lives. We will see them in their work places, in their homes, in their shopping malls. We will enjoy movies and dinners with them and we will share their joys, sorrow, aspirations and disappointments. All in English.

But hey, it will be fun only if you try to work on the translation quizzes, all right? So please do try to solve the quizzes.

Now, let’s look at how we can translate this conversation into English. Remember, this translation (with options at certain places) is just one among several ways of saying all this in English.

 Spoken English in real life situations helps us to learn to speak better English.

सुशिल: हाई परवेज़,कैसे हो?

Sushil: Hi Parvez, how are you?

This greeting and of course, quite a few others, is used only when we meet someone we know. If we meet someone for the first time, there are other ways of greeting which we will see in later lessons. So the way Sushil greets Parvez tells us that the two know each other and are friendly.

परवेज़: ठीक हूँ। तुम कैसे हो? 

Parvez: I'm okay. How are you?

Now here, instead of 'okay' Parvez could also have said 'fine'. 

सुशिल: ठीक हूँ। 

Sushil: I'm fine.

Sushil could have said, 

'I'm okay.' 

'I'm okay too.'

'I'm fine.'

'I'm fine too.'

All these are collocations (as we define collocations in the English Aam Spoken English Programme) and they need to be practised well.

परवेज़: आज छुट्टी है तुम्हें?

Parvez: You have a holiday today?

The actual question should be

'Do you have a holiday today?'

Such questions are called 'yes or no' questions because the answer to such a question will begin with either a 'yes' or a 'no'. In our programme we also call such questions 'confirmation' questions. Such questions can be asked in almost any tense or sub-tense (again, as we call them!) and they start with the helping or auxiliary verb. However, when speaking English people very often drop the helping verb so that their English sounds less formal and more natural. We will see many,many examples of this in the days ahead.

सुशिल: हाँ है तो। और तुम्हे?

Sushil: Yes, I do. And you?

Both parts of Sushil's reply are collocations for us. Let's consider the first part - Yes, I do. This is called a short answer. It starts with yes or no and ends in the helping verb contained in the question. In this case, although Sushil doesn't use the helping verb 'do' it is understood to be there as the tense used is the Simple Present Tense. Be careful here, as sometimes people make the mistake of saying

'Yes, I have.'

That would be wrong. Consider this:

'(Have) You got a holiday today?'

'Yes, I have.'

This is correct.

Now let's have a look at the second part of Sushil's reply which is actually a question - And you? This is again a collocation (at least for us) and we will use it in many situations so practise it very well. It's small but very useful.

परवेज़: मुझे भी छुट्टी है। 

Parvez : I have a holiday too.

सुशिल: तो आज छुट्टी मनाओगे?

Sushil: So, will you enjoy your holiday today?

                                 OR

           So, you'll enjoy your holiday today?

The first option here is the more grammatically correct one but most people, when the speak English casually, would use the second. In either case, the helping verb is 'will'. So, when Parvez gives a short answer, he uses will to end it as we see below.

परवेज़: हाँ मनाएंगे तो। 

Parvez: Yes, I will.

Refer to the discussion we had earlier in this lesson about using helping verbs in short answers and what we discussed in the paragraph just before this. Don't worry we will discuss the structure of the short answer again and again as we get chances to do so.

सुशिल: कोई ख़ास?

Sushil: Anything special?

This is a short cut. What Sushil means is obviously,

'Have you planned anything special?'

                     OR

'Are you doing anything special?'

But this short question is good enough. It's a collocation that we will find very handy. 
परवेज़: ऐसा है कि कुछ मेहमान आ रहें हैं। 

Parvez: Well, we have some guests coming over.

                                 OR

            Well, we are expecting some guests.

Look at the use of the word 'well' in these sentences. It fills in for -ऐसा है कि . 'Well' has other meanings and uses too which we will look into as the opportunity arises.

 सुशिल: अच्छा है।  

Sushil: That's nice.

परवेज़: लो लिफ्ट आगयी। 

Parvez: 'There's the lift!'

                      OR

             'Here's the lift!'

So, how did you do? Keep doing these translation quizzes and very soon you'll find them very easy. They will help you speak the English you want because I have designed these conversations on the principle of 'volume and repetition' which is the basis of our total immersion programme - English Aam Spoken English Programme'

Here's the full conversation: 

Sushil: Hi Parvez, how are you?

Parvez: I'm okay. How are you?

Sushil: I'm fine.

Parvez: You have a holiday today?

Sushil: Yes, I do. And you?

Parvez : I have a holiday too.

Sushil:  So, you'll enjoy your holiday today?

Parvez: Yes, I will.

Sushil: Anything special?

Parvez: Well, we have some guests coming over.

Sushil: That's nice.

Parvez: 'There's the lift!' 

 सुशिल: हाई परवेज़,कैसे हो?

 परवेज़: ठीक हूँ। तुम कैसे हो? 

सुशिल: ठीक हूँ। 

परवेज़: आज छुट्टी है तुम्हें?

सुशिल: हाँ है तो। और तुम्हे?

परवेज़: मुझे भी छुट्टी है। 

सुशिल: तो आज छुट्टी मनाओगे?

परवेज़: हाँ मनाएंगे तो। 

सुशिल: कोई ख़ास?

परवेज़: ऐसा है कि कुछ मेहमान आ रहें हैं। 

सुशिल: अच्छा है। 

परवेज़: लो लिफ्ट आगयी। 

Write down the following in your English Aam Spoken English Collocations book.

1. How are you?

2. I'm okay.

3. I'm fine.

4. And you?

5. You have a

6. Do you have a

7. You have a book?

8. Yes, I do.

9. Yes, I will.

10. anything special?

11. we have

12. we have some

13. we have some guests

14. That's nice!

See how the entire conversation was full of collocations.

Please let me know how you like this episode of English Aam Kulfi Mast Mast! by making a comment in the comment box below.

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Kulfi # 2

Kulfi # 3