Playing Card Names

Today I have decided to post an unusual Hindi lesson. It's about playing card names in Hindi. I personally love playing cards and there was a time when I tried to find their names in Hindi but couldn't. It's unbelievable how big is the Hindi/Urdu language and how little online resources there are. In any case, I think that it's really cool to know names of unusual things in another language. So here it goes:

NOTE: You might notice that some card names shown here are feminine and some are masculine. Ace will always stay masculine as well as Jack and King ("huqam kaa gulaam/baadshaah"). The Queen will always be feminine ("huqam kee begam"). The cards numbered from 2-10 can have a male or female version. For example: "huqam kee dukkee" (f) and "huqam ka dukkaa" (m). In our post we use the female version, but you can use the male version too.

SPADES:

Spades

हुकुम का इक्का	huqum kaa ikkaa	Ace of Spades
हुकुम की दुक्की	huqum kee dukkee	Two of Spades
हुकुम की तिक्की	huqum kee tikkee	Three of Spades
हुकुम की चौकी	huqum kee chaukee	Four of Spades
हुकुम की पंजी	huqum kee panjee	Five of Spades
हुकुम की छक्की	huqum kee chakkee	Six of Spades
हुकुम की सत्ती	huqum kee sattee	Seven of Spades
हुकुम की अत्ठी	huqum kee aThee	Eight of Spades
हुकुम का नैल्ला	huqum kaa nellaa	Nine of Spades
हुकुम  का दैल्ला	huqum kaa dellaa	Ten of Spades
हुकुम का गुलाम	huqum kaa gulaam	Jack of Spades
हुकुम की बेगम	huqum kee begam	Queen of Spades
हुकुम का बादशाह	huqum kaa baadshaah	King of Spades

HEARTS:

Hearts

पान का इक्का paan kaa ikkaa Ace of Hearts पान की दुक्की paan kee dukkee Two of Hearts पान की तिक्की paan kee tikkee Three of Hearts पान की चौकी paan kee chaukee Four of Hearts पान की पंजी paan kee panjee Five of Hearts पान की छक्की paan kee chhakkee Six of Hearts पान की सत्ती paan kee sattee Seven of Hearts पान की अत्ठी  paan kee atThee Eight of Hearts पान का नैल्ला (नैल्ली) paan kaa naillaa Nine of Hearts पान का दैल्ला paan kaa daillaa Ten of Hearts पान का गुलाम paan kaa gulaam Jack of Hearts पान की बेगम paan kee begam Queen of Hearts पान का बादशाह paan kaa baadshaah King of Hearts

CLUBS:

Clubs

चिड़ी का इक्का	chiDee kaa ikkaa	Ace of Clubs
चिड़ी की दुक्की	chiDee kee dukkee	Two of Clubs
चिड़ी की तिक्की	chiDee kee tikkee	Three of Clubs
चिड़ी की चौक्की	chiDee kee chaukkee	Four of Clubs
चिड़ी की पंजी	chiDeee kee panjee	Five of Clubs
चिड़ी की छक्की	chiDee kee chhakkee	Six of Clubs
चिड़ी की सत्ती	chiDee kee sattee	Seven of Clubs
छिड़ी की अत्ठी	chiDee kee atThee	Eight of Clubs
छिड़ी का नैल्ला नैल्ली	chiDee kaa naillaa (naillee)	Nine of Clubs
चिड़ी का दैल्ला	chiDee kaa daillaa	Ten of Clubs
चिड़ी का गुलाम	chiDee kaa gulaam	Jack of Clubs
छिड़ी की बेगम	chidee kee begam	Queen of Clubs
चिड़ी का बादशाह	chidee kaa baadshaah	King of Clubs

 DIAMONDS:

Diamonds

ईंट का इक्का	eenT kaa ikkaa	Ace of Diamonds
ईंट की दुक्की	eenT kee dukkee	Two of Diamonds
ईंट की तिक्की	eenT kee tikkee	Three of Diamonds
ईंट की चौक्की	eenT kee chaukkee	Four of Diamonds
ईंट की पंजी	eenT kee panjee	Five of Diamonds
ईंट की छक्की	eenT kee chhakkee	Six of Diamonds
ईंट की सत्ती	eenT kee sattee	Seven of Diamonds
ईंट की अत्ठी	eenT kee atThee	Eight of Diamonds
ईंट की नैल्ला (नैल्ली)	eenT kaa naillaa	Nine of Diamonds
ईंट की दैल्ली	eenT kee daillee	Ten of Diamonds
ईंट का गुलाम	eenT kaa gulaam	Jack of Diamonds
ईंट की बेगम	eenT kee begam	Queen of Diamonds
ईंट का बादशाह	eenT kaa baadshaah	King of Diamonds

MORE INFO:

There probably are several ways of naming the cards in Hindi. Here we demonstrate the most common ones. There are slight variations in how one would call "queen" and "king". Some words used are Urdu and some Hindi. The more usual is the Urdu version.  In this table we can see the extra words that might be useful while playing a card game with an Indian person who doesn't know any English. If you have any questions about the card names in Hindi, please post a comment below.

हुकुम huqam spades "highest order" पान paan hearts "betel leaf" चिड़ी chiDee clubs "bird" ईंट eenT diamonds "brick" लाल पान laal paan hearts "red betel leaf" दिल dil heart "heart" काला पान kaalaa paan spades "black betel leaf" गुलाम gulaam jack (Urdu/Hindi) बेगम begam queen (Urdu) बादशाह baadshaah king (Urdu) रानी raanee queen (Hindi) राजा raajaa king (Hindi) जोकर jokar joker (English) पत्ता pattaa card (unit) "leaf" पत्ते patte cards (many units) "leaves" गद्दी gaddee deck ताश taash cards ताश की गद्दी taash kee gaddee a deck of cards ताश के बावन पत्ते taash ke baavan patte 52 cards बाटना baaTnaa to deal चल थीक है पत्ते बाट! chal theek hai patte baaT! OK, deal! खेल जीतना khel jeetnaa to win the game खेल हारना khel haarnaa to loose the game जीत गया jeet gayaa I/you won (m) जीत गयी jeet gayee I/you won (f) हार गया haar gayaa I/you lost (m) हार गयी haar gayee I/you lost(f)

HINDI VERBS 7 (Simple Past Tense)

We have learned how to use Simple Imperfective (I used to do) and Past Continuous (I am doing) tenses. In Hindi it would sound:

मैं जाता था	Main jaataa thaa	I used to go.
मैं जा रहा था	Main jaa rahaa thaa	I was going.

In both cases, we added different endings to the verb stem “जा” (जाना – jaanaa – to go without the ending “-na”).

At the Taj Mahal complex in Agra

                                                   

The past continuous and past imperfective tenses were quite easy to learn and the reason why I took so much time posting the simple past or perfective tense was because it’s slightly trickier. Why is it trickier? To be able to use the past simple tense properly, we need to learn to differentiate between intransitive and transitive verbs as well as give more attention to the noun genders. We will also need to learn about postposition “ने” (ne).

WHAT ARE TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS? 

Intransitive verbs are those that don't have an object:
"The boy laughed". (We cannot ask: "What did he laugh?")
Transitive verbs are those that have an object:
"The boy read the book". (We can ask: "What did he read?")

1. INTRANSITIVE VERBS

To simply express a completed action that has no object (“I got up”, “I slept”, “He laughed”, “We ran”, “They arrived”) we will use this formula:

Personal pronoun	Verb stem	Ending	Outcome
मैं	उठ	-आ	मैं उठा
Main	uThaa	-aa	Main uThaa
I (m)	get up/rise		I got up/rose
मैं	सो	-या	मैं सोया
Main	so	-yaa	Main soya
I (m)	sleep		I slept
वह	हँस	-ई	वह हँसी
Vah	hans	-ee	Vah hansee
She	laugh		She laughed
हम	भाग	-ए	हम भागे
Ham	bhaag	-e	Ham bhaage
We (m)	run		We ran
वे	पहूँच	-ईँ	वे पहूँचीं
Ve	pahoonch	-een	Ve pahooncheen
They (f)	reach		They reached.

After looking at this table you can work out how intransitive verbs are built. You may notice that the ending varies between -आ, -ए, -ई, -ईँ (-a, -e, -ee, -een). Intransitive verbs agree with the subject, so if the speaker is male, he will say: “Main uthaa” (I got up), a female would say: “Main uthee”, talking about a group of men, we’ll say “Ve uthe” and talking about a group of women, we’ll say: “Ve utheen”, using the nasal sound at the end (I use “n” to note a nasal sound).

लड़का उठा	ladkaa uThaa	A boy got up.
लड़के उठे	ladke uThe	Boys got up.
लड़की उठी	ladkee uThee	A girl got up.
लडकियां उठीं	ladkiyaan uTheen	Girls got up.

So by learning intransitive verbs you will be able to describe the state and motion that happened in the past such as:

मैं सुबह जल्दी उठा।		Main subah jaldee uThaa.		I woke up early in the morning.
मेरी बहिन सड़क पे दौड़ी।		Meree bahin saDak pe daurhee.		My sister ran in the street.
हमारे रिश्तेदार आये।		Hamaare rishtedaar aaye.		Our relatives came.
मेहमान वहा बेठे।		Mehmaan vahaa beThe.		Guest sat there.
रुचिका थोड़ा मुस्कुरायी।		Ruchikaa thoDaa muskuraayee.		Ruchika smiled a little.
किताब मेज़ पर पड़ी थी ।		Kitaab mez par paDee thee.		The book was on the table.
फिर वह यह बोला।		Phir vah yah bola.		Then he said this.
मेरे पति बहार गए थे  ।		Mere pati bahaar gaye the.		My husband went outside.

You may have noticed that some verbs in the perfective tense end with “-aa”, “-e”, “ee” or “een” but there are some that end in “-yaa”, “-ye”, “yee” and “-yeen”.

So all the verbs that have a stem that ends with a consonant, like “हंस+ना” (hans+naa – to laugh) or “भाग+ना” (bhaag+naa – to run), they will use the endings “-aa”, “-e”, “-ee” and “-een”.

These verb stems that end with a vowel will use endings with “ya” in the beginning. For example: “सो+ना” (so+naa – to sleep) will become सो+या (so+yaa – slept); “आ+ना” (aa+naa – to come) will become “आ+या“ (aa+yaa – came).

At the Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur, Rajasthan

                                                   

2. IRREGULAR VERBS IN PERFECTIVE TENSE

Some of the most important and most used Hindi verbs (also called auxiliary verbs) will have irregular form for its perfective tense.

Infinitive	Masculin, sg	Masculine, pl	Feminine, sg	Feminine, pl
आना aanaa to come	आया aayaa came	आए aae came	आई aaee came	आईं aaeen came
करना karnaa to do	किया kiyaa did	किए kie did	की kee did	कीं keen did
जाना jaanaa to go	गया gayaa went	गए gae went	गई gaee went	गईं gaeen went
लेना lenaa to take	लिया liyaa took	लिए lie took	ली lee took	लीं leen took
होना honaa to be, occur	हुआ huaa was, occurred	हुए hue was, occurred	हुई huee was, occurred	हुईं hueen was, occurred

Also give and drink:

Infinitive	M, sg	M, pl	F, sg	F, pl
देना denaa give	दिया diyaa gave	दिए die gave	दी dee gave	दीं deen gave
पीना peenaa drink	पीया piyaa drank	पिए pie drank	पी pee drank	पीं peen drank

EXAMPLES:

पापा कहाँ है?	Papa kahaan hai?	Where is daddy?
पापा बहार गए थे ।	Papa bahaar gae the.	Daddy went abroad/outside.
दादी कहाँ गई?	Dadi kahaan gaee?	Where did your grandma go?
दादी बाज़ार गई।	Dadi baazaar gaee.	Grandma went to the market.
क्या हुआ?	Kya hua?	What happened?
कुछ नहीं हुआ।	Kuchh naheen hua.	Nothing (happened).
आप लोग कहाँ तक पहुंचे?	Aap log kahaan tak pahoonche?	Where are you? (Where did you reach?)
हम आगरा तक पहुंचे।	Ham Aagra tak pahoonche.	We reached Agra (We are in Agra).
वह कब उठी?	Vah kab uThee?	When did she wake up?
वह लगभग दस बजे उठी।	Vah lagbhag das baje uThee.	She woke up around ten o'clock.
वह दोनों बहुत हँसीं।	Vah donon bahut hanseen.	They both laughed a lot.
वह रोया नहीं।	Vah roya naheen.	He didn't cry.
तुम कितना बोली?	Tum kitnaa bolee?	How much did you say?
मैं सिर्फ इतना बोली।	Main sirf itnaa bolee.	I only said this much.

* THIS POST IS INCOMPLETE (I will explain the transitive verbs soon)...