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A2

Basics

Time arrives at this level. You can report what happened and announce what you mean to do. Sentences get longer because they join up: the first linking words — and, but, because, when — come into play.

The vocabulary covers daily life — work, housing, travel, health, weather. Anything unfamiliar is still hard, anything familiar runs smoothly.

Script, basic sentences and numbers1

Numbers, time and dates

1
A2Hundreds, thousands, lakhs and croresAbove a thousand, Indian counting goes on in lakhs of a hundred thousand and crores of ten million.

Nouns, pronouns and adjectives3

Pronouns

2
A2मुझे, तुम्हें, उसे: pronouns with कोमुझे is “to me”, and it is the form behind I like, I need, I know and I have to.A2अपना: one’s ownWhen the owner is the subject of the sentence, the possessive is अपना — for I, you, he and they alike.

Adjectives

1
A2Bigger, smaller, the biggest: से and सबसेThan is से after the thing compared with, the most is सबसे, and the adjective itself never changes its ending for it.

Postpositions2

Postpositions

2
A2तक: until, as far as, evenतक marks where something stops: until a time, as far as a place — and, as an extra, “even”.A2के लिए, के साथ, के बाद, से पहले, के बारे मेंMost longer postpositions begin with के, a few with की, and “before” takes से.

Present, past and future5

The past

4
A2The simple past: वह आया, वह गईStem + ा, ी, े or ीं, with no auxiliary: वह आया, “he came”; वह आई, “she came”.A2The past with ने: agreeing with the objectWith a transitive verb in the past, the subject takes ने and the verb agrees with the object: मैंने चाय पी.A2Irregular pasts: गया, किया, दिया, लिया, हुआFive everyday verbs have their own past: जाना → गया, करना → किया, देना → दिया, लेना → लिया, होना → हुआ.A2Used to and was doing: जाता था, जा रहा थाThe two presents with था instead of है: वह जाता था, “he used to go”; वह जा रहा था, “he was going”.

The future

1
A2The future: जाऊँगा, जाएगी, and होगा for “probably”Stem + ऊँ, ए, ओ or एँ, then गा, गी or गे: मैं करूँगा, वह करेगी, हम करेंगे.

Moods, modal and compound verbs9

Requests, wishes and conditions

2
A2Shall I, let’s, may: the subjunctiveThe future without गा: मैं जाऊँ?, “shall I go?”; चलें, “let’s go”; आप ख़ुश रहें, “may you be happy”.A2If … then: अगर … तोअगर opens the condition, तो opens the result: अगर बारिश हुई, तो हम घर पर रहेंगे.

Negation

1
A2Never, nobody, nothingकभी नहीं, कोई नहीं, कुछ नहीं, कहीं नहीं: the indefinite word plus an ordinary नहीं.

Can, want, must

5
A2सकना: canBare stem + सकना in any tense: मैं तैर सकता हूँ, “I can swim”; मैं नहीं आ सका, “I couldn’t come”.A2चाहना: to want toInfinitive + चाहना: मैं घर जाना चाहता हूँ, “I want to go home”; for someone else, चाहना कि + subjunctive.A2चाहिए: should, needमुझे पानी चाहिए, “I need water”; मुझे जाना चाहिए, “I should go” — the person takes को.A2जाना है: having to, as a planमुझे जाना है, “I have to go / I’m to go”: the person takes को, the infinitive is followed by है or था.A2लगना: to seem, to like, to feelमुझे यह गाना अच्छा लगता है, “I like this song”; मुझे भूख लगी है, “I’m hungry”; मुझे लगता है कि …, “I think that …”.

Verbs in pairs

1
A2Noun + करना or होना: इंतज़ार करना, शुरू होनाA noun or adjective plus करना (someone does it) or होना (it happens): काम शुरू करना, काम शुरू होना.

Joining clauses, reported speech5

Infinitives and participles

2
A2The infinitive as a noun: पढ़ना, पढ़ने के लिएThe -ना form is a masculine noun: it can be a subject or an object, and before a postposition it becomes -ने.A2Having done: the -कर form (खाकर, जाकर)Stem + कर joins two actions of the same person: वह खाना खाकर सो गया, “he ate and went to sleep”.

Joining clauses

3
A2Because and so: क्योंकि and इसलिएक्योंकि introduces a reason, इसलिए a result; a noun as a reason takes की वजह से or के कारण.A2That: the conjunction किकि introduces what is said, thought or known; it follows the main clause and, unlike English “that”, stays in the sentence.A2When: जब … तबजब opens a clause of time, and तब or तो can pick it up in the main clause; कब is only for questions.

Particles and finishing touches2

Small words with a big job

2
A2Also and only: भी and हीभी (also, even) and ही (only, exactly) stand directly after the word they stress — and moving them changes the meaning.A2The one who, the one with: -वाला-वाला after a noun, an adjective or an infinitive makes a describing word: सब्ज़ीवाला, लाल वाली, जाने वाला.

Practise level A2 only