B1EmailEveryday life1 min

The Wrong Sari

A customer writes to an online shop: wrong colour, a stain, and an engagement on Sunday.

A formal complaint by e-mail. The writer uses the passive (पैसे लौटाए जाएँ) for her demand and के बजाय for “instead of”. Find what went wrong, why it is urgent and what she asks for.

From Anjali Varma

To Online shop

Subject ग़लत साड़ी मिली

नमस्ते,

मैंने पिछले हफ़्ते आपकी वेबसाइट से एक नीली साड़ी का ऑर्डर किया था। आज जब पैकेट आया और मैंने उसे खोला, तो उसमें नीली साड़ी के बजाय एक हरी साड़ी थी। साथ ही, साड़ी का एक कोना ख़राब भी है।

यह साड़ी मैंने अपनी बहन की सगाई के लिए ली थी, जो इस रविवार को है। इसलिए मुझे सही साड़ी की बहुत जल्दी ज़रूरत है।

कृपया मुझे बताइए कि क्या आप शनिवार तक नीली साड़ी भेज सकते हैं। अगर यह संभव नहीं है, तो मैं चाहूँगी कि मेरे पूरे पैसे लौटाए जाएँ। हरी साड़ी मैं उस पैकेट में लौटा दूँगी।

मैंने साड़ी की दो तस्वीरें इस ईमेल के साथ भेजी हैं।

धन्यवाद,

अंजलि वर्मा

Words: 118
Sentences: 10
Words per sentence: 11.8
in the vocabulary: 100 %
measured level: A2
Reading time: 1 min

Grammar in this text

These forms appear in the text in real use. Switch on “Show grammar” above the text to highlight them.

लौटाए जाएँ
The passive in a polite demand: पैसे लौटाए जाएँ, “that the money be returned”. The passive: किया जाता है →
जो इस रविवार को है
A relative clause adds information: सगाई …, जो इस रविवार को है. Relative clauses: जो … वह →
लौटा दूँगी
लौटा दूँगी: देना after the stem shows the action is done for somebody else. लेना and देना: for yourself, for someone else →

The words from B1 up in this text

Not the hard words in general, but those at your level: all 3 of the 81 words in this text are at B1 or above. You will know everything else by the time you get here.

के बजाय
instead of
B1
संभव
possible (formal)
B1
सगाई
engagement (to marry)
B1

The word lists for this text

The words in this text appear in 19 lists on this site; the number after each says how many come from that list. Having read the text, you have just needed these very words — and can practise exactly them.

The first verbs 7 Verb forms 5 The first adjectives 4 Time and the calendar 4 Greetings and set phrases 3 Shopping and money 3 Colours 2 Verbs made with karnā and honā 2 The phone and the internet 2 Small words that hold a sentence together 1 Adverbs and connectors 1 Clothes 1 Free time and hobbies 1 Numbers 1 People and the family 1 Saying where 1 Relationships 1 Saying when 1 Two registers: everyday and formal 1

Comprehension questions

4 questions on the text. With each answer the sentence it comes from appears — a question whose answer you cannot find in the text tests nothing.

1. What was wrong with the delivery?

2. Why does Anjali need the sari quickly?

3. What does she want if a blue sari cannot come by Saturday?

4. What has she attached to the e-mail?