The proverbs an educated speaker will assume you know
I can recognise a common proverb and understand what it is being used to say
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
A bad workman blames his tools.
Distant drums sound sweet.
It's too late for regrets now...
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
| अब पछताए होत क्या, जब चिड़िया चुग गई खेत | too late to regret it now |
| दूर के ढोल सुहावने | distant drums sound sweet |
| नाच न जाने आँगन टेढ़ा | a bad workman blames his tools |
| जैसा देश वैसा भेस | when in Rome |
| एक हाथ से ताली नहीं बजती | it takes two to make a quarrel |
| अंधों में काना राजा | in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king |
Only the first half is usually said, and the listener supplies the rest. अब पछताए होत क्या... on its own is a complete reproach.
Proverbs preserve older grammar - होत rather than होता, चुग गई with an archaic flavour. Do not take them as models for your own sentences.
Apply this grammar in B2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTranslating a Hindi proverb literally into Russian instead of finding its counterpart.
Proverb translated word for word
Find the Russian proverb with the same function.
Proverb grammar copied into own speech
hot and similar forms are archaic and belong only inside the proverb.
A bad workman blames his tools.
The image matches the Russian proverb almost exactly.
Distant drums sound sweet.
Different image, same function.
It's too late for regrets now...
Quoted as a fragment; the listener completes it.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B2 course exercises
Kamta Prasad Guru's grammar, the standard prescriptive reference for Hindi morphology and syntax.
R. S. McGregor's outline, the standard concise academic description of Hindi morphology.