Lesson #80: Imperatives Part 3; तू too
Can you remember what we’ve learnt about Hindi Imperatives so far? Back in Lesson #75 saw the आप aap imperative this is easy - we just add इए ie to the verb root, for example खाना khaanaa - To Eat becomes खाइए khaaie - Please eat. Then we saw the तुम tum imperative in Lesson #77 which is also quite straightforward, this time we just add ओ o to the verb root, so खाना khaanaa - To Eat this time becomes खाओ khaao - Eat. But theres one more word for ‘You’ in Hindi and that is - तू too.
This lesson has a very big and important warning label! As you probably know the Hindi word तू too is only ever used in very intimate situations, otherwise it is considered very disrespectful and rude. The same applies with the तू too imperative, if you use this form of the imperative to someone they will most likely find it rude, blunt and disrespectful and there’s a good chance you’ll get a slap around the face!
So how do we form the तू too imperative?
This is probably the easiest imperative of them all, we simply use the verb root itself, so we don’t add anything at all. Remember the verb root is just the infinitive form of a verb without the ना naa at the end. So for example खाना khaanaa - To Eat becomes खा khaa - Eat! Remember this is very blunt, as if a mother is angry and shouting at her child to eat his fruit!
इन अंगूर को खा in angoor ko khaa
- Eat these grapes!
जाना jaanaa - To Go becomes जा jaa - Go!
अभी तू जा abhee too jaa - You go right now! This would be considered almost swearing if you said it to someone who you weren’t very close to. Basically, I don’t ever want to hear you saying it!
साफ़ करना saaf karnaa - To Clean becomes साफ़ कर saaf kar - Clean!
Imagine a very angry parent walking into their young child’s bedroom and seeing mess absolutely everywhere, then you might hear साफ़ कर saaf kar - Clean! being shouted.
That’s it for today! But please take my warning very seriously guys, using the तू too imperative is incredibly blunt, rude and disrespectful, especially to anyone older than you. Next time we look at imperatives we’ll learn how to say 'Don’t’ like saying 'Please don’t eat here’ or 'Dont take that’ and we’ll see many more examples.
Imperatives Part 1 Imperatives Part 2
