Lesson #137: देना denaa - To Let, To Allow

We’ve seen the verb देना denaa loads of times before - it means “to give”. We’ve also seen it in action as a Compound Verb over in Lesson #114 where it gives the meaning of “flow” away from the subject. Today we’re going to learn another use of the word देना denaa - how it can be used to mean “to let” or “to allow”. Ready to get going?

So here’s how it works: we take ourselves any verb we like, then change the ending to ने ne and add देना denaa. This gives us a new verb which means “to allow to…”. So let’s do it. If we pick the verb बोलना bolnaa - “to speak” we end up with बोलने देना bolne denaa - “to allow to speak”. So using this we might say for example…

मुझे बोलने दो
mujhe bolne do
- Allow me to speak / Let me speak

Can you see what we’ve done here? We’re using the तुम tum imperative of देना denaa - दो do. Notice that we start the sentence with मुझे mujhe - “to me”. We’re literally saying “to me allow to speak” - which really means “allow me to speak”. Does that make sense? Do you want to see some more examples? Well here goes…

मुझे नाचने दो
mujhe naacne do
- Allow me to dance / Let me dance.

Can you see what we’ve done here? It’s almost the same as the last example! One more then…

अजय को गाने दीजिए
ajay ko gaane deejie
- Please Allow Ajay to sing / Please let Ajay sing.

This time we’re using the आप aap imperative and literally saying “to Ajay allow to sing”. Following? Be sure to ask any questions in the comments below if you’re a bit lost! And we don’t just have to use imperatives either, we can use this construction with just about any tense we like! Here’s an example…

हमारे अध्यापक हमें खेलने नहीं देते
hamaare adyaapak hamen khelne naheen dete
- Our teachers do not let us play

Here we’re using the present tense - so we use the present form of देना denaa - देता detaa and we put it in the Masculine Plural, देते dete , to agree with the masculine plural subject “our teachers”. Let’s see another example…

मैं उसको अपनी साइकिल चलाने देती हँ
main usko apnee saaikil calaane detee hoon
- I let him ride my bicycle (said by a female)

This time we’re using the verb साईकिल चलाना saaikil calaanaa - “to ride a bicycle” and we use the feminine form of the verb देती detee because it is a female speaking. With me?

Now we can use the Past Tense with this as well! Any verb in this form will always take the particle ने ne to mark the subject in past tense sentences and देना denaa always agrees with the object (if there’s no object it is default masculine singular). Let’s see some examples…

उसने मुझे शब्दकोश ख़रीदने दिया
usne mujhe shabdkosh khareedne diyaa
- She let me buy a dictionary

So what’s happened here? Well we’re using the verb ख़रीदने देना khareedne denaa - which we’ve just learnt means “to allow to buy”, and we’ve stuck it in the past tense meaning it agrees with the Masculine singular word शब्दकोश shadbkosh. Here’s another example…

संगीता ने रोहित को गाड़ी चलाने दी
sangeetaa ne rohit ko gaaree calaane dee
- Sangeeta let Rohit drive the car

This time we’re using the verb चलाने देना calaane denaa - “to allow to drive” and it’s Feminine because it’s in the past tense so agrees with the Feminine word गाड़ी gaaree. Got it?

Of course we can use the future tense as well. So we could say…

क्या तुम रवि को बियर पीने दोगे?
kyaa tum ravग ko biyaar peene doge?
- Will you let Ravi drink beer?

Can you see what we’ve done here? Hopefully you should be getting used to it by now! Ready for one last example?

वह उसको गिटार बजाने देगा
voh usko gitaar bajaane degaa
- He will let her play guitar.

Phew! Do you recon you’ve understood this lesson? Try translating the following sentences to test your understanding! Leave your answers in the comment section below if you want me to look over them!