Lesson 4
Basic Sentence Structure
Introduction
Welcome to Lesson 4! In this lesson, you will dive deeper into general grammatical concept of the Bengali language. You will get introduced into the Bengali personal pronouns and learn how to work with Bengali nouns in definite and indefinite contexts. This will be one of the longest lessons in this course, because there is a lot of new information to cover. However, learning these fundamental basics of the Bengali language represents a major milestone on your Bengali learning journey!
1. The SOV Sentence Structure
As you have probably noticed in the previous lesson, the Bengali word order in a sentence differs much from the English word order. Last lesson, we learned that Bengali has postpositions instead of prepositions like English. Now, we want to take a step further back to understand word types in a sentence and how Bengali structures those in comparison to English:
In Bengali, sentences typically follow the Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order, whereas the English language uses the Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order. To better understand this concept, let’s quickly review what these terms mean.
- Subject: Indicates who or what is performing the action.
For instance in the sentence “I met him”, “I” is the subject. - Object: Indicates who or what is receiving the action.
For instance in the sentence “I met him“, “him” is the object. - Verb: Describes the action being performed.
For instance in the sentence “I met him”, “met” is the verb.
Example
English: I eat rice.
Subject (I) + verb (eat) + object (rice).
Bengali: আমি (I) ভাত (rice) খাই (eat)।
Subject (আমি) + Object (ভাত ) + Verb (খাই)
2. Bengali Pronouns
Pronouns play an important role in sentence construction. They indicate the person or thing involved in the action or context. In the last lesson, you already got to know the Bengali Pronouns for saying “I” (আমি) and “you”: তুই, তুমি and আপনি. They are used according to the politeness and formality in a situation (go back to Lesson 3 to review these in more detail). Their plural forms for “you” (তোরা, তোমরা and আপনারা) are used analogous to the singular forms. From now on we will refer to the different forms of courtesy / formality by using the abbreviations: F for formal, IF for informal and IM for intimate
When you look at the table below, you will notice that there are six ways to say “he/she/it”, or respectively “they” in Bengali. This may be very confusing at first. Let’s look at the characteristics of these pronouns.
Firstly, the Bengali language doesn’t differentiate the gender of a person: both a male and a female can be referred to as e.g. সে. Secondly, the pronoun is chosen according to the formality of the situation AND the proximity of the person/thing:
– if a person or thing is very close (H = here) এ (e) or ইনি (ini) are used,
– if it is near (e.g. across the room, T = there) ও (o) or উনি (uni) can be used and
– if it is far (E = elsewhere) সে (se) and তিনি (tini) are used.
The same applies to the plural pronouns for “they” as can be seen in the table.
Bengali Personal Pronouns
| Sg. Pronoun | Bengali | Pl. Pronoun | Bengali | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | আমি | We | আমরা | ||
| You | IM | তুই | You all | IM | তোরা |
| IF | তুমি | IF | তোমরা | ||
| F | আপনি | F | আপনারা | ||
| He/she/it (IF) | H | এ | They (IF) | H | এরা |
| T | ও | T | ওরা | ||
| E | সে | E | তারা | ||
| He/she/it (F) | |||||
| H | ইনি | They (F) | H | এঁরা | |
| T | উনি | T | ওঁরা | ||
| E | তিনি | E | তাঁরা |
Abbreviations:
IM = intimate, IF = informal, F = formal, H = here, T = there, E = elsewhere
3. This, That, These and Those - Asking for Names of Objects
Words like “this”, “that”, “these” and “those” are called demonstrative pronouns. They follow the same distinction of proximity as the 3rd person pronouns that we just studied (H, T and E). Do you wonder why there are two Bengali words for every demonstrative pronoun? Well, the first one (with an -a ending) is more commonly used in general in day-to-day speech, while the second one (with an -i ending) has a more formal tone and is specifically used in writing or formal speech.
Demonstrative Pronouns
| Singular | Bengali | Plural | Bengali |
|---|---|---|---|
| This (H) | এটা / এটি (eta/eti) | These (H) | এগুলো / এগুলি (egulo/eguli) |
| That (T) | ওটা / ওটি (ota/oti) | Those (T) | ওগুলো / ওগুলি (ogulo/oguli) |
| That (E) | সেটা / সেটি (sheta/sheti) | Those (E) | সেগুলো / সেগুলি (shegulo/sheguli) |
Abbreviations:
H = here, T = there, E = elsewhere
Let’s also learn the question words “what?” and “who?” in order to form small dialogues.
What
Who
Now let’s have a look at some example sentences using these question words and the demonstrative pronouns.
Example Sentences:
এটা কী? – ওটা একটা পেন। (eta ki? Eṭa ekṭa pen.) What is this? – That is a pen.
ওটা কী? – এটা একটা বই। (ota ki? Oṭa ekṭa boi.) What is that? – This is a book.
সেটা কী? – সেটা ঘর। (sheta ki? sheta ghor.) What is that (far)? – That is a house.
ওটা কে? – এটা মা । (Ota ke? Eta ma.) Who is that? – This is mom.
4. Bengali Nouns
Now that you know the pronouns and learned how to ask for the name of an object or a person, let’s focus on nouns! Key concepts we need in order to understand and use Bengali nouns are…
- Number: Bengali nouns exist in singular and plural forms.
- Gender: Bengali nouns do not have gender distinctions, making them simpler to learn compared to many other languages.
- Articles: Bengali nouns can be definite (the cat) or indefinite (a cat).
Before we dive into these topics, let’s learn some frequently used nouns that we can use to study these concepts.
| English | Bengali | English | Bengali |
|---|---|---|---|
| Person / Human | মানুষ (manush) | man | পুরুষ (purush) |
| woman | মহিলা (mohila) | boy, son | ছেলে (chele) |
| girl, daughter | মেয়ে (meye) | house | বাড়ি (bari) |
| water | পানি or জল (pani, jol) | tea | চা (cha) |
| milk | দুধ (dudh) | food | খাবার (khabar) |
| market | বাজার (bajar) | shop | দোকান (dokan) |
| city | শহর (shohor) | village | গ্রাম (gram) |
| hospital | হাসপাতাল (haspatal) | health | স্বাস্থ্য (swasthya) |
| road / path | পথ (poth) | life | জীবন (jibon) |
| book | বই (boi) | tree | গাছ (gacch) |
| river | নদী (nodi) | fish | মাছ (macch) |
| sky | আকাশ (akash) | school | স্কুল (skul) |
| teacher | শিক্ষক (shikhok) | student | ছাত্র (chatro) |
| friend | বন্ধু (bondhu) | song | গান (gan) |
| game | খেলা (khela) | picture / photo | ছবি (chhobi) |
| car | গাড়ি (gari) | cat | বিড়াল (biral) |
| dog | কুকুর (kukur) |
4.1. Turning Nouns Into The Plural Form
Making a noun plural is actually really easy. The only thing you need to do is attach –গুলো to the singular noun. If you’re talking about people, -রা is the ending to use.
Examples:
car → cars গাড়ি → গাড়িগুলো
city → cities শহর → শহরগুলো
book → books বই → বইগুলো
song → songs গান → গানগুলো
boy → boys ছেলে → ছেলেরা
girl → girls মেয়ে → মেয়েরা
4.2. Understanding Definite And Indefinite Articles
4.2.1. Indefinite Articles
Bengali does not have direct equivalents for the English indefinite articles “a” or “an.” Instead, the idea of indefiniteness is conveyed by using the word “একটি” (ekṭi), which means “one.” If one is talking about people, the word”একজন” (ekjon) is used.
For example:
আমি একটি বই পড়ি। (Ami ekti boi pori)
“I read a book.”
আমি একজন ডাক্তার। (Ami ekjon daktar)
“I am a doctor”
2. Definite Articles
Bengali also lacks a direct equivalent of the English definite article “the”. Instead, the definite pronouns (এটা, ওটা, সেটা, এগুলো, ওগুলো, সেগুলো) are split and are placed on both sides of the noun. Especially in spoken language, an –ই is added to the first part (regulating in এই, ওই and সেই).
- এটা becomes এ(ই) + [noun] + টা
- ওটা becomes ও(ই) + [noun] + টা
- সেটা becomes সে(ই) + [noun] + টা
- এগুলো becomes এ(ই) + [noun]+ গুলো
- ওগুলো becomes ও(ই) + [noun]+ গুলো
- সেগুলো becomes সে(ই) + [noun]+ গুলো
Examples:
car → this car গাড়ি → এই গাড়িটা
city → that city শহর → সেই শহরটা
books → these books বইগুলো → এই বইগুলো
songs → those songs গানগুলো → ওই গানগুলো
In some cases, when definiteness can be understood from context, suffix are omitted. This happens especially in spoken language.
Exercises
Practice Dialogues
Dialogue 1:
Person 1: নমস্কার! আপনি কেমন আছেন? (Nomoskar! Apni kemon achhen? – Hello! How are you?)
Person 2: আমি ভালো আছি। আর আপনি? (Ami bhalo achhi. Ar apni? – I am fine. And you?)
Person 1: আমিও ভালো। উনি কে? (Ami-o bhalo. Uni ke? – I am fine too. Who is he/she?)
Person 2: উনি একটা বন্ধু। (Uni ekta bondhu. – He/she is a friend.)
Dialogue 2:
Person 1: এটা কী? (Eṭa ki? – What is this?)
Person 2: এটা একটা বই। (Eṭa ekṭa boi. – This is a book.)
Person 1: ওটা কী? (Oṭa ki? – What is that?)
Person 2: ওটা একটা পেন। (Oṭa ekṭa pen. – That is a pen.)
Dialogue 3:
Person 1: সে কোথায়? (She kothāy? – Where is she/he?)
Person 2: সে ওখানে। (She okhane. – She/he is there.)
Person 1: বিড়ালগুলি কোথায়? (Biralguli khotay? – Where are the cats?)
Person 2: এই বিড়ালটি এখানে এবং সেই বিড়ালটি সেখানে। (ei biralti ekhane ebong shei biralti sekhane. – These cats are here and those cats are there (elsewhere).)
রহিমের গল্প (Rahimer golpo) - Rahim's Story
Once upon a time, there was একজন মানুষ named Rahim who lived in একটা ছোট গ্রাম near একটা বড় নদী. He had একটা বাড়ি made of clay and wood, surrounded by একটা সুন্দর গাছ. Every morning, he walked down পথটা to বাজারটা to buy কিছু খাবার and sometimes এক কাপ গরম চা with কিছু দুধ.
Rahim had **a friend** (*একজন বন্ধু – ekjon bondhu*) named Karim, who was **a teacher** (*একজন শিক্ষক – ekjon shikhok*) at **the local school** (*স্থানীয় স্কুলটা – sthanīyo skulṭa*). Karim taught many **boys** (*অনেক ছেলে – onek chele*) and **girls** (*অনেক মেয়ে – onek meye*) from **the village** (*গ্রামটা – gramṭa*). Rahim often visited **the school** (*স্কুলটা – skulṭa*) to read **a book** (*একটা বই – ekṭa boi*) or to help out **the students** (*ছাত্ররা – chatrora*).
One day, Rahim saw **the beautiful sky** (*সুন্দর আকাশটা – shundor akashṭa*) above and felt grateful for **his life** (*তার জীবনটা – tar jibonṭa*). But suddenly, he felt unwell. Karim took him to **the nearby hospital** (*কাছের হাসপাতালটা – kacher haspatalṭa*) in **the town** (*শহরটা – shohorṭa*), where the doctors cared for **his health** (*তার স্বাস্থ্যের জন্য – tar swasthyēr jonyo*).
After he recovered, Rahim returned home and was welcomed by **his pet cat** (*তার পোষা বিড়ালটা – tar posha biṛalṭa*) and **dog** (*আর কুকুরটা – ar kukurṭa*). To celebrate, he and Karim listened to **some music** (*কিছু গান – kichu gan*), watched **a movie** (*একটা ছবি – ekṭa chhobi*), and even played **a game** (*একটা খেলা – ekṭa khela*). That evening, they cooked **a fresh fish** (*একটা টাটকা মাছ – ekṭa ṭaṭka machh*) from **the river** (*নদীটা – nodiṭa*) and drank **some cool water** (*কিছু ঠান্ডা পানি/জল – kichu ṭhanda pani/jol*).
**The life in the village** (*গ্রামের জীবনটা – gramer jibonṭa*) was simple, but full of joy.
Solutions
a man (ekjon manush)
a small village (ekṭa chhoto gram)
a big river – ekṭa boro nodi
a house – ekṭa bari
a beautiful tree – ekṭa shundor gacch
the path pothṭa
the market bajarṭa
some food kichu khabar
a cup of hot tea – ek kap gorom cha
some milk kichu dudh
Summary
Practice Activities
In the text, identify the nouns and classify them as definite or indefinite.
Translation Practice: Translate the following sentences into Bengali:
- That is a river.
- Those are cars.
- Who is she?
- I am here.
- Where are the dogs?
In this lesson, you’ve learned about the basic SOV sentence structure in Bengali, with a focus on nouns, their articles, and related question words. You’ve also practiced forming sentences using “this,” “that,” and “there.” In the next lesson, we will learn how to describe family and relationships.