Translation and grammar: “Can I pay in cash or only by card?” in Hindi

When to use it

Use it in a shop, taxi or restaurant in India before paying, to check whether cash is accepted (women say ‘सकती हूँ’).

The sentence in English — “Can I pay in cash or only by card?”

In “Can I pay in cash or only by card?” ‘pay’ is one verb, and English uses two different prepositions: ‘in cash’ but ‘by card’. The second half repeats no verb.

Can

auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission; it opens the question

I

pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter

pay

verbpay · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"

in

prepositionpreposition

cash

noununcountable noun; money in notes and coins

or

coordinating conjunctioncoordinating conjunction

only

adverbadverb

by

prepositionpreposition

card

nounnoun; a bank card

The sentence in Hindi — “क्या मैं नकद भुगतान कर सकता हूँ या केवल कार्ड से?”

In “क्या मैं नकद भुगतान कर सकता हूँ या केवल कार्ड से?” the verb ‘भुगतान करना’ is a compound (‘payment’ + ‘to do’) meaning ‘to pay’. ‘नकद’ (cash) needs no postposition, while ‘कार्ड से’ uses ‘से’ (by) for the means; ‘केवल’ means ‘only’.

क्या

particleyes/no question particle

मैं

pronounpronoun 'I'

नकद

noun'cash'; नकद भुगतान = cash payment

भुगतान

nounmasculine noun 'payment'; भुगतान करना = 'to pay'

कर

verbकरना · form: stem · stem of करना before सकना

सकता

auxiliary verbसकना · gender: masculine · number: singular · 'can'; a woman says सकती

हूँ

auxiliary verbहोना · tense: present · person: 1st · with मैं

या

coordinating conjunctionconjunction 'or'

केवल

adverbadverb 'only'

कार्ड

nounmasculine noun 'card'

से

prepositionpostposition से 'by', the means

English × Hindi — What changes from one language to the other

One English verb, ‘pay’, is two words in Hindi. English needs ‘in’ for cash and ‘by’ for card; Hindi says ‘नकद’ alone and ‘कार्ड से’.

Example conversation