When to use it
Use it at the end of a meal in an Indian restaurant to ask the waiter for the bill politely.
The sentence in English: “Could you bring the bill, please?”
In “Could you bring the bill, please?” the auxiliary ‘Could’ comes before ‘you’ and is softer than ‘can’. The main verb ‘bring’ stays in its base form, and ‘please’ goes at the end after a comma.
- Could
- auxiliary verbcan · form: conditional · modal verb; "Could you…?" is a polite request
- you
- pronounpersonal pronoun
- bring
- verbbring · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after a modal verb the main verb has no "to"
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- bill
- nounnoun; the check at a restaurant
- please
- adverbpoliteness word
The sentence in Hindi: “कृपया बिल ला सकते हैं?”
In “कृपया बिल ला सकते हैं?” the word for ‘you’ (आप) is left out, but the plural form ‘सकते हैं’ shows that the speaker is addressing someone politely. ‘ला’ is the stem of लाना (to bring) and ‘सकना’ adds ‘can’; ‘कृपया’ (please) opens the sentence.
- कृपया
- adverbpoliteness word 'please'; it softens the request
- बिल
- nounmasculine noun from English 'bill'
- ला
- verbलाना · form: stem · role: main verb · stem of लाना 'to bring'; सकना follows it
- सकते
- auxiliary verbसकना · aspect: imperfective · gender: masculine · number: plural (respect) · auxiliary 'can'; plural because it addresses आप politely
- हैं
- auxiliary verbहोना · tense: present · number: plural (respect) · plural हैं because the hidden subject is आप
What changes from one language to the other: English × Hindi
English needs the pronoun ‘you’ and gets politeness from ‘Could’; Hindi drops the pronoun and gets politeness from ‘कृपया’ and the respectful plural verb. In Hindi the verb comes last, after the object ‘बिल’.
Example conversation
— कृपया बिल ला सकते हैं?
— Could you bring the bill, please?
— ज़रूर, मैं अभी लाता हूँ।
— Of course, I'll bring it right away.