When to use it
Use it with a child or classmate after school, to check whether the teacher explained the homework.
“Did the teacher explain the homework?” — The sentence in English
In “Did the teacher explain the homework?” the past tense is carried by ‘Did’, so the main verb ‘explain’ stays in its base form. Both nouns take ‘the’ because speaker and listener know which teacher and which homework.
- Did
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: past · auxiliary that makes a question in the past
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- teacher
- nounnoun
- explain
- verbexplain · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "did" the verb stays in its base form
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- homework
- noununcountable noun; it has no plural
“क्या शिक्षक ने गृहकार्य समझाया?” — The sentence in Hindi
In “क्या शिक्षक ने गृहकार्य समझाया?” the verb ‘समझाया’ is the simple past of समझाना (to explain). In the perfective, a transitive subject takes the postposition ‘ने’ (शिक्षक ने), and the verb then agrees with the object ‘गृहकार्य’ (homework, masculine). ‘क्या’ marks the yes/no question.
- क्या
- particleyes/no question particle
- शिक्षक
- nounmasculine noun 'teacher', the subject
- ने
- prepositionergative postposition ने: marks the subject of a transitive verb in the perfective
- गृहकार्य
- nounmasculine noun 'homework', the object
- समझाया
- verbसमझाना · aspect: perfective · gender: masculine · number: singular · because of ने the verb agrees with the object गृहकार्य
English × Hindi: What changes from one language to the other
English puts the past in the helper ‘Did’; Hindi puts it in the main verb itself. Hindi marks the subject with ‘ने’, which English does not have, and has no word for ‘the’.
Example conversation
— क्या शिक्षक ने गृहकार्य समझाया?
— Did the teacher explain the homework?
— हाँ, पर सिर्फ़ पहला हिस्सा।
— Yes, but only the first part.