When to use it
Use it when your child gets home from school and you want to check the task was clear.
“Did the teacher explain the homework?” — The sentence in English
In “Did the teacher explain the homework?” ‘Did’ carries the past, so ‘explain’ stays in its base form.
- 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
“ਕੀ ਅਧਿਆਪਕ ਨੇ ਹੋਮਵਰਕ ਸਮਝਾਇਆ?” — The sentence in Punjabi
In “ਕੀ ਅਧਿਆਪਕ ਨੇ ਹੋਮਵਰਕ ਸਮਝਾਇਆ?” the marker ‘ਨੇ’ after ‘ਅਧਿਆਪਕ’ (teacher) makes the past verb ‘ਸਮਝਾਇਆ’ (explained) agree with ‘ਹੋਮਵਰਕ’ (homework), whatever the teacher's gender.
- ਕੀ
- particleopens a yes-no question
- ਅਧਿਆਪਕ
- noun'teacher'
- ਨੇ
- prepositionergative marker on the subject of a past transitive verb
- ਹੋਮਵਰਕ
- noun'homework', treated as masculine
- ਸਮਝਾਇਆ
- verbਸਮਝਾਉਣਾ · tense: past · form: masculine singular · 'explained'; agrees with ਹੋਮਵਰਕ
English × Punjabi: What changes from one language to the other
English shows the past in ‘Did’; Punjabi in the verb, with the subject marker ‘ਨੇ’.
Example conversation
— ਕੀ ਅਧਿਆਪਕ ਨੇ ਹੋਮਵਰਕ ਸਮਝਾਇਆ?
— Did the teacher explain the homework?
— ਹਾਂ, ਪਰ ਮੇਰਾ ਇੱਕ ਸਵਾਲ ਬਾਕੀ ਹੈ।
— Yes, but I still have a question.