When to use it
Use it to check whether guests or relatives you were expecting arrived.
The sentence in English (“Did they arrive last night?”)
In “Did they arrive last night?” ‘Did’ carries the past and ‘arrive’ stays in base form.
- Did
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: past · auxiliary that makes a question in the past
- they
- pronounpersonal pronoun, third person plural
- arrive
- verbarrive · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "did" the verb stays in its base form
- last
- adjectiveadjective; "last night" means the night before today
- night
- nounnoun
The sentence in Telugu (“వాళ్ళు నిన్న రాత్రి చేరుకున్నారా?”)
In “వాళ్ళు నిన్న రాత్రి చేరుకున్నారా?” one verb, ‘చేరుకున్నారా’, holds the past, the plural ending ‘-రు’ and the question ‘-ఆ’. ‘నిన్న రాత్రి’ (yesterday night) is last night.
- వాళ్ళు
- pronoun'they'
- నిన్న
- adverb'yesterday'
- రాత్రి
- noun'night'; ninna rātri = last night
- చేరుకున్నారా
- verbcērukonu · tense: past · number: plural · cērukunnāru 'arrived' + ā (question)
What changes from one language to the other (English × Telugu)
English needs ‘did’; Telugu changes the verb itself, and puts the time before it.
Example conversation
— వాళ్ళు నిన్న రాత్రి చేరుకున్నారా?
— Did they arrive last night?
— అవును, అర్ధరాత్రి; రైలు ఆలస్యమైంది.
— Yes, around midnight; the train was late.