Chapter 11 – Family and Relationships
Overview
In this chapter, you will learn how to talk about family members and relationships in polite Nepali. You will practice asking and answering common questions about family, such as तपाईंको परिवारमा कति जना हुनुहुन्छ? tapāī̃ko pariwārmā kati janā hunuhuncha? “How many people are in your family?” and तपाईंको आमा/बुबा कहाँ बस्नुहुन्छ? tapāī̃ko āmā/bubā kahā̃ basnuhuncha? “Where do your parents live?” You will also practice polite reference and honorific patterns used for family members (e.g., उहाँ uhā̃, –हुन्छ / –हुन्छन् –huncha / –hunchan), and you will learn to describe who someone is and how they are related (e.g., “my elder brother,” “my younger sister”) in short, natural conversations.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- use high-frequency family vocabulary (e.g., āmā, bubā, dāi, didī, bhāi, bahinī) to identify and talk about family members in context
- ask and answer common family questions using polite forms, including कति जना…? (kati janā…?) “how many people,” and कहाँ…? (kahā̃…?) “where”
- use possessive patterns (e.g., मेरो / तपाईंको / उहाँको mero / tapāī̃ko / uhā̃ko) to express relationships clearly (my/your/his/her)
- use honorific reference and agreement appropriately for family members, including उहाँ (uhā̃) and polite verb forms such as हुनुहुन्छ (hunuhuncha) and बस्नुहुन्छ (basnuhuncha)
- describe simple family information in short exchanges (names, location, work/study) using verb-final, polite sentence patterns
- participate in guided role-plays (family talk + showing a family photo) by asking questions and giving short, accurate answers using respectful Nepali
