Yesterday, tomorrow and wanting
🎯 Move through time and express what you need.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- काल मी गेलो — kaal mi gelo 🔊 kaal mee GAY-lo Yesterday I went. (male) गेले gele for a female. काल = yesterday, उद्या = tomorrow — Marathi keeps them separate, unlike Hindi's single कल.
- उद्या मी जाईन — udyaa mi jaaeen 🔊 OOD-ya mee JAA-een Tomorrow I will go. The future ending -ईन for मी.
- मला पाणी हवं आहे — mala paani havan aahe 🔊 ma-LA PAA-nee ha-VAN aa-hay I want water. हवं is neuter to match पाणी. For tea: मला चहा हवा आहे (masculine).
- मला जायचं आहे — mala jaayacha aahe 🔊 ma-LA JAA-ya-cha aa-hay I have to go / I want to go. The commonest way to say what you intend.
- काय झालं? — kaay zaala? 🔊 kye ZAA-la What happened? झालं is the past of होणं (to happen).
- काही हरकत नाही — kaahi harkat naahi 🔊 KAA-hee HAR-kat NAA-hee No objection — it's all right. The Marathi कोई बात नहीं.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 The thing wanted decides the word for 'want'
हवं, हवा, हवी — the word changes with the gender of what is wanted, not with who wants it. This trips up every Hindi speaker at first.
- मला चहा हवा (tea, masculine)
- मला साखर हवी (sugar, feminine)
- मला पाणी हवं (water, neuter)
- The same happens with आवडतो/आवडते/आवडतं — to like.
🌍 Among the people
Marathi has a deep tradition of saint-poetry — Dnyaneshwar, Tukaram, Namdev — whose abhangs are sung in every household. Learning ten lines of Tukaram teaches more Marathi than a chapter of grammar.
🔁 Practise today
- Ask for five things with हवं/हवा/हवी, matching the gender.
- Say what you did yesterday and will do tomorrow.
- Find one abhang of Tukaram, read it aloud, and look up three words.
