Directions and places (lesson 7)
kahaa, yahaa, tyahaa — here, there, where. Asking where things are with the cha verb and locative postpositions.
Public-domain FSI Nepali Basic Course audio, streamed via our server. If the player shows an error, the source file may be temporarily unavailable — try again later.
FSI 1979, lesson 7. The core question — 'kahaa cha?' (where is it?) — gets drilled over and over with substitution. Locative postposition -maa ('in / at') attaches to the preceding noun: kothaa-maa (in the room), thamel-maa (in Thamel). Pay attention to the difference between cha (it's there) and ho (it is X) — Nepali separates 'existence at a location' from 'identity'. Direction words around minute 12: agaadi (front), pachhaadi (back), maathi (up), tala (down), dahine (right), debre (left). Useful on the trail when a porter says 'agaadi cha' (it's up ahead).
More lessons
- beginner 26 min
Greetings, names, and numbers (lessons 1-2)
Opening Namaste, exchanging names, basic ho/hoina identity statements, and the cardinal numbers 1-10. This is the canonical FSI opener.
- beginner 19 min
This and that — yo, tyo, demonstratives (lesson 3)
Pointing at things and naming them. Yo (this), tyo (that), and the cha/chaina pattern for stating that something is present.
- beginner 13 min
Question words — ke, ko, kaha, kati (lesson 4)
All Nepali question words start with क. Drill the five most useful: what, who, where, how much, and which.
- beginner 15 min
I, you, we — pronouns and honorifics (lesson 5)
ma, hami, tapai, timi, ta — when to use which, and why mixing them up offends. Drills with the verb hunu (to be).
- beginner 25 min
Family members and kinship (lesson 6)
buwa, aamaa, didi, daai, bhaai, bahini — the relations every tourist hears at a homestay. Plus the kinship-as-address custom.
- beginner 15 min
Time, days, and the clock (lesson 8)
Telling time in Nepali — kati bajyo, baje, ghanta. The seven days of the week, and morning/afternoon/evening.
Attribution
Audio courtesy of the US Foreign Service Institute (Public Domain) and hosted by Live Lingua. This page links directly to their CDN; we do not re-host or modify the audio.