Language/Bengali/Grammar/Nouns

Bengali Grammar - Nouns

Hi Bengali learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will learn about one of the most fundamental parts of speech - Nouns. Nouns are words that represent people, places, animals, things, feelings or ideas. They can be singular or plural, and depending upon their gender (masculine/feminine/neuter) can take different forms.

What are Nouns?

Nouns are the most common part of speech that we come across during our day to day conversation. They are words that name something. For example, "table", "book" and "computer" are all examples of nouns. In Bengali, "Badaami" (বাদামী) means "almond", "Bepar" (বেপার) means "business" and "Chashma" (চশমা) means "glasses".

Bengali Nouns

In Bengali, generally, nouns do not have any genders. Instead, the gender is defined by some specific words such as "Nar" (নর) for male and "Meye" (মেয়ে) for female.

Additionally, Bengali nouns do not have any article, such as "a", "an" or "the". For example, "মিষ্টি খাবেন?" (Do you want to eat sweets?) would be a correct sentence. If we say "আমরা মিষ্টি খাব" (We will eat the sweets), we can see that there is no added article before the word "মিষ্টি" (sweets).

There are some exceptions, where the article is used while representing the nouns in some specific contexts, such as "একটি ছোট মেয়ে" (a small girl), where the article "একটি" (a) is used to represent the noun "মেয়ে" (girl).

Here are some examples of Bengali Nouns:

Bengali	Pronunciation	English
দোকান	Dokan	Shop
রাত্রি	Ratri	Night
ছোটবেলা	Chotbela	Childhood
লালজমিন	Lalmajin	Red carpet

Let's see some examples where we use these nouns in Bengali conversation:

• Person 1: আমি আজকাল রাতে ঘুম ভালোই পাচ্ছি (Ami ajkal rate ghoom bhaloi pachhi) (I am sleeping well at night these days)
• Person 2: সে একজন ছোটবেলার থেকেই সদা ভালো লক্ষণ দেখাচ্ছে (Se ekjon chotbelar thekei shada bhalo lokkho dekhachhe) (He is showing good signs right from his childhood)

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

During the study of Bengali nouns, we come across two types - countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable Nouns are the nouns that can be counted and take a singular and plural form. For example, "one shirt", "two shirts"; "a pen" and "two pens" are examples of countable nouns.

Uncountable Nouns, on the other hand, cannot be counted, as they represent a general idea or an entire category. They are always used in the singular form. For example, "sugar", "water" and "coffee" are uncountable nouns, as they represent an idea in general.

Here are some examples of countable and uncountable nouns:

Bengali	Pronunciation	English
চিনি	Chini	Sugar (uncountable)
আঙুর	Angur	Grapes (countable)
তাল	Tal	Palm Tree (countable)

Let's see how countable and uncountable nouns are used in Bengali conversation:

• Person 1: তুমি কতটা চিনি খেতে পারো? (Tumi koto ta chini khete paro?) (How much sugar can you eat?)
• Person 2: আমি একটা আঙুর দিলাম তোমাকে (Ami ekta angur dilam tomakay) (I gave you a grape)

Possessive Nouns

A Possessive Noun is a noun that shows ownership or possession of something. In Bengali, Possessive Nouns are created by adding a suffix "er" (for two letter nouns), and "ar" (for three-letter nouns) at the end of the noun.

Here are some examples of Possessive Nouns in Bengali:

Bengali	Pronunciation	English
ঘর	Ghor	House
বাবা	Baba	Father
খামার	Khamar	Barn
মেজ	Mez	Table

To create Possessive Nouns in Bengali, we can add suffix "er" or "ar" to these nouns as follows:

Bengali	Possessive Noun
ঘর	ঘরের (Ghorer)
বাবা	বাবার (Babar)
খামার	খামারের (Khamarer)
মেজ	মেজের (Mezer)

Let's see how possessive nouns are used in Bengali conversation:

• Person 1: আমার বাবার নাম অশোক (Amar Babar nam Ashok) (My father's name is Ashok)
• Person 2: আমি খামারের মালিক (Ami Khamarer Malik) (I am the owner of the barn)

Conclusion

In this lesson, we learned about different types of Bengali nouns, their use in sentences, and how to create Possessive Nouns in Bengali. Now, you can practice and apply these concepts to improve your Bengali Grammar. To improve your Bengali Grammar further, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

So, that's all for this lesson. Hope you enjoyed learning about Bengali Nouns. We will see you in the next one!

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Sources

• Bengali language
• Grammar
• Possessive Nouns