The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover over a 10-week period, and include typical themes, grammar and vocabulary fields. They are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers may decide to adapt their learning plans to the specific level, aims and interests of their classes. Use the tabs below to view the relevant Hindi course outline for your level.
Hindi Beginner 1
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Greetings
- Yes-No questions
- Who and how people are
- What (identity), Nationality, Jobs
- Shopping, how much…, what kind …
- Have, want, like
- Availability (milnā)
- Directions, Where can I get… , Position and Place
- Talking about accommodation
- Exchanging personal details, introductions
- Formal/informal speaking
- Giving orders and making requests
- Possession and the family
- Numbers
Grammar:
- Making sentences
- Verb to be, possessives
- Yes/no questions,
- Pronouns āp and maĩ
- Question words-kitnā, kaisā
- Introduction to gender and number: nouns and adjectives
- Plurals
- Postpositions, Case; to have
- Verbs: routine events, present and imperatives
- Ko constructions
- Kā/kī/ke Possesives
- Koī/kuch
Cultural Content:
- Polite vs everyday language – showing respect
- Body language (agreeing, disagreeing, showing doubt)
- English vis-à-vis Hindi
- Showing position in society
- Seasonal festivals/Gods’ days
Skills Work:
- Conversation development and dialogues
- Reading and writing: the Devanagari alphabet
Hindi Beginner 2
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Revision of Beginners 1
- Adverbs of time and place
- Talking about the past and the future
- Comparing things and people
- Discussing possibilities and conditions
Grammar:
- Pronouns, Possessives, Ka/ke/ki possessives
- Reflexive pronoun apnā
- Gender, Number,
- Intranstive and transitive verbs, Absolutive
- Present Tense and Present continuous, Perfective and Imperfective Past, Future
- Imperatives, Subjunctive, Subjunctive/Future Imperatives, You can go, Let me go
- Ko construction, Koi/kuch
- Emphatic constructions
- Comparatives
Cultural Content:
- Family life – living with people
- Daily life and religion
- Shopping in India
- Seasonal festivals/Gods’ days
Skills Work:
- Basic conversations and role plays
Hindi Beginner 3
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Recommendations and advice
- Talking to the Doctor
- Parts of the body and medical vocabulary
- Finding the way
- Talking about necessity and obligation
- Time
Grammar:
- Revision of Beginners 2 Grammar and Structures
- Lagnā verb
- Obligations and compulsions
- Passives
- Relative/co-relative sentences
- Causatives
- Compound verbs
- Saknā, cuknā, pānā
Cultural Content:
- Health and illness – Hindu perceptions
- Style in Hindi
- Towns and cities in India – Geography
- Seasonal festivals/Gods’ days
Skills Work:
- Dialogues, accounts and directions
- Holding conversations
Hindi Elementary 1
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Revision of Beginners 3 Hindi
- Talking about family, hobbies, spare time and work
- Possession
- Describing things and places
- Describing positions
- Numbers
- Talking about work and study
Grammar:
- Revision of Beginners 3 Grammar and Structures
- Verb tenses and mood
- The infinitive
Cultural Content:
- Leisure and work
- Education in India
- Castes
- Seasonal festivals/Gods’ days
Skills Work:
- Dialogues
- Holding conversations
Hindi Elementary 2
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Revision of Elementary 1
- Talking about the past and the future
- Using the Phone
- Days and dates, Times
- Making arrangements
- Dining in and out
Grammar:
- The Conditional
- Have
- The future, uses of the future
- Transitive and intransitive
- Aspects
Cultural content:
- Going out and visiting people
- Solar vs Lunar calendar
- Religion in India
- Invitations
- Seasonal festivals/Gods’ days
Skills Work:
- Dialogues
- Holding conversations
Hindi Elementary 3
Topics & Vocabulary:
- Revision of Elementary 2
- Talking about the past and the future
- Dining in and out
- Small talk
- Extended conversations
- Give permission
- Discussing possibilities, “If only….”
- Discussing alternatives, although
- Apologising
Grammar:
- The Infinitive
- Transitivity, the passive and the causative
- Continuation and the habitual
- Compound verbs
Cultural Content:
- Marriage and love
- Art
- Food in India
- Asking and giving permission, refusing and apologising
- India in history – the Raj, the Moghuls, etc.
- Seasonal festivals/Gods’ days
Skills Work:
- Dialogues
- Holding conversations