Nepali humor is usually quite goofy in nature. Although I have noticed some instances of sarcasm and dry humor, this is definitely the exception, not the rule. When I was first learning Nepali I talked with a nice lady who enthusiastically told me a Nepali joke. Although I didn't understand everything at that time, I got the gist of it. It basically went like this:
Nepali is written using the Devanagari script, like Hindi. This script uses an “alphabet” that is different from the English alphabet. As you can see in this image, the “consonants” come packaged with a vowel on the end - “a”. So क, which is the basic K sound, is not “K”, but “ka” (pronounced “kuh”). The same is true for the other letters. Unless combined with another vowel (क ka +ओ o = को ko), the basic form of the consonant is going to be the consonant sound + “a”. But… not always. Yes, as with most languages, NOTHING can be as simple as it should be! Many words in Nepali omit this “a” vowel sound at the end of some consonants, and to a new learner, it can be so frustrating to figure out where, how, and why that happens. For example, take the word धन्यबाद - “thank you” in Nepali. This is a very common word, maybe even the first one you learned in Nepali. At the end there, we have द - which, if you refer to the chart up above, is “da”. But this word धन्यबाद is no
Here is a sampling of common phrases that you can use in almost every situation in Nepal. Huss/Huncha हवस्/हुन्छ Okay, all right. NOTE: "Huss" is viewed as more polite while "huncha" is more informal. You can use "huss" in the following situations.... politely excusing yourself ("Huss, janchu hey" = "Ok, I'm going now, all right?") agreeing to something ("Huss" = "Ok, I will do that for you") Accepting someone something has said (i.e., someone just gave you directions - "huss, dhanyavad" = "ok, thank you" at the end of a phone conversation ("huss, huss" = "ok, I'm hanging up now") basically anytime you would use the phrase "OK" or "all right" "Huncha" (" hoon -cha") is more of a way of saying, "Yes, let's do that" or "ok, I'm in." You can use it to agree to plans or say you will do s
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