Theory #13 - Nepali Conjunctions - Tara

Front 1

Conjunction: ‘तर' (tara)

Back 1

Its english counterpart is ‘but’, but it is a conjunction ONLY in Nepali unlike in english, where it is a preposition too.

It is used to join two contrasting words or sentences into one sentence.

Front 2

Take A Sentence:



राम राम्रो छ। ऊ बदमास छ। (Ram ramro cha. U badmaas cha)

Ram is good-natured. Ram is Mischievous.

So let’s join the two cotradicting setences using tara!

Back 2

So let’s join the two cotradicting setences using tara!



राम राम्रो छ तर ऊ बदमास छ।(Ram ramro cha tara u badmaas cha)

Ram is good natured but mischievous.

The sentences simply merge together with ‘tara’ in between. Also, if the subject is repeating, then you can replace it with the appropriate pronoun.

Front 3

More Sentences:

म चिया खान्छु तर कफी खादिन। (Ma chiya khanchu tara cafi khadina)

I take tea but not coffee.



रामले परिक्षाको लागि मेहेनत गरेको रहेछ तर ऊ सफल भएन। (Ram le parichya ko lagi mehenat gareko rahecha tara u saphal bhaena)

Rad had studied hard for the test but he did not pass.

Back 3

हामी पोखरा जान्छौँ तर गोरखा जादैनौँ। (Hami pokhara janchau tara gorkha jadeinau)

We will go to Pokhara but not Gorkha



तिमी प्रतियोगितामा भाग लियौ तर तिमी जितेनौ।(Timi pratiyogita ma bhag liyau tara timi jitenau)

You participated but you did not win.

Front 4

So these are the sentences we can make using ‘tara’. So what if the sentence says ‘I trusted no one but him’? In this case, ‘but’ is a preposition in english. So what do we use? We use a ‘Namyogi’ called ‘bahek’. So the sentence will be ‘Ma u bahek aru kasai lai bishwas gardina’. We will learn more on this later. So, to sum up, ‘tara’ is a conjunction used to join two contrasting sentences or words into one sentence.

Back 4

SUMMARY

'Tara' is a conjunction used to join two or more contrasting words or sentences into one sentence

Front 5

EXERCISE

A. TRANSLATE THE FOLLOWING:


1. Yo thau ma payena tara arko thau ma payo.

2. Seto rang huncha tara rato hudaina.

Back 5

ANSWERS

A. 1. I didn’t get (a thing) here but I got it somewhere else.

A. 2. White is okay but red isn’t.