Word of the Day: भेंट and तोहफ़ा

तोहफ़ा

Yesterday I learned a quirky bit of Hindi from my tutor, Manisha, about gifts (who doesn't like gifts?).  There are two words for gift that can be used:  the feminine noun भेंट (bhant, roughly) or the masculine noun  तोहफ़ा (toh-fa).  In Hindi, one always gives a gift and explains what is in the gift that you give.  So you wouldn't say, "I will give her a gift."  Instead, you'd say, "मैं उसको किताब की भेंट दूँगी।" which means "I will give her the gift of a book."  तोहफ़ा is a tad bit trickier- it takes में, which means you tell what is in the gift.  "मैं उसको तोहफ़े में किताब दूँगी।"  I find it a bit strange to specify that I'm giving a gift and tell what's inside the gift in Hindi.  But I find it nice that the language emphasizes the two most important parts of gift giving:  recognition that you are undertaking the act of giving and that you've given thought to what it is that you're giving someone else.