Work out who did what in a sentence

The verb comes last, and the small words English puts in front of a noun go on the back of it instead. Learn the tags that tell you who acted and who it happened to.

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What’s in this chapter

The verb is the last word of the sentence. Read it first: it tells you what happened.
English puts to, from, of, in front of a noun; Nepali sticks the same words on the back.
लाईlāī marks who something is done to; लेle marks the doer when a past action lands on something else.
कोko after a noun means “of”; को standing on its own means “who”.
A question word sits exactly where its answer would sit, and nothing else changes.

I मma go जान्छुjānchu to the forest बनमाbanmā.

म बनमा जान्छु।

ma banmā jānchu

Two moves at once. The verb went to the back, and the word for “to” went to the back of “forest”. Follow the colours.

The small words that come after a noun

A noun names a person, place or thing. English puts to, from and of in front of it; Nepali sticks the same word on the back, with no space between.

Meaning	Nepali	Example
in, at, on, to	माmā	बनमाbanmā“in the forest”
from	बाटbāṭa	घरबाटgharbāṭa“from the house”
to, and the one it happens to	लाईlāī	मुसालाईmusālāī“the mouse, as the one it happens to”
marks the doer of a past action on something	लेle	बाघलेbāghle“the tiger, as doer”
of	को / की / काko / kī / kā	बाघको घरbāghko ghar“the tiger’s house”
under	मुनिmuni	रूखमुनिrūkhmuni“under the tree”
above, on top of	माथिmāthi	रूखमाथिrūkhmāthi“on top of the tree”
than	भन्दाbhandā	हात्ती मुसाभन्दा ठूलो छhāttī musābhandā ṭhūlo cha“the elephant is bigger than the mouse”

Of these, को is the one that changes shape: it matches the thing owned, taking की for a female and का for more than one.

The tiger बाघलेbāghle saw देख्योdekhyo the mouse मुसालाईmusālāī.

बाघले मुसालाई देख्यो।

bāghle musālāī dekhyo

The tags carry the meaning, so the two nouns could swap places and the tiger would still be the one doing the seeing. Do not ask what came first; ask what is tagged what, and find the verb at the end.

Ask what, who, where and when

A question word sits where its answer would sit, so nothing else in the sentence moves. The list also gives you the two words that answer “where”.

English	Nepali	English	Nepali
what	केke	where	कहाँkahā̃
who	कोko	here	यहाँyahā̃
why	किनkina	there	त्यहाँtyahā̃
when	कहिलेkahile	how many	कतिkati

Nothing inverts and nothing moves: the question word sits where the answer would sit. Compare ऊ बनमा छū banmā cha“he is in the forest” with ऊ कहाँ छ?ū kahā̃ cha“where is he?” — the question word simply sat down in the forest’s chair.

Find the verb, then the tags

मुसा बाटोमा छ।
Last word first, then the tag on the road.
Show answer +Hide answer −
musā bāṭomā cha — “The mouse is on the road.”
बाघले पानी देख्यो।
Who wears ले?
Show answer +Hide answer −
bāghle pānī dekhyo — “The tiger saw the water.”
त्यो को हो?
Here को is standing alone, not attached to a noun.
Show answer +Hide answer −
tyo ko ho — “Who is that?”

Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All Nepali chapters ↗