Like any language, Marathi has many phrases. Learning phrases, idioms, sayings is an advanced part of the language learning process. Dictionaries & Thesaurus are ideal resources to learn them. So it is not possible to replace them with one or two blog posts. But it is surely possible to introduce to phrases.
So in this lesson, I am enlisting a few phrases & peculiar sentences in which where sentence formation is different in Marathi compared to English. These were either discussed on facebook group or asked me over mail.
I will keep updating this lesson as and when I found a good candidate.
Please note that phrases are not translated literally their equivalents are given.
It is assumed that the reader knows basic grammar details about nouns, pronouns, gender, tense, etc. So s/he can take a clue from meaning and make different sentences.
1) To feel sleepy
The phrase “to feel sleepy” is said differently in Marathi. “X is feeling sleepy” is translated as if saying “Sleep is coming to X”.
I am feeling sleepy -> Sleep is coming to me -> मला झोप येते आहे (malA jhop yete Ahe)
2) नाक खुपसणे (nAk khupasaNe) / लुडबुड करणे (luDabuD karaNe)->To meddle / To poke nose
3) जोखाडातून बाहेर येणे (jokahDAtUn bAher yeNe) -> To relieve from the burden
4) सावट येणे (sAvaT yeNE) -> To come under evil
5) झपाट्याने वाढणे (jhapATyAne vADhaNe) -> To grow by leaps and bounds
6) जीवावर बेतणे (jIvAvar betaNe) -> To turn out to be fatal
रेल्वेच्या टपावर चढणे जीवावर बेतले (relvechyA TapAvar chaDhaNe jIvAvar betale) = Climbing the roof of the train turned out fatal
7) नवऱ्याने बायकोला टाकणे (navarxyAne bAyakolA TAkaNe) -> Husband to leave is wife or alienate from the relationship
8) बाचाबाची होणे (bAchAbAchI hoNe) -> A verbal fight to take place
9) टप्पा गाठणे (TappA gAThaNe) -> To achieve a level/benchmark
10) सूर गवसणे (sUr gavasaNe ) -> to find form (as in cricket)
11) सर करणे (sar karaNe) -> To conquer
12) आवर घालणे (Avar ghAlaNe) -> To control
13) चारी मुंड्या चित करणे (chArI muMDyA chit karaNe) -> To give whitewash to rival; To defeat (an opponent) easily by winning every game, point, etc.
14) रग उतरवणे (rag utaravaNe) -> Breaking one’s ego or self-boasting by defeating him
15) __ची समस्या भेडसावणे (samasyA bheDasAvaNe) -> To face problem of __
16) मुकाट्याने ऐकणे (mukATyAne aikaNe) -> To agree on something without saying a word
17) संपुष्टात येणे (saMpuShTAt yeNe ) -> To come to an end
18) रंगू लागणे (raMgU lAgaNe) -> To become more interesting
e.g. कौशिक आल्यावर गप्पा रंगू लागल्या -> After Kaushik joined our chat become more interesting
19) __ची हमी देणे/घेणे (hamI deNe/gheNe) -> To give/take assurance of ___
20) सुकर होणे (sukar hoNe) -> To become easy
21) डच्चू देणे (DacchU deNe) -> To omit, To remove from an existing group)
22) घाम गाळणे (ghAm gALaNe) -> To work very hard
23) सापळ्यात अडकणे(sApaLyAt aDakaNe) -> To fall in trap
24) थैमान घालणे(thaimAn ghAlaNe) -> To throw tantrum, To cause widespread destruction.
e.g. प्लेगने देशभर थैमान घातले -> Plague caused causalities all over the country
25) दणका देणे (daNakA deNe) -> To hit very strongly
26) दांडी मारणे(dAMDI mAraNe) -> To bunk (class, office)
27) वेठीस धरणे(veThIs dharaNe) -> To force someone to be in an uncomfortable situation
28) चोंबडेपणा/चोमडेपणा करणे -> To be meddlesome/nosy, To share ones secret with others
29) पितळ उघडे पडणे (pitaL ughaDe paDaNe) -> Reality or hidden motives of someone getting exposed
30) काटा काढणे (kATA kADhaNe) -> To remove an obstacle that is stopping someone from wrongdoing.
31) काट्याने काटा काढणे (kATyAne kATA kADhaNe) -> To do away with something/someone using other things/person of the same type.
e.g. पोलिसांनी ए-टोळिच्या लोकांच्या मदतीने ब-टोळीला संपवले. काट्याने काटा काढला -> Police took help of gang-A and finished gang-B
32) पातळी घसरणे(pAtaLI ghasaraNe) -> To degrade
33) खडाजंगी उडणे (khaDAjaMgI uDaNe) -> high tempered verbal clashing
34) अब्रूची लक्तरे वेशीवर टांगणे (abrUchI laktare veshIvar TAMgaNe) -> To defame publicly
35) थरकाप उडवणे (tharakAp uDavaNe) -> To frighten so as to cause shivering
36) धडपड करणे(dhaDapaD karaNe) -> To try, To struggle
37) अंगावर काटा येणे(aMgAvar kATA yeNe) -> Goose bumping
38) गवसणी घालणे (gavasaNI ghAlaNe) -> To embrace
यशाला गवसणी घालणे (yashAlA gavasaNI ghAlaNe) ->to succeed/accomplish something.
आकाशाला गवसणी घालणे (AkAshAlA gavasaNI ghAlaNe) = to achieve something that is really very difficult or almost impossible to.
39)कोंबडा आरवणे(koMbaDA AravaNe) -> Cock crows in morning. Beginning of dawn
40) बोहल्यावर चढणे(bohalyAvar chaDhaNe) -> To get married
41)लंपास करणे (laMpAs karaNe) -> To steal
42) खूळ लागणे (khUL lAgaNe) -> To behave a like a crazy/fanatic
43) काळजी (kALajI) -> Worry
__ची काळजी वाटणे (kALajI vATaNe) -> To worry / To worry about
काळजी घेणे (kALajI gheNe) -> To take care
माझ्या तब्येतीची काळजी करू नकोस, तुझ्या अभ्यासाची काळजी घे (mAjhyA tabyetIchI kALajI karU nakos, tujhyA abhyAsAchI kALajI ghe)
Do not worry about my health, take care of your studies
44) तोंडाला पाणी सुटणे (toMDAlA pANI suTaNe) -> Mouth to start watering
45) इंगा दाखवणे (iMgA dAkhavaNe) -> to show strength by teaching a proper lesson to whoever messes with you
46) कुणकुण लागणे (kuNakuN lAgaNe ) -> To get a hint of something happening secretly. In Hindi भनक लगना (bhanak laganA)
47) कंबरडे मोडणे -> “कंबरडे” is slang word for waist. So it literally means break one waist. In short, make some one disabled to carry out activity. e.g.
माझ्या सैनिकांनी शत्रू सैन्याचे कंबरडे मोडले (mAjhyA sainikAMnI shatrU sainyAche kaMbaraDe moDale)
My soldiers devastated army of enemy
48) कूस बदलणे (kUs badalaNe) -> While sleeping on a side to turn/change from one side to other.
In Hindi करवट बदलना(karavaT badalanA)
49) गंडा घालणे (gaMDA ghAlaNe) -> To cheat
50) भुरळ घालणे / भुरळ पाडणे (bhuraL ghAlaNe / bhuraL pADaNe) -> To enchant / To charm
The beauty of Indian seashore enchanted me -> भारताच्या समुद्रकिनाऱ्याच्या सौंदर्याने मला भुरळ पाडली/घातली (bhAratAchyA samudrakinArxyAchyA sauMdaryAne malA bhuraL pADalI/ghAtalI)
51) छडा लावणे (ChaDA lAvaNe) -> To find out the root cause
52) केसाला धक्का लागणे (kesAlA dhakkA lAgaNe) -> To get trifle harm
माझ्या मुलाच्या केसाला जरी धक्का लागला तरी मी तुझा जीव घेईन (mAjhyA mulAchyA kesAlA jarI dhakkA lAgalA tarI mI tujhA jIv gheIn) -> If my son is hurt even a bit, I will kill you.
53) शिवधनुष्य पेलणे (shivadhanuShy pelaNe) -> To carry out gigantic responsibility.
शिवधनुष्य(shivadhanuShy) is name of Hindu mythological bow of Lord Shiva. It beyond anyone’s capacity to handle this this bow.
54) अक्कल पाजळणे (akkal pAjaLaNe) -> To try to be over smart, To give opinion/suggestion about things in which one is not expert
55) पोटात गोळा येणे (poTAt goLA yeNe) -> To get/have butterflies in your stomach, To be scared of something
56) दणकून आपटणे (daNakUn ApaTaNe) -> To fall flat, To fail badly
Despite his heavy propaganda, he failed in elections badly. -> भरपूर प्रचार करूनही तो निवडणुकीत दणकून आपटला (bharapUr prachAr karUnahI to nivaDaNukIt daNakUn ApaTalA)
57) गृहित धरणे (gRuhita dharaNe) -> To assume. To take for granted.
58) ___चा कळस (chA kaLas) -> height of ___
Height of nonsense -> आचरटपणाचा कळस (AcharaTapaNAchA kaLas)
59) लोटांगण घालणे (loTAMgaN ghAlaNe) -> To prostrate
60) टोकाचे पाऊल उचलणे (TokAche pAUl uchalaNe) -> To take extreme steps.
