ভায়েক / ভনীয়েক / ককায়েক

Brother and Sister Words

Level 2Sounds Like bhāẏēka / bhanīẏēka / kakāẏēka

Say মোৰ ভাই for “my brother” and তেওঁৰ ভায়েক for “his or her brother”.

How It Works

Assamese has separate words for brothers and sisters. ভাই and ভায়েক mean “brother”, usually a younger one. ভনী and ভনীয়েক mean “younger sister”. ককাই and ককায়েক mean “elder brother”. The word changes with whose relative it is, in the way that দেউতা and দেউতাক do.

MeaningWith মোৰWith তেওঁৰ, তাইৰ, মৃদুলৰ, আপোনাৰ
brother, usually youngerভাইভায়েক
younger sisterভনীভনীয়েক
elder brotherককাইককায়েক

Example: মোৰ ভনী স্কুলত পঢ়ে “my younger sister studies at school”, and মৃদুলৰ তিনিজনী ভনীয়েক আছে “Mridul has three sisters”.

ভায়েক is also the general word for “brother”. Add ডাঙৰ “big” for an older one: তাইৰ ডাঙৰ ভায়েক “her older brother”.

To a person you respect, use the same -েক forms with আপোনাৰ, as with দেউতাক. A friend you call তুমি can get a -ৰা form, as in তোমাৰ ভায়েৰাকেইটা “your brothers”, but it is rare in print, so this topic does not teach it.

Examples (5)

  1. এইজন মোৰ ককাই।

    This is my elder brother.

    With মোৰ the word is ককাই.

  2. মৃদুলৰ ভায়েক এজন শিক্ষক।

    Mridul’s brother is a teacher.

    With মৃদুলৰ the word is ভায়েক.

  3. মৃদুলৰ তিনিজনী ভনীয়েক আছে।

    Mridul has three sisters.

    ভনীয়েক goes with মৃদুলৰ.

  4. মোৰ ভনী স্কুলত পঢ়ে।

    My younger sister studies at school.

    With মোৰ the word is ভনী.

  5. তাইৰ ককায়েক গুৱাহাটীত থাকে।

    Her elder brother lives in Guwahati.

    With তাইৰ the word is ককায়েক.

How It Connects

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ভায়েক / ভনীয়েক / ককায়েকLevel 2Brother and Sister Words

Learn This First

ভায়েক goes with the words for “his” and “her”, so learners need তাৰ and তেওঁৰ first.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.