-তো

Surely and You Know: -তো

Level 4Sounds Like tō

তুমিতো ভাস্কৰ নহয়? means “you are Bhaskar, aren’t you?”.

How It Works

-তো sits inside the sentence and joins the word it stresses, without a space.

With -তোMeans
তুমিতোyou, as you know
মইতোI, for my part
তেঁৱেইতোhe himself, after all

The speaker reminds the listener of something both of them know: তুমিতো জানাই; মই বৰ লেহেমকৈহে কথাবোৰ বুজিব পাৰোঁ “you know that I understand things only slowly”. It can also add a polite protest: মইতো তোমাৰ চাবি পোৱা নাই “I have not got your key, you see”.

Do not confuse -তো with ত plus -ও. In গ্ৰীচতো “even in Greece”, the word is গ্ৰীচত “in Greece” with -ও, which only looks the same. The tag নহয় নে sits at the end of a sentence, where -তো sits inside it.

Examples (4)

  1. তুমিতো ভাস্কৰ নহয়?

    You are Bhaskar, aren’t you?

    তুমিতো stresses “you” and invites the listener to agree.

  2. মইতো তোমাৰ চাবি পোৱা নাই।

    I have not got your key, you see.

    মইতো stresses “I”; it adds “as for me”.

  3. তুমিতো জানাই; মই বৰ লেহেমকৈহে কথাবোৰ বুজিব পাৰোঁ।

    You know that I understand things only slowly.

    তুমিতো reminds the listener of something already known.

  4. ঘৰৰ সকলো কাম তেঁৱেইতো কৰে।

    After all, he is the one who does all the housework.

    তেঁৱেইতো stresses “he himself”: it is তেঁৱেই plus -তো.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-তোLevel 4Surely and You Know: -তো

Learn This First

-তো asks the listener to agree, as in the question নহয় নে, so learners need নহয় নে first.