कहाँ

Asking Where

Level 1Sounds Like kahām̐

कहाँ means where.

How It Works

कहाँ is the question word for place. It stands where the answer, the place, would stand.

QuestionPossible answer
तपाईंको घर कहाँ छ?मेरो घर पोखरामा छ।
तपाईं कहाँ बस्नुहुन्छ?म काठमाडौंमा बस्छु।
तिमी कहाँ जान्छौ?म बजार जान्छु।

With छ, कहाँ asks where something is. With a verb of motion, such as जानु (to go), it asks the direction: where do you go?

The answer takes the marker मा for a place, as in पोखरामा. With a verb of motion, the place you go to often has no marker and comes before the verb, as in बजार जान्छु.

You can add a marker to कहाँ to change the meaning: कहाँबाट asks from where, and कहाँको asks of what place, which is how Nepali asks where someone is from. When you need to find a place, say its name and then कहाँ छ: शौचालय कहाँ छ? asks where the toilet is.

Examples (5)

  1. तपाईंको घर कहाँ छ?

    Where is your house?

    कहाँ asks where the house is.

  2. तपाईं कहाँ बस्नुहुन्छ?

    Where do you live?

    The polite verb follows तपाईं.

  3. तिमी कहाँ जान्छौ?

    Where are you going?

    कहाँ asks the place of going.

  4. बैंक कहाँ छ?

    Where is the bank?

    कहाँ comes right before छ.

  5. शौचालय कहाँ छ?

    Where is the toilet?

    The same pattern works for any place name.

How It Connects

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कहाँLevel 1Asking Where

Learn This First

कहाँ asks for a place, and the place words come with the question pattern.

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Patterns that build on this one.