दुकानदार केक बनाता है।

The shopkeeper makes cakes.

Breakdown of दुकानदार केक बनाता है।

• होना: to be
• बनाना: to make
• केक: cake
• दुकानदार: shopkeeper

Questions & Answers about दुकानदार केक बनाता है।

What does each word in दुकानदार केक बनाता है। do?

A word-by-word breakdown:

• दुकानदार = shopkeeper
• केक = cake
• बनाता = makes
• है = a form of to be, used here as part of the present habitual structure

So the sentence structure is basically:

shopkeeper + cake + makes + is

That sounds odd in English, but in natural English it comes out as The shopkeeper makes cake / makes a cake / makes cakes, depending on context.

Why is the verb at the end?

Because Hindi normally follows Subject–Object–Verb word order, while English usually uses Subject–Verb–Object.

So:

• English: The shopkeeper makes cake
• Hindi: दुकानदार केक बनाता है।
  • दुकानदार = subject
  • केक = object
  • बनाता है = verb phrase

Putting the verb at the end is one of the most basic word-order differences between Hindi and English.

Why is it बनाता है and not just बनाता?

In standard Hindi, this kind of present habitual sentence usually uses:

• main verb stem + habitual ending + form of होना

So here: