जब तक कपड़े सूखे नहीं हों, तब तक तह मत करो।

Until the clothes are dry, do not fold them.

Breakdown of जब तक कपड़े सूखे नहीं हों, तब तक तह मत करो।

• होना: to be
• नहीं: not
• कपड़ा: clothing
• मत: do not (negative imperative)

Questions & Answers about जब तक कपड़े सूखे नहीं हों, तब तक तह मत करो।

Why does the sentence use both जब तक and तब तक?

This is a very common Hindi correlative pattern:

जब तक ... तब तक ...

It literally means something like:

as long as/until ... until then ...

So in this sentence:

जब तक कपड़े सूखे नहीं हों, तब तक तह मत करो।

the first part sets the condition/time limit, and the second part gives the main instruction.

English often does not need both parts, but Hindi very naturally uses both together. The second तब तक is sometimes optional in casual speech, but using it makes the sentence feel complete and balanced.

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What exactly does कपड़े mean here?

कपड़े is the plural form of कपड़ा.

• कपड़ा = a cloth / a garment / fabric
• कपड़े = clothes

In everyday Hindi, कपड़े very commonly means clothes as a general category, just like English clothes is normally plural.

So here it means the clothes, not just one piece of clothing.

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Why is सूखे used instead of सूखा?

Because सूखे agrees with कपड़े.

Here, सूखा is being used as an adjective meaning dry. Hindi adjectives change form to match gender and number.

For this adjective: