जब तक दाग़ साफ नहीं हो, तब तक कपड़ा भिगोकर रखिए।

to be

Breakdown of जब तक दाग़ साफ नहीं हो, तब तक कपड़ा भिगोकर रखिए।

• नहीं: not
• साफ: clean
• रखना: to keep

Questions & Answers about जब तक दाग़ साफ नहीं हो, तब तक कपड़ा भिगोकर रखिए।

What does जब तक ... तब तक mean here?

This is a very common Hindi correlative structure:

• जब तक = until / as long as
• तब तक = until then / for that long

So the pattern is:

जब तक X, तब तक Y
= Until X, do Y

In this sentence, it sets up a time limit: keep doing one thing up to the point when something else happens.

Hindi often uses both parts together, even though English usually just says until once.

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Why is there a नहीं in जब तक दाग़ साफ नहीं हो? In English we would usually say until the stain is clean, not until the stain is not clean.

This is one of the most important things to notice in Hindi.

With जब तक, Hindi very often uses नहीं even when English would not. So:

जब तक ... नहीं ...
often means
until ...

So जब तक दाग़ साफ नहीं ho does not mean as long as the stain is not clean in a clumsy literal sense. Idiomatically, it means:

• until the stain is clean
• until the stain comes out
• until the stain is gone

This is normal Hindi usage, not a logical double negative.

A similar example:

• जब तक बारिश बंद नहीं हो, तब तक बाहर मत जाइए। = Don’t go outside until the rain stops.

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