तेल कहाँ है?

Where is the cooking oil?

Breakdown of तेल कहाँ है?

• होना: to be
• कहाँ: where
• तेल: cooking oil

Questions & Answers about तेल कहाँ है?

What does each word in तेल कहाँ है? mean?

• तेल = oil
• कहाँ = where
• है = is

So the sentence is literally oil where is?, which is the normal Hindi way to say Where is the oil?

How do I pronounce तेल कहाँ है?

A simple learner-friendly transliteration is tel kahā̃ hai?

A rough pronunciation guide:

• तेल = tel
• कहाँ = kahaan with a nasalized final vowel: kahā̃
• है = hai

A natural overall pronunciation is close to tel kahaan hai?, but remember that कहाँ has nasalization at the end.

Why is the verb है at the end?

Hindi usually prefers subject/object + other information + verb order, so the verb often comes last.

That is why Hindi says:

• तेल कहाँ है?
  literally: oil where is?

This is completely normal in Hindi, even though English puts is before the subject in questions.

Why is कहाँ in the middle instead of at the beginning?