How to say, “I should do X” in Gujarati?

In Gujarati, we use jo;- as a second verb to say “I should do X” or “I should not do Y”. Consider the following examples:

a. mare hve 3er jvu& jo;Ae.

‘I should go home now.’

b. tmare Aavu& n bolvu& jo;Ae.

‘You should not speak like this.’

c. lIlaAe ra{ae bhar n nIkXvu& jo;Ae.

‘Lila should not go out at night.’

d. mnuAe Aenu& =rIr wtarvu& jo;Ae.

‘Manu should reduce his/ her body.’

e. nynaAe bhu& kam n krvu& jo;Ae.

‘Nayana should not work hard.’

f. Aap8e vasI `orak `avo jo;to n hto.

‘We should not have eaten stale food.’

In these sentences also we use accusative/ dative pronouns as the subject. Moreover, we also use -Ae with nominal subject. Lastly, we also see that a transitive verb agrees with the object in gender and number.

How to express ‘to want’ in Gujarati?

We normally want a particular thing or want to perform a particular action. In English, you use ‘want’ for both. However, in Gujarati, there are two mechanisms; one for ‘wanting a thing’ and the other for ‘wanting to perform an action.’

1. When you want a thing use ‘jo;-’ verb as the following examples show:

a. mare kagX jo;Ae 2e.

‘I want a piece of paper.’

b. tare kerI jo;Ae 2e?

‘Do you want a mango?’

c. lIlane pen jo;Ae 2e.

‘Lila wants a pen.’

d. sImane cop6I jo;tI htI.

‘Seema wanted a book.’

Remember:

A. If the subject is a pronoun, it must be from accusative/dative group.

B. If the subject is a noun use -ne with it.

C. In past tense constructions the verb agrees with object in gender and number.

D. In future, ‘want’ acquires a meaning of ‘need’. Example: mare cop6I jo;=e. ‘I will need a book.’

2. When you ‘want’ to do something use infinitive form of the verb. Examples:

a. mare rmvu& 2e.

‘I want to play.’

b. rmane 3er jvu& 2e.

‘Rama want to go home.’

c. mare kerI `avI 2e.

‘I want to eat a mango.’

d. tmare kagX l`vo 2e?

‘Do you want to write a letter?’

e. mInane keXa& `rIdva& 2e.

‘Mina wants to buy bananas.’

Remember:

A. If the subject is a pronoun, it must be from the accusative/dative group.

B. If the subject is a noun, use -ne with it.

C. If the verb is transitive, the verb must agree with the object in gender and number.