सुनाई (sunaaii)
noun
Almost always met in the fixed pair सुनाई देना (sunaaii denaa) 'to be audible', mirroring दिखाई देना (dikhaaii denaa) for sight; the noun सुनाई (sunaaii) barely occurs outside this construction.
Sense
1
:
audibility, hearing (only in the compound सुनाई देना)
noun, feminine Occurs almost exclusively as the noun component of the compound सुनाई देना (sunaaii denaa, 'to be audible/heard'), a dative-subject construction: the person who hears takes को (ko), and the thing heard is the grammatical subject, e.g. structurally parallel to मुझे आवाज़ सुनाई देती है (mujhe aavaaz sunaaii detii hai, 'I can hear the sound').
Frequency: high
Cultural Note: This word is the exact aural counterpart of दिखाई देना (dikhaaii denaa) for vision -- Hindi treats both hearing and seeing as things that 'arrive' to a passive experiencer rather than actions the experiencer performs, which is why both take dative-subject (को) constructions. Once a learner has दिखाई देना down, सुनाई देना (sunaaii denaa) follows the identical pattern and is easy to pick up as a pair.
Common Mistakes: 1) Learners try to use सुनाई (sunaaii) as a free-standing noun meaning 'hearing' (as in 'his hearing is weak'); it does not work that way -- that sense is carried by सुनने की शक्ति (sunne kii shakti) or श्रवण शक्ति (shravan shakti), not सुनाई alone. 2) The verb agrees with देना (denaa) in the compound, not with the person listening; learners sometimes wrongly try to mark the hearer as the subject instead of using को (ko).
Sample Sentences:
मुझे बाहर से कोई आवाज़ सुनाई दे रही है।
I can hear some sound from outside.
(mujhe baahar se koii aavaaz sunaaii de rahii hai।)
क्या तुम्हें मेरी आवाज़ सुनाई दे रही है?
Can you hear my voice?
(kyaa tumhen merii aavaaz sunaaii de rahii hai?)
पीछे बैठे लोगों को स्पीकर से कुछ भी सुनाई नहीं दिया।
The people sitting at the back couldn't hear anything from the speaker.
(piichhe baithe logon ko spiikar se kuchh bhii sunaaii nahiin diyaa।)
बचपन में मुझे बहुत साफ़ सुनाई देता था।
In my childhood I used to hear very clearly.
(bachpan men mujhe bahut saaf sunaaii detaa thaa।)
बुढ़ापे में उन्हें कम सुनाई देगा, यह डॉक्टर ने पहले ही बता दिया था।
The doctor had already told us that he would hear less in old age.
(budhaape men unhen kam sunaaii degaa, yah doktar ne pahle hii bataa diyaa thaa।)
अगर हॉल में शोर न होता, तो सबको भाषण अच्छी तरह सुनाई देता।
If there hadn't been noise in the hall, everyone would have heard the speech well.
(agar hol men shor n hotaa, to sabko bhaashan achchhii tarah sunaaii detaa।)
ज़रा आवाज़ बढ़ा दो, ताकि पीछे भी सबको सुनाई दे।
Please turn up the volume a bit, so that everyone at the back can hear too.
(zaraa aavaaz badhaa do, taaki piichhe bhii sabko sunaaii de।)
डॉक्टर ने कहा कि उम्र के साथ सुनाई देना कम हो सकता है।
The doctor said that hearing can diminish with age.
(doktar ne kahaa ki umr ke saath sunaaii denaa kam ho saktaa hai।)
इस कमरे में इको की वजह से हर आवाज़ दोहरी सुनाई देती है।
Because of the echo in this room, every sound is heard doubled.
(is kamre men iko kii vajah se har aavaaz dohrii sunaaii detii hai।)
जब मैंने फ़ोन उठाया, तो उधर से कुछ भी सुनाई नहीं दे रहा था।
When I picked up the phone, nothing could be heard from the other side.
(jab mainne fon uthaayaa, to udhar se kuchh bhii sunaaii nahiin de rahaa thaa।)
Morphology
Noun
(sg.f.direct):
सुनाई
(sunaaii)
(sg.f.oblique):
सुनाई
(sunaaii)
(pl.f.direct):
सुनाईएँ
(sunaaiien)
(pl.f.oblique):
सुनाईओं
(sunaaiion)