Cultural Life
Explore Gujarati words for festivals, family, music and food. Every word comes with its script, a transliteration to help you say it, and the English meaning.
Practise it before the paper, not after
Free, interactive practice on the words and structures the examiner keeps asking for.
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Cultural Life
Cultural life is about festivals, family, food, music and traditions. In this module you will learn the key Gujarati words for them. Gujarati is written in its own script. Every word below is shown with its script, a transliteration in brackets to help you say it, and the English meaning.
Key words (1)
Learn these four cultural words:
Match each word to its meaning
- તહેવાર (tahevar)
- કુટુંબ (kutumb)
- સંગીત (sangeet)
- ખોરાક (khorak)
- festival
- family
- music
- food
What sangeet means in Gujarati
What does the Gujarati word સંગીત (sangeet) mean?
- music
- food
- family
- festival
Key words (2)
Now four more words about celebrations:
Match each word to its meaning
- નૃત્ય (nrutya)
- પરંપરા (parampara)
- ગીત (geet)
- ઉજવણી (ujavni)
- dance
- tradition
- song
- celebration
Cultural life
Select the TWO things that are part of cultural life.
- Celebrating festivals with family
- Enjoying music and dance
- Ignoring all traditions
- Never celebrating anything
Choose the Gujarati word
In Gujarati, the word for 'family' is _____, and the word for 'music' is _____.
A script of its own
Gujarati is written in its own script, read from left to right. The transliteration in brackets is only a pronunciation guide, not Gujarati spelling. Festivals like દિવાળી (Diwali) and નવરાત્રી (Navratri) bring families together with food, music and dance.
A special day
What does the Gujarati word તહેવાર (tahevar) mean?
- festival
- homework
- school
- the weather
Gujarati puts is at the end
The festival words become sentences once you add છે (chhe - is) at the end, where English would not put it: - તહેવાર કુટુંબની સાથે છે = "the festival is with the family". સાથે (sathe - with) follows કુટુંબ rather than coming before it, and the -ની on કુટુંબની is what links the two. છે closes the sentence. - મને સંગીત ગમે છે = "I like music". Literally "to me music is pleasing". મને (mane) is "to me", and છે closes this one too.
Gujarati puts "with" after the noun, not before it
Gujarati puts "with" after the noun, not before it. Which of these says "the festival is with the family"?
- તહેવાર કુટુંબની સાથે છે (tahevar kutumbni sathe chhe)
- કુટુંબ તહેવારની સાથે છે (kutumb tahevarni sathe chhe)
- તહેવાર કુટુંબની સાથે (tahevar kutumbni sathe)
- મને સંગીત ગમે છે (mane sangeet game chhe)
Cultural life in action
Think about how cultural life works, using the words you have learned.
- During a festival, families gather to share...
- The Gujarati word સંગીત (sangeet) refers to...
- Traditions, પરંપરા (parampara), are...
One more
The Gujarati word for 'food' is _____, and the word for 'festival' is _____.
Your turn: write in Gujarati
Write two or three sentences IN GUJARATI about a festival and what is enjoyed at it. Write in Gujarati script - the transliteration in brackets is a reading aid only.
- Name it: તહેવાર (tahevar - a festival) or ઉજવણી (ujavni - a celebration)
- Name two things enjoyed: ખોરાક (khorak - food), સંગીત (sangeet - music), નૃત્ય (nrutya - dance) or ગીત (geet - a song)
- Join them with અને (ane - and): ખોરાક અને સંગીત (khorak ane sangeet - food and music)
- Say who you are with using -ની સાથે (-ni sathe - with): કુટુંબની સાથે (kutumbni sathe - with family), and mention પરંપરા (parampara - tradition)