Follow the chain, then reverse it
Exam questions love two twists: a long chain packed into one sentence, and a question that asks the relation the other way round from the clue. In this lesson you unpack a chain from its named end, then reverse it step by step: every step up becomes a step down, and the name comes from the other person's side.
Guess first
Ravi is Sita's maternal uncle. Sita is a girl. How is Sita related to Ravi?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
Ravi is the brother of Sita's mother. Walk it back from Ravi: across to his sister (Sita's mother), then down to her daughter Sita. So Sita is Ravi's sister's daughter: his niece, भांजी.
Option B: The person in the middle is Ravi's sister (Sita's mother), not his brother.
Option C: That repeats the clue: Ravi to Sita. The question asks Sita to Ravi.
Option D: Sita is the daughter of Ravi's sister, not of Ravi.
Hint: Walk back from Ravi: who is in the middle?
The clue gave Ravi to Sita; the question wanted Sita to Ravi. Same two people, a different word, because the walk runs the other way.
Turn the walk around
Reversing a relation is like walking back home along the same road.
The road the chain of links
the same people in the middle
Uphill becomes downhill parent becomes child
father, mother become son, daughter
Across stays across brother, sister, husband, wife
they stay sideways
The name at the end the word
taken from the other person's side, with that person's gender
| One step of the walk | Walking back it becomes |
|---|---|
| up to a father or mother | down to a son or daughter (the other person's gender) |
| down to a son or daughter | up to a father or mother |
| across to a brother or sister | across to a brother or sister |
| across to a husband or wife | across to a wife or husband |
A word and its reverse often come in pairs: मामा and भांजा or भांजी, बुआ and भतीजा or भतीजी, दादा and पोता or पोती, नाना and नाती or नातिन, ससुर and बहू or दामाद.
See it: unpack a chain, then reverse it
Take "Mohan is the son of the brother of Rita's mother. Rita is a girl."
Unpack, then reverse:
- Start at the named end, Rita: her mother, then her mother's brother, then his son Mohan. So Mohan is Rita's mother's brother's son: her ममेरा भाई.
- Walk back from Mohan: up to his father (Rita's mother's brother), across to his sister (Rita's mother), down to her daughter Rita.
- Name it from Mohan's side: father's sister's daughter, फुफेरी बहन. Rita is a girl, so बहन.
flowchart TD G["shared parents"] --> RM["Rita's mother"] G --> RB["her brother"] RM --> R["Rita"] RB --> M["Mohan"]
The two cousins name each other through their own parents (lesson 8): Mohan is Rita's ममेरा भाई, and Rita is Mohan's फुफेरी बहन.
Try it on paper. Write three relations in your family as "X is Y's ...". Under each, write the reverse: "Y is X's ...".
Find the rule
Kamla is the paternal grandmother of Rohan, a boy. Which Hindi word names Rohan for Kamla?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
Kamla is Rohan's father's mother. Walk back from Kamla: down to her son (Rohan's father), down to his son Rohan. A son's son is a पोता.
Option B: नाती is a daughter's son. Rohan is the son of Kamla's son.
Option C: दादी is Kamla for Rohan: the clue, not the reverse.
Option D: Rohan is the son of Kamla's son, one rung lower.
Hint: Reverse both steps: what was "father's mother" from Rohan becomes what from Kamla?
Mohan is the son of the brother of Rita's mother. Rita is a girl. How is Rita related to Mohan?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
From Mohan: his father, his father's sister (Rita's mother), and her daughter Rita. So Rita is Mohan's father's sister's daughter: his फुफेरी बहन.
Option B: That is Mohan's relation to Rita, read off the clue: it was not reversed.
Option C: Rita and Mohan have different parents, who are brother and sister: they are cousins.
Option D: Rita is the niece of Mohan's father. The question asks about Mohan, one rung lower.
Hint: Walk back from Mohan, one link at a time.
Name the rule
Unpack from the named end, then walk back.
- A long chain: start at the person who is named in it ("Rita's mother") and read outwards.
- Reverse: walk the same chain back. Up becomes down, down becomes up, sideways stays sideways.
- Name it from the new starting person, with the gender of the person asked about.
- Check the pair: मामा and भांजा, बुआ and भतीजा, दादा and पोता, नाना and नाती.
Flipping words by memory fails on the middle person: the reverse of मामा is भांजा, not भतीजा, because the middle person is a sister. Walking back through the same people keeps that middle person in view.
Worked, half-done, solo
Question
Asha is the daughter of the sister of Vikas's father. Vikas is a boy. How is Vikas related to Asha?
Solution
- Unpack from the named end
Vikas, his father, the father's sister, and her daughter Asha: Asha is Vikas's फुफेरी बहन.
- Walk back from Asha
Up to her mother (Vikas's father's sister), across to her brother (Vikas's father), down to his son Vikas.
- Name it from Asha's side
Mother's brother's son: ममेरा भाई. Vikas is a boy, so भाई.
Answer: Vikas is Asha's cousin (mother's brother's son), her ममेरा भाई.
Watch out: The clue's word for Asha (फुफेरी) is not the answer's word for Vikas (ममेरा): each cousin names the other through their own parent.
Now finish one that is half done.
Deepak is Neha's paternal uncle, her father's brother. Neha is a girl. Reverse it: from Deepak, across to his brother (Neha's father), then down to Neha. So Neha is Deepak's ...
Show answer
Correct answer: A
Neha is the daughter of Deepak's brother: his niece, भतीजी.
Option B: The person in the middle is Deepak's brother, not his sister.
Option C: Neha is the daughter of Deepak's brother, not of Deepak.
Option D: That repeats the clue: Deepak to Neha.
Hint: Who is the person in the middle, and what is Neha's gender?
And one on your own.
Mohit is the son of the sister of Pinky's father. Pinky is a girl. How is Pinky related to Mohit?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
From Mohit: his mother (Pinky's father's sister), her brother (Pinky's father), and his daughter Pinky. So Pinky is Mohit's mother's brother's daughter: his ममेरी बहन.
Option B: That is Mohit's relation to Pinky: the clue, not the reverse.
Option C: Pinky is the niece of Mohit's mother. The question asks about Mohit, one rung lower.
Option D: The person in the middle is Mohit's mother's brother, not her sister.
Hint: Unpack the clue from Pinky, then walk it back from Mohit.
The traps
- Not reversing: repeating the clue's relation instead of answering the question's direction.
- The wrong middle person: the reverse of मामा is भांजा (a sister in the middle), not भतीजा.
- The wrong gender at the end: the reversed word takes the gender of the person asked about.
- A long chain read from the wrong end: start at the person named in it, not at the first word.
- A rung lost on the way back: the walk back has as many steps as the walk out.
Arun and Rakesh are brothers, and Neeta is Rakesh's daughter. Asked how Arun is related to Neeta, Vinay said: "Arun is Neeta's niece." What went wrong?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
Arun is the brother of Neeta's father: her paternal uncle, चाचा या ताऊ. "Niece" is Neeta as seen from Arun, the reverse of what was asked.
Option B: Vinay named no side; he answered the other direction.
Option C: The rung count is not the problem: he described the wrong person.
Option D: Arun is a man and Neeta's father's brother: he cannot be her niece.
Hint: Whose relation does the question ask for?
Mixed check
To find how K is related to M, which clues do you need? (1) K is L's sister. (2) L is M's father. (3) N is K's husband. (4) O is M's mother.
Show answer
Correct answer: A
M's father is L (clue 2), and L's sister is K (clue 1). So K is M's paternal aunt, बुआ. Clues 3 and 4 add people off the path.
Option B: Clue 4 adds M's mother, who is not on the path from M to K.
Option C: Without clue 1, nothing links K to anyone.
Option D: Clue 3 adds K's husband, who is not on the path.
Hint: Lesson 13: start from M and follow only the clues that lead to K.
In a code, A + B means "A is the mother of B", A − B means "A is the brother of B", A × B means "A is the husband of B" and A ÷ B means "A is the daughter of B". If P − Q + R, how is R related to P?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
P − Q: P is Q's brother. Q + R: Q is R's mother, so Q is a woman. Walk back from P: across to his sister Q, down to her child R. R's gender is never given: R is P's sister's child.
Option B: "Son" needs R to be a man; no symbol gives R's gender.
Option C: Maternal uncle is P as seen from R: the clue's direction, not the question's.
Option D: R is Q's child, not P's.
Hint: Lesson 9: decode, then walk back from P.
Quick reference
Chains and reversals
- Unpack
- start at the person named in the chain and read outwards the son of the brother of Rita's mother: Rita, her mother, the brother, his son
- Reverse
- walk the same chain back up becomes down, down becomes up, sideways stays
- Name
- from the new starting person, with the asked person's gender Mohan to Rita: ममेरा; Rita to Mohan: फुफेरी
- Pairs
- each word has a partner from the other end मामा and भांजा, बुआ and भतीजा, दादा and पोता, नाना and नाती
- Check
- as many steps back as out a rung lost is a wrong word
Why it works: a relation is a path between two people. Reversing it means walking the same path from the other end, so the people in the middle, and the word they decide, stay the same.
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