গতকাল
gotokal/ɡɔt̪okal/
The Bengali word for "yesterday" is গতকাল (gotokal).
গতকাল is used to refer to the day before today.
Meaning: day before today (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
In Bengali, গতকাল can function as both a noun meaning "yesterday" and an adverb meaning "yesterday".
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is gotokal and the IPA is /ɡɔt̪okal/.
Did you know?
- While গতকাল refers to the calendar day, Bengalis may use পরশু to refer to the day before yesterday or the day after tomorrow.
- The word গতকাল contains the word কাল, which is a linguistic chameleon that can mean 'yesterday', 'today', or 'tomorrow' depending on the context and the words around it.
- The root কাল is found in many other Indo-Aryan languages, appearing in words related to 'time' or 'death' (as the end of time) in various Sanskrit-derived contexts.
Examples in context
- জন গতকাল জাপানে এসেছে।John came to Japan yesterday.This sentence is useful for showing how to use গতকাল when someone arrived in a country.Tatoeba #11456580 by robingaspi, translation #52602 by CN
- সে গতকাল জাপান পৌঁছেছে।He arrived in Japan yesterday.This sentence is useful for showing how to use গতকাল when someone reached a destination.Tatoeba #11456602 by robingaspi, translation #296913 by CK
- তিনি গতকাল টেনিস খেলেছেন।He played tennis yesterday.This sentence is useful for showing how to use গতকাল when describing an activity performed.Tatoeba #11999780 by robingaspi, translation #296879 by CK
- আপনি গতকাল কি করেছেন?What did you do yesterday?
- আমি গতকাল এই বইটি পড়েছিলাম।I read this book yesterday.
- 24 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about a movie they saw.
- আকাশ Akashতুমি গতকাল সিনেমাটি দেখেছ?tumi gotokal sinemati dekhecho?Did you watch the movie yesterday?
- মৌমিতা Moumitaহ্যাঁ, আমি গতকাল সেটি দেখেছি।hã, ami gotokal seti dekhechi.Yes, I saw it yesterday.
- আকাশ Akashসিনেমাটি কেমন ছিল?sinemati kemon chilo?How was the movie?
- মৌমিতা Moumitaসিনেমাটি খুব ভালো ছিল।sinemati khub bhalo chilo.The movie was very good.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “yesterday” translations and entries গতকাল, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
