Reading "the children put breath in their mother's nose", Riya thinks the children literally…
Reading "the children put breath in their mother's nose", Riya thinks the children literally filled their mother's nose with breath or air. Her friend says the meaning here is about troubling someone greatly. Who is right?
Who do you think is right? Pick one.
The answer: Her friend is right, it means troubling someone greatly
Why
Riya's literal reading is understandable, but 'नाक में दम करना' is also an idiom with no real connection to an actual nose or breath. Its real meaning is to trouble someone so much that they are pushed to their limit, as if breathing itself became difficult — it's a mental image, not a literal description of filling someone's nose with air. 'बच्चों ने माँ की नाक में दम कर दिया' means the children troubled their mother so much that she was worn out. Test it: he troubled me and made my nose fill with breath makes little literal sense — the sentence is about trouble, not the physical state of anyone's nose. Her friend is right: 'नाक में दम करना' is an idiom meaning to trouble or harass someone greatly, not about literally filling a nose with anything.
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