Learning Hindi — frequently asked questions
40 questions people really ask when learning Hindi, with answers that stand on their own. Where there is more to say, the link comes underneath — not instead of the answer.
Getting started
Where to begin, how long it takes, which Hindi to learn, and what the levels mean.
How should I start learning Hindi?
With the script, and then straight away with whole sentences. Devanagari comes first because everything on this site is written in it, and because it is far more regular than English spelling: most learners can sound out simple words within a few days. Learn the hidden vowel alongside it, because कमरा, room, is said kamrā and not kamarā. From the first week, learn short sentences as wholes — मेरा नाम एमा है। मैं लंदन से हूँ। — and notice what is in them: the verb at the end, the word for “from” after the city, and मेरा, which would be मेरी before a feminine noun. Then come the few patterns everything else is built on: है and its forms, the gender of nouns, the postpositions, and the everyday present, मैं हिंदी सीखता हूँ.
What do A1, A2 and B1 mean on this site?
They follow the common European scale of language levels, from A1, the first steps, through A2 to B1, the point where you can handle everyday situations and talk about familiar things in connected sentences. The scale goes further; this site goes as far as B1. The levels are not an examination and not an official placement. No word lists published by any examining body were used, every placement of a word or a grammar point here is this project’s own judgement, and the site has no connection with the bodies that run examinations. The yardstick for placing something is stated openly: not how hard it looks, but from what point you cannot get by without it. The past with ने looks difficult and sits at A2, because you cannot tell anybody what you did yesterday without it.
Why does this site stop at B1?
Because B1 is roughly the point at which everyday Hindi — conversation, messages, signs, simple articles — becomes manageable with a dictionary to hand, and that is what this pair was built to get you to. Beyond it, what a learner mostly needs is volume: many more words, the formal Sanskrit vocabulary of the news and of official documents, and a great deal of listening to real speech at real speed. A site of explanations and word lists adds less per page there than reading and listening do. It would rather cover the levels it has properly than spread itself thinly over more.
Is Hindi hard for English speakers?
It is hard in different places from a French or a Spanish, and easier in some than people fear. The script is learnt in days. Hindi and English are distant relatives, both Indo-European, so a few old words are recognisable — नाम and name, माँ and mother — and the many English loanwords help from the start. What takes time is the grammar an English speaker cannot borrow: every noun has a gender that the adjective, the possessive and the verb agree with; the verb comes last; postpositions follow the noun and change its form; and in the past a transitive verb takes ने and agrees with the object instead of the subject. None of it is beyond anyone, and all of it becomes automatic with practice.
How long does it take to learn Hindi?
There is no honest figure in hours, and a page that states one as a fact has taken it from somewhere it should not have trusted: it depends on what you already know, how often you practise and what you mean by having learnt it. Three things can be said. Reading Devanagari aloud comes within days, but understanding what you read takes as long as building the vocabulary does. Speaking simple sentences comes early, because the verb forms are regular and there are few of them. And understanding fast, natural speech takes longest, as in every language — so listen from the beginning, even when you understand little.
Which Hindi does this site teach?
The standard Hindi of the north of India, as it is written in Devanagari and spoken by educated people in everyday life: in shops, at work, in films and on the radio. It uses the English loanwords everybody uses (स्कूल, फ़ोन, टिकट) and the Persian ones that are part of ordinary speech (ज़रूर, शायद), and it shows the formal Sanskrit word beside them where the news or a form would use it. Regional varieties — the Hindi of Mumbai, of Bihar, of Hyderabad — differ in sounds, words and some grammar, and you will understand them better from a good standard than the other way round.
Can I learn Hindi without learning the script?
For a few weeks, perhaps; for longer, it costs more than it saves. Every transliteration into Latin letters is a compromise, there are several in use, and none shows the difference between the two t’s or the two d’s as clearly as Devanagari does. Signs, menus, messages and every book are in Devanagari. This site writes all Hindi in Devanagari and puts the transliteration underneath, so you can start with the line underneath and lean on it less and less. Switch it off now and then to see how far you have come.
Devanagari and typing
The script, the hidden vowel, the line along the top, the dot and the moon, and typing Hindi.
How does Devanagari work?
It is an alphabet in which every consonant carries a short a unless something else is written: क is ka. A different vowel is added as a sign before, after, above or below the consonant — कि ki, की kī, कु ku, के ke — and a vowel at the start of a word has a full letter of its own: इ, उ, ए. Two consonants with no vowel between them join into one cluster, क्य, or take a small stroke below, the halant. The letters hang from a line along the top, and a word is the stretch of that line between two spaces. Writing goes from left to right.
Why is kamra not said ka-ma-ra?
Because the short a that every consonant carries falls silent in certain places, and the spelling does not show it. At the end of a word it is never said: घर is ghar. In the middle, it usually drops when a consonant with a full vowel follows and another vowel came before: कमरा is kamrā, समझना is samajhnā. A native speaker never thinks about it; a learner needs a few weeks of listening. The line under every Hindi word on this site shows where the vowel has gone.
What do the dot and the moon over a letter mean?
Both make a vowel nasal, said partly through the nose, with no n after it: हाँ, yes, is hāⁿ. The moon, chandrabindu, stands where nothing else sits above the line; where a vowel sign already sits there, the dot alone is used: में, in; नहीं, no. Before a consonant, the dot also stands for the nasal consonant of that row: हिंदी is hindī, with a real n. This site writes the dot wherever that rule allows it, as most printed Hindi does today.
What is the dot under some letters?
It marks a sound that came with Persian, Arabic or English loanwords: ज़ is z, फ़ is f, ख़ is the rough kh of Scottish “loch”. Under ड and ढ it marks something else, a native Hindi flap: लड़का, boy. Many speakers do not make the loanword sounds and many printed texts leave the dot out, but this site writes it in the common words, because it tells you how the word is said and occasionally which word it is: राज़ is a secret and राज is rule.
How do I type Hindi?
Every current phone and computer has a Hindi keyboard built in, usually in two kinds: a phonetic one, where you type the Latin letters and the system offers the Devanagari word, and a layout with the Devanagari letters on the keys. The phonetic kind is the easier start; the layout is faster once learnt. Either way, check what comes out: the nasal dot and the moon, and the dot under ड़, are where typed Hindi most often goes astray.
Why are there two ways of writing the same word?
Because printed Hindi has more than one convention, and both are common. A nasal before a consonant can be written with the dot, as in हिंदी, or with the nasal letter and a small stroke below it. Some writers put a y where others put ए in endings such as गए. Some leave out the dot under a loanword. This site follows one standard throughout — the dot for the nasal, ए and ई in endings, the dot in common loanwords — so that two pages never teach two spellings of one word, and the checker of your own texts says which is which.
Sounds and the transliteration
The sounds English does not have, why a word is not always said the way it is spelt, and what the line under each word shows.
Which Hindi sounds are hardest for English speakers?
Three groups. First, the two t’s and two d’s: त and द are made with the tongue on the teeth, ट and ड with it curled back, and English t and d sit between the two. Second, the breath: Hindi tells क from ख and ब from भ by a puff of breath that English adds or leaves off without noticing. Third, the vowels: long and short are different words (दिन, day; दीन, poor), and any vowel can be nasal. The pronunciation page has pairs of words to listen to for each.
Is the h in bh or th really an h?
It is a puff of breath that belongs to the consonant, not a separate sound. थ, written th, is a t with breath after it — never the th of “thin”. भ, written bh, is a b followed by a breathy release, as if a sigh were slipped in before the vowel. Say the consonant and the h together, as one sound, and go straight on to the vowel: भाई, brother, is one syllable before the i, not two.
What is the line under each Hindi word?
A transliteration into Latin letters, computed from the Devanagari, so that you can check how a word is said. It uses a reader-friendly form of the scholarly system: a bar over a long vowel (ā, ī, ū), a dot under the curled-back sounds (ṭ, ḍ, ṛ), ch and sh as an English reader expects, and a small ⁿ for a nasal vowel. It leaves out the short a where it falls silent. It is not a second way of writing Hindi, and Hindi speakers do not read it; switch it off when you want to test yourself.
Does Hindi have stress, like English?
Much less. English hammers one syllable and swallows the rest; Hindi gives every syllable its proper vowel and a much lighter stress, which usually falls on a heavy syllable — one with a long vowel or a closing consonant. An English speaker who stresses strongly will shorten the other vowels, and in Hindi the length of a vowel can change the word. Keep the rhythm even, and hold the long vowels long wherever they are.
Grammar
Gender, the postpositions, the verb at the end, the past with ne, and the places where an English speaker most often goes wrong.
Why does every noun have a gender?
Because Hindi inherited it, and because the rest of the sentence depends on it. Every noun is masculine or feminine — not only people and animals but books, cars and ideas — and the adjective, the possessive and the verb change with it: मेरा कमरा बड़ा है, my room is big; मेरी गाड़ी बड़ी है, my car is big. Many masculine nouns end in -आ and many feminine ones in -ई, but plenty do not, and किताब, book, is feminine with nothing to show it. Learn every noun with its gender, as the word lists on this site give it.
What are postpositions?
Words like in, on, to and from that stand after the noun instead of before it: घर में, in the house; मेज़ पर, on the table; दिल्ली से, from Delhi. They are easy to learn and have one consequence that is not: the noun in front of them changes into its oblique form. कमरा becomes कमरे में, and लड़के becomes लड़कों को. Leaving the noun unchanged is the most common beginner’s mistake in Hindi.
What is ne, and why does the verb agree with the object?
In the past, a transitive verb — one with an object, like eat, see or write — takes ने after its subject, and the verb then agrees with the object instead of the subject: मैंने चाय पी, I drank tea, with पी feminine because tea is. A verb of motion takes no ने and agrees with the subject as usual: मैं गया, I went. English has nothing like it, which is why it takes practice; but it applies only to the simple past and the perfect, and it is regular.
Why is “I have a brother” not said with “have”?
Because Hindi has no verb “to have”. What you own is near you: मेरे पास एक गाड़ी है, “near me is a car”. What is part of you or of your family is yours: मेरा एक भाई है, “my one brother is”. Pains, fevers and feelings happen to you: मुझे बुख़ार है, “to me there is a fever”. The three patterns cover everything English does with “have”.
Where does the verb go?
At the end, nearly always: मैं हर दिन चाय पीता हूँ is “I every day tea drink”. The subject usually comes first, time and place next, the object just before the verb, and the forms of होना — हूँ, है, था — after the main verb. Questions keep the same order: आप कहाँ रहते हैं? is “you where live?”. Speech moves things around for emphasis, but a learner who keeps the verb last is never wrong.
Does Hindi have articles?
No. There is no word for “the” and none for “a”: किताब मेज़ पर है is “(the) book is on (the) table”. एक, one, does the job of “a” when it matters that it is one or a certain one, and को after an object often marks it as definite — “the” without a word for it. Context does the rest, as it does in many languages.
How does Hindi say “I can speak Hindi”?
Not with “can”. A skill comes to you: मुझे हिंदी आती है, “to me Hindi comes”. सकना, can, is for being able to on a particular occasion: मैं कल आ सकता हूँ, I can come tomorrow. It is one of the first places where translating English word for word goes wrong, and one of the easiest to fix.
How do I ask a question in Hindi?
A yes–no question is a statement with a rising voice, often with क्या in front: क्या आप भारत से हैं?, are you from India? A question word stands where the answer would stand, usually just before the verb: आप कहाँ जा रहे हैं?, where are you going? Nothing moves to the front, and there is no “do”.
Politeness and the three yous
Which “you” to use with whom, the polite verb forms, and the little word that shows respect.
Which “you” should I use?
Start with आप, and keep it for anybody older than you, for strangers, at work and in shops. तुम is for friends of your own age, younger relatives and children, and it is best to move to it only when the other person does. तू is the most intimate form, for a very close friend, a small child or God; to anybody else it sounds rude, and a learner rarely needs it. Each “you” has its own verb forms, so the choice runs through the whole sentence.
Is there a word for please?
There is, कृपया, but it belongs to notices, announcements and formal letters. In speech, politeness is in the verb: बैठिए, do sit down; एक चाय दीजिए, a tea, please. The polite imperative in -इए with आप is polite enough for almost every situation, and adding कृपया to it in conversation sounds like a recorded message.
What does ji mean after a name?
Respect. जी after a name or a title — शर्मा जी, माँ जी, दादा जी — is how Hindi says Mr, Mrs or a warmer equivalent, for men and women alike. On its own, जी is a polite yes, and जी? with a rising voice asks somebody to repeat. It is one of the most useful small words in the language.
How do people say thank you?
धन्यवाद is the formal word and शुक्रिया the everyday one, and both are understood everywhere. Among family and close friends thanks are said much less often than in English, and a formal thank-you to your own mother can sound distant. Helping back, or a warm word — आपकी बड़ी मेहरबानी, that is very kind — often does the job instead.
Words, Hindi and Urdu
Which words come first, where they come from, the English words in Hindi, and how Hindi and Urdu relate.
What is the difference between Hindi and Urdu?
In everyday speech, very little: the grammar is the same, and a conversation in the street could be called either. The difference is in writing and in the higher registers. Hindi is written in Devanagari and turns to Sanskrit for formal and technical words; Urdu is written in a Perso-Arabic script and turns to Persian and Arabic. So a speaker of one understands a speaker of the other at the market, and less and less as the subject becomes formal. Everyday Hindi, as taught here, is full of Persian words that Urdu shares: ज़रूर, शायद, दुकान.
Why are there two words for so many things?
Because Hindi draws on more than one source. An everyday word, often from Persian or from Hindi’s own history, stands beside a formal one from Sanskrit: मदद and सहायता, help; ज़रूरी and आवश्यक, necessary. The first is said at home and in shops, the second written in forms and read out in the news. Learn the everyday word first, and add the formal one when you start reading.
Are English words used in Hindi?
All the time, and they are Hindi words now: स्कूल, स्टेशन, टिकट, फ़ोन, बस. They take Hindi gender, Hindi plurals and Hindi postpositions — बसों में, in the buses — and many have shifted their meaning on the way: a पिक्चर is a film, and टेंशन is personal worry. The list of false friends on this site gathers the ones that mislead.
Did English borrow words from Hindi?
Quite a few, mostly during the colonial period: shampoo, from चाँपो, “press!”, the word for a head massage; jungle, from जंगल; loot, from लूट; thug, from ठग, a swindler; and bungalow, from a word meaning a house in the Bengali style. Pyjamas came through Hindi from Persian. A learner who notices them has a handful of words for free.
Why does Hindi have so many words for uncle and aunt?
Because it names each relative by the side of the family and the line they belong to. Father’s younger brother is चाचा, his elder brother ताऊ, mother’s brother मामा; mother’s sister is मौसी and father’s sister बुआ. Grandparents split the same way: दादा and दादी on the father’s side, नाना and नानी on the mother’s. It is the first word list in which Hindi is more precise than English.
Kal means yesterday and tomorrow — how do people tell?
From the verb. कल is the day next to today, in either direction, and the tense says which: कल मैं दिल्ली गया, yesterday I went to Delhi; कल मैं दिल्ली जाऊँगा, tomorrow I will go. परसों works the same way for the day before yesterday and the day after tomorrow. In practice it is rarely confusing, because no sentence leaves out the verb.
Which words should I learn first?
The ones that hold sentences together rather than the ones that name things: है and its forms, the pronouns and possessives, the question words, the postpositions, and the commonest verbs — करना, होना, जाना, आना, देना, लेना. With them and a few dozen nouns you can say a great deal; without them, a hundred nouns say very little. The A1 lists on this site start there.
This site
Where the material comes from, who it is for, and what it is not.
Who is this site for?
For anyone who reads English and wants to learn Hindi from the beginning: travellers, people with family in India, people who work with Indian colleagues, students, and anyone curious about the language behind the films and the music. It explains in English, gives every Hindi word its transliteration, and goes from the first letter to B1.
Why does every word have a transliteration underneath?
Because a learner needs to know how a word is said before they can read Devanagari fluently, and because the hidden vowel makes some words hard to sound out even when the letters are known. The line is computed by the page from the Devanagari, by the same rules everywhere, so it never disagrees with itself. It can be switched off in the header, which is the best way to find out whether you still need it.
Where does the material on this site come from?
Every explanation, example sentence, word list and exercise was written for this site. Nothing is taken from a textbook, a grammar, a dictionary, a flashcard deck or another learning site — not even a list of words for a level, because the selection and arrangement of a list is protected even where the single words are not. That is also why the levels of words and grammar here are this project’s own judgement, and say so.
Does this site prepare me for a Hindi exam?
No, and that is a statement of fact rather than modesty. The site has no connection with any body that sets or marks examinations, it used none of their word lists and follows none of their syllabuses, and it does not claim to predict anybody’s result. Its levels follow the common European scale, and every placement on it is this project’s own judgement. It explains, gives examples and asks questions. What you practise here helps with any exam, because it is the same language; but a certificate comes from an examining body, not from here.