Hindi · Beginner (A1) · Chapter 1 of 12
Hello and goodbye
नमस्ते, फिर मिलेंगेnamaste, phir milenge
Say hello and goodbye in Hindi and where you're from, learn the words for I, you, we and they with the verb “to be”, and meet the Devanagari script.
In this chapter you'll learn to
- Greet people and say goodbye
- Say your name and where you're from
- Ask a man or a woman how they are
- Use the words for I, you, he, she, we and they with हूँ (hoon), है (hai), हो (ho) and हैं (hain)
Listen
Rohan and Anjali meet for the first time at a friend's party in Delhi. Listen to the whole dialogue first, then line by line.
Rohan
नमस्ते! मेरा नाम रोहन है।
Namaste! Meraa naam Rohan hai.
Hello! My name is Rohan.
Anjali
नमस्ते! मैं अंजलि हूँ।
Namaste! Main Anjali hoon.
Hello! I'm Anjali.
Rohan
आप कैसी हैं?
Aap kaisee hain?
How are you?
Anjali
मैं ठीक हूँ। आप कैसे हैं?
Main theek hoon. Aap kaise hain?
I'm fine. How are you?
Rohan
मैं भी ठीक हूँ। आप कहाँ से हैं?
Main bhee theek hoon. Aap kahaan se hain?
I'm fine too. Where are you from?
Anjali
मैं जयपुर से हूँ। और आप?
Main Jaipur se hoon. Aur aap?
I'm from Jaipur. And you?
Rohan
मैं दिल्ली से हूँ। आपसे मिलकर ख़ुशी हुई।
Main Dillee se hoon. Aapse milkar khushee huee.
I'm from Delhi. Nice to meet you.
Anjali
मुझे भी। फिर मिलेंगे।
Mujhe bhee. Phir milenge.
Me too. See you again.
Rohan
हाँ, फिर मिलेंगे। नमस्ते।
Haan, phir milenge. Namaste.
Yes, see you again. Bye.
Understand
How Hindi is written
Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, from left to right. Most letters stand for a whole syllable: a consonant with a short “a” built in. Other vowels are small signs added before, after, above or below the letter. A line along the top joins the letters of each word. There are no capital letters, and a sentence ends with a vertical line: ।
You don't need to read Devanagari yet. Every Hindi sentence in this course also has a Latin spelling. Doubled vowels are long: aa as in “father”, ee as in “see”, oo as in “food”. An n after a vowel usually means the vowel is nasal, said partly through the nose, as in (main, I) and (hoon, am). The script is taught step by step alongside the chapters.
| Letters | Sounds | Word |
|---|---|---|
| + + | na + ma + ste | (namaste), hello |
| + | naa + m | (naam), name |
| + | aa + p | (aap), you |
The verb comes last
In Hindi the verb goes at the end of the sentence. (main Anjali hoon) is word for word “I Anjali am”, and (meraa naam Rohan hai) is “my name Rohan is”. Everything else comes before the verb.
To say where you're from, put (se, from) after the place: (main Dillee se hoon), I'm from Delhi. To ask, say (aap kahaan se hain?), Where are you from?
- मेरा नाम रोहन है।Meraa naam Rohan hai.My name is Rohan. (my name Rohan is)
- मैं दिल्ली से हूँ।Main Dillee se hoon.I'm from Delhi. (I Delhi from am)
I, you, he, she, we, they: the verb “to be”
Here are the Hindi words for “I”, “you”, “he”, “she”, “we” and “they”, with the present of (honaa), to be. It has only four forms, (hoon), (hai), (ho) and (hain), and they are the same for men and women.
Hindi has three words for “you”. (aap) is polite: use it with anyone you don't know well, as Rohan and Anjali do. (tum) is for friends and (too) is very intimate: more on them in chapter 3. (yah) and (vah) mean “he”, “she” or “it”: for someone near you, for someone further away. (ye) and (ve) mean “they”, and also “he” or “she” for one person you respect (chapter 5).
| Hindi | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| … (main … hoon) | I am | (main theek hoon.) I'm fine. |
| … (too … hai) | you are (very intimate) | (too kahaan hai?) Where are you? |
| … (tum … ho) | you are (friendly) | (tum kahaan ho?) Where are you? |
| … (aap … hain) | you are (polite) | (aap kahaan se hain?) Where are you from? |
| / … (yah / vah … hai) | he / she / it is | (vah Jaipur se hai.) He's / She's from Jaipur. |
| … (ham … hain) | we are | (ham Dillee se hain.) We're from Delhi. |
| / … (ye / ve … hain) | they are | (ve Mumbaee se hain.) They're from Mumbai. |
Men and women: कैसे or कैसी?
(vah) can be “he” or “she”, but many other Hindi words change depending on whether they are about a man or a woman. Ask a man (aap kaise hain?) and a woman (aap kaisee hain?). Both mean “How are you?”.
When you talk about yourself, your own gender counts. (theek, fine) never changes, so (main theek hoon) works for everyone. But (achchhaa, good, well) does: a man says (main achchhaa hoon), a woman says (main achchhee hoon). In words like this, -aa is the masculine ending and -ee the feminine one.
- आप कैसे हैं?Aap kaise hain?How are you? (to a man)
- आप कैसी हैं?Aap kaisee hain?How are you? (to a woman)
- मैं अच्छा हूँ।Main achchhaa hoon.I'm well. (a man speaking)
- मैं अच्छी हूँ।Main achchhee hoon.I'm well. (a woman speaking)
More in the grammar: Adjectives: changing and unchanging · Devanagari consonants · Gender of nouns: masculine and feminine · Pronouns and politeness · The Devanagari script: the Hindi alphabet · To be: am, is, are, was, were · Word order: the verb goes last
New words
- नमस्तेnamastehello; goodbye · Works at any time of day, for hello and for goodbye. People often join their palms as they say it.
- मेरा नाम … हैmeraa naam … haimy name is … · (naam, name) is masculine.
- मैं … हूँmain … hoonI am …
- आपaapyou (polite)
- आप कैसी हैं?Aap kaisee hain?How are you? (to a woman)
- ठीकtheekfine, OK · The same for men and women.
- आप कैसे हैं?Aap kaise hain?How are you? (to a man)
- भीbheetoo, also · Comes after the word it adds to: (main bhee), me too.
- कहाँ सेkahaan sefrom where · (aap kahaan se hain?), Where are you from?
- औरaurand
- आपसे मिलकर ख़ुशी हुई।Aapse milkar khushee huee.Nice to meet you. · The same for men and women.
- मुझे भी।Mujhe bhee.Me too. (in reply)
- फिर मिलेंगे।Phir milenge.See you again.
- हाँhaanyes
Practise
1.You're greeting Anjali. How do you ask her how she is?
2.Put the words in order: say that your name is Anjali.
Tap the words below in the right order.My name is Anjali.
3.Match the Hindi with the English.
Pick a word on the left, then its meaning on the right.
4.Rohan wants to say “I'm well” with (achchhaa). What does he say?
5.Put the words in order to ask where someone is from.
Tap the words below in the right order.Where are you from?
6.Anjali and her sister are both from Jaipur. How does Anjali say “We're from Jaipur”?
0 of 6 exercises done.
Say it out loud
नमस्ते! आप कैसे हैं?
Namaste! Aap kaise hain?
Hello! How are you? (to a man)
Listen, then say it out loud, as close to the recording as you can.
Check
Five questions on this chapter. Then mark it as finished to add its words to your review deck.
0 of 5 answered.