Hindi grammar · Beginner (A1)
Asking questions
Yes/no questions with क्या, and the question words कौन, क्या, कहाँ, कब, क्यों, कैसे and कितना.
Yes/no questions
To turn a statement into a yes/no question, put (kyaa) at the start. Nothing else changes. In speech you can also leave out and just raise your voice at the end.
- आप हिंदी बोलते हैं।Aap Hindee bolte hain.You speak Hindi.
- क्या आप हिंदी बोलते हैं?Kyaa aap Hindee bolte hain?Do you speak Hindi?
- क्या यह बस दिल्ली जाती है?Kyaa yah bas Dillee jaatee hai?Does this bus go to Delhi?
Question words
Question words don't move to the front as in English. They usually stand just before the verb, in the place where the answer would go.
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (kyaa) | what | (yah kyaa hai?) What is this? |
| (kaun) | who | (vah kaun hai?) Who is that? |
| (kahaan) | where | (steshan kahaan hai?) Where is the station? |
| (kab) | when | (tren kab aayegee?) When will the train come? |
| (kyon) | why | (aap kyon hans rahe hain?) Why are you laughing? |
| (kaise) | how | (aap kaise hain?) How are you? |
| (kitnaa) | how much, how many | (yah kitne kaa hai?) How much is this? |
| (kaun-saa) | which | (kaun-see bas?) Which bus? |
Question words that change
Some question words change like adjectives ending in -आ. (kitnaa) agrees with the noun: (kitnaa paanee?, how much water?), (kitnee chaay?, how much tea?), (kitne log?, how many people?). The same goes for , , (kaisaa, kaisee, kaise: how, what kind of) and , , (kaun-saa, kaun-see, kaun-se: which). But (kaise) meaning “in what way”, with an action, never changes: (aap ofis kaise jaatee hain?, how do you get to the office?).
Before a postposition, (kaun) becomes (kis), in the plural (kin): (kisse, from whom), (kise, to whom), (kiskaa, whose). is also used for “which” before a noun with a postposition: (kis shahar men?, in which city?).
- आपके कितने बच्चे हैं?Aapke kitne bachche hain?How many children do you have?
- मौसम कैसा है?Mausam kaisaa hai?What's the weather like?
- यह किसका फ़ोन है?Yah kiskaa fon hai?Whose phone is this?
- आप किस शहर से हैं?Aap kis shahar se hain?Which city are you from?
Answering
Answer with (haan, yes) or (naheen, no). Adding (jee) makes the answer polite: (jee haan), (jee naheen). On its own, a short also means a polite “yes”.
- जी हाँ, मैं थोड़ी हिंदी बोलता हूँ।Jee haan, main thoree Hindee boltaa hoon.Yes, I speak a little Hindi. (man speaking)
- जी नहीं, यह बस दिल्ली नहीं जाती।Jee naheen, yah bas Dillee naheen jaatee.No, this bus doesn't go to Delhi.