Learning basic Hindi words

I have started teaching a group of Americans on a whatsapp group some basic Hindi words.

Well, let me copy and paste the messages here so it can reach another possible audience (who can also add some to their kitty)

Word #1 in English "a / an".

In Hindi "एक / कोई" (Ek / kOyee).  

Please note that एक also means the number 1

Some examples :  a flower = एक फूल (Ek phool)  an elephant = एक हाथी (Ek hAthee)

Word #2 in English ‘after’ .

In Hindi ‘बाद’ (bAdh)

Since this is a preposition it comes with other connectives in Hindi, like, के बाद

e.g. Monday के बाद Tuesday

Afterwards = बाद में

Word #3 in English ‘again’

In Hindi ‘दुबारा or फिर'  - dubArA (or) phir / phir sE

For usage like "again and again", it is बार बार (bAr bAr) and that is very common!

In general it is common to double like that in Hindi (e.g. dheerE dheerE = மெல்ல மெல்ல / jaldi jaldi = வேக வேகமா)

Word #4 'All' (Eng) which translates to सब (Hindi) - pronounced as 'sab (or) sub' as in suburb

Usage of this word is quite frequent, as in "all people = sab lOg / सब लोग "

सब से पहले - sab sE pahlE - means, "first of all"

You may notice the order is reversed in Hindi compared to English, in the above phrase. Like I mentioned once before (not in this thread but to the whatsapp group ), the order of subject-object-predicate is different between English and Indian languages.

The classic example, in English it goes as " Tim ate omelette" which renders in Hindi as "Tim omelette खाया" (खा = eat)

Word #5 as per the list is 'almost' (Eng) - however, I'm not sure how frequently this is used in Indian languages.

Still, let us add this to our memory.

The Hindi word is लगभग (lagbhag).

Word # 6 'also' (Eng) = भी (bhee) in Hindi.

A simple sentence to illustrate. "He ate banana. Also drank milk" (Eng) will be translated as "वह केला खाया, दूद भी पीया".

Look at the use of भी. BTW, केला (kElA) is banana ; दूद (dood) is milk.

खा-khA means eat and पी-pee means drink

Word #7 always (Eng) is हमेशा (hamEshA) in Hindi.

This is a straight word and can be used as such.

Interestingly it is the same word used for ‘eternal’ and ‘forever’ - that way eternal life is called hamEshA ki zindagi हमेशा कि ज़िन्दगी

Word #8 "and" (Eng) is very frequently used in any language!

This is "और" (aur) in Hindi.

Simple example is"brothers and sisters" - "भाइयों और बहनों" (bhAyiyOn aur bahanOn).

Likewise "father and mother" = "पिता और माता" (pithA aur mAthA)

Word #9 "because" (Eng) - the Hindi equivalent seems to be already well-known with our group here

"क्योंकि" (kyOnki) is used as the conjunction. And at times, another word is used as well when the usage is something like "therefore" - that word is इसलिये (isliyE)

I'm reminded of the famous phrase by a Tamilian scholar (அறிஞர் அண்ணா) who was good in English, when he challenged people at Yale to use because thrice continuously in a sentence. When the audience could not come up with one, he gave the answer:

"No sentence begins with because because because is a conjunction"

Word #10 "before" (Eng) - like after, this also gets used with extra word.

Most in the group are already familiar with "पहले " (pahlE) which is also used for before. However, it is used as "से पहले" or "इससे पहले". For example, "Psalms is before Proverbs" (in Bible) is rendered as "नीतिवचन से पहले भजन संगीत है" (neethi vachan sE pahlE bhajan sangeeth hai)

However, for the usage "I am standing before you", we won't use this word, instead "सामने" (sAmnE) - which literally means "in front of" has to be used.

We have already come across "सब से पहले" (sab sE pahlE) which means "before all". So, we have also revisited the word "all"

सब से पहले - sab sE pahlE - is also "first of all"

Word no #11 is "big" (Eng)

This being an adjective, will take masculine, feminine and plural forms

बड़ा, बड़ी, बड़े (badA, badee, badE) will be used as per the object on which it is used.

For example, great crowd (big crowd) is called "बड़ी भीड़" (badee bheed) because crowd is feminine in Hindi

Word #12 is "but"(Eng)

There are many Hindi words used for this and I would say "लेकिन' (lEkin) is the most common. Other words that are used are परंतु, मगर, बल्कि (paranthu, magar, balki) which can be translated also as "however", "rather" etc. We can start with lEkin and use other variants as and when the fit in the context.


A tough sentence is what I'm going to use for this :

"Discipline hurts BUT it heals in the long run" - this gets translated as - अनुशासन दुख देता है लेकिन यह लंबे समय में ठीक हो जाता है. For now, please focus on the word "लेकिन" (lEkin) which means "but".

Word #13 is "can"(Eng).

The literal translation for this in Hindi is "सकना" but in practice it is normally used as "सकता है", "can do" gets translated as "कर सकता है"

That way, can = सकता, सकती, सकते (saktA, sakti, saktE) - depending upon the gender / plural nature of the object(s).

Usage in a sentence : I can discuss in Hindi = मैं हिंदी में चर्चा कर सकता हूं (when spoken by a male person)!

Word #14 is "come"(Eng) - the simplest Hindi form for this verb is "आ" (aa)

The usage varies depending upon the context, as in "come / came /come/ coming/ to come". That apart, there's also the gender thing and the plural thing. These are applicable to all the verbs.

Let us see various forms this "आ" can take in regular usage. "आना" (AnA) is "to come". आओ / आइये  (AO / AyiyE) are command forms, one is regular (AO) and the other is with respect (AyiyE). When it is used in a statement, such as "He comes", which translates to "वह आता है" (vah AthA hai),  the verb takes the form "आता" (AthA) which is masculine present tense. आती (Athi) is faminine, आते (AthE) is plural. These are all present tense forms.

For past tense, it takes the form "आया, आयी, आये " (AyA, Ayi, AyE).  Future tense will take multiple forms. For 1st person (I / we), it will go as आऊंगा, आऊंगी, आओंगे (aaoongA, aaoongi, aaOngE) and second / third person as आएगा, आएगी, आएंगे (aaEgA, aaEgi, aaEgE)...These variations will come up for all verbs. Come / Go being the oft-used ones, we need to start familiarizing with these as early as possible.

For day to day use, आओ is fine with children (and those we don't need to show too much respect). It simply means, "come" (as a command). However, when we want to use with respect, the better word is "आइये" (AyiyE). Actually, कृपया आइये (krupayA AyiyE) is even better as it means "please come"

word #15 is "do"(Eng) which gets translated as "कर" (kar) in Hindi.

This being a verb, everything that we learnt for the previous word are applicable. One interesting difference is the command with respect. While the normal one is "करो"(karO), the one with respect is "कीजिये" (keejiyE). That way, "do forgive" is translated as "माफ़ कीजिये" (mAf keejiyE)!

word # 16 in English is given as each / either. I feel we can have each & every when considering Hindi learning.

That way, the often used word is हरेक / हर (harEk / har) that means each / every. One of the regular usage for us will be "each day" or "every day" which is translated as "हर दिन" (har dhin).

Word #17 is find in Eng, the direct translation in Hindi is ढूंढ (doond) which is a verb. (find, when used as a command, is ढूंढो - doondO).

The equivalent words that we often come across are search / seek. In Hindi, another word is used for these : खोज (khOj). In regular sentence, it is used often as a noun. That way, the command for "seek / search"  is खोज करो (khOj karO - "do seek / do search").

Word #18 is quite easy and we have come across earlier in this thread. "First" (Eng) is translated as "पहला / पहली / पहले" (pahlA / pahlee / pahlE).

As we are getting familiar with, the three forms are masculine / feminine and plural of this adjective.

Word #19 is "for" (Eng) - the preposition.

The Hindi for this is "के लिए" (kE liyE).

As that "के" (kE) is a connective, it gets added to the name or pronoun; for example, the sentence "This sandwich is FOR you" gets translated as "यह सैंडविच आपके लिए है" (yeh sandwich ApkE liyE hai). You may notice that ""के" (kE) has got merged with "आप" (Ap - means "you"). So, it has become a single word, आपके (ApkE).

On other occasions, it can be separate. e.g. "This money is for that girl" = यह पैसा उस लड़की के लिए है (yeh paisA us ladki kE liyE hai).

Word #20 is "friend" (Eng)

दोस्त (dhosth) is the Hindi word very commonly used.

There is also another word which gets used in literature, मित्र (mithr).

We need to be also aware of yet another word that can be used in some setup, साथी (sAthi), that also means essentially the same. The literal meaning of sAthi is "companion". I remember an old movie with the name "हाथी मेरे साथी " (hAthi mErE sAthi) - means "elephant my friend'

Word #21 is "from'(Eng) which is another preposition often used.

The Hindi word is simple, 'से" (sE).

Please note that the usage changes places compared to English. As an example, "from India" will be translated as "भारत से" (bhArath sE) - note that unlike English, the preposition comes AFTER the noun in Hindi.

You may find it interesting to see that India got translated as "bhArath" in Hindi. That is what the Hindi speaking Indians want to call the name of their country. So, please use this name (bhArath) when speaking to Hindi speaking Indians.



In that postal stamp (quite an old one) you can see INDIA in English but भारत (bhArath) in Hindi, for example.

As the picture has a tiger, let us also learn the Hindi for it (tiger is India’s national animal) बाघ baagh !

You need to pronounce the gh correctly - otherwise the meaning will change - baag means garden – बाग

बाग -baag- is garden but बाघ -baagh- is tiger

An easy Urdu alternative for tiger is “sher” (remember Shere Khan of Disney Jungle book?) but it could also mean lion in Urdu

Word #22 is "go" (Eng) which is quite easy in Hindi - जा (jA)

Of course, since this is a verb, it takes all those many forms and variations based on tense, gender, plurality etc.

For command, it is "जाओ" (jAO) which is regular kind (i.e. not with too much respect).

Word #23 is "good" (Eng) and there are many words in Hindi that can be used which carry similar meanings (fine, nice etc.)

The most common is, of course, अच्छा (अच्छी, अच्छे) - achchA (achchee, achchE for feminine and plural).

Other Hindi words that are used are :
भला / भलाई (bhalA / bhalAyee), ठीक (teek), उचित (uchith), बढ़िया (badiyA).

Word #24 is "I" (i.e. me, myself in English)

The Hindi word is मैं (mai-n) That "n' in the end is not pronounced in full but just with a nasal sound. This is one thing all need to learn in the Hindi pronuniciation. Though it is transliterated as "n", it is not pronounced in full but only half-way, between 'n' and 'm' in a nasal way.

As for usage of this word, it often takes other forms as in English (my, mine etc.).

To illustrate, let me show two sentences. "I am Inba" gets translated as "मैं इनबा हूं" (main inbA hoon). The alternative is "My name is Inba" which gets translated as "मेरा नाम इनबा है" (mErA nAm inbA hai). Please note the usage of "मैं" (main) and "मेरा" (mErA).