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In this lesson you’ll learn different types of greetings, and you’ll also hear a short
conversation between Gopal and Sunita, two old friends. You’ll learn the present form of the
verb “to be,” personal subject pronouns, and few other essentials of Hindi grammar. To start
building your vocabulary, you’ll learn a whole range of words which are used in everyday
life. And you’ll even get a taste of Indian culture. But first, let’s get started with a little
vocabulary warm up. Each lesson begins with this kind of warm up. The words are related to
the topic of the lesson, and many of them will appear in the dialogue as well. Use these short
warm-up lists as a way to transition into each new lesson. It’s a good idea to have a Hindi
notebook that you keep as you progress through the course. Write down the vocabulary warm
up items in it, as well as other elements in each lesson that we’ll get to.
1C. Vocabulary
The vocabulary list from each lesson will give you a chance to focus on individual words and
phrases from the dialogues. They’ll also introduce important related vocabulary. Experiment
with several different ways to master new vocabulary – spoken or written repetition,
flashcards, labeling objects in your home, typing the words into search engines… be creative!
It’s a very good idea to write down the vocabulary in your notebook, and to glance at it from
time to time to remind yourself of the words and phrases that you’re learning.
Note that the abbreviations m. and f. mean masculine and feminine, and they refer to the
grammatical gender of nouns. You’ll learn about that in grammar point 4.
कया ? kyā? What? / Is it…?
हाँ h yes
जी jī sir, ma’am
मे mẽ in
और aur and
1F. Grammar
Each lesson focuses on a few grammar points, where a key concept is explained,
along with examples. You can use your notebook to take notes on these points to
remind yourself of the grammar you learn.
1. Subject Pronouns
Subject pronouns are the words we use in place of the subject of a sentence: I, you,
he, etc. The subject pronouns in Hindi are as follows:
मै maĩ I
तू tū you (sing.)
हम ham we
आप āp you (pl.)
वे ve they
ये ye they
Don’t forget that तुम tum and आप āp can be used to address one person, as a show of
politeness. Sometimes the word लोग log (people) is used after the plural pronouns; तुम लोग
tum log, आप लोग āp log, वे लोग ve log. In these cases, the pronouns only have a plural
meaning, so you can distinguish whether you mean you (plural) or you (polite) in this way.
You may also have noticed that there are two forms in the third person. These indicate
proximity to the speaker. यह yah and ये ye are used when the subject is nearby, and वह vah
and वे ve are used when the subject is further away. In fact, यह yah can also mean “this” and
वह vah can also mean “that.” वे Also note that ve is a third person plural pronoun, but it can
be used to refer to a single person to show respect toward him or her. So the sentence वे
पोफ़ेसर है । ve professar haĩ has two meanings depending on the context: “They are
professors,” and “He/She is a professor” (with extra respect.)
[AU] Let’s see if you remember the subject pronouns. You’ll hear the English pronoun,
and you should answer with the Hindi equivalent.
we// हम ham
he// वह vah
she// वह vah
I// मै maĩ
you sing.// तू tū
you pl. or most formal // आप āp
it // वह vah
they// वे ve
Good job! [AU]
2. Present Tense of होना honā (to be) and Some Basics of Hindi Word Order
Here are the forms of होना honā (to be.) This is an irregular, but very common, verb,
so it’s important to learn it early.
मै हूँ maĩ h हम है ham haĩ
I am we are
तू है tū hai तुम हो tum ho
you are you are, all of you are
आप है āp haĩ
you are, all of you are
वह / यह है vah / yah hai वे / ये है ve / ye haĩ
he, she, it is they are
Now that you’ve seen a few full sentences and learned a bit of grammar, it’s a good time to
make a few general points. In Hindi, the verb comes at the end of the sentence, as you can see
in the examples above. Any interrogative words come before the verb, unless they are
specially stressed somewhere in the sentence:
आपका नाम कया है ? āpkā nām kyā What is your name?
(“Your name what is?”)
hai?
The interrogative word कया kyā means “what”, but when it comes at the beginning of a
sentence, it introduces a yes/no question:
कया आपका नाम गोपाल है ? Is your name Gopal?
kyā āpkā nām Gopal hai?
कया आप पोफ़ेसर है ? Are you a professor?
kyā āp profesar haĩ?
Finally, note that Hindi does not have articles (the/a/an). So, छात chātra can mean
“student,” “a student,” or “the student,” depending on context.
[AU]Let’s practice the verb होना honā. First you’ll hear a sentence in English, and
you should translate it into Hindi.
I am Gopal.//
मै गोपाल हूँ ।
maĩ Gopāl h.
We are fine.//
हम ठीक है ।
ham ṭhīk haĩ.
He is a professor.//
वह पोफ़ेसर है ।
vah profesar hai.
3. Simple Postpositions
A preposition is a word that expresses location, motion, association, belonging, etc. Examples
of English prepositions are in, to, on, with, of, for, etc. They’re called prepositions because
they’re positioned before (pre-) a noun in English: in the house, with a pen, etc. In Hindi these
words are called postpositions because they come after nouns. There are five simple
postpositions: मे mẽ (in), पर par (on), से se (from, by, with,) तक tak (until, up to) and को
ko (to.) Here are a few examples of their use:
िदलली मे dillī mẽ in Delhi
The postposition को ko (to) has many functions. It is mainly used to introduce direct objects
(you see the boy) and indirect objects (you give the boy a ball.) But it is also used in some
fixed expressions, such as सोमवार को somvār ko (on Monday,) or शाम को śām ko (in the
evening.) You’ll learn more about को ko as you progress through the course.
[AU]Let’s practice the postpositions. First you’ll hear the name of a place in English, along
with a preposition. Translate the phrase into Hindi. Don’t worry if you don’t know the place
names. They’re cognates, so they sound similar in both languages.
In Mumbai // मुमबई मे mumbai mẽ
From Chandni Chowk // चांदनी चौक से cāndnī cauk se
On Everest // एवरे सट पर evaresṭ par
From Europe // यूरोप से yūrop se
Up to New York // नयूयाकक तक nyuyark tak
Well done! [AU]
4. Gender
In many languages other than English, nouns have grammatical gender. That means that
school might be masculine and class might be feminine. Don’t confuse this with natural
biological gender, though. It is just a system of classifying nouns grammatically. Hindi has
two genders: masculine and feminine. There is no special rule to identify the gender of a
noun, but most nouns with the ending आ ā are masculine, and most nouns with the endings इ
i and ई ī are feminine. If a noun has a natural biological gender, such as man or woman, this
will determine its grammatical gender, regardless of ending. It’s important to learn each noun
along with its gender, because this will determine many aspects of its grammatical usage,
which you’ll learn a bit later.
masculine feminine
अधयापक adhyāpak (male teacher) अधयािपका adhyāpikā (female
teacher)
छात chātra (male student) छाता chātrā (female student)
लड़का laṛkā (boy) लड़की laṛkī (girl)
िपता pitā (father) माँ m, माता mātā (mother)
आदमी ādmī (man) औरत aurat (woman)
नाम nām (name) छुटटी chuṭṭī (holiday)
सकूल skūl (school) कका kakṣā (class)
बाज़ार bāzār (bazaar) िकताब f. kitāb (book)
घर ghar (house) रोशनी f. rośnī (light, brightness)
Possessives are words that show ownership or possession, like “my” or “your.” In Hindi, you
use a different form of the possessive for a masculine possession than you use for a feminine
possession. You’ve already seen the masculine possessives मेरा merā, (my) and आपका
āpkā (your). The feminine forms are मेरी merī and आपकी āpkī.
Masculine: Feminine:
मेरा merā मेरी merī
आपका āpkā आपकी āpkī
We’ll come back to the other possessives later. For now, practice using “my” and
“your” with the nouns given in the list above.
1G. Reading
Practice reading the following short text. Don’t worry about understanding everything yet.
The transcription and translation are given to help you. Use this as a chance to practice
recognizing Devanagari script. Eventually you won’t see the transcription.
वह िववेकाननद िवदालय है । वह हमारा सकूल है । हमारा सकूल चांदनी चौक मे है । मै यहाँ
छात हूँ। मोहन भी यहीं छात है । मेरी कका मे दो पंजाबी और एक गुजराती छात भी है । रमेश
जी िववेकाननद िवदालय मे अधयापक है । वे िहनदी के अधयापक है । आजकल सकूल मे
छुटटी है इसिलये मै अभी बाज़ार मे हूँ। बाज़ार भी यहीं है । मेरा घर भी बाज़ार मे है ।
vah vivekānanda vidyālaya hai. vah hamārā skūl hai. hamārā skūl
cāndnī cauk mẽ hai. maĩ yah chātra h. mohan bhī yah chātra hai.
merī kakṣā mẽ do panjābi aur ek gujarātī chātra bhī haĩ. Rameś jī
vivekānanda vidyālaya mẽ adhyāpak haĩ. ve hindī ke adhyāpak haĩ.
ājkal skūl mẽ chuṭṭī hai isliye maĩ abhī bāzār mẽ h. bāzār bhī yah
hai. merā ghar bhī bāzār mẽ hai.
That is the Vivekananda School. It’s our school. Our school is in Chandni Chowk. I’m
a student here. Mohan is a student here, too. There are two Punjabi students and one
Gujarati student (“two Punjabi and one Gujarati students”) in my class. Mr. Ramesh is
a teacher in Vivekananda School. He’s a teacher of Hindi. The school is closed for
vacation these days (“there are holidays in the school”) That’s why I’m at the bazaar
now. The bazaar is also here. My house is also in the bazaar.
Exercises
1. Choose the correct subject pronouns from the three options.
a. ______ सुनीता है । (वह, हम, आप) / ______ Sunīta hai. (vah, ham, āp)
b. ______ आगरा मे हो। (हम, तुम, मै) / ______ āgrā mẽ ho. (ham, tum,
maĩ)
c. ______ सकूल मे है । (वह, वे, तुम) / ______ skūl mẽ haĩ. (vah, ve, tum)
d. ______ ठीक हूँ। (वह, हम, मै) / ______ ṭhīk h. (vah, ham, maĩ)
e. ______कैसे है ? (मै, आप, तुम) / ______ kaise haĩ? (maĩ, āp, tum)
f. कया ______ छुटटी पर है ? (वह, हम, तुम) / kyā ______ chuṭṭī par hai?
(vah, ham, tum)
2. Fill in the blanks using the correct form of the verb होना honā.
a. मेरा नाम गोपाल _______। / merā nām Gopāl ______.
b. मै पोफ़ेसर _______। / maĩ profesar ______.
c. कया आप भी पोफ़ेसर ______? / kyā āp bhī profesar ______?
d. आजकल हम छुटटी पर ______। / ājkal ham chuṭṭī par ______.
e. कया तुम िदलली मे ______।? / kyā tum dillī mẽ ______.?
f. कया बाज़ार यहीं ______? / kyā bāzār yah ______?
3. Match the Hindi phrases with the correct translation.
1. आपसे िमलकर खुशी हुई। a. How are you?
āpse milkar khuśī huī.
2. माफ़ कीिजये! b. Yes, sir.
māf kījiye!
3. ििर िमलेगे! c. Thanks
phir milẽge!
4. जी हाँ। d. Excuse me!
jī, h.
5. धनयवाद e. See you!
dhanyavād
6. कया हाल है ? f. I am in hurry.
kyā hāl hai?
7. मुझे जलदी है । g. Pleasure to meet you.
mujhe jaldī hai.
Independent Challenge
Imagine a situation when you suddenly see an old friend of yours, and prepare a short
conversation with him or her. Focus on the greetings that you’ve learned in this lesson, and
see if you can use the dialogue as a model to ask about friends, family, and so on. Don’t be
afraid to use the glossary, a dictionary, or an online reference such as
http://www.shabdkosh.com/ for help. Of course, you’re not quite able to string together many
sentences yet, but that’s okay. Just explore new words.
Use this exercise to start your Hindi journal, which can even be a separate section of your
notebook. Write down all the words and phrases that you use, and keep this journal as a place
to record new vocabulary and phrases that you find. For example, you could add a certain
number of Hindi words to your journal every day, or write a few sentences about your life, or
even jot down some vocabulary you learned at the local Indian restaurant. Record it all in
your journal, and you’ll be surprised how useful a language learning tool it becomes!