Hindi language guides
The things a dictionary will not tell you — which form a person would actually use, and why a literal translation so often lands wrong.
Hindi plurals: लड़का, लड़के, लड़कों and which to use when
Hindi has two plurals for every noun: one for the plain sentence and one for when a postposition follows. लड़के and लड़कों are both “boys”, and using the wrong one is the most common learner error.
· 7 min read
वाला in Hindi: what वाला, वाली and वाले actually mean
वाला means “the one that” — the one who sells it, the one wearing it, the thing about to happen. One suffix doing three jobs English needs three constructions for.
· 7 min read
How to say “can” in Hindi: सकना, आना and पाना
मैं हिंदी बोल सकता हूँ. Ability, permission and “managed to” are three different verbs in Hindi, and picking the wrong one is the usual learner mistake.
· 7 min read
जो in Hindi: how to say “the one who” and “which”
Hindi builds relative clauses with a pair — जो in the first half, वह in the second. Once you see the pattern, long Hindi sentences stop being unreadable.
· 7 min read
Comparing things in Hindi: से बड़ा, से ज़्यादा and सबसे
Hindi has no “bigger” or “biggest”. It says “big from” instead — and once you know where से goes, every comparison in the language follows one pattern.
· 6 min read
कीजिए, करो or कर: giving orders and requests in Hindi
Hindi has four different ways to tell someone to do something, and which one you pick is decided before you open your mouth — by who you are talking to.
· 7 min read
अगर … तो: how to say “if” in Hindi
अगर opens the condition and तो opens the result. Hindi says both halves out loud, and the तो is the half you cannot drop.
· 6 min read
Colours in Hindi: लाल, नीला and the ones that change form
Half of Hindi's colour words change with gender and half do not — and the ones that change are the ones named after a fruit or a flower.
· 6 min read
लगना in Hindi: “seem”, “feel”, “take” and six other jobs
मुझे लगता है, भूख लगी है, दो घंटे लगेंगे, चोट लग गई. One verb covers ground that English needs nine different verbs for.
· 7 min read
कितने का है?: shopping and bargaining in Hindi
The phrases that actually get used in a market — asking a price, halving it, asking for change, and the one sentence that ends a negotiation.
· 7 min read
मेरा नाम … है: how to introduce yourself in Hindi
Name, where you're from, what you do and how much Hindi you speak — the six sentences that carry a first conversation, and the word order mistake to avoid.
· 6 min read
कर देना, कर लेना: what the second verb in a Hindi sentence is doing
मैंने खाया and मैंने खा लिया both mean “I ate”. The second verb adds no new action — it says who the action was for and whether it is finished.
· 7 min read
रास्ता पूछना: asking for directions in Hindi
स्टेशन कहाँ है? सीधा जाइए, फिर दाएँ मुड़िए. The phrases for asking the way, understanding the answer, and getting an auto to stop.
· 6 min read
ही and भी: the two small words that change what a Hindi sentence means
मैं भी जाऊँगा and मैं ही जाऊँगा differ by one letter and mean opposite things. Both attach to the word in front of them, and position is everything.
· 6 min read
English idioms in Hindi: 20 common phrases and what they actually become
English idioms cannot be translated word for word — Hindi answers them with its own मुहावरे. Here are 20 everyday idioms and the Hindi phrase a native speaker would use instead.
· 8 min read
Hindi postpositions: को, ने, से, में and पर explained
Hindi has no prepositions — the words go after the noun, and the noun changes shape to accommodate them. One of them, ने, rewrites the verb agreement of the entire sentence.
· 9 min read
Hindi question words: क्या, कौन, कहाँ, कब, क्यों and कैसे
Hindi question words stay where the answer would go instead of moving to the front, and क्या means two different things depending on where you put it.
· 8 min read
चाहिए in Hindi: how to say “I want”, “I need” and “I should”
चाहिए is not a verb you conjugate, and it means two different things depending on what stands in front of it. Wanting a thing and wanting to do something use entirely different constructions.
· 8 min read
Hindi numbers 1 to 100: counting, lakh and crore explained
Hindi numbers from 1 to 100 are close to a hundred separate words, not a pattern you can assemble. Here are the tables worth memorising, plus what lakh and crore actually mean.
· 7 min read
The Devanagari alphabet: how the Hindi script actually works
Devanagari is not an alphabet in the English sense — every consonant already contains a vowel. Once that clicks, the 46 letters take a few days, not months.
· 8 min read
Hindi has no verb for 'to have' — what to say instead
There is no Hindi word meaning 'have'. Possession splits into three separate patterns depending on what you own, and picking the wrong one is a giveaway.
· 6 min read
Hindi sentence structure: why the verb always goes last
Hindi is subject–object–verb, and prepositions come after the noun instead of before it. Two rules, and most word-for-word translation problems disappear.
· 6 min read
Hindi greetings: namaste, and what people actually say
नमस्ते works at any hour with anyone, which is why it is the only greeting you strictly need. But almost nobody uses it with their own friends.
· 6 min read
Days, months and telling the time in Hindi
The seven days are straightforward. Telling the time is not — Hindi has single words for half past, quarter past and quarter to, and two of them are irregular.
· 7 min read
Hindi verb tenses: present, past and future on one page
A Hindi verb is a stem, an ending that agrees with the subject, and an auxiliary that carries the tense. Learn those three slots and the whole system opens.
· 8 min read
Every Hindi noun has a gender — how to guess it right
There is no neuter in Hindi. A table is feminine, a room is masculine, and the adjectives and verbs around them change to match. Two endings cover most of it.
· 7 min read
Hindi family words: why there are four words for uncle
English says 'uncle' and stops. Hindi asks whose brother, and whether he is older — and the answer changes the word. Here is the full map.
· 7 min read
Thank you in Hindi: धन्यवाद, शुक्रिया, and when to say neither
Both words mean thank you, and neither is what most people actually say. Thanking close family in Hindi can create distance rather than warmth.
· 6 min read
जी, साहब, भैया: the Hindi words that carry respect
जी is the most useful syllable in Hindi. It turns a name into a courtesy, a yes into a polite yes, and its absence into something people notice.
· 6 min read
आप, तुम or तू: which Hindi word for “you” should you use?
Hindi has three words for 'you' and picking the wrong one is the fastest way to sound rude or oddly distant. Here is how native speakers choose.
· 6 min read
Hindi verb gender: why the verb changes when a woman speaks
मैं करता हूँ or मैं करती हूँ? The ending depends on who is speaking, not who is listening — and this is where most translation output goes wrong.
· 5 min read
Hinglish translation: why tools fail at Hindi in Roman letters
Type 'aap kaise ho' into a translator and you get nonsense. The reason is a design decision made before anyone typed Hindi in Roman letters.
· 5 min read
How to type Hindi on your phone and computer
Devanagari input is built into every modern device and takes about two minutes to enable. Here is where the setting lives on Android, iPhone, Windows, and Mac.
· 4 min read
Seven Hindi mistakes English speakers keep making
Word order, the missing verb 'to have', and why मैं भूखा हूँ sounds strange to a native ear. The errors that survive long after basic vocabulary is solid.
· 7 min read