अगर … तो: how to say “if” in Hindi

“If” in Hindi is अगर (agar), and it works as a pair with तो (to), which introduces the result. अगर बारिश हुई, तो हम नहीं जाएँगे means “if it rains, we won’t go”. The surprise for English speakers is which half is optional: अगर can be dropped and the sentence still works, but तो cannot.

This is the same two-marker structure Hindi uses everywhere — जो with वह, जितना with उतना. A conditional is just one more correlative pair, and recognising it as one makes the whole family easier.

The basic conditional

That last row is the point. अगर has vanished and the sentence is still a perfectly ordinary conditional, because तो is carrying it. Native speakers drop अगर constantly in speech. Dropping तो instead leaves the sentence sounding cut in half.

यदि is the formal written equivalent of अगर, the way अधिक is the formal ज़्यादा. You will meet यदि in news, textbooks and official notices, and almost never in conversation.

The verb in the “if” half

English uses the present tense after “if” even when talking about the future — “if it rains tomorrow”. Hindi does not. The condition takes either the subjunctive or the perfective, depending on how likely you think it is.

अगर बारिश हुई uses a past-looking form for a future event, which reads as strange until you see the logic: the speaker is treating the rain as a done thing and describing what follows from it. The tense forms themselves are covered in Hindi verb tenses.

The unreal conditional: होता … होता

For something that did not happen or cannot happen — “if I were rich”, “if I had known” — Hindi uses the habitual form ending in ता in both halves. It is one of the tidiest constructions in the language, because both clauses take the same shape.

• अगर मैं अमीर होता, तो यह घर खरीदता — if I were rich, I would buy this house.
• अगर मुझे पता होता, तो मैं ज़रूर आता — if I had known, I would definitely have come.
• अगर तुम कहते, तो मैं रुक जाता — if you had said so, I would have stayed.

The ता ending agrees with the speaker’s gender, so a woman says अगर मुझे पता होता, तो मैं ज़रूर आती. That agreement is the subject of Hindi verb gender.

वरना and नहीं तो: otherwise

The negative flip side of a conditional is वरना or नहीं तो, both meaning “otherwise” or “or else”. They join two clauses without needing अगर at all.

• जल्दी चलो, वरना ट्रेन छूट जाएगी — hurry up, or we’ll miss the train.
• अभी खा लो, नहीं तो ठंडा हो जाएगा — eat now, otherwise it’ll go cold.
• दवा लीजिए, वरना तबीयत और बिगड़ेगी — take the medicine, or you’ll get worse.

तो does other jobs too

तो outside a conditional is a small emphasis particle, and this is where learners get confused hearing it mid-sentence. मैं तो जा रहा हूँ means “I, for one, am going”. यह तो बहुत महँगा है means “this is really expensive”. Same word, no “if” anywhere in sight.

तो with this emphatic sense is placed after the word it emphasises, not at the head of a clause. Position is what separates the two uses, in the same way it separates the two jobs of क्या in Hindi question words.

The short version

• अगर opens the condition, तो opens the result.
• अगर can be dropped; तो cannot.
• यदि is the formal written version of अगर.
• For real conditions use the subjunctive or perfective — अगर वह आए, अगर बारिश हुई.
• For unreal ones use ता in both halves — अगर मैं अमीर होता, तो खरीदता.
• वरना and नहीं तो mean “otherwise”.