2. What is Hindi?
Hindi (हिन्दी) is an Indo-Aryan language and the most widely spoken language of India, with over 600 million speakers as a first or second language. It is written in the Devanagari script and is, with English, one of the official languages of the Indian government.
Spoken Hindi and Urdu are essentially the same colloquial language ("Hindustani") — they share grammar and core vocabulary, and differ mainly in script (Devanagari vs Perso-Arabic) and in formal/literary vocabulary (Sanskrit-leaning vs Persian/Arabic-leaning). Learn one and you are most of the way to understanding the other in conversation.
Why learn Hindi?
- Enormous reach — Hindi opens northern India and a vast global diaspora and film industry (Bollywood).
- A clean, phonetic script — Devanagari is regular: once you learn it, you can read what you see.
- Two languages for one — Hindustani grammar carries straight over to Urdu.
- Indo-European roots — Despite the script, you'll spot cognates: nām (name), do (two), maĩ (me).
4. Essential Grammar
Hindi is Subject–Object–Verb, uses postpositions (after the noun, not before), and has grammatical gender (masculine/feminine) with adjective and verb agreement.
Postpositions, not prepositions
| Hindi | Literally | English |
|---|---|---|
| ghar mẽ | house in | in the house |
| mez par | table on | on the table |
| Rām ke sāth | Ram with | with Ram |
The ne-ergative
In the perfective (completed past) of transitive verbs, the subject takes the postposition ne, and the verb agrees with the object, not the subject: maĩne roṭī khāī ("I ate roti," verb agrees with feminine roṭī).
Gender matters everywhere: adjectives and verbs change form (acchā laṛkā good boy / acchī laṛkī good girl).
Practice: Hindi postpositions, the का/के/की genitive & the oblique case
Practice: Hindi marks relationships with POSTpositions (after the noun): में (in), पर (on), से (from/by), तक (up to), के साथ (with). The genitive का/के/की ('of/'s') agrees with the FOLLOWING noun (का masc. sg., के masc. pl./oblique, की fem.). And a noun before any postposition goes into the OBLIQUE case — a masculine -आ noun shifts -आ → -ए (लड़का → लड़के). Type the Devanagari (or a romanization).. Type the missing word — accents are optional.
- 1.घर (in the house) → ___
Hint: the postposition meaning 'in / inside'
- 2.मेज़ (on the table) → ___
Hint: the postposition meaning 'on / at'
- 3.स्कूल (from school) → ___
Hint: the postposition for 'from / by / with (an instrument)'
- 4.शाम (until evening) → ___
Hint: the postposition for 'up to / until'
- 5.राम साथ (with Ram) → ___
Hint: the first half of the compound postposition '… ___ साथ' (with)
- 6.राम किताब (Ram's book — किताब is feminine) → ___
Hint: the genitive agrees with the FOLLOWING noun; किताब is feminine
- 7.राम घर (Ram's house — घर is masculine singular) → ___
Hint: the genitive for a masculine singular following noun
- 8.राम दोस्त (Ram's friends — masculine plural) → ___
Hint: the genitive form used before a masculine plural (or oblique) noun
- 9.oblique case: लड़का (boy) → को (to the boy)
Hint: a masculine -आ noun changes its ending to -ए before a postposition
- 10.oblique case: कमरा (room) → में (in the room)
Hint: same rule: the -आ ending shifts to -ए in the oblique
10 questions
Grammar reference: Postpositions, the का/के/की genitive (agreement) and the oblique case per McGregor, R. S. (1995), Outline of Hindi Grammar (3rd ed., rev. & enl.), Oxford University Press. Standard Hindi, Devanagari; romanization as commonly transliterated. All prompts original to LinguaCommons. CEFR A2.. Sentences are original to LinguaCommons.
5. Pronunciation & Devanagari
Devanagari is an alphasyllabary: each consonant carries an inherent "a," modified by vowel signs. The big challenges for English speakers are the four-way stop distinctions and the retroflex consonants.
| Sound | Notes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| retroflex ट ठ ड ढ | tongue curled back — distinct from dental त थ द ध | laṛkā (boy) |
| aspirated kh gh ch jh th dh ph bh | a puff of air changes the word | khānā (food) vs kānā |
| nasal vowels ã ī̃ ũ | marked by candrabindu ◌ँ | hā̃ (yes), nahī̃ (no) |
| व | between English v and w | vah (he/she) |
Practice: Hindi first words, greetings & numbers
Practice: Foundational Hindi first words: greetings and politeness (namaste, dhanyavād), yes/no (hā̃, nahī̃), the 1st-person and polite-2nd-person pronouns (maĩ, āp), the 3rd-person singular copula hai ('is', from honā 'to be'), and the cardinal numbers 1–3 (ek, do, tīn). Hindi is written in Devanagari; without a Devanagari keyboard, type the roman transliteration — the quiz accepts the Devanagari form or its romanization.. Type the missing word — accents are optional.
- 1.'hello / greetings' (the all-purpose greeting) →
Hint: lit. 'I bow to you'; said with palms together, also for goodbye
- 2.'yes' →
Hint: the nasalized vowel is meaningful here
- 3.'no; not' →
Hint: also negates verbs ('not')
- 4.'thank you' →
Hint: formal, Sanskrit-derived thanks (everyday speech uses shukriya)
- 5.'I, me' (1st-person singular pronoun) →
Hint: the 1st-person singular pronoun
- 6.'you' (polite / respectful) →
Hint: the respectful 'you'; takes plural-style verb agreement
- 7.'is / am / are' — 3rd-person singular of honā ('to be') →
Hint: the 3rd-person copula, from the verb honā 'to be'
- 8.'one' (number 1) →
Hint: also serves as the indefinite article 'a'
- 9.'two' (number 2) →
Hint: from Sanskrit dvi (cf. English two)
- 10.'three' (number 3) →
Hint: from Sanskrit tri (cf. English three)
10 questions
Grammar reference: Forms cross-verified against McGregor, R. S. (1995), Outline of Hindi Grammar (3rd ed., rev. & enl.), Oxford University Press (numerals & pronouns), and McGregor, R. S. (ed.) (1993), The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press (lexical entries; digitized at Univ. of Chicago DSAL, dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/mcgregor); learner usage per Snell, R. & Weightman, S. (2016), Complete Hindi (Teach Yourself), Hodder Education. All prompts and exercise items original to LinguaCommons.. Sentences are original to LinguaCommons.
6. Common Mistakes
- Merging retroflex and dental — English speakers hear ट and त as the same "t." They are different consonants in Hindi.
- Ignoring aspiration — kh, gh, dh… are separate sounds; the puff of air changes meaning.
- Using prepositions — Hindi puts the relation after the noun: ghar mẽ (house-in), not "in house."
- Forgetting the ne-ergative — in the perfective, transitive subjects take ne and the verb agrees with the object.
- Dropping gender agreement — adjectives and verbs must match the noun's gender.
7. Learning Resources
- Duolingo Hindibeginner — Free gamified intro; good for the script and first vocabulary.
- McGregor / DSAL Hindi dictionariesall levels — The standard scholarly Hindi–English dictionaries online.
- iTalkiall levels — Plentiful Hindi tutors for speaking practice.
8. Culture & Context
Hindi, Urdu, Hindustani
At the everyday spoken level Hindi and Urdu are one language. The split is largely script and register — a powerful reminder that language boundaries are often political and cultural as much as linguistic.
Respect and register
Hindi marks politeness through pronouns: tū (intimate), tum (familiar), and āp (respectful). Using āp with elders and strangers is expected.
A film-and-music powerhouse
Bollywood and Hindi music give learners endless, joyful input — and a cultural common ground recognized across South Asia and its diaspora.