Learn some common phrases you may hear every day while traveling in India
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Manasi: [Namaste hindipod101.com mein swagat hai] |
| Maya: Welcome to all about lesson 5. The Five Most Important Phrases for Learning Hindi. In this lesson, we are taking years of experience in India and boiling it down to a few essential phrases that are a great place to start in Hindi. |
| Manasi: Yes. In this lesson, we will introduce you to five phrases that will help you every day. |
| Maya: Yes. Words that you will be really glad you learned. We will teach you not only the phrases but most importantly when and where to use them. Let’s listen to the first phrase. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Manasi: [namaskar] or [namaste]. |
| Maya: [namaskar] or [namaste] in Hindi are equivalent to hello which can be used at any time of the day. |
| Manasi: You can add the name of the person before or after the phrase to make it a full sentence like [namaste Sunil ji] or [namaskar Maya ji] |
| Maya: Do you know the root of this popular word? |
| Manasi: Yes it is from the Sanskrit words [namah] and [te]. |
| Maya: And what do they mean? |
| Manasi: They mean I bow to you. |
| Maya: Wow! It has a great meaning. |
| Manasi: That’s correct and [namaste] is used as a friendly greeting in written communication or generally between people when they meet. It can be said while pressing your palms together near your chest and bowing. You do it when you meet a person who is older or more senior in rank. |
| Maya: I see. So do I need to do it with my Indian friends as well? |
| Manasi: You don’t need to but we do it in business situations instead of shaking hands as well. |
| Maya: Oh yes, I have heard about that. |
| Manasi: Well, let’s look at the second phrase [kripya] |
| Maya: It’s a good phrase to use to say if you are trying to make your way through a crowd or something. |
| Manasi: If you ever visit any Hindi festival, you should keep this word at the forefront of your brain because you might need it when requesting something. |
| Maya: This is true and also you use it when you want someone to wait for you. |
| Manasi: Now the correct pronunciation is [kripya] but you might hear some people say [kurpiya] |
| Maya: Yeah. You do hear this a lot. |
| Manasi: [kripya] in English is please. |
| Maya: Can we hear it again? |
| Manasi: Sure. [kri-pya] |
| Maya: [kripya] Okay let’s now go to the next phrase. |
| Manasi: [fir milenge] |
| Maya: [fir milenge] means see you again. |
| Manasi: It is used the same way as in English, see you again. |
| Maya: So [fir milenge] |
| Manasi: That’s right [fir milenge] see you again. |
| Maya: Okay let’s go to the next phrase. |
| Manasi: [dhanyawad] |
| Maya: [dhanyawad] means thank you. |
| Manasi: Indian people are very helpful and cooperative. So we use this phrase all the time everywhere. |
| Maya: That’s so true. People using it all the time, the tone of [dhanyawad] is soft. It would be better if you smile while saying [dhanyawad]. |
| Manasi: [dhan-ya-wad] |
| Maya: That’s nice. Okay next phrase. |
| Manasi: [maaf kijiye] |
| Maya: Uh this one is big. You hear this one all the time. The nuance of this phrase varies a little bit depending on the situation but I think the underlying message is sorry or excuse me. |
| Manasi: You can ask for any excuse by just adding [ji nahi] to the item. |
| Maya: Which means no thank you. It’s a pretty easy way to say no to something. |
| Manasi: It is also pretty easy way to apologize for something. |
| Maya: When you get more into business Hindi, you will find that it’s used more before offering and opposing point of view. |
| Manasi: Offering an apology can be difficult sometimes but you can make it easy by just using [maaf kijiye] |
| Maya: Knowing these phrases will take you a long way. Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular? |
| Manasi: It’s because they work. |
| Maya: We’ve taken this time tested studying tool and modernized it with my word bank flashcards. |
| Manasi: Learn vocabulary using your eyes and ears. |
| Maya: It’s simple and powerful. Save difficult and interesting words to a personal vocabulary list called my word bank. |
| Manasi: Master words in your my word bank by practicing with flashcards. |
| Maya: Words in my word bank come with audio. So you learn proper pronunciation. |
| Manasi: While you learn to recognize words by sight. |
| Maya: Go to hindipod101.com now and try my word bank and flashcards today. |
Outro |
| Manasi: [fir milenge] Goodbye. |
| Maya: Goodbye. |
Comments
HideHello everyone! How is the experience so far?
In India when people host a lunch or dinner, the variety you would get is unbelievable. So make sure to get self invited for an amazing meal!
Hello Serena,
Thank you for your comment, we are very happy that you like our site! Please enjoy our lessons and videos and your travels as well!
Do not hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Stan
Team HindiPod101.com
So far I am loving Hindipod101.com
In India I have been to Varanasi, Delhi, Vellore and a few others. Learning more Hindi will surely be helpful for my next trip!
Hello Bredo,
Thank you for your question.
You can find Line by Line audio in the Lesson Materials section of lessons which include dialogues.
This series is without dialogues.
Thank you for understanding.
We hope you enjoy the lessons so far.
Let us know if you have any question.
Cheers,
Lena
Team HindiPod101.com
You advertise for line by line audio. Where do i find it?
Hello Harumi,
Don't worry and remember practice makes perfect. Hindi is very easy to read just like Hiragana and katakana. So keep practicing.
Cheers,
Neha
Team HindiPod101.com
Main hindi pardh saktii nahin hoon :sob: :sob:
Hiragana aor katakana aasaan hain
Hi Jackie,
Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback.
We are always positive in receiving constructive criticism, so I will forward your thoughts to the correspondent team who take decisions about how to design our future lessons and the structure of our website.
Kind regards,
Paloma
Team HindiPod101.com
I'm having a terrible time following your audio lessons.
Hindi is all very new material to me. So I thought I'd bring up the PDFs so I could follow along with the audio... only to discover that the PDFs have nothing to do with the audio. Well, I guess the PDF covers the same general topic, but otherwise there's no correlation, therefore no way to follow along with the lesson. There are examples in the lessons that aren't in the PDF, and things in the PDF that aren't in the lesson. I don't mind more material being in the PDF, but when stuff is in the lesson that I don't understand and it isn't in the PDF, and the PDF is in a totally different order than the audio... it's very frustrating.
As a technical writer and trainer by trade, I really wonder who in the hell you have working for you that thought it'd be a good idea to have different content in the PDFs than in the audios. Since I do this for a living, I know it's not hard to make a transcript of the audio... which you already have because they and to read off a script, didn't they?... and make a PDF from the transcript. Which makes me wonder why the hell you aren't doing it?!? Are you purposefully trying to make this harder for us? It sure feels that way to me.
To be this ticked off after four lessons into your supposed "awesome" system does not bode well for my future at your website. When you folks can't even manage to synchronize an audio and a PDF... it certainly doesn't leave me feeling that you can help me learn Hindi. I'll try a couple more lessons, but unless things improve drastically, I definitely won't be renewing.
Hello Marta,
The usage of "jii nahiin" depends on the situation. In the audio, it is being referred to as if you go to someones place and if you are asked if you need water or something, you could politely say 'jii nahiin'. To make it more polite, you could say "Jii nahiin, shukriya/dhanyavaaD".
I hope this helps! If you have any other question, we're here for you:smile:
Cheers,
Neha
Team HindiPod101.com
I didn´t understand when they said that you can add जि नेहि to the item to say: no, thanks
धन्यवाद सैंडी :)
So next time you want to make your point in a polite way, you know what to start with:wink:
So how is your Hindi learning experience going so far ? What all places have you been in India?
Thank you.
Hindipod101.com
Nice lesson! I liked the extra tibits included such as explaining how maf kijiye might be used in a business setting before presenting an opposing point of view.