Learn about Hindi honorifics
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Intro |
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| Alisha: Does Hindi have honorifics? |
| Shakti: And how do you speak politely in Hindi? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Karen Lee goes to get a quick snack from a nearby food stand. She is greeting the food stand clerk, Kuldeep Kulkarni. Karen says, |
| "Good morning. How are you?" |
| कैरन: सुप्रभात। आप कैसे हैं? (SuprabhaaT. aap kaiSe hain?) |
| Dialogue |
| कैरन: सुप्रभात। आप कैसे हैं? (SuprabhaaT. aap kaiSe hain?) |
| कुलदीप: मैं ठीक हूँ, धन्यवाद। आप कैसी हैं? (main thiik huun, DHaNyavaaD. aap kaiSii hain?) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| कैरन: सुप्रभात। आप कैसे हैं? (SuprabhaaT. aap kaiSe hain?) |
| Alisha: "Good morning. How are you?" |
| कुलदीप: मैं ठीक हूँ, धन्यवाद। आप कैसी हैं? (main thiik huun, DHaNyavaaD. aap kaiSii hain?) |
| Alisha: "I'm fine, thank you. How about you?" |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: Almost every language has a set of words used to convey respect and to acknowledge another person's position or rank in society. These words are often referred to as "honorifics," or |
| Shakti: आदरार्थक शब्द (aaDaraarTHak sabD) or आदरवाचक शब्द (aaDar vaacak sabD). |
| Alisha: In Hindi, respect is shown with titles or suffixes attached to a person's name, as well as with honorific forms of verbs and pronouns. There are three levels of honorifics in Hindi used in the second person. The first one is |
| Shakti: तू (Tuu). |
| Alisha: This honorific is singular in form and is the one often used for intimacy, which means you only use this to address people you are very close to. For example, you may talk to a friend like this |
| Shakti: तू कहाँ है? (Tuu kahaan hai?) |
| Alisha: which basically means "Where are you?" If you are not that close to the person, but would like to use an informal way of addressing him or her, you can use the second one which is |
| Shakti: तुम (Tum). |
| Alisha: This form is used to address friends and colleagues. For example, "Where are you?" will be |
| Shakti: तुम कहाँ हो? (Tum kahaan ho?) |
| Alisha: The last honorific is |
| Shakti: आप (aap) |
| Alisha: which is the most formal of the three. This is always the honorific that you should use when formally meeting someone for the very first time. Almost all textbooks that teach the Hindi language advise that you use this to avoid misunderstanding, and especially when you're not exactly sure what to say. Let's see how you would use this word in the same question, "Where are you?" |
| Shakti: आप कहाँ हैं? (aap kahaan hain?) |
| Alisha: Notice how the verb "to be" |
| Shakti: होना (hoNaa) |
| Alisha: changes with each level. With |
| Shakti: तू (Tuu), |
| Alisha: it is |
| Shakti: है (hai). |
| Alisha: With |
| Shakti: तुम (Tum), |
| Alisha: it is |
| Shakti: हो (ho) |
| Alisha: and, when you use the more respectful form, |
| Shakti: आप (aap) |
| Alisha: "are" is used instead of "is" |
| Shakti: हैं (hain). |
| Alisha: Often, in conversations, you will notice an ungrammatical version too. Something like this: |
| Shakti: आप कहाँ हो? (aap kahaan ho?) |
| Alisha: Some grammarians consider this phenomenon as another form of honorific that's somewhere between |
| Shakti: तुम (tum) and आप (aap). |
| Alisha: Others dismiss it as ungrammatical. |
| Alisha: Hindi also uses the honorific form in the third person. For example, if you would like to say "Who is she?," you would say |
| Shakti: वह कौन है? (vah kauN hai?) |
| Alisha: But if you want to show some respect to the person you are referring to, you will use the plural form, like this |
| Shakti: वे कौन हैं? (ve kauN hain?) |
| Alisha: or you could use the more colloquial version |
| Shakti: वो कौन हैं? (vo kauN hain?) |
| Alisha: The key word in the colloquial form is the form of "to be" used |
| Shakti: हैं (hain). |
| Alisha: If you say |
| Shakti: है (hai), |
| Alisha: you are using the informal version |
| Shakti: वो कौन है? (vo kauN hai?) |
| [Recall 1] |
| Alisha: To understand the subject more deeply, let's now take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Karen Lee says, "Good morning. How are you?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| कैरन: सुप्रभात। आप कैसे हैं? (SuprabhaaT. aap kaiSe hain?) |
| [Recall 2] |
| Alisha: Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Kuldeep Kulkarni answers "I'm fine, thank you. How about you?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| कुलदीप: मैं ठीक हूँ, धन्यवाद। आप कैसी हैं? (main thiik huun, DHaNyavaaD. aap kaiSii hain?) |
| Alisha: In both instances, we can see that the honorific used was |
| Shakti: आप (aap) |
| Alisha: which is the polite way to address someone. It's often used to address elders or anyone you want to show respect to. In this case, Karen is showing respect to the food stand clerk, which the food stand clerk reciprocates appropriately. |
| [Summary] |
| Alisha: In this lesson, you learned what honorifics are, and that, using them correctly, along with the right formality level, is important in order to show respect towards another person. |
| Practice Section |
| Alisha: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after Shakti focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "Good morning. How are you?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Shakti: सुप्रभात। आप कैसे हैं? (SuprabhaaT. aap kaiSe hain?) |
| Alisha: Listen again and repeat. |
| Shakti: सुप्रभात। आप कैसे हैं? (SuprabhaaT. aap kaiSe hain?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Shakti: सुप्रभात। आप कैसे हैं? (SuprabhaaT. aap kaiSe hain?) |
| Alisha: And do you remember how Kuldeep says "I'm fine, thank you. How about you?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Shakti: मैं ठीक हूँ, धन्यवाद। आप कैसी हैं? (main thiik huun, DHaNyavaaD. aap kaiSii hain?) |
| Alisha: Listen again and repeat. |
| Shakti: मैं ठीक हूँ, धन्यवाद। आप कैसी हैं? (main thiik huun, DHaNyavaaD. aap kaiSii hain?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Shakti: मैं ठीक हूँ, धन्यवाद। आप कैसी हैं? (main thiik huun, DHaNyavaaD. aap kaiSii hain?) |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Alisha: The use of the three honorifics we've discussed varies from family to family or region to region. In some regions, the honorific |
| Shakti: तू (Tuu) |
| Alisha: is said to have fallen out of everyday use. While it's usually the term used to address very close friends or relatives, in some places, it's no longer used by many parents when addressing their children. Parents seem to favor the other two, which are |
| Shakti: तुम (Tum) and आप (aap) |
| Alisha: with the latter being used more often, perhaps to make sure that children learn how to address people politely from a very young age. There are also other ways to show honor or respect in Hindi. For example, you may notice many people adding |
| Shakti: -इये (-iye) |
| Alisha: to verbs. This is another way to show respect to the other person, and is often used to replace "please." For example, "please give" |
| Shakti: दीजिए (Diijiye). |
| Alisha: or "please go" |
| Shakti: जाइए (jaaiye) |
| Alisha: or "please sit" |
| Shakti: बैठिए (baithiye). |
| Alisha: Another way to show respect is to use |
| Shakti: जी (jii). |
| Alisha: You add this word to the name of the other person, like this |
| Shakti: अलीशा जी (aLiisaa jii). |
| Alisha: Hmm… sounds interesting, doesn't it? |
Outro |
| Alisha: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Shakti: फिर मिलेंगे! (phir miLenge!) |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
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