How are You?
Learn how to say “”How Are You?” in this blog on Learning to Speak Hindi
By Ash @ Hello-Hindi
So as you may recall from our last lesson, the first thing we do when meeting a stranger is to greet him by saying नमस्ते Namaste!
Now, what do you say next?
Well, what would you have said if you were conversing in English? You might have asked the person, how are you, right? So, this is what we will learn to say while talking in Hindi. Come, let’s begin!
First of all, you have to remember that unlike English while talking in Hindi you have to be conscious if you are talking to a male or a female subject because it will affect the verb in the sentence.
We will see how this works while learning how to say ‘how are you’ in Hindi. English: How are you? Translation in Hindi (while talking to a male): आप कैसे हैं? Aap kaise hain?
“You have to remember that, unlike English, while talking in Hindi, you have to be conscious if you are talking to a male or a female subject because it will affect the verb in the sentence.“
In this sentence, the word ‘आप (aap)’ translates to ‘you’. It is a formal and a more polite way to say ‘you’ and is especially used for addressing an elder.
Next comes the word ‘कैसे (kaise)’ which translates into ‘how’ in English. And lastly, there is the word ‘हैं (hain)’ which here is equivalent of the English verb ‘are’.
Notice the nasal sound when speaking the hain. Now that we have learned how to ask, ‘how are you’ while talking to a male, let’s jump to our next section and see what to say while talking to a female.
English: How are you?
Translation in Hindi (while conversing with a female): आप कैसी हैं? aap kaisee hain?
Do you recognize the difference? Although the difference is a small one, but in Hindi, it matters a lot. Here the word ‘कैसी (kaisee)’ still translates into ‘how’ but now it agrees with a feminine subject.
While pronouncing it you will need to stress more on the ‘ee’ sound. So now you can probably see how the male or a female subject affects the choice of verb in Hindi.
Practice this, and soon it will start coming naturally to you.
Now, that we have established how to ask ‘how are you’ to someone, you should also learn how to reply to it in case someone poses that question to you.
In reply, we generally say ‘I am okay’. Let’s see how to say that in Hindi.
English: I am okay
Translation in Hindi (while speaking to a male/female): मैं ठीक हूँ Mai theek hoo.
In this sentence, ‘मैं (mai)’ stands for ‘I’ and it stays the same no matter whether you are a male or a female.
The next word ‘ठीक (theek)’ in the Hindi sentence is the translation for the word ‘okay’. Remember while speaking ‘ठ (th)’ your tongue will come in contact with the roof of your mouth. And lastly comes ‘हूँ (hoo)’ which equivalent to the word ‘am.’
Simple enough? Now go and practice speaking these two sentences with your friends in New York and try to perfect the pronunciation.
