What is Your Name?
Learn how to say “What is Your Name?” in this blog on Learning to Speak Hindi
By Ash @ Hello-Hindi
Now that we have established how to greet someone, and to ask them ‘How are you?’ in Hindi, let’s move on to our next lesson and see what needs to be said in order to ask someone ‘What is your name?’
English: What is your name?
Translation in Hindi (while talking to either a male or a female): आपका नाम क्या है? (Aapka naam kya hai?)
Now let’s learn what these bunch of new words mean. Are you ready? Come let’s begin then!
Here, the first word we come across is ‘आपका (aapka)’. In Hindi आपका means ‘your.’ It is the more formal and polite manner of saying your and is used specifically while talking to elders.
There are other less formal words to say ‘your’ too that can be used in this sentence like तुम्हारा (tumhara), but for now, you don’t need to burden yourself with it. Just focus on learning to say आपका (aapka).
“These words may sound strange in your voice when you speak them the first few times, but if you will keep learning and practicing then you will surely get a hang of it. “
The next word in the Hindi sentence here is ‘नाम (naam)’ which translates into English as ‘name.’ both naam and name even sound similar up to some extent, don’t they?
Then comes the word ‘क्या (kya)’. ‘Kya’ here is the questioning pronoun in the sentence and translates in English as ‘what.’
Lastly, there is the word ‘है (hai)’ which is what equivalents in the English language as the verb ‘is.’
These words may sound strange in your voice when you speak them the first few times, but if you will keep learning and practicing then you will surely get a hang of it. And then it won’t sound too strange.
Now that we have learned the question, let us also learn how to reply to it appropriately in Hindi.
English: My name is ______.
Translation in Hindi (whether you are male or female): मेरा नाम ___ है (Mera naam ____ hai).
So, first things first, let’s learn the meaning of these words.
Here the first word ‘मेरा (mera)’ is a pronoun which means ‘My’ in English. It will stay the same no matter if you are a male or a female. Makes it a little easy, doesn’t it?
Next comes the word ‘नाम (naam)’. Just as we learned in the above section the word नाम (naam) stands for the name. Now fill the blank with your name.
And the next word ‘है (hai)’ in the sentence is equivalent to the English verb ‘is.’
Easy enough?
Now that you have learned the meaning, now you have to practice speaking it for a while. Next time you meet your friend or family in New York, ask them ‘aapka naam kya hai?’ and then reply to them in Hindi when they ask you the same question. This way you will learn basic Hindi sentences quickly!
