Days of the week in Hindi all end in "-vaar": somvaar is Monday, mangalvaar is Tuesday, and so on through ravivaar for Sunday. Telling time is built on the word baje, so "teen baje" is three o'clock. This guide covers both, plus the three quirks that trip up every English speaker: the special words for half past one and half past two, and the fact that Hindi uses one word for both yesterday and tomorrow.
The seven days
Every day name is a planet or celestial body plus vaar, which means "day". Once you spot that, the list stops looking like seven unrelated words.
| English | Hindi | Say it like |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | somvaar | som-vaar |
| Tuesday | mangalvaar | mun-gul-vaar |
| Wednesday | budhvaar | budh-vaar |
| Thursday | guruvaar | guru-vaar |
| Friday | shukravaar | shuk-ruh-vaar |
| Saturday | shanivaar | shuh-nee-vaar |
| Sunday | ravivaar | ruh-vee-vaar |
Two alternates you will hear. Thursday is sometimes brihaspativaar, which is the longer traditional name, and Sunday is very often itvaar in everyday speech. If your partner's family says itvaar, say itvaar.
Honestly though, English day names are used constantly in Hindi conversation. "Monday ko milte hain" (let's meet on Monday) is completely ordinary. Learn the Hindi names so you understand them, and do not feel obliged to force them into every sentence.
Using a day in a sentence
- Somvaar ko: on Monday. The "ko" is doing the work of "on".
- Aaj kaun sa din hai?: what day is it today?
- Agle shukravaar: next Friday.
- Pichhle ravivaar: last Sunday.
- Har somvaar: every Monday.
- Weekend pe: on the weekend. Yes, "weekend" in English. Nobody says anything else.
Telling time: baje is the whole system
Baje means "o'clock". Put a number in front of it and you have the time.
| Time | Hindi | Say it like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 o'clock | ek baja | ehk baa-jaa |
| 2 o'clock | do baje | doh baa-jay |
| 3 o'clock | teen baje | teen baa-jay |
| 4 o'clock | chaar baje | chaar baa-jay |
| 5 o'clock | paanch baje | paanch baa-jay |
| 6 o'clock | chhah baje | chheh baa-jay |
| 7 o'clock | saat baje | saat baa-jay |
| 8 o'clock | aath baje | aath baa-jay |
| 9 o'clock | nau baje | now baa-jay |
| 10 o'clock | das baje | duss baa-jay |
| 11 o'clock | gyarah baje | gyaa-rah baa-jay |
| 12 o'clock | barah baje | baa-rah baa-jay |
One o'clock is the odd one out. It is ek baja, not "ek baje", because one is singular and everything else is plural. Nobody will correct you if you get it wrong, but getting it right is a small tell that you actually learned this rather than guessed.
If the numbers themselves are shaky, our guide to Hindi numbers 1 to 100 covers them properly. Time only needs 1 to 12, so you are close already.
Asking the time
- Kitne baje hain?: what time is it?
- Kitne baje?: at what time? Shorter, used when asking about a plan.
- Kab?: when? The blunt, all-purpose version.
Half past, quarter past, quarter to
This is where Hindi gets its own logic, and it is genuinely useful because these turn up more often than exact minutes do.
| Hindi | Means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| saade | half past | saade teen: 3:30 |
| sava | quarter past | sava teen: 3:15 |
| paune | quarter to | paune chaar: 3:45 |
Watch paune closely. It counts toward the next hour, exactly like English "quarter to four". So "paune chaar" is 3:45, not 4:45. This catches people out for about a week and then never again.
The two exceptions nobody warns you about
Half past one and half past two do not use "saade". They have their own words.
| Hindi | Means | Say it like |
|---|---|---|
| dedh baje | 1:30 | dedh baa-jay |
| dhai baje | 2:30 | dhaa-ee baa-jay |
| saade teen baje | 3:30 (normal pattern resumes) | saa-day teen baa-jay |
Say "saade ek" and people will understand you, but it marks you instantly as someone who learned from a chart. Dedh and dhai are also used for quantities, not just time: "dedh kilo" is one and a half kilos, "dhai saal" is two and a half years. Learning them once pays off twice.
Exact minutes
For anything precise, the pattern is number of minutes plus minute, in English, because that is what people say.
- Teen bajkar bees minute: twenty minutes past three, the formal version.
- Three twenty: what most people actually say. Digital clocks won this argument.
- Paanch minute mein: in five minutes.
- Das minute lagenge: it will take ten minutes.
Morning, afternoon, evening, night
Hindi does not use a.m. and p.m. in speech. It attaches the part of the day instead.
| Hindi | Means | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| subah | morning | sunrise to about noon |
| dopahar | afternoon | noon to about 4pm |
| shaam | evening | about 4pm to sunset |
| raat | night | after dark |
Put it in front of the time with "ke":
- Subah ke aath baje: eight in the morning.
- Shaam ke saat baje: seven in the evening.
- Raat ke gyarah baje: eleven at night.
- Dopahar ka khana: the afternoon meal, meaning lunch.
Kal means yesterday. Kal also means tomorrow.
This is the single strangest thing about time in Hindi, and it is completely real. Kal means both yesterday and tomorrow. The verb tense tells you which.
- Kal main gaya tha (man) / kal main gayi thi (woman): I went yesterday. Past tense, so kal is yesterday.
- Kal main jaunga (man) / kal main jaungi (woman): I will go tomorrow. Future tense, so kal is tomorrow.
And it keeps going. Parso means both the day before yesterday and the day after tomorrow, on the same logic.
| Hindi | Means |
|---|---|
| aaj | today |
| kal | yesterday or tomorrow, depending on the tense |
| parso | the day before yesterday, or the day after tomorrow |
| abhi | right now |
| abhi abhi | just now, a moment ago |
| baad mein | later |
| pehle | before, earlier |
| jaldi | early, or quickly |
| der se | late |
| hamesha | always |
| kabhi kabhi | sometimes |
| abhi tak nahi | not yet |
If you are unsure which kal someone means, ask. "Kal matlab yesterday ya tomorrow?" is a sentence Hindi speakers say to each other, so you are in good company.
Making plans: the sentences you will actually use
- Kal milte hain: let's meet tomorrow.
- Kitne baje aaun?: what time should I come?
- Main saat baje aaunga (man) / aaungi (woman): I will come at seven.
- Thoda late ho jaunga (man) / jaungi (woman): I will be a bit late.
- Raste mein hun: I am on the way.
- Paanch minute mein pahunch raha hun (man) / rahi hun (woman): I am arriving in five minutes.
- Aaj nahi ho payega: it will not be possible today. The polite way to cancel.
- Weekend pe free ho?: are you free on the weekend?
- Subah jaldi nikalna hai: we have to leave early in the morning.
- Time ho gaya: it is time. Said when everyone should be leaving and nobody is.
Notice how many of those change ending depending on whether a man or a woman is speaking. That is not optional politeness, it is grammar. The likely reader of this guide is a woman learning Hindi for a partner's family, and the masculine forms are what most reference material defaults to, which teaches you to say your own sentences wrong. Our guide on how to introduce yourself in Hindi goes through this properly.
Two things worth knowing about time in Indian families
Arrival times are approximate, and everyone knows it. A 7pm dinner invitation is not a 7pm dinner. This is not disorganisation, it is a shared understanding that nobody spells out. If you turn up at 7pm sharp to your partner's family home, you will likely be the first person there by an hour, and someone will still be cooking.
"Do minute" rarely means two minutes. "Bas do minute" (just two minutes) is a unit of intent, not duration. So is "abhi aaya" (I am coming right now). Take both as sincere and neither as literal.
Neither of these is a rule, and families vary enormously. But if you have been quietly confused about why everyone else arrived at 8:30, that is why.
FAQ
What are the days of the week in Hindi?
Somvaar (Monday), mangalvaar (Tuesday), budhvaar (Wednesday), guruvaar (Thursday), shukravaar (Friday), shanivaar (Saturday) and ravivaar (Sunday). Sunday is also commonly called itvaar in everyday speech. All of them end in "vaar", which simply means "day".
How do you say what time it is in Hindi?
Ask with "kitne baje hain?" and answer with the number plus baje, so "teen baje" is three o'clock. One o'clock is the exception and takes "ek baja" instead.
Why does kal mean both yesterday and tomorrow?
Hindi treats kal as "the day next to today" in either direction, and lets the verb tense carry the rest. A past-tense verb makes it yesterday, a future-tense verb makes it tomorrow. Parso works the same way for two days out.
What is dedh and dhai?
Dedh is one and a half and dhai is two and a half. For time that makes dedh baje 1:30 and dhai baje 2:30, and these replace the usual "saade" pattern for those two hours only. They also work for quantities, so dedh kilo is one and a half kilos.
Does Hindi use a.m. and p.m.?
Not in speech. People attach the part of the day instead: subah (morning), dopahar (afternoon), shaam (evening) or raat (night). So eight in the morning is "subah ke aath baje".
Can I just use English day names and times?
Yes, and most people do at least some of the time. Mixing English days and digital-clock times into Hindi sentences is completely standard, which is one of the things that makes spoken Hindi feel like Hinglish rather than textbook Hindi.
Where to go next
Days and times are the part of Hindi you use every single week, which makes them a good place to start speaking rather than just studying. They are also short, which means there is nowhere to hide if the sounds are off.
Hinglish Vinglish is built around saying things out loud. You speak the phrase, and an AI pronunciation coach tells you specifically what to fix instead of just marking it wrong. Lessons follow real scenarios, including a Travel and Directions chapter where times and schedules come up constantly. Everything is in Roman letters. Free to start, one-time unlock, no subscription.
For more everyday vocabulary, try 100 most common Hindi phrases, or 50 Hinglish sentences from the family WhatsApp group, where roughly a third of the messages are people asking each other what time something is.
— Akhil Madan, founder of Keeda Studios. I have been told "bas do minute" by my own family more times than I can count and I still believe it every time.