Hindi for beginners: the first 50 words, in the order you need them

If you are a complete beginner, start Hindi with the fifty words below, not the alphabet. They are grouped by the sentence they let you say, not by letter, and every one of them is a word you will hear in an Indian home this week. Say each one out loud as you read it. Fifty words sounds like nothing, but these fifty combine into a few hundred real sentences, and the first ten alone get you through a hello, a how-are-you, a thank-you and a compliment on the food. That is a better first week than knowing how to write your name in a script nobody at the table is reading.

I'm Akhil. I'm Indian, my wife is British, and she learned Hindi for my family. She started the way most beginners do, with letters and a textbook, and spent months able to read a little and say almost nothing. The list below is the one I wish she had been given on day one: basic Hindi words, in the order you need them, with the meaning next to each one. If you want the full route after this, how to learn Hindi is the complete guide and this post is its first page.

Why fifty words and not the alphabet

Hindi is written in Devanagari, and most beginner Hindi courses open with it. If your goal is to read, that is the right start. If your goal is to speak to people, it is a detour: the people you want to talk to are going to ask if you have eaten, not write to you. I cover the decision in do you need to learn Devanagari. The short version is that nobody needs the script to say "khana bahut achha hai" (the food is very good), and that sentence does more at a dinner table than a hundred letters.

Everything here is in English letters. Hindi romanisation is not standardised, so you will meet other spellings elsewhere ("achha" and "accha" for the same word). The sound is the thing, and every word here is spelled the way it is said.

Three rules for using the list:

1. Say every word out loud, three times, the first time you meet it. Reading Hindi silently builds recognition, not speech.
2. Learn the word with its meaning and one sentence, never alone. "Chai" (tea) is a fact. "Chai piyenge?" (will you have tea?) is a conversation.
3. Where a word changes with gender, learn your own form first. Most beginner material teaches the masculine form and calls it Hindi. If you are a woman, your form is the one you need.

Group 1: greetings and politeness (9 words)

These get you in and out of any room. "Ji" is the most important word on the whole page: it attaches to yes, no, names and relations, and turns a flat word into a respectful one.

• namaste: hello, the all-purpose greeting that works with everyone, warmest to elders with folded hands
• namaskar: hello, a more formal version for first meetings and anyone older on the phone
• ji: a respect marker added to yes, no, names and titles, as in "haan ji" (yes) and "aunty ji"
• shukriya: thanks, slightly warm, for strangers and shops rather than the family table
• dhanyavad: thank you, formal, for service situations and strangers
• maaf kijiye: sorry, or excuse me, the formal apology and the polite way to interrupt
• koi baat nahi: no problem, it is nothing, your reply when someone apologises to you
• zara: just, a little, the word that does the job of please in a request
• phir milenge: we will meet again, the standard warm goodbye

Hindi rarely uses a standalone "please". It softens requests instead, with "zara" (just, a little) or by using the polite form of the verb. Families also rarely say thank you to each other out loud, which is why "dhanyavad" at dinner can sound oddly formal. How to say thank you in Hindi explains what people say instead, and Hindi greetings beyond namaste covers who gets which hello.

Group 2: people and pronouns (9 words)

Hindi has three words for "you" and the choice says how you see the other person. As a beginner you need two: "aap" for elders, in-laws and anyone you are being polite to, and "tum" for friends, cousins and your partner. There is a third, "tu", for very close friends and small children. Leave it alone for now; getting it wrong with the wrong person is the one pronoun mistake that lands badly.

• main: I
• aap: you, respectful, for elders, in-laws and anyone you have just met
• tum: you, familiar, for friends, cousins and your partner
• hum: we, and in many families also a modest way of saying I
• mera: my, as in "mera naam" (my name); it becomes "meri" before feminine nouns
• beta: child, but really dear, what elders call you regardless of your age or gender
• bhaiya: older brother, and the polite address for any man roughly your age in a shop or a taxi
• didi: older sister, the same trick for women
• aunty ji: the respectful default for any older woman whose exact relation you do not know; "uncle ji" for men

"Beta" is said to you, not by you. The first time an elder calls you beta, you are in. For the full set of relation words, where English speakers get genuinely lost, see Hindi words for family members.

Group 3: the ten verbs you need (10 words)

Hindi verbs are the most regular part of the language. Every verb in its dictionary form ends in "-na". To say "I do something", you drop the "-na", add "-ta" if you are a man or "-ti" if you are a woman, and finish with "hoon". So "karna" (to do) gives "main karta hoon" (I do, said by a man) and "main karti hoon" (I do, said by a woman). Learn these ten and that one pattern and you can already make sixty sentences.

• karna: to do
• jaana: to go
• aana: to come
• khaana: to eat
• peena: to drink
• bolna: to speak
• samajhna: to understand
• dekhna: to see, to watch
• rehna: to live, to stay
• seekhna: to learn

One more pattern doubles what you can say with these. For something happening right now, use "raha" (man) or "rahi" (woman) before "hoon": "main aa raha hoon" is "I'm coming" said by a man, and "main aa rahi hoon" is the same thing said by a woman. "Main Hindi seekh raha hoon / seekh rahi hoon" (I am learning Hindi) is the sentence you will say most in your first month, so get your own form right from the start.

The verb goes at the end of the sentence in Hindi, which feels backwards for about a week and then stops mattering. "Main chai peeta hoon" is literally "I tea drink". Hindi word order explained shows why it is simpler than it looks.

Group 4: question words (7 words)

You will not ask many questions in your first month. You will be asked a lot of them, so these matter for understanding first and speaking second. They all start with "k", which helps.

• kya: what, and also the word that turns any statement into a yes-or-no question when it goes at the front
• kaun: who
• kahan: where, as in "aap kahan se hain?" (where are you from?)
• kab: when
• kaise: how, as in "aap kaise hain?" (how are you?)
• kitna: how much, how many; "kitne" before plural nouns, as in "kitne baje?" (what time?)
• yeh: this, as in "yeh kya hai?" (what is this?)

"Aap kahan se hain?" (where are you from?) is the question you are likely to be asked most. Have the answer ready: your city, then "se hoon" (I am from), as in "London se hoon". "Yeh kya hai?" (what is this?) at the dinner table is welcome. Chances are it starts an explanation and you get taught three more words.

Group 5: food and home (7 words)

If you are learning Hindi for a partner's family, most of your early Hindi will happen around food. These seven words carry an entire evening.

• khana: food, and also a meal, as in "khana khaya?" (have you eaten?)
• chai: tea, made with milk and spices, offered roughly hourly
• paani: water
• roti: flatbread, the unit in which seconds are counted
• ghar: home, house
• teekha: spicy, hot, as in "thoda teekha hai" (it is a bit spicy)
• achha: good, and on its own, with a rising tone, "really? I see, go on"

"Achha" as an adjective means good: "khana bahut achha hai" (the food is very good). Said alone, "achha?" is the most useful listening noise in Hindi; with the right tone it carries a conversation while you catch up. How to compliment food in Hindi turns these seven words into lines that make a cook happy, and how to answer khana khaya handles the question every Indian family asks.

Group 6: yes, no and the small words (8 words)

Small words are what make you sound like a speaker rather than a phrasebook. "Bas" (enough) alone, said while guarding your plate, is a complete and culturally correct sentence.

• haan: yes; "haan ji" is yes with respect
• nahi: no; "nahi ji" softens it for elders
• theek: fine, okay, as in "main theek hoon" (I am fine) and "sab theek?" (everything okay?)
• bahut: very, a lot, as in "bahut achha" (very good)
• thoda: a little, as in "thoda aur" (a little more) and "thoda teekha" (a bit spicy)
• aur: and, more
• bas: enough, that is it, said while physically guarding your plate
• chalo: let's go, and also okay then, come on, fine, that settles it

A bare "nahi" (no) to an elder can land blunt. Add "ji" and it never does. Indian families also soften refusals in ways that confuse English speakers, and the famous head movement is not a yes or a no. How to say yes and no in Hindi covers all of it.

How the fifty words combine into real sentences

Here is the point of grouping words by sentence rather than letter. Eight sentences built almost entirely from the list above, with who you say them to. Where the sentence changes with your gender, both forms are given.

Every sentence in that table is one you can use this week. If you are learning for a partner's family, say the fourth one early. In my family, the moment someone hears "main Hindi seekh rahi hoon" they slow down, repeat things and start teaching.

Three sounds to watch from day one

English letters hide three things about Hindi sounds. "Th" is never the sound in "think": in "theek" (fine) it is a hard t with a puff of air after it. Hindi has two t sounds and two d sounds, one with the tongue on the teeth and one with it curled back, and English has neither. And long and short vowels make different words. Do not chase perfection in week one, but know these exist so you can listen for them. Why your t and d sound wrong in Hindi is the five-minute drill for the hardest one.

This is the honest weakness of any word list, including this one. A page cannot hear you. You need something that does: a patient relative, a tutor, or an app that scores how you sound and says which sound to fix. Saying these words badly for a month, with nobody correcting you, makes the mistakes permanent.

What to learn after these fifty

When the fifty feel automatic, usually after one to two weeks of daily saying, go in this order:

1. Phrases, not more single words. The 100 most common Hindi phrases is the next list, grouped by situation; most of its words are already here.
2. Numbers one to twenty. For time, money and how many rotis. Hindi numbers 1 to 100 has the pronunciation; the first twenty are enough to start.
3. Introducing yourself properly. Name, where you are from, what you do, in your own gender form. How to introduce yourself in Hindi walks through it.
4. A daily speaking habit. Ten to fifteen minutes a day out loud beats an hour on Sunday. Learn Hindi at home: a daily routine is the version that fits around a job, and the best way to learn Hindi speaking explains why the out-loud part is not optional.

If you grew up hearing Hindi and understand far more than you can say, your path is different and this list is likely too easy for you. Why you understand Hindi but can't speak it is written for that exact situation.

Where Hinglish Vinglish fits

I built Hinglish Vinglish for the person who has this list and nobody to say it to. The app is speaking-first: lessons are built around real situations like the dinner table, meeting the family and travel, you say each phrase out loud, and Ellie, the saffron-orange elephant who coaches you, gives AI pronunciation feedback on how you sounded and the one thing to fix. Everything is in English letters, never the script. It asks early on which words you use for "I", so a woman learns "seekh rahi hoon" from the first lesson. It will not teach you to read Devanagari, and it will not make you fluent on its own. It is built for the start, where these fifty words either become speech or stay on a page. Free for seven days, then a one-time unlock with no subscription, on iOS and Android. If you would rather have a person, a good tutor is also a fine answer.

FAQ

What are the most basic Hindi words for beginners?

Namaste (hello), ji (the respect marker), haan (yes), nahi (no), theek (fine), bahut (very), thoda (a little), achha (good), khana (food) and chai (tea). With "main" (I), "aap" (you, respectful) and the verb "seekhna" (to learn) you can already say hello, answer how you are and tell someone you are learning Hindi.

Should a beginner learn the Hindi alphabet first?

Not if your goal is speaking. Devanagari is worth learning if you want to read, and it does make some sounds clearer, but you can speak everyday Hindi entirely from English letters. Start with words you can say to people, and add the script later if you find you want it.

How many Hindi words do you need to hold a basic conversation?

Around three hundred words covers most everyday family conversation, because Hindi reuses a small set of verbs and small words heavily. The fifty on this page are the core of that three hundred. Learn them in sentences, out loud, and you will be understood well before you reach three hundred.

Why do Hindi verbs change for men and women?

Hindi verb endings agree with the speaker's gender in the present tense. A man says "main karta hoon" (I do) and a woman says "main karti hoon". Most beginner material teaches only the masculine form, so if you are a woman, learn your own ending from the first day. It is one letter and people notice it.

What is the difference between aap and tum?

Both mean "you". "Aap" is respectful and is used for elders, in-laws, strangers and anyone you want to be polite to. "Tum" is familiar and is used for friends, cousins and partners. When unsure, use "aap". Nobody is offended by too much respect.

How long does it take to learn these 50 words?

Most people have them in one to two weeks if they say them out loud every day for ten minutes and use a few on a real person. Reading them once will not do it. Saying "khana bahut achha hai" to an actual cook will.

Akhil Madan, founder of Keeda Studios. My wife learned the alphabet before she learned "bas". I would reverse that order for anyone.