Survival Hindi 

The 21st century has seen more and more people step in to travel the world and learn about different cultures. When you travel to a different country, there are new challenges to face and adapt to the overwhelming culture, food, people, etc. It can get a bit more difficult than expected when English is not the primary language of the host country. It is a bit easy at least in some continents, where the primary languages of the countries have similar scripts. The similarity in the words can enable the traveller to play with it and communicate to fulfil its purpose. Unlike in some countries like India, where the country itself is equivalent to a continent, every state or region has its own official languages and dialects. In such cases, it becomes very essential to know that one language which could help you to communicate in every state and region of the country. 

Although every state has a different language, Hindi is the official language of India. Even if you visit a certain area where people don’t speak Hindi, they would still understand it. So Hindi is the language you can use to communicate in the entire country regardless of whichever state you go into. But the hard fact is Hindi is not an easy language you could learn in a few weeks or months. Although, there are many online lessons on the internet which claim to make your Hindi fluent in 3 months, which is practically impossible. Moreover, one cannot devote 3-4 months just to learn a foreign language to use it on their trip. But nevertheless, in this blog, you will learn about the useful sentences which will allow you to survive with your Hindi speaking and where to place it.

Before we begin with the sentences, we just want to let you know something very important. Hindi has multiple similar sounding letters which change the meaning completely if you miss the correct pronunciation. For example, the Hindi language has 4 T’s and 4 D’s. So you don’t want to end up in some embarrassing situation with a disastrous meaning. So make sure you learn the correct pronunciations of these survival Hindi phrases. You can use free tools 

Like Google Pronounce, for that purpose.

The survival Hindi phrases are divided into 3 sections based on situations they need to be used and combinely cover almost all the sentences you might need throughout your trip.

Basic Words:

• Yes – Haa
• No – Nahi
• Day – Din
• Morning – Subah
• Night – Raat
• Water – Paani
• Food – Khana
• Left – Baaye
• Right – Daaye
• Today – Aaj 
• Tomorrow – Kal
• Yesterday – Kal 
• Day after tomorrow – Parso 
• Temple – Mandir
• Mosque – Masjid
• Okay – Thik Hai
• Let’s go – Chalo
• What – Kya
• Why – Kyu
• Who – Kaun
• When – Kab
• Where – Kaha
• How – Kaisey 
• You – Aap
• Me – Mai
• They – Vo
• Them – Unko
• There – Unka
• Come – Aao
• Go – Jao
• Run – Bhaag
• More – Zada
• Very- Bohat
• Less – Kam
• Correct – Sahi
• Wrong – Galat

Basic words while eating out:

• Breakfast – Nashta
• Lunch/Dinner – Khana
• Tea – Chai  
• Sugar – Cheeni
• Sweet –  Mitha
• Salt – Namak
• Salty – Namkeen
• Chilli – Mirchi
• Spicy – Teekha
• Sour – Khatta
• Bitter – Kadwa
• Chapati/Bread – Roti
• Rice – Chawal
• Vegies – Sabzi
• Hot – Garam
• Cold – Thanda

While meeting someone/Goodbyes:

• Hello/GoodBye- Namaste
• How are you?- Aap Kaise ho?
• I am fine- Mai theek hu
• What is your name- Aapka naam kya hai?
• My name is John- Mera naam John hai.
• Where do you live- Aap Kaha rehte ho?
• I live in India- Mai India mei rehta/ rehti hu
• Do you speak English- Kya aap English bolte ho?
• I speak very little Hindi- Mai bohat kam Hindi bolta/bolti hu.
• Nice to meet you- Aapsey mil kar acha laga
• Thankyou- Dhanyawad/ Shukriya( Although these are the Hindi words for thank you, you may simply choose to say Thank You as most of the people know these basic english words)
• We will meet again/soon- Fir milenge 

When you want to express/appreciate:

• It’s very beautiful- Ye bohat sundar hai
• You are very beautiful – Aap bohat sundar hai
• You are very nice – Aap bohat ache hai
• It’s tasty/delicious- Ye bohat swadisht/tasty hai
• What’s there for breakfast/lunch/dinner- Khane me kya hai?
• India is great- India bohat acha hai
• Good, Great, Very Good- Bohat acha
• That’s very spicy- Bohat tikha hai
• Very little spicy– Bohat kam tikha

While Shopping/sightseeing:

• How much- Kitna
• It’s too expensive- Bahut mehnga hai
• I want to go to Dadar- Mujhe Dadar jana hai
• I don’t need it- Mujhe nahi chahiye
• Go by meter- Meter se chalo
• Let’s go – Chalo 
• Stop –  Ruko
• What happened – Kya hua?

Numbers: