EkGuru › Answers › How do you say please and thank you in Hindi?
This is a place where translating word-for-word from English produces something no Hindi speaker would say.
शुक्रिया — shukriya — from Arabic via Persian. Everyday, warm, used constantly. This is the one to learn first.
धन्यवाद — dhanyavaad — from Sanskrit. More formal, used in writing, speeches and official settings.
बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद — thank you very much.
कृपया — kripaya — exists, and is correct, and appears on signs and in announcements. In conversation it sounds stiff.
What Hindi does instead is build the politeness into the verb:
The -iye ending IS "please". Add कृपया on top and you have said please twice.
This is the single most useful thing on this page: learn the -iye form of the ten verbs you use most, and you will sound polite without ever needing the word for please.
Within close family, thanking someone for an ordinary kindness can sound cold — as though you are treating them as an outsider doing you a service. A mother handing you food does not expect शुक्रिया.
This does not apply to shops, restaurants, taxis or strangers, where thanking is completely normal. As a learner, thanking too much is a small and forgivable error. Do not overthink it.
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