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The Hindi you hope not to need

Short, unambiguous phrases for medical, police and lost-and-stranded situations.

In an emergency, grammar does not matter and speed does. Every phrase here is deliberately blunt.

मदद कीजिए — help. Said loudly, it is understood everywhere. मुझे डॉक्टर चाहिए — I need a doctor. अस्पताल कहाँ है — where is the hospital. पुलिस को बुलाइए — call the police. मैं रास्ता भूल गया हूँ — I am lost. A woman says भूल गई हूँ. मेरा बैग चोरी हो गया — my bag has been stolen. मुझे एलर्जी है — I have an allergy. Follow it with the substance in English; medical vocabulary in English is widely understood by Indian medical staff.

Two practical points that matter more than vocabulary. India's single emergency number is 112, and it works nationally. And English is widely spoken in hospitals, police stations and airports in cities — the Hindi above is most useful outside those places, in a small town or with the first person who happens to be nearby.

Write your blood group, allergies and an emergency contact on paper in your wallet. In a genuine emergency you may not be the one talking.

Words and phrases for this topic

EnglishHindiSounds like
I don't understandमुझे समझ नहीं आयाmujhe samajh nahin aaya
Please speak slowlyज़रा धीरे बोलिएzara dheere boliye
Say it again, pleaseफिर से कहिएphir se kahiye
Do you speak English?क्या आप अंग्रेज़ी बोलते हैं?kya aap angrezi bolte hain
What does this mean?इसका क्या मतलब है?iska kya matlab hai
How do you say this in Hindi?इसे हिंदी में क्या कहते हैं?ise hindi mein kya kehte hain
Help!मदद कीजिए!madad keejiye
I need a doctorमुझे डॉक्टर चाहिएmujhe doctor chahiye
Where is the toilet?बाथरूम कहाँ है?bathroom kahaan hai
A note on the Hindi spellings

Devanagari is easy to get slightly wrong when it is typed by hand — a missing matra, the wrong nukta. If something here looks off to you, trust a native speaker over this page and please tell us so it gets fixed — it takes a moment and a real person reads it. Romanised spellings are a guide to the sound, not a standard: there is no single official way to write Hindi in Latin letters.

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