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100 Most Common Hindi Words — With Pronunciation

Written by: authorship not independently recorded. Maintained by Prakash. Reviewed by: not recorded. Updated: 2026-10-03. Editorial policy and corrections.

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If you learn one thing first, learn this. Every word below is high-frequency: you will hear it in the first hour of any real Hindi conversation. They are grouped by meaning, and each one is written three ways — English, Devanagari and a romanisation you can read aloud.

Hindi is written in Devanagari, and it is unusually kind about pronunciation: the letters say what they say. Once you know that आ is a long "aa", that न is "n" and that a dot under a letter (ड़, ढ़) means a rolled "r" sound, you can read every word on this page out loud. The romanisation column is a starting aid, not a crutch — the sooner you read the Devanagari column directly, the faster your accent settles.

Pronouns — the ten words that build every sentence

The three words for "you" are not decoration. तू is intimate (close family, small children, God), तुम is friendly (friends, people your own age), and आप is respectful (strangers, elders, anyone you would address formally). Choosing wrongly is the single most common way a beginner sounds rude — see the common mistakes guide for the fix.

Question words — the eight that unlock conversation

Verbs — eighteen you will use every day

Hindi verbs are learned as the -na form first (the infinitive), then the endings. करना becomes करता हूँ ("I do", a man speaking) or करती हूँ ("I do", a woman speaking) — Hindi marks gender in the verb, not only in pronouns. The verb tenses guide walks through the present, past and future in one sitting.

Family — thirteen words you will need in the first week

Hindi family words are precise in a way English is not: चाचा is specifically your father's younger brother, and मामा specifically your mother's brother. Learners often flatten all of these into "uncle" and then wonder why the family laughs. The family words guide has the full set with a diagram of who is who.

Numbers 1 to 20 — the foundation of every price and time

The full set to 100 is on the numbers 1 to 100 guide. Learn 1–20 by heart first — everything above that is built from the tens.

Colours — ten words, and how they change

Colours are adjectives, and Hindi adjectives agree with the noun they describe: नीला becomes नीली for a feminine noun (नीली कार, a blue car) and नीले for plurals. Learn the colour with a noun attached and the agreement comes free.

Days of the week

Each day is named after a planet or a deity — सोमवार is the day of the moon (सोम), मंगलवार the day of Mars (मंगल). The days, months and time guide covers telling the time and the Hindi months as well.

Time words — eleven that turn sentences into plans

Note the trap in the middle: कल means both tomorrow and yesterday. Hindi relies on the tense of the sentence to say which — कल मैं जाऊँगा (tomorrow I will go) against कल मैं गया (yesterday I went).

Greetings and courtesy — the words that open doors

What to do after these words

1. Read each group aloud once, then cover the romanisation and read the Devanagari.
2. Take five verbs from the list and build one true sentence about your own day with each.
3. Read the sentence structure guide so you can put the words in Hindi order (verb last, always).
4. Then start using them with the plan on the speaking-alone page.