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Punjabi vs Hindi — what's different and what's similar

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

Draft: not yet reviewed by a native speaker. Existing availability and indexing are preserved by owner instruction; that is not an editorial approval. Suggest a correction.

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This site teaches every Punjabi word in three languages at once, with Hindi sitting right next to English, which hides a fair question: if you already speak Hindi, how much of Punjabi do you get for free? Punjabi is indo-aryan — a cousin of Hindi. Here is the honest breakdown.

The script

First, the difference you cannot ignore: Hindi is written in Devanagari, and Punjabi is written in Gurmukhi. That is a separate reading skill to build. Gurmukhi has 35 core letters — the ਪੈਂਟੀ ਅਖਰ🔊🔊 (paintī akhar, 'the 35'). It runs left to right with no headline bar, and its letters look rounder than Devanagari. Six dotted letters (ਸ਼ ਖ਼ ਗ਼ ਜ਼ ਫ਼ ਲ਼🔊🔊) cover Persian sounds, and nasalization is marked with ਬਿੰਦੀ🔊🔊 (ਂ🔊🔊) and ਟਿੱਪੀ🔊🔊 (ੰ🔊🔊): ਮਾਂ🔊🔊 (mān, mother) needs its bindi — drop it and the word breaks. Across the border, Pakistani Punjabi is written in Shahmukhi (Perso-Arabic) — same language, different script. Punjabi is tonal: ਘ ਝ ਢ ਧ ਭ🔊🔊 and ਹ🔊🔊 colour the pitch of nearby vowels — listen more than you read at first.

Word order

Here the two languages agree: Punjabi puts the verb last. The pattern is ਮੈਂ ਰੋਟੀ ਖਾਂਦਾ ਹਾਂ🔊🔊। — I eat bread. (word order: I – bread – eat). Hindi works the same way, so if Hindi word order is already in your ear, that is one fewer thing to unlearn.

Words you may already know

Look down the Hindi and Punjabi columns together. Where the two are similar, that is usually a word that travelled — through Sanskrit, through Persian, or through centuries of trade and administration. Where they differ, the everyday word is usually native. Numbers are the clearest test:

Compare each Hindi number with its Punjabi partner above. Similar ones are free vocabulary. The different ones are words you must memorise deliberately — and they are worth it, because a number is the word you use when you buy something.

Everyday words, side by side

Grammar: where the two part company

Gender. Two genders, everywhere.

Verbs. The present is stem + -ਦਾ🔊🔊 (m) / -ਦੀ🔊🔊 (f) + helper: ਹਾਂ🔊🔊 (I), ਹੈਂ🔊🔊 (tūn), ਹੈ🔊🔊 (is), ਹੋ🔊🔊 (tusīn — always plural!), ਹਨ🔊🔊 (they). So ਮੈਂ ਖਾਂਦਾ ਹਾਂ🔊🔊 (I eat, m), ਤੁਸੀਂ ਖਾਂਦੇ ਹੋ🔊🔊 (you eat, respectful), ਉਹ ਖਾਂਦੇ ਹਨ🔊🔊 (they eat).

Negation. Negation with ਨਹੀਂ🔊🔊 (nahīn).

Counting. Punjabi has no classifiers — put the number straight before the noun. But the noun itself goes plural: ਇੱਕ ਕਿਤਾਬ🔊🔊 (one book), ਦੋ ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ🔊🔊 (two books), ਤਿੰਨ ਰੁਪਏ🔊🔊 (three rupees).

If you already speak Hindi

• Skip nothing: the script and word order transfer, the grammar does not.
• Use the Hindi column as a shortcut for meaning, then read the Punjabi column aloud twice.
• Watch the verb endings first — that is where the transfer stops working.
• Watch gender agreement in the past tense, the usual first serious stumble.

If you do not speak Hindi

Then treat the Hindi column as a bonus rather than a prerequisite: every page on this site gives you English and Punjabi with pronunciation, so you can learn Punjabi without a word of Hindi. What the Hindi column buys you is a second reference point when a word refuses to stick.

It is also worth knowing that Hindi is a genuinely useful bridge language in India: the numbers and a few hundred shared words turn up everywhere, and the reflex of putting the verb at the end is the same.

Pronunciation: the part nobody warns you about

Similar vocabulary and a shared word order make a Hindi speaker feel at home early, which is exactly when pronunciation gets neglected. Words that look familiar are the ones you are most likely to say with Hindi vowels and Hindi stress.

The fix is unglamorous: read the pronunciation column even on the words you think you already know, and read the letter tables once properly, out loud. Ten minutes of honesty at the start saves a year of corrections later — and people will understand you far more easily once the sounds are right.

The short version

• Punjabi is indo-aryan — a cousin of Hindi.
• Same word order, different script
• A comparable verb-last sentence shape, with different verb machinery
• Shared vocabulary where history put it; native vocabulary where it matters most — everyday life

Now put it to work: the 100 most common words page is laid out so you can compare the two columns line by line, and the mistakes guide covers the traps that catch bilingual speakers in particular.

The comparison is also a useful test of your own intuition. Read a handful of words you think you already know, cover the English column, and see whether the Hindi meaning is genuinely the same. Where it is not, you have found the exact place to spend your next study session.

More guides in this course

• Beginner's guide — PunjabiHow to learn from scratch, and the honest first 30 days.
• Alphabet, letter by letter — PunjabiEvery letter with the sound it makes.
• Grammar basics — PunjabiWord order, verbs and the sentence ladder.
• Phrases for travel — PunjabiStations, hotels, fares and the phrases you will use.
• Numbers 1 to 100 — PunjabiCounting, prices and time — with the counting pattern.
• Most common words — PunjabiThe highest-frequency words, in eight groups, with pronunciation for each.
• Common mistakes — PunjabiThe traps learners fall into in this language, and the fix for each one.
• How to read the script — PunjabiA step-by-step path from letters to reading real sentences.
• Practise speaking alone — PunjabiShadowing, self-talk and a routine you can keep without a tutor.