How To Learn Hindi

Are you wondering how to learn Hindi?  Before you dive into learning Hindi, it might help you to know a few things about the language in general.  Here is a list of six things to know about Hindi.

1.    Word Order.  In Hindi, there is some freedom in word order.  Word placement can change for reasons of style or emphasis, but not as much as in other languages that are more heavily inflected.  In Hindi, the verb usually comes at the end of the sentence.  In a simple sentence, the word order of a sentence is usually

• subject
• object
• verb.

In more complex sentences, the word order goes as follows

• subject
  
• adverbs
• adjective and noun phrase of any indirect object
• adjective and noun phrase of any direct object
• Negative or interrogative marker, if any
• Verb, with auxiliary verb following the main verb.

Hindi uses postpositions instead of prepositions.  That is the word follows the noun instead of preceding it.  Adjectives precede nouns, as in English and German, but unlike Romance languages like French. 

2.    Case.  Hindi is a weakly inflected language.  That means that the endings of a noun will tell you its role in a sentence.  Hindi has three cases:

• the direct case is used for the subject of a sentence and for other nouns that are not followed by a postposition
• the oblique case is used for nouns that is followed by a preposition 
• some nouns have a separate vocative case, the form of the noun used when the noun is used as a form of address.

Singular and plural nouns are not always distinguishable in all declensions.

3.    Gender.  Hindi nouns recognize two genders, masculine and feminine.  The masculine gender is used for male people and animals and for other objects deemed by usage “masculine.”  Similarly, the feminine gender is used for female people and animals and for other objects deemed by usage “feminine.” 

4.    Pronouns.  In Hindi, nouns do not reflect gender and the third person singular, comparable to the English “he,” “she” or “it,” actually corresponds to the English “this” or “that.”  In addition to the direct and oblique case that Hindi nouns have, pronouns also have

• the accusative case, which is used for direct objects and
• the genitive case, which shows ownership.

There is no vocative case for pronouns.

The second person, corresponding to the English “you,” conveys three levels of honorifics.

• the formal form, which can be either singular or plural and is used in formal settings or when speaking to someone older or otherwise senior to the speaker
• the informal form, which can be either singular or plural and is used in informal settings or when speaking to someone younger or otherwise junior to the speaker
• the extremely informal, which exists only in the singular.  It is used only between very close friends or in sacred poetic language and can be perceived as an insult if used inappropriately. 
  

5.     Verb Forms.  Hindi verbs agree with their subjects in both number and gender.  If the subject of a verb is a pronoun, the verb agrees with the noun that the pronoun represents.  Hindi verbs indicate both tense, that is, whether an action is past, present or future, and aspect, that is, whether an aspect is habitual, progressive or perfective.

6.    Interrogatives.  As in other languages, questions can be formed in Hindi by using who, what, when, where and why.  Additionally, the Hindi word kyaa, when placed at the beginning of a sentence, indicates an interrogative.  Intonation can also indicate when a sentence is a question. 

Do you want to know how to learn Hindi?  It’s simple.  Check out Rocket Hindi.

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Ahmedabad, in northeastern India, is the largest city in the State of Gujarat.  It was founded in 1411 by Sultan Ahmed Shah and named after its founder.  There are many places to visit and things to do in that bustling city.  Here are four of them:

1.    The Calico Museum of Textiles.  The Calico Museum of Textiles was founded in a city in which the Indian textile industry flourished.  It was originally housed in the Calico Mills.  Considered one of the finest textile museums in the world, the Calico Museum of Textiles houses five hundred years of the finest fabrics spun, woven, printed and painted in different parts of India.  The museum displays its textiles organized into religious fabrics and historic fabrics.  Visitors to the museum include members of the general public as well as scholars from India and abroad studying textiles.  Visitors can also view a collection of marble, sandstone and bronze icons and busts.

2.    Kankaria Lake.  Kankaria Lake is a circular man-made lake.  An island in the center of the lake which hosts a garden, called Nagina Wadi, meaning “beautiful garden” in Urdu.   The lake is the site of a number of family-oriented recreational venues, including parks, an aquarium, a boat club, a natural history museum and a zoo.  This makes it one of the richest locales to visit in the area.

3.    The Mosque of Sidi Saiyyed.  The Mosque of Sidi Saiyyed is known throughout the world for its exquisite stone screen windows, or jali.  It was built in 1573 by Sidi Saiyyed, a slave of Sutan Ahmed Shah.  Visitors to Ahmedabad often bring home a miniature of this arc-rich mosque.

4.    The Siddi Bashir Mosque.  The front of the Siddi Bashir Mosque is graced with twin minarets.  And these minarets contain a mystery.  When one minaret is shaken the other one begins to vibrate while the connecting passage between them remains still.  How and why this happens has never been explained.

If you have a chance to get to Ahmedabad, you will enjoy these and many other places.  If you are planning a trip, don’t forget to come prepared by learning Hindi first with Rocket Hindi.

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Thinking about visiting Mumbai?  Here’s yet another reason — the Mumbai laughter clubs.

Mumbai is a busy, busy city.  With a population of about 19 million souls, this tropical metropolitan area on the Arabian Sea is the fourth largest urban area in the world.  Mumbai is the commercial, shipping and financial hub of India, a multicultural, multilingual city that is the home of Bollywood, the thriving Indian film and television industry.  You might forgive residents of Mumbai for being a little stressed out.

But there is a solution for stress.  And Mumbai owes it to Dr. Madan Kataria.  The solution is laughter.

In the mid 1990’s, Dr. Kataria was researching the scientific literature that demonstrates that laughter aids in healing both mind and body.  It occurred to the good doctor to start a laughter club.  He sought participants by visiting a Mumbai park.  Rather than engaging professional comedians, the few participants in the laughter clubs stood in a circle and told each other jokes.  But then they ran out of jokes, so Dr. Kataria used his creativity to devise new ways of encouraging laughter.  In doing so, he developed laughter yoga, a process that incorporates traditional yoga poses, yoga breathing and group laughter exercises that don’t depend on jokes or comedy routines.  Dr. Kataria has continued to encourage laughter as a positive influence on physical, mental and spiritual well-being.  And Mumbai is known as the birthplace of laughter yoga.

In a large and diverse city, the creation of laughter yoga is a charming slice of life. 

Mumbai is a multilingual city in a multilingual country.  The three most common languages spoken in Mumbai are Hindi, Marathi and English.  Hindi is the official language of India and almost everyone in India can speak it, at least a little.  So if you are visiting Mumbai or anywhere else in India, and you want to speak directly to the residents there, Hindi is the best language to learn. 

Do you want to know how to learn Hindi?  You can learn Hindi like a rocket with Rocket Hindi. 

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Rocket Hindi – The Ultimate Guide To Learning Hindi

Are you wondering how to learn Hindi?  Well you should be, if you are interested in Indian culture or travel to India.  India is a large, teeming, diverse country and provides fascinating things to study. 

For one thing, India is a nation of artisans and craftsmen.  It  can be daunting for visitors to India to choose just a few things to bring home, because the choice is so great and the size of most travelers’ suitcase is just too small!  From textiles to metal crafts, from inexpensive to quite dear, India is rich gorgeous collectibles. 

All of India’s largest cities have bazaars, and that can be the best place to look for variety and quality.  You’ll be glad you know how to learn Hindi when you are wandering around the bazaars looking for just the right keepsake. 

Some of the finest textiles can be found in both Rajasthan and Kashmir.  Artisans craft carpets in both regions.  Kashmir is famous for embroidery.  In addition to fabrics, Rajasthan also produces jewelry, glass and products made from camel hide.

Jewelry is also a favorite souvenir from places all over India.  In the Himalayas, jewelers craft unique items out of silver, turquoise and coral.  Silver and gold items abound all over India.  Many visitors to India come away with a special fondness for 22-carat gold items, which tend to be bold and bright in design.  Silver jewelry can be so commonplace that jewelers have bags of it available for purchase by the kilo. 

But jewelry is not the only kind of metal work popular with collectors.  Artisans use brass and copper for decorative and practical use, such as trays, plates and cups.   And a particular specialty of Aurangabad and Hyderbad is a type of metal work called bidriwork.  Bidriwork is gunmetal alloy that is inlaid with silver and gold.  It can be used for various decorative yet functional items, such as boxes and vases. 

Of course you will learn all this for yourself if you are lucky enough to visit India.  And if you do get to India, you will be happy that you looked into how to learn Hindi.

Are you wondering how to learn Hindi?  You can learn Hindi like a rocket with Rocket Hindi.  Not sure you want to commit?  Sign up for the free six-lesson trial.

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