Are you dating a fluent Hindi speaker? Do you want to express the way you feel about this person in his or her native tongue? In Hindi, there are several ways to say "I love you" — on top of this, the words that men and women use to say this phrase are slightly different.[1] Luckily, whether you're a man or a woman, the phrases themselves aren't terribly difficult. With a little practice, you'll be wooing your Indian sweetheart in no time.
EditSteps
EditSaying "I Love You" as a Male
- Say "Main tumse pyar kartha hoon." Though there are several ways to say "I love you" in Hindi, this phrase is one simplest and easiest to learn. As noted above, in Hindi, men and women say "I love you" slightly differently. As a general rule, most masculine verbs in Hindi end with "a", while most feminine verbs end with "ee". Thus, if you're a male, you'll use the masculine verb "kartha", rather than the feminine verb "karthee" in the phrase above.
- Note that this phrase works not just when speaking romantically to a female, but also when expressing your love to a male, like, for instance, a brother, son, friend, etc.
- Practice your pronunciation. If, as a native English speaker, you try to pronounce the phrase above as written, your significant other will probably understand what you're trying to say, but you'll almost certainly mess up some small part of the pronunciation. For the best result, try to pronounce the phrase with proper Hindi pronunciation using the steps below:[2]
- Pronounce "main" as "may." In Hindi, when the "N" sound comes at the end of a word, it's usually nasal.[3] This means that it's pronounced very lightly — almost imperceptibly — with the nose, so "main" becomes almost like "may."
- Pronounce "tumse" as "thumse," with "thum" sounding like "thoom"
- Pronounce "pyar" like it's spelled.
- Pronounce "kartha" with a light "th" sound. The "tha" syllable shouldn't sound quite like the English word "the." It's more of a cross between "the" and "dah".
- Pronounce "hoon" as "hoom/n." The same "silent n" rule applies here as in "main", but the sound is slightly more pronounced and sounds almost like an "M" sound.
- Listen for "Mai bhee aap se pyaar karthee hoon." If you've gotten your point across, you may hear your sweetheart say something like this phrase back to you. Congratulations! This means "I love you too!"
- In terms of pronunciation, the beginning of this phrase sounds almost like the word "maybe." The next part sounds like "op-say." The rest is basically identical to the way that women say "I love you" in Hindi — see below.
EditSaying "I Love You" as a Female
- Say "Main tumse pyar karthee hoon." If you're a woman or girl, the way you say "I love you" is very similar to (but not exactly the same as) the way a boy or man says it. Use the feminine verb "karthee" rather than the masculine one "kartha." Other than this change, the rest of the phrase is the same.
- Practice your pronunciation. Because the masculine and feminine phrases for "I love you" are so similar, you can use the pronunciation guide above to help you for every word except "karthee." Here, you'll want to use the same soft "th" sound as above, but, obviously, you'll follow it with an "ee" sound, rather than an "ah" sound.
- Listen for "Mai bhee aap se pyaar kartha hoon." Again, if you've said the phrase above correctly and your significant other feels the same way about you as you do about him, you'll probably hear something like this back. As in the section above, this phrase mean "I love you too" — it's just using the masculine verb "kartha" rather than "karthee."
EditUsing Related Phrases
- Try using different Hindi words for "love." Like English speakers sometimes use terms like "adoration, "affection," and so on, Hindi has multiple words that mean "love" (or a similar idea). If you'd like, you can change the meaning of your phrase slightly by using different terms for love. Below are just a few Hindi terms you might want to try — substitute these for "pyar" in the phrases above:[4]
- Ishq
- Mohabbat
- Dholna
- Use "aapse" for your elders. Hindi, like many other languages (including Spanish), uses different words for formal and casual situations. The phrase for "I love you" above is to be used for people you're close and familiar with — people like your significant other, siblings, children, and so on. However, for people who are older than you, authority figures, and people you don't know very well, you'll want to use the formal term "aapse" in place of "tumse".[5]
- With this substitution, the formal version of "I love you" becomes "Main aapse pyaar kartha / karthee hoon."
- Add "bahut" to say "I love you very much." If you really want to express your love for someone else, try adding the word "bahut" before "pyar" in the standard "I love you" phrases above. "Bahut" is a Hindi word that means "very much" or "so much."
- "Bahut" isn't pronounced like it's spelled — its pronunciation is closer to "bout" with a very light "H" sound in between the o and u than it is to "ba-hoot".
- Know how to ask someone out. If you've got serious feelings for someone but you're not quite ready to make the jump to a full-blown serious relationship, you'll probably want to spend some time dating this person before you tell them you love them. In this case, knowing how to ask someone out in Hindi can make a great first impression. Try using one of the handy phrases below, substituting masculine "a" verbs if you're a male and feminine "ee" verbs if you're a female:
- "Main aap ko khaane par le jaanaa chaahathaa / chaahathee hoon." (I'd like to take you out for dinner).
- "Kyaa ham ek saaTh ghoomane jaayem?" (Shall we go for a walk together?)
- "Kyaa aap mere saaTh baahar jaayenge?" (Do you want to go out with me?)
- "Main aap ke saaTh aur vakth bithaanaa chaahathaa / chaahathee hoon." (I'd like to spend more time with you.)
- Note that, traditionally, Indian dating/courtship is much more structured and formalized than Western dating and may involve some (or all) interactions (including marriage) being arranged by family members. However, in recent years, young Indians and expats have increasingly begun to adopt Western-style attitudes to dating. To be safe and avoid embarrassment, you may want to try to figure out your potential partner's personal "rules" for dating before you ask him or her out.[6]
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