Hindi conditionals commonly use अगर “if” to introduce a condition and optional तो “then” to introduce its consequence. यदि has the same central conditional function but is strongly associated with formal, official, academic, and carefully written Hindi. The pair is related to Hindi’s broader correlative style: one word opens a dependent frame, and another can mark the point where the main assertion begins.
The basic अगर…तो frame
The most learner-friendly order is अगर + condition, तो + consequence. The condition does not assert that something is true; it establishes a possible situation within which the main clause applies.
अगर आज समय मिला, तो मैं तुम्हें फ़ोन करूँगा।
agar āj samay milā, to maĩ tumheṃ fon karū̃gā.
If I have time today, I’ll call you. (male speaker)
अगर दुकान खुली है, तो दूध भी ले आना।
agar dukān khulī hai, to dūdh bhī le ānā.
If the shop is open, bring some milk too.
The two clauses retain their own grammar. दुकान खुली है has feminine agreement with दुकान; ले आना is an imperative addressed to the hearer. A conditional can therefore link a statement to a future, command, question, permission, or recommendation—not only two declarative clauses.
अगर वह अभी घर पर है, तो क्या हम उससे मिलने जा सकते हैं?
agar vah abhī ghar par hai, to kyā ham usse milne jā sakte haiṃ?
If he is at home now, can we go and meet him?
For a fuller account of tense and hypotheticality, see अगर–तो conditional clauses.
तो is often optional
With a short, transparent condition, Hindi frequently omits तो. The intonation or comma still separates the conditional clause from the result.
अगर बारिश हुई, हम घर पर ही रहेंगे।
agar bāriś huī, ham ghar par hī raheṅge.
If it rains, we’ll stay home.
अगर तुम थक गए हो, थोड़ा आराम कर लो।
agar tum thak gae ho, thoṛā ārām kar lo.
If you’re tired, get some rest.
Including तो is especially useful when the condition is long, when the speaker wants a crisp logical contrast, or when material intervenes before the main clause:
अगर अगले दो दिनों में भुगतान की पुष्टि नहीं होती है, तो आपका आरक्षण अपने आप रद्द हो जाएगा।
agar agle do dinoṃ meṃ bhugtān kī puṣṭi nahīṃ hotī hai, to āpkā ārakṣaṇ apne āp radd ho jāegā.
If payment is not confirmed within the next two days, your reservation will be cancelled automatically.
Do not conclude that तो is a decorative word to be doubled. One result marker is enough: अगर…, तो…, not अगर…, तब तो फिर… unless तब, तो, and फिर each have a real discourse purpose.
अगर: neutral and conversational
अगर is the normal conditional conjunction in modern spoken Hindi and is also acceptable in most general writing. It is historically Persian-derived, but in present-day Hindi it is not marked as foreign or unusually Urdu-like.
अगर तुम चाहो, तो हम कल भी मिल सकते हैं।
agar tum cāho, to ham kal bhī mil sakte haiṃ.
If you want, we can meet tomorrow too.
अगर आपको रास्ता न मिले, मुझे संदेश भेज दीजिएगा।
agar āpko rāstā na mile, mujhe sandeś bhej dījiegā.
If you cannot find the way, please send me a message. (polite)
The second example uses subordinate न rather than ordinary नहीं. This compact negative is common in conditional and other dependent clauses. नहीं मिले is also possible, particularly in speech; the choice does not change अगर itself.
यदि: formal and institutional
यदि is Sanskrit-derived and characteristic of rules, instructions, forms, academic argument, and formal announcements. It can sound stiff in a casual invitation, although speakers may use it jokingly or for deliberate formality.
यदि आपके पते में कोई परिवर्तन हुआ है, तो कृपया कार्यालय को सूचित करें।
yadi āpke pate meṃ koī parivartan huā hai, to kripyā kāryālay ko sūcit kareṃ.
If your address has changed, please notify the office. (formal)
यदि तापमान शून्य से नीचे गिरता है, तो पानी जमने लगता है।
yadi tāpmān śūnya se nīce girtā hai, to pānī jamne lagtā hai.
If the temperature falls below zero, water begins to freeze. (academic/general condition)
The highly Sanskritized pair यदि…तर्हि occurs in classical, religious, or deliberately learned language (literary/archaic), not normal modern conversation. Modern formal Hindi uses यदि…तो without difficulty.
Real, general, and hypothetical conditions
Hindi does not have one special “conditional tense.” Speakers combine the conditional frame with aspect, mood, and context.
For a likely future condition, a perfective or subjunctive-looking form often appears in the if-clause, while the result carries future reference:
अगर ट्रेन समय पर आई, तो हम नौ बजे तक पहुँच जाएँगे।
agar ṭren samay par āī, to ham nau baje tak pahũc jāẽge.
If the train arrives on time, we’ll get there by nine.
For a recurring relation, habitual forms can appear in both clauses:
अगर मैं देर से सोता हूँ, तो सुबह सिर भारी रहता है।
agar maĩ der se sotā hū̃, to subah sir bhārī rahtā hai.
If I go to bed late, my head feels heavy in the morning. (male speaker)
For a present unreal or advisory comparison, Hindi commonly uses past-habitual होता in both halves:
अगर मैं तुम्हारी जगह होता, तो यह प्रस्ताव स्वीकार नहीं करता।
agar maĩ tumhārī jagah hotā, to yah prastāv svīkār nahīṃ kartā.
If I were in your place, I would not accept this proposal. (male speaker)
Past counterfactuals require further aspectual choices—often अगर…होता, तो… or a perfective plus होता—and have their own dedicated page. The important insight here is that English if + past does not map mechanically onto one Hindi tense.
Result-first order and omitted अगर
The consequence can precede the condition, especially when it is the main point:
मैं साथ चलूँगा, अगर तुम थोड़ा इंतज़ार कर सको।
maĩ sāth calū̃gā, agar tum thoṛā intazār kar sako.
I’ll come along if you can wait a little. (male speaker)
In this order, तो normally does not introduce the first clause, because the hearer has not yet encountered the conditional frame. Hindi also permits a condition without अगर when morphology and context make the relation clear:
मौका मिले तो पुराना किला ज़रूर देखना।
maukā mile to purānā kilā zarūr dekhnā.
If you get the chance, be sure to see the old fort.
This X तो Y pattern is extremely natural. Here तो has a genuine correlative function: it identifies the preceding subjunctive-like clause as the condition. It is not an English-style free-standing “then.”
Punctuation
When the conditional comes first, place a comma after the full condition if the sentence is long or formal. Do not put a comma immediately after अगर or यदि. Short messages often omit the comma, but the syntax remains the same. A full stop should not split a dependent अगर clause from the consequence unless the writing deliberately uses a fragment for effect.
Common Mistakes
❌ अगर, तुम तैयार हो तो चलें।
Incorrect punctuation — the comma cannot separate अगर from its conditional clause.
✅ अगर तुम तैयार हो, तो चलें।
agar tum taiyār ho, to caleṃ.
If you’re ready, shall we go?
❌ अगर आप कल आएगा, तो मुझे पहले बता दीजिएगा।
Incorrect — honorific आप cannot take singular आएगा.
✅ अगर आप कल आएँ, तो मुझे पहले बता दीजिएगा।
agar āp kal āẽ, to mujhe pahle batā dījiegā.
If you come tomorrow, please let me know beforehand. (polite)
❌ अगर तुम आओगे, इसलिए हम खाना बनाएँगे।
Incorrect pairing — इसलिए asserts a result from an established cause; तो marks the consequence of a condition.
✅ अगर तुम आओगे, तो हम खाना बनाएँगे।
agar tum āoge, to ham khānā banāẽge.
If you are coming, we’ll make food.
❌ अगर यदि तुम फ़िल्म देखना चाहते हो, तो जल्दी आ जाना।
Incorrect — अगर and यदि compete for the same conditional slot; choose one.
✅ अगर तुम फ़िल्म देखना चाहते हो, तो जल्दी आ जाना।
agar tum film dekhnā cāhte ho, to jaldī ā jānā.
If you want to watch the film, come early.
Key Takeaways
Use अगर for neutral modern conditions and यदि for formal or institutional ones. Put the condition first and optionally use तो to announce the consequence; retain तो when clauses are long or the boundary needs emphasis. Hindi expresses likelihood and hypotheticality through verb forms and context, not through a single conditional tense. Preserve ordinary agreement inside both clauses, and avoid doubled conjunctions or unnecessary piles of result words.
Related Topics
- Conditional अगर तो clausesB1 — Build open, predictive, and general conditions with अगर … तो, and choose between finite clauses and compact -ने पर phrases.
- Counterfactual conditional clausesB2 — Express unreal present situations and unrealized past alternatives with अगर … होता/करता and corresponding hypothetical result forms.
- वरना and नहीं तो otherwiseB2 — Express warnings, alternatives, and contrary-to-fact consequences with वरना and नहीं तो, from everyday speech to formal prose.
- क्योंकि and चूँकि causeA2 — Introduce reasons with neutral क्योंकि or frame an already relevant cause with careful चूँकि, choosing clause order and result marking naturally.
- जब–तब timeB2 — Connect a temporal frame to its corresponding time with जब–तब, including whenever, until, and since constructions.