वरना and नहीं तो mean “otherwise,” “or else,” or “if not.” They connect a stated course of action or fact to the consequence that follows if it does not hold. This makes them especially common after advice, requests, and commands: do X; वरना / नहीं तो Y will happen. They can also support reasoning about an unstated alternative: X must be true—otherwise Y would not make sense.
अभी टैक्सी बुलाओ, वरना उड़ान छूट जाएगी।
abhī ṭaiksī bulāo, varnā uṛān chūṭ jāegī.
Call a taxi now, otherwise you'll miss the flight.
The logical structure is conditional even though there is no overt अगर: “if you do not call a taxi now, the flight will be missed.” Hindi packages the first option as a directive and the second as the consequence of rejecting it.
The core warning pattern
The most frequent pattern is:
directive or necessary action + वरना / नहीं तो + unwanted consequence
The first clause may be an imperative, a statement with चाहिए, or any proposition presented as the condition for avoiding the result. The second clause has its own normal tense, aspect, and agreement.
दवा समय पर ले लेना, नहीं तो दर्द फिर बढ़ सकता है।
davā samay par le lenā, nahīṃ to dard phir baṛh saktā hai.
Take the medicine on time, or else the pain may get worse again.
आज ही आवेदन भेज दीजिए, वरना समय-सीमा निकल जाएगी।
āj hī āvedan bhej dījie, varnā samay-sīmā nikal jāegī.
Send the application today, otherwise the deadline will pass.
हमें रास्ते में ईंधन भरवा लेना चाहिए, नहीं तो आगे पेट्रोल पंप नहीं मिलेगा।
hameṃ rāste meṃ īndhan bharvā lenā cāhie, nahīṃ to āge peṭrol pamp nahīṃ milegā.
We should get fuel on the way; otherwise, there won't be a petrol station farther on.
वरना and नहीं तो do not make the consequence certain. Modals such as सकता है “may/can” and future forms such as जाएगी can express the speaker's estimate. The connector only states that the second possibility becomes relevant if the first one fails.
वरना versus नहीं तो
The meanings overlap heavily, but their shapes give them slightly different discourse flavors.
नहीं तो is transparently built from नहीं “not” plus conditional/result तो. It is extremely common in (informal) conversation and often sounds immediate: “if not, then...” वरना is a single lexical connector used naturally in speech, journalism, instructions, and narrative. It can sound a little more compact or polished, but it is not inherently formal.
छाता रख लो, नहीं तो भीग जाओगे।
chātā rakh lo, nahīṃ to bhīg jāoge.
Take an umbrella, or you'll get soaked.
सभी आँकड़ों की जाँच कर लें, वरना रिपोर्ट का निष्कर्ष भ्रामक हो सकता है।
sabhī ā̃kṛoṃ kī jā̃c kar leṃ, varnā riporṭ kā niṣkarṣ bhrāmak ho saktā hai.
Check all the figures; otherwise, the report's conclusion may be misleading.
The first sounds like an everyday reminder. The second suits (formal) professional prose, though नहीं तो would still be grammatical there. For official or highly formal writing, अन्यथा “otherwise” is a Sanskritic alternative:
निर्धारित तिथि तक शुल्क जमा करें; अन्यथा आवेदन रद्द माना जाएगा।
nirdhārit tithi tak śulk jamā kareṃ; anyathā āvedan radd mānā jāegā.
Submit the fee by the stipulated date; otherwise, the application will be treated as cancelled.
अन्यथा is (formal/official) and can sound bureaucratic in ordinary conversation. वरना belongs to shared everyday Hindustani; it should not be replaced merely to make a sentence seem “purer.” Conversely, वर्ना is a common misspelling in Devanagari—the standard spelling used here is वरना.
More than threats: practical alternatives
An “otherwise” clause need not threaten the listener. It can neutrally state a fallback, explain why one option is preferable, or contrast the only remaining possibilities.
हम मेट्रो से चलते हैं; वरना ट्रैफ़िक में बहुत देर हो जाएगी।
ham meṭro se calte haiṃ; varnā ṭraifik meṃ bahut der ho jāegī.
Let's take the metro; otherwise, we'll be very late in traffic.
आप चाहें तो अभी भुगतान कर दें, नहीं तो बिल ईमेल से आ जाएगा।
āp cāheṃ to abhī bhugtān kar deṃ, nahīṃ to bil īmel se ā jāegā.
You can pay now if you like; otherwise, the bill will arrive by email.
In the second example, the alternative is not necessarily bad. नहीं तो simply means “if you do not choose that option.” Tone and context determine whether “or else” sounds helpful, urgent, playful, or threatening.
Hindi also uses या “or” when it presents two alternatives without conditional dependence. Compare:
आप चाय या कॉफ़ी ले सकते हैं।
āp cāy yā kofī le sakte haiṃ.
You can have tea or coffee.
अभी चाय ले लीजिए, नहीं तो बाद में सिर्फ़ कॉफ़ी बचेगी।
abhī cāy le lījie, nahīṃ to bād meṃ sirf kofī bacegī.
Have tea now, otherwise only coffee will be left later.
The first offers equal alternatives. The second says that rejecting the first option leads to a new situation. See या and अथवा for simple coordination of alternatives.
Reasoning backward: “otherwise, how...?”
Speakers can use वरना to justify a conclusion. They state what they believe, then ask or assert what would have been expected if it were false. English uses otherwise in the same way.
उसे यह रास्ता अच्छी तरह पता है, वरना वह इतनी जल्दी यहाँ कैसे पहुँचता?
use yah rāstā acchī tarah patā hai, varnā vah itnī jaldī yahā̃ kaise pahũctā?
He knows this route well; otherwise, how would he have reached here so quickly?
किसी ने उसे ख़बर दी होगी, नहीं तो वह अचानक वहाँ क्यों जाता?
kisī ne use xabar dī hogī, nahīṃ to vah acānak vahā̃ kyoṃ jātā?
Someone must have told him the news; otherwise, why would he suddenly go there?
The imperfective forms पहुँचता and जाता receive a conditional or counterfactual interpretation from the context. They do not refer to habitual action here. For a systematic account of such forms, see counterfactual conditional clauses.
Clause order and punctuation
The normal order is the preferred or asserted proposition first and its otherwise-consequence second. Reversing them is possible only with extra framing and usually loses the clean वरना pattern. In writing, place a comma between two short clauses. Use a semicolon when the clauses are long or already contain commas. Do not write वरना as if it were a postposition inside the first clause.
The connector may begin a new sentence when it summarizes a longer preceding instruction, especially in public notices and edited prose. That is a discourse choice, not a different grammatical construction.
कृपया पहले से समय ले लें। वरना आपको काफ़ी देर इंतज़ार करना पड़ सकता है।
kripyā pahle se samay le leṃ. varnā āpko kāfī der intazār karnā paṛ saktā hai.
Please make an appointment in advance. Otherwise, you may have to wait quite a while.
This two-sentence version is clear because वरना points back to the whole preceding recommendation.
Common Mistakes
1. Doubling the same connector
❌ जल्दी करो, वरना नहीं तो दुकान बंद हो जाएगी।
Incorrect — वरना and नहीं तो fill the same slot here.
✅ जल्दी करो, वरना दुकान बंद हो जाएगी।
jaldī karo, varnā dukān band ho jāegī.
Hurry up, otherwise the shop will close.
2. Starting an unfinished या तो...या pair
❌ टिकट संभालकर रखो, या तो जुर्माना देना पड़ेगा।
Incorrect — या तो opens an ‘either...or’ pair here, but no second alternative follows.
✅ टिकट संभालकर रखो, नहीं तो जुर्माना देना पड़ेगा।
ṭikaṭ sambhālkar rakho, nahīṃ to jurmānā denā paṛegā.
Keep your ticket safe, or else you'll have to pay a fine.
3. Misspelling वरना
❌ समय पर आना, वर्ना बैठक शुरू हो जाएगी।
Incorrect standard spelling — write वरना, without inserting र् after व.
✅ समय पर आना, वरना बैठक शुरू हो जाएगी।
samay par ānā, varnā baiṭhak śurū ho jāegī.
Come on time, otherwise the meeting will start without you.
4. Using नहीं तो when there is no recoverable alternative
❌ आज मौसम अच्छा है, नहीं तो हम पार्क गए।
Incorrect — the second clause is a completed event, not what follows if the first proposition fails.
✅ आज मौसम अच्छा था, इसलिए हम पार्क गए।
āj mausam acchā thā, islie ham pārk gae.
The weather was nice today, so we went to the park.
Key Takeaways
- वरना and नहीं तो mean “otherwise / if not” and imply a negative version of the preceding proposition.
- They commonly follow commands and recommendations, but the alternative need not be a threat.
- नहीं तो is especially conversational; वरना spans speech and writing; अन्यथा is formal/official.
- या merely offers alternatives, while वरना / नहीं तो says what follows if the first option is rejected.
- In backward reasoning, these connectors help justify the first proposition through a counterfactual question or consequence.
Related Topics
- अगर यदि and तो conditionsB1 — Build Hindi conditionals with conversational अगर or formal यदि, and use optional तो to mark the consequence clearly.
- 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.
- Negative imperatives with मतB1 — Form direct Hindi prohibitions with मत while preserving the command form appropriate to तू, तुम, or आप.
- या and अथवा alternativesA2 — Present choices with everyday या, paired या तो…या, and formal अथवा while keeping scope and punctuation clear.