Hindi greetings and good wishes are short constructions, but they still contain grammar. नमस्ते is fixed; आप कैसे/कैसी हैं? agrees with the addressee; आपको जन्मदिन की शुभकामनाएँ marks the recipient with को and the occasion with की. Learning only an English gloss such as “hello” or “congratulations” leaves those case and agreement choices unlearned.
This page organizes the most frequent formulas by predicate pattern. For the social distribution of नमस्ते, नमस्कार, प्रणाम, राम-राम, and आदाब, see greetings by relationship and setting.
Fixed greeting + agreeing follow-up
नमस्ते (neutral/respectful) and नमस्कार (formal/public or respectful) do not inflect. The following question does.
नमस्ते, आप कैसे हैं?
namaste, āp kaise haiṃ?
Hello, how are you? (respectful; to a man or mixed group)
नमस्ते, आप कैसी हैं?
namaste, āp kaisī haiṃ?
Hello, how are you? (respectful; to one woman or an all-female group)
The copula remains honorific plural हैं with आप. Predicative कैसे is masculine plural/honorific for a man or mixed group; कैसी is feminine for one woman or an all-female group. Between familiar friends, तुम कैसे हो? / तुम कैसी हो? uses familiar हो. Intimate तू कैसा है? / तू कैसी है? is restricted to relationships that already license तू.
Everyday क्या हाल है? literally asks “What is the condition?” and idiomatically means “How are things?” (informal/neutral spoken). सब ठीक? is an even shorter familiar check-in.
अरे, क्या हाल है? बहुत दिनों बाद मिले!
are, kyā hāl hai? bahut dinoṃ bād mile!
Hey, how are things? We meet after such a long time! (informal)
Do not make हाल agree with the person: it is the masculine singular noun inside the fixed predicate क्या हाल है.
स्वागत: the person welcomed takes का/के/की
The core frame is X का Y में स्वागत है: “X's welcome is in Y.” का/के/की agrees with the head स्वागत, which is masculine singular, so आपका स्वागत है is fixed regardless of the guest's gender.
हमारी कार्यशाला में आपका हार्दिक स्वागत है।
hamārī kāryaśālā meṃ āpkā hārdik svāgat hai.
A warm welcome to our workshop. (formal/respectful)
आज के कार्यक्रम में आप सभी का स्वागत है।
āj ke kāryakram meṃ āp sabhī kā svāgat hai.
Welcome, everyone, to today's program. (formal/public)
स्वागत करना is the active collocation “to welcome”: हम आपका स्वागत करते हैं. The person welcomed normally takes का/के/की with स्वागत—आपका स्वागत, मेहमानों का स्वागत—not को.
Leave-taking as a future meeting
The most useful neutral farewells point toward another encounter: फिर मिलेंगे “we will meet again / see you,” or फिर मिलते हैं “see you” (conversational). The overt plural form includes speaker and addressee pragmatically; it is not respectful agreement with a single hidden subject.
अच्छा, अब चलता हूँ। फिर मिलेंगे।
acchā, ab caltā hū̃. phir mileṅge.
All right, I'll be going now. See you again. (male speaker; informal)
अच्छा, मैं चलती हूँ। कल मिलते हैं।
acchā, maĩ caltī hū̃. kal milte haiṃ.
All right, I'm leaving. See you tomorrow. (female speaker; conversational)
चलता/चलती हूँ literally means “I go/am going,” but as a leave-taking formula it announces departure rather than describing habitual motion. The participle agrees with the speaker. A more neutral polite exit is अब मुझे चलना चाहिए “I should get going.”
अलविदा is understood across Hindi and Urdu. It can sound more final, literary, or marked than everyday फिर मिलेंगे. शुभ रात्रि is a wish when parting late or before sleep, not the ordinary greeting on arriving at a night event.
शुभ रात्रि, अच्छी नींद आए।
śubh rātri, acchī nīnd āe.
Good night; sleep well. (literally, may good sleep come)
Here नींद आना uses नींद as the grammatical subject; the subjunctive आए turns the clause into a wish.
Occasion + की शुभकामनाएँ
The productive frame is recipient को + occasion की + शुभकामनाएँ. शुभकामनाएँ is conventionally plural feminine, and की agrees with it.
आपको जन्मदिन की बहुत-बहुत शुभकामनाएँ!
āpko janmadin kī bahut-bahut śubhkāmnaẽ!
Many happy birthday wishes to you!
आप दोनों को शादी की सालगिरह की शुभकामनाएँ।
āp donoṃ ko śādī kī sālgirah kī śubhkāmnaẽ.
Happy wedding anniversary to both of you.
The first की in शादी की सालगिरह links the anniversary to the wedding; the second links the occasion phrase to शुभकामनाएँ. के लिए शुभकामनाएँ is also productive for an upcoming undertaking: परीक्षा के लिए शुभकामनाएँ “best wishes for the exam.”
Achievement + पर/के लिए बधाई
बधाई is the fixed noun “congratulations.” The recipient takes को; the achievement can take पर, की, or के लिए, depending on how it is packaged.
आपको नई नौकरी की बधाई!
āpko naī naukrī kī badhāī!
Congratulations on your new job!
पूरी टीम को शानदार जीत पर बधाई।
pūrī ṭīm ko śāndār jīt par badhāī.
Congratulations to the whole team on a splendid victory.
पर बधाई foregrounds the occasion or achievement. की बधाई forms a tighter noun phrase. Both are common; literal English congratulate you for should not force an unnecessary के लिए where the established phrase uses पर or की.
Wishes built with the subjunctive
Hindi can turn a full predicate into a wish with the third-person subjunctive हो/रहे/मिले/आए.
आपका सफ़र शुभ हो।
āpkā safar śubh ho.
Have a good journey. (literally, may your journey be auspicious)
उम्मीद है, आपका दिन अच्छा रहे।
ummīd hai, āpkā din acchā rahe.
I hope you have a good day.
जल्दी ठीक हो जाओ; अपना ख़याल रखना।
jaldī ṭhīk ho jāo; apnā xayāl rakhnā.
Get well soon; take care of yourself. (familiar)
The last example uses familiar imperatives. Respectful/formal शीघ्र स्वस्थ हों is appropriate in a card or formal message; in ordinary speech, जल्दी ठीक हो जाइए is warmer and less Sanskritized.
A short dialogue
रिया: नमस्ते, कैसी हैं आप? — सीमा: बिल्कुल ठीक। और तुम? — रिया: मैं भी ठीक हूँ। अच्छा, अब चलती हूँ। फिर मिलेंगे।
riyā: namaste, kaisī haiṃ āp? — sīmā: bilkul ṭhīk. aur tum? — riyā: maĩ bhī ṭhīk hū̃. acchā, ab caltī hū̃. phir mileṅge.
Riya: Hello, how are you? — Seema: Absolutely fine. And you? — Riya: I'm fine too. All right, I must go. See you again. (female speakers; mixed respectful and familiar relationship)
Riya's आप marks respect toward Seema; Seema's तुम can reflect age or an established asymmetrical relationship. The farewell remains warm and neutral.
Common Mistakes
❌ आपको जन्मदिन के शुभकामनाएँ।
Incorrect agreement: plural feminine शुभकामनाएँ requires की.
✅ आपको जन्मदिन की शुभकामनाएँ।
āpko janmadin kī śubhkāmnaẽ.
Happy birthday to you.
❌ आप कैसी है?
Incorrect respectful agreement: आप takes हैं.
✅ आप कैसी हैं?
āp kaisī haiṃ?
How are you? (respectful, to one woman)
❌ मेहमानों का स्वागत करते हुए: शुभ रात्रि!
Miscalibrated on arrival: शुभ रात्रि normally closes a late-night interaction.
✅ पार्टी में पहुँचकर: नमस्ते!
pārṭī meṃ pahũckar: namaste!
On arriving at the party: Hello!
❌ मैं जाता हूँ—अच्छा अलविदा हमेशा के लिए।
Overdramatic for an ordinary short departure: the final-sounding phrase conflicts with the situation.
✅ अच्छा, अब चलता हूँ। कल मिलते हैं।
acchā, ab caltā hū̃. kal milte haiṃ.
All right, I'm off. See you tomorrow. (male speaker)
Key Takeaways
- Fixed greetings do not inflect, but their follow-up predicates and pronouns do.
- Learn आपका स्वागत है, X को Y की शुभकामनाएँ, and X को Y पर बधाई as case frames.
- फिर मिलेंगे/मिलते हैं is the safest everyday farewell; अलविदा can sound more final or marked.
- Full subjunctive predicates such as सफ़र शुभ हो express wishes that English often packages as noun phrases.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- Greetings by time relationship and settingA2 — Choose Hindi greetings by relationship, community, and occasion rather than translating English time-of-day formulas mechanically.
- Introductions and respectful addressA2 — Introduce yourself and address others with Hindi forms that fit the relationship, role, and level of respect.
- Choosing तू तुम or आपA1 — Choose among intimate तू, familiar तुम, and respectful or plural आप while matching agreement, postpositional forms, and relationship-sensitive social meaning.
- Making requests across honorific levelsB1 — Match Hindi requests to intimate, familiar, and respectful relationships by coordinating address level, verb form, indirectness, particles, and tone.
- Imperative overview by honorific levelB1 — Choose Hindi command forms for intimate तू, familiar तुम, and respectful or plural आप while keeping polarity and predicate layers aligned.