English please covers several jobs: it can mark a routine courtesy, soften a favor, reinforce an instruction, or plead for cooperation. Hindi normally distributes those jobs among the formal courtesy marker कृपया, the conversational minimizer ज़रा, the appeal particle तो, respectful verb forms, and intonation. None of the three words on this page is a universal translation of please.
The most natural choice depends on where the request occurs, who is speaking to whom, and how burdensome the action is. For the matching command forms, see requests across honorific levels.
कृपया: explicit and institutionally courteous
कृपया explicitly frames an instruction or request as courteous. It is especially common in notices, announcements, official correspondence, customer service, and careful speech (formal).
कृपया दरवाज़ा बंद रखें।
kripyā darvāzā band rakheṃ.
Please keep the door closed. (formal notice)
कृपया अपना नाम और फ़ोन नंबर लिख दीजिए।
kripyā apnā nām aur fon nambar likh dījie.
Please write down your name and phone number. (respectful service encounter)
असुविधा के लिए खेद है; कृपया कुछ देर प्रतीक्षा करें।
asuvidhā ke lie khed hai; kripyā kuch der pratīkṣā kareṃ.
We regret the inconvenience; please wait for a while. (formal announcement)
The notice-like form करें/रखें is a polite jussive, common in public instructions. Face-to-face लिख दीजिए is a respectful imperative. Both work with कृपया because the verb independently carries an appropriate respectful or impersonal frame.
In relaxed conversation, कृपया is possible but often more deliberate than English please. Between close friends it may be mock-formal, pointed, or playfully theatrical.
कृपया महाराज, अब अपना फ़ोन भी रख दीजिए।
kripyā mahārāj, ab apnā fon bhī rakh dījie.
If Your Highness would please put the phone away now. (informal, playfully sarcastic)
The honorific wording does not make the utterance sincerely deferential; the friendship and exaggerated delivery create irony. Register labels describe conventional use, not an automatic meaning detached from context.
ज़रा: make the requested step feel small
ज़रा literally evokes a small amount or short moment. Before a directive, it presents the requested action as limited and manageable. This makes it the ordinary conversational choice for many small requests.
ज़रा खिड़की खोल दीजिए।
zarā khiṛkī khol dījie.
Please open the window for a moment. (respectful, conversational)
ज़रा देखना, मेरी चाबी मेज़ पर है क्या?
zarā dekhnā, merī cābī mez par hai kyā?
Could you check whether my key is on the table? (familiar)
एक मिनट ज़रा मेरी बात सुनो।
ek minaṭ zarā merī bāt suno.
Listen to me for a minute, please. (familiar)
ज़रा does not literally shrink every action. In ज़रा यह रिपोर्ट देखिए, reading may take time; the speaker packages it as a bounded favor. This can be tactful, but it can also understate a large imposition. Asking someone to redo a whole project with ज़रा does not magically make the burden small.
Tone matters sharply. Calm ज़रा सुनिए invites attention; stressed ज़रा सुनिए! can mean “Now listen here!” The proposition is unchanged, but the contour can turn a minimizer into a preface to confrontation.
तो after a directive: “do it and see / at least do it”
Postposed तो can urge the addressee to take the requested step before resisting, doubting, or drawing a conclusion. It often corresponds to “just,” “at least,” or an insistent English please, but it is not a general courtesy marker.
पहले मेरी बात सुनो तो।
pahle merī bāt suno to.
At least hear me out first. (familiar, appealing or insistent)
यह चाय चखिए तो; इलायची की ख़ुशबू बहुत अच्छी है।
yah cāy cakhie to; ilāycī kī xuśbū bahut acchī hai.
Do taste this tea; the cardamom aroma is lovely. (respectful, encouraging)
एक बार पूरा प्रस्ताव पढ़ तो लो।
ek bār pūrā prastāv paṛh to lo.
At least read the whole proposal once. (familiar, mildly insistent)
In the first and third examples, तो implies that the listener has not yet taken the fair preliminary step. That implication can sound persuasive in a disagreement and pushy in a neutral service request. In the tea example, warm intonation turns it into encouragement.
Do not confuse this discourse particle with conditional तो “then”: अगर समय हो, तो आइए means “If you have time, then come.” In आइए तो, the particle follows the directive and solicits compliance.
ज़रा ... तो: an invitation to attend or verify
The combination ज़रा + directive + तो often asks someone to look, listen, remember, or try before responding.
ज़रा बाहर देखिए तो, बारिश रुक गई क्या?
zarā bāhar dekhie to, bāriś ruk gaī kyā?
Could you look outside and see whether the rain has stopped? (respectful, conversational)
ज़रा सोचो तो, बिना तैयारी के हम कैसे जाएँगे?
zarā soco to, binā taiyārī ke ham kaise jāẽge?
Just think: how will we go without preparing? (familiar, urging reflection)
The first asks for a small check. The second is rhetorical and more insistent: the speaker believes reflection supports their position. English learners who treat every soft-looking particle as extra politeness miss this argumentative use.
Full exchanges: choose a coherent register
At a clinic reception desk, explicit courtesy is natural:
रिसेप्शनिस्ट: कृपया यह फ़ॉर्म भर दीजिए। मरीज़: जी, इसे यहीं जमा करना है? रिसेप्शनिस्ट: जी हाँ, भरने के बाद मुझे दे दीजिए।
risepśanisṭ: kripyā yah form bhar dījie. marīz: jī, ise yahīṃ jamā karnā hai? risepśanisṭ: jī hā̃, bharne ke bād mujhe de dījie.
Receptionist: Please fill in this form. Patient: Certainly; should I submit it here? Receptionist: Yes, please give it to me after filling it in. (respectful service exchange)
Between housemates, the same level of formality would be conspicuous:
अनु: ज़रा दूध फ़्रिज में रख देना। कबीर: हाँ, अभी रख देता हूँ।
anu: zarā dūdh frij meṃ rakh denā. kabīr: hā̃, abhī rakh detā hū̃.
Anu: Put the milk in the fridge, please. Kabir: Sure, I'll do it now. (familiar household exchange)
The household request combines ज़रा, infinitive-shaped रख देना, and shared context. It is not an incomplete version of the receptionist's request; it is calibrated to a different relationship.
Repairing stiffness and pressure
A learner asks a close friend for a pen:
❌ कृपया मुझे अपनी लेखनी प्रदान कीजिए।
Socially miscalibrated — implausibly ceremonial for this familiar, tiny request.
✅ ज़रा अपना पेन देना।
zarā apnā pen denā.
Pass me your pen for a moment, please. (familiar)
Conversely, a sharp familiar command to an unfamiliar employee needs more than a token courtesy word:
❌ कृपया यह फ़ाइल अभी भेजो।
Miscalibrated in a respectful workplace exchange — कृपया conflicts with familiar भेजो.
✅ अगर हो सके, तो कृपया यह फ़ाइल आज भेज दीजिए।
agar ho sake, to kripyā yah fāil āj bhej dījie.
If possible, please send this file today. (respectful/formal)
Here तो belongs to the conditional frame अगर...तो, not to an insistent postposed appeal. The respectful command and feasibility clause do most of the social work.
Common Mistakes
Translating every English “please” as कृपया
❌ माँ, कृपया मुझे पानी प्रदान कीजिए।
Overformal for an ordinary family request; the lexical choice also sounds bureaucratic.
✅ माँ, ज़रा पानी देना।
mā̃, zarā pānī denā.
Mum, pass me some water, please. (familiar family speech)
Treating ज़रा as a repair for wrong honorific agreement
❌ आप ज़रा इधर आओ।
Incorrect in careful respectful Hindi — ज़रा does not change familiar आओ into an आप form.
✅ आप ज़रा इधर आइए।
āp zarā idhar āie.
Please come over here for a moment. (respectful)
Assuming तो is always a softener
❌ दस्तख़त करो तो।
Miscalibrated when addressing an unfamiliar official — familiar करो plus urging तो can sound challenging.
✅ क्या आप यहाँ दस्तख़त कर देंगे?
kyā āp yahā̃ dastaxat kar deṅge?
Would you sign here? (respectful, addressing a man or mixed group)
Stacking markers without matching the verb
❌ आप कृपया ज़रा बैठो ना।
Incorrect in the intended respectful register — several particles do not repair बैठो after आप.
✅ आप ज़रा बैठिए ना।
āp zarā baiṭhie nā.
Please do sit for a while. (respectful, warm and coaxing)
Key Takeaways
- कृपया is explicit and often formal or institutional; in intimate talk it can sound marked or playful.
- ज़रा conversationally presents an action as small or bounded, but sharp intonation can make it impatient.
- Postposed तो urges someone to try, attend, or comply; it can encourage or press rather than merely soften.
- Particles work with honorific agreement, sentence shape, burden, and tone. More particles do not automatically mean more politeness.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- Making requests across honorific levelsB1 — Match Hindi requests to intimate, familiar, and respectful relationships by coordinating address level, verb form, indirectness, particles, and tone.
- Soft commands with nā and particlesB1 — Use infinitive-shaped reminders, postposed ना, ज़रा, तो, and related particles to adjust the warmth and force of Hindi commands.
- आप imperative -iyeB1 — Form respectful singular and plural Hindi commands in -इए while handling vowel stems, polite requests, negation, and compound predicates.
- तो as a discourse and focus particleB1 — Use तो after a topic or focused constituent to signal contrast, insistence, concession, consequence, or a conversational transition.
- Intonation in statements and yes-no questionsB2 — Distinguish Hindi statements from polar questions through boundary pitch, clause-initial क्या, and unchanged Hindi word order.