आप āp is Hindi's respectful “you.” It can address one respected person or more than one person, but it takes grammatically plural agreement in both cases. That agreement is what makes honorificity part of grammar rather than merely a polite social label.
English you hides number and respect. Hindi forces a choice among तू, तुम, and आप, and then carries that choice into the verb, auxiliary, and sometimes predicate.
The core agreement pattern
With आप, use plural हैं, plural finite forms, and honorific/plural participles.
आप कहाँ रहते हैं?
āp kahā̃ rahte haiṃ?
Where do you live? (respectful, addressing a man or a mixed/plural group)
आप कहाँ रहती हैं?
āp kahā̃ rahtī haiṃ?
Where do you live? (respectful, addressing a woman)
क्या आप तैयार हैं?
kyā āp taiyār haiṃ?
Are you ready? (respectful or plural)
The auxiliary is always plural हैं, not singular है. Gender is still visible where the predicate distinguishes it: रहते for a man or masculine/mixed plural group, रहती for one woman, and context-sensitive plural forms for groups.
A compact paradigm
| Function | Form | Example meaning |
|---|---|---|
| direct | आप āp | you |
| ergative | आपने āpne | you did... |
| को form | आपको āpko | to you / you as object |
| से form | आपसे āpse | from/with/than you |
| में form | आपमें āpmeṃ | in you/among you |
| possessive | आपका/आपकी/आपके āpkā/āpkī/āpke | your |
आपने मुझे कल फ़ोन किया था।
āpne mujhe kal fon kiyā thā.
You called me yesterday. (respectful or plural)
मैं आपसे एक सवाल पूछना चाहता हूँ।
maĩ āpse ek savāl pūchnā cāhtā hū̃.
I would like to ask you a question. (male speaker, respectful)
These forms do not add a separate English word; they encode the relationship required by the Hindi postposition.
Formal and familiar minimal pair
The same question changes pronoun and agreement together:
तुम कैसे हो?
tum kaise ho?
How are you? (familiar, to a man or mixed group)
आप कैसे हैं?
āp kaise haiṃ?
How are you? (respectful or plural, to a man or mixed group)
आप is common not only in ceremonies or official settings. It is a safe neutral-respectful choice with adult strangers, customers, teachers, older relatives, and many colleagues. Couples, friends, and relatives may also use it as their normal form. Relationship, region, family culture, and stance all matter; age alone does not determine the choice.
One person or several?
The pronoun and agreement can be identical for a respected individual and a group. Context resolves number.
शर्मा जी, आप कब आए?
śarmā jī, āp kab āe?
Mr. Sharma, when did you arrive? (one respected man)
आप सब कब आए?
āp sab kab āe?
When did all of you arrive?
सब, a name, the visible setting, or later plural reference can disambiguate. Do not switch to singular agreement merely because only one person is present.
Requests and imperatives
Respectful imperatives often end in -इए/-ईजिए, while familiar तुम imperatives commonly end in -ओ.
कृपया यहाँ बैठिए।
kripyā yahā̃ baiṭhie.
Please sit here. (respectful)
यहाँ बैठो।
yahā̃ baiṭho.
Sit here. (familiar)
This is a grammatical minimal pair, not simply the addition of “please.” Broader request etiquette varies by situation and belongs to pragmatics; the agreement and imperative contrast itself is stable.
Reflexive “your own”
When the owner is the subject आप, Hindi normally uses reflexive possessive अपना, agreeing with the possessed noun—not आपका merely because English says your.
कृपया अपना पहचान पत्र साथ लाइए।
kripyā apnā pahcān patr sāth lāie.
Please bring your own identity document. (respectful)
आपका पहचान पत्र can identify “your ID” contrastively, but अपना explicitly links the owner back to the addressee who is bringing it. English yourself as emphasis instead uses खुद/स्वयं: आप खुद देख लीजिए “see for yourself.”
Honorificity beyond second person
The same plural-agreement strategy can respectfully refer to one third person: दादी आ गईं; वे थकी हैं “Grandmother has arrived; she is tired.” This is why ये/वे can refer to one honored person. It does not make यह/वह second-person pronouns: English you remains आप, not यह or वे.
A dialogue: relationship and number
डॉक्टर साहब, क्या आप आज मिलेंगे? — हाँ, आप दोनों चार बजे आइए।
ḍokṭar sāhab, kyā āp āj mileṅge? — hā̃, āp donoṃ cār baje āie.
Doctor, will you be available today? — Yes, both of you come at four. (respectful)
The patient addresses one professional with singular-respectful आप; the doctor replies to two people with genuinely plural आप दोनों. Both take plural grammar.
Common Mistakes
1. Treating respectful आप as grammatically singular
❌ आप तैयार है?
Incorrect: आप takes plural हैं even for one person.
✅ आप तैयार हैं?
āp taiyār haiṃ?
Are you ready? (respectful or plural)
2. Using तू as a default for an unfamiliar adult
❌ तू कहाँ रहता है, सर?
Inappropriate default: तू conflicts with respectful सर unless intimacy or a deliberate stance licenses it.
✅ आप कहाँ रहते हैं, सर?
āp kahā̃ rahte haiṃ, sar?
Where do you live, sir?
3. Using a singular verb after आपने
❌ आपने कहा था कि आप कल आएगा।
Incorrect: embedded आप still requires plural/honorific future agreement.
✅ आपने कहा था कि आप कल आएँगे।
āpne kahā thā ki āp kal āẽge.
You said that you would come tomorrow. (respectful, addressing a man)
4. Translating “your own” with the wrong reflexive
❌ आप आपका नाम लिखिए।
Incorrect in the neutral reflexive reading: use अपना for the subject's own name.
✅ आप अपना नाम लिखिए।
āp apnā nām likhie.
Please write your name. (respectful)
Key Takeaways
- आप addresses one respected person or multiple people and always takes plural agreement.
- Use forms such as आपने, आपको, आपसे, and आपका/आपकी/आपके.
- आप is neutral-respectful across many ordinary relationships, not only highly formal situations.
- Use reflexive अपना for the subject's own possession and खुद/स्वयं for emphatic “self.”
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- 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.
- तुम familiar youA1 — Use familiar तुम for one or more addressees with its characteristic agreement, case forms, commands, and social range.
- Plural agreement with singular आपB2 — Track plural-honorific agreement with one आप across copulas, habituals, progressives, futures, perfectives, predicates, and imperatives.
- तुम्ह and आप oblique formsA2 — Build familiar तुम and respectful आप forms before simple and compound postpositions, distinguishing productive stems from तुम्हें, तुम्हारा, आपको, and आपका.
- Possessive तुम्हारा and आपकाA2 — Use familiar तुम्हारा and respectful आपका with agreement controlled by the possessed noun, not by the owner.
- Reflexive possessive अपनाB1 — Use अपना for possession that returns to a clause's subject while making it agree with the possessed noun.