Hindi can turn a statement into a yes–no question by putting क्या at the beginning of the clause. आप दिल्ली में रहते हैं means “You live in Delhi”; क्या आप दिल्ली में रहते हैं? asks “Do you live in Delhi?” Initial क्या is an invariable question marker: it does not agree with a noun and does not mean “what” in this position.
The most important difference from English is word order. English moves do, is, or another auxiliary before the subject. Hindi normally keeps the statement order after क्या. The speaker’s voice usually rises or stays open toward the end, signaling that an answer is requested.
The basic pattern
Use this frame:
क्या + subject + other information + predicate?
रीना घर पर है।
rīnā ghar par hai.
Reena is at home.
क्या रीना घर पर है?
kyā rīnā ghar par hai?
Is Reena at home?
क्या आप हिंदी समझते हैं?
kyā āp hindī samajhte haiṃ?
Do you understand Hindi? (honorific; male or mixed addressee)
क्या तुम आज मेरे साथ बाज़ार चलोगी?
kyā tum āj mere sāth bāzār calogī?
Will you go to the market with me today? (familiar female addressee)
The predicate keeps its normal tense, aspect, gender, number, and respect agreement. समझते हैं agrees honorifically with आप; चलोगी is familiar feminine future. क्या changes neither form.
In a present copular question, keep है/हैं at the end of the predicate. Do not move it before the subject:
क्या यह सीट खाली है?
kyā yah sīṭ xālī hai?
Is this seat free?
Answers and polarity
A positive answer commonly begins with हाँ or polite जी हाँ. A negative answer begins with नहीं, but a full predicate is clearer when the situation matters.
— क्या यह ट्रेन भोपाल जाती है? — हाँ, जाती है।
— kyā yah ṭren bhopāl jātī hai? — hā̃, jātī hai.
— Does this train go to Bhopal? — Yes, it does.
— क्या यहाँ कार्ड चलेगा? — नहीं, केवल नक़द चलेगा।
— kyā yahā̃ kārḍ calegā? — nahīṃ, keval naqad calegā.
— Will a card work here? — No, only cash will work.
Hindi does not need an equivalent of English short-answer do/does detached from the lexical verb. It can repeat the predicate जाती है, or simply answer हाँ when context is unambiguous.
Initial क्या asks about the truth of the entire proposition. It does not replace any missing person, place, or thing. This is why the expected answer is affirmation or rejection, not a noun phrase.
Yes–no क्या versus “what” क्या
The same written word क्या can be the polar question marker or the interrogative pronoun “what.” Position and grammatical role distinguish them.
क्या तुमने खाना बनाया?
kyā tumne khānā banāyā?
Did you cook the food? (yes–no question)
तुमने क्या बनाया?
tumne kyā banāyā?
What did you make? (information question)
In the first, क्या stands before a complete clause तुमने खाना बनाया and asks whether it is true. In the second, क्या fills the object position: the thing made is unknown. Neutral Hindi normally leaves a wh-expression near its ordinary focused position rather than moving it obligatorily to the front as English does.
Do not place polar क्या before a clause that already asks for ordinary information unless the context genuinely contains two question layers. क्या तुमने क्या बनाया? is not a neutral way to ask “What did you make?” It can occur only as a marked echo such as “You made what?” or in a context where both whether and what are separately at issue.
The distinction is explored further on क्या as “what” versus question marker.
Information questions keep the wh-word in place
Compare a yes–no question with a person question:
क्या आपने सीमा से बात की?
kyā āpne sīmā se bāt kī?
Did you speak with Seema? (honorific)
आपने किससे बात की?
āpne kisse bāt kī?
Whom did you speak with? (honorific)
The interrogative कौन changes to oblique किस before a postposition: किससे, किसको, किसके साथ. Initial क्या is not added to this neutral information question. Other wh-words behave similarly:
तुम शाम को कहाँ जा रहे हो?
tum śām ko kahā̃ jā rahe ho?
Where are you going this evening? (familiar male addressee)
बैठक कब शुरू होगी?
baiṭhak kab śurū hogī?
When will the meeting start?
Hindi can front a wh-phrase for contrast or discourse organization, especially in careful speech, but that is not an obligatory English-style movement rule. The neutral learner pattern is to keep it before the predicate or where its case relation naturally places it.
Intonation and optionality
In everyday informal conversation, a rising contour alone can mark a yes–no question. Initial क्या makes the interrogative force explicit:
तुम अभी व्यस्त हो?
tum abhī vyast ho?
Are you busy right now? (informal, intonation question)
क्या तुम अभी व्यस्त हो?
kyā tum abhī vyast ho?
Are you busy right now? (explicit yes–no question)
Both are natural. Initial क्या is especially useful in writing, over a poor phone connection, or when the clause might otherwise sound like a statement. A neutral polar question generally has rising or nonfinal intonation. A decisive falling contour tends to sound like an assertion, a challenge, or a rhetorical question rather than an open request for information.
There is no need for exaggerated pitch. Natural Hindi intonation varies by region, speaker, and sentence length. The reliable contrast is between an open interrogative contour and the closed finality of an ordinary assertion.
Neutral, surprised, and echo questions
Initial क्या can introduce a neutral request for information:
क्या संग्रहालय सोमवार को खुला रहता है?
kyā saṅgrahālay somvār ko khulā rahtā hai?
Is the museum open on Mondays?
Context can also make the same syntax biased or surprised:
क्या तुम सच में नौकरी छोड़ रहे हो?
kyā tum sac meṃ naukrī choṛ rahe ho?
Are you really leaving your job? (surprised, familiar male addressee)
The words सच में and the speaker’s intonation convey disbelief. Clause-initial क्या itself does not mean “really.” A sharply echoed question may repeat what was just heard:
क्या आपने कहा कि उड़ान रद्द हो गई है?
kyā āpne kahā ki uṛān radd ho gaī hai?
Did you say that the flight has been canceled? (polite clarification)
Negative polar questions add a further expectation: क्या उड़ान रद्द नहीं हुई है? “Hasn’t the flight been canceled?” They are covered on the negative questions and expectation page.
Formal and informal exchanges
Pronouns and verb forms establish register. Initial क्या works in both formal and informal settings.
— क्या आप कल साक्षात्कार के लिए उपलब्ध हैं? — जी हाँ, मैं ग्यारह बजे आ सकता हूँ।
— kyā āp kal sākṣātkār ke lie upalabdh haiṃ? — jī hā̃, maĩ gyārah baje ā saktā hū̃.
— Are you available for an interview tomorrow? — Yes, I can come at eleven. (formal; male respondent)
— क्या तू शाम को मैच देखेगा? — हाँ, तेरे घर आ जाऊँगा।
— kyā tū śām ko maic dekhegā? — hā̃, tere ghar ā jāū̃gā.
— Will you watch the match this evening? — Yes, I’ll come over to your place. (very informal/intimate, male speakers)
तू is very intimate and can sound disrespectful outside a close relationship. Most learners should use तुम for familiar conversation and आप for polite or unfamiliar interaction. This social distinction belongs to the pronoun and agreement system; क्या itself has no formal and informal form.
Common Mistakes
Copying English inversion
❌ क्या हैं आप थके हुए?
Incorrect — do not move हैं before the subject.
✅ क्या आप थके हुए हैं?
kyā āp thake hue haiṃ?
Are you tired? (honorific; male or mixed addressee)
Using two क्या forms in a neutral information question
❌ क्या तुमने क्या खरीदा?
Incorrect as a neutral ‘What did you buy?’ — initial polar क्या is unnecessary.
✅ तुमने बाज़ार से क्या खरीदा?
tumne bāzār se kyā xarīdā?
What did you buy at the market?
Leaving कौन unchanged before a postposition
❌ आपने कौन से बात की?
Incorrect — कौन becomes oblique किस before से.
✅ आपने कल किससे बात की?
āpne kal kisse bāt kī?
Whom did you speak with yesterday? (honorific)
Using statement intonation for a neutral spoken question
❌ क्या तुम तैयार हो।
Incorrect as neutral written punctuation and potentially statement-like with a closed falling contour.
✅ क्या तुम तैयार हो?
kyā tum taiyār ho?
Are you ready? (familiar, with interrogative intonation)
Key Takeaways
Place invariable क्या before a complete clause to ask whether it is true. Keep normal Hindi word order and agreement; never copy English subject–auxiliary inversion. Information-question words such as क्या “what,” किससे “with whom,” कहाँ, and कब normally stay in their ordinary focused positions, while initial क्या marks the whole proposition as a yes–no question. Use open or rising intonation in neutral speech, and choose आप, तुम, or तू according to the relationship.
Related Topics
- Yes-no questions by intonation aloneA1 — Ask neutral, polite, and echo yes-no questions with ordinary Hindi word order and questioning intonation, without an overt question word.
- क्या as what versus question markerA1 — Distinguish argument क्या meaning ‘what’ from clause-initial क्या marking a yes-no question by position, answer type, and grammatical behavior.
- कौन and किस person questionsA2 — Use direct कौन and oblique किस or किन to ask who, whom, whose, with whom, and other case-marked person questions.
- Echo and clarification questionsB2 — Repeat, replace, or quote uncertain material to check surprising information and repair misunderstandings in Hindi conversation.
- Negative questions and expectationB2 — Use negative questions to check expectations, express surprise, or challenge an assumption while keeping scope and answers unambiguous.