मुझे डर है।

Literally, it is:

• मुझे = to me
• डर = fear
• है = is

So the literal structure is To me, fear is.

English usually says I am afraid, but Hindi often expresses feelings and states in this to me + noun + is pattern.

Because Hindi does not use the same structure as English here.

In English, you say I am afraid, with I as the subject.

In Hindi, many feelings, sensations, and states are expressed with मुझे/to me instead. This is very common with things like:

• मुझे भूख है = I am hungry
• मुझे प्यास है = I am thirsty
• मुझे डर है = I am afraid

So मैं would not fit naturally in this exact sentence.

Yes. मुझे and मुझको are often interchangeable here.

So both are possible:

• मुझे डर है
• मुझको डर है

But मुझे डर है is more common and more natural in everyday speech.

Here, डर is a noun, meaning fear.

That is why the sentence is built like to me fear is.

There is also a related verb:

• डरना = to be afraid / to fear

So:

• मुझे डर है = I am afraid / I have fear
• मैं डरता हूँ = I am afraid / I get scared

They are related, but the grammar is different.

है is the present-tense form of to be.

It completes the sentence:

• मुझे डर है = I am afraid
• मुझे डर नहीं है = I am not afraid

Without है, the sentence would usually sound incomplete in standard Hindi.

You can also change the tense:

• मुझे डर था = I was afraid
• मुझे डर होगा = I will be afraid / I must be afraid

Not exactly. They are close, but not identical.

• मुझे डर है = I am afraid / I have fear
  This sounds like a state or feeling.

• मैं डरता हूँ = I am afraid / I get scared
  This often sounds more like a habit, tendency, or general behavior.

For example:

• मुझे कुत्तों से डर है = I am afraid of dogs
• मैं कुत्तों से डरता हूँ = I am afraid of dogs / I get scared of dogs

Both can work, but मुझे डर है is a very common way to express the feeling itself.

These are similar, but they emphasize slightly different things:

• मुझे डर है = I am afraid / I have fear
  General or neutral statement.

• मैं डरा हुआ हूँ = I am frightened
  Stronger and more clearly a current state.

• मुझे डर लग रहा है = I am feeling scared
  Very natural for fear happening right now.

So if you are talking about an immediate feeling at this moment, मुझे डर लग रहा है is often especially natural.

Usually, you add से after the thing you fear.

Pattern:

मुझे + X + से + डर है

Examples:

• मुझे कुत्तों से डर है। = I am afraid of dogs.
• मुझे अँधेरे से डर है। = I am afraid of the dark.
• मुझे ऊँचाई से डर है। = I am afraid of heights.

So से is the key word for of in this kind of sentence.

Yes.

When followed by कि, it can introduce a clause:

• मुझे डर है कि वह नहीं आएगा। = I’m afraid that he won’t come.

In this pattern, it can mean not only emotional fear, but also concern or worry.

So मुझे डर है can mean:

• I am afraid
• I fear
• I’m afraid that...

depending on what comes after it.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

mu-JHAY dur hai

A few notes:

• मुझे sounds roughly like mu-JHAY
• डर has a retroflex ड, made with the tongue curled slightly back
• है is written hai, but in standard speech it does not sound exactly like English high

A more careful transliteration is:

mujhe ḍar hai