A1 · The basic sentence · about 6 minutes
हूँ, है, हैं: “to be” in the present
the verb to be in the present
हूँ for I, हो for तुम, है for one person or thing, हैं for several and for anyone you respect.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need3
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- छात्राstudent; pupil (girl or woman)
- दयालुkind; compassionate
- ठीकfine; all right; correct
Understand
RememberHun for I, ho for tum, hai for one, hain for many and for anyone you respect.
- Signal words
- हूँ
- है
- हैं
- हो
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Hindi.
| I am | मैं हूँ |
| you are (intimate) | तू है |
| you are (familiar) | तुम हो |
| he, she, it, this, that is | यह है, वह है |
| we are | हम हैं |
| you are (polite) | आप हैं |
| they, these, those are | ये हैं, वे हैं |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The present of “to be” is the same for men and women.
मैं छात्रा हूँ।I am a student. (a woman speaking)
A respected person takes the plural हैं.
मेरे दादाजी घर पर हैं।My grandfather is at home.
तुम takes हो, आप takes हैं.
तुम कहाँ हो?Where are you?
“There is” is: place, thing, है.
मेज़ पर एक किताब है।There is a book on the table.
Example sentences
मैं लंदन से हूँ।I am from London.
यह मेरा घर है।This is my house.
हम दोस्त हैं।We are friends.
9 more example sentences
आप बहुत दयालु हैं।You are very kind.
तुम ठीक हो?Are you all right?
वे कमरे में हैं।They are in the room.
मेरी माँ अध्यापिका हैं।My mother is a teacher.
यह कमरा साफ़ है।This room is clean.
मैं ठीक हूँ, धन्यवाद।I am fine, thank you.
तुम मेरे भाई हो।You are my brother.
बाहर बहुत लोग हैं।There are a lot of people outside.
शहर में दो अस्पताल हैं।There are two hospitals in the town.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
है is the commonest form and learners use it for everything. तुम has a form of its own, हो, and it is never anything else: तुम हो, तुम ठीक हो, तुम कहाँ हो.
Quick check
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Practise
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Next on the path: 18 · का, की, के: “of”, agreeing with what followsBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The present of होना (to be) has four forms: मैं हूँ (I am), तुम हो (you are, familiar), यह है or वह है (he, she, it is) and हम हैं, आप हैं, ये हैं, वे हैं (we, you, they are). It does not change for gender: a man and a woman both say मैं हूँ.
It closes the sentence, after everything else: मैं ठीक हूँ(I am fine)यह मेरा घर है(this is my house)बच्चे स्कूल में हैं(the children are at school)
Respect is grammar in Hindi. A single person you address or talk about with respect — a parent, a teacher, an older colleague — takes the plural हैं: मेरे पिताजी डॉक्टर हैं, “my father is a doctor”. The polite “you”, आप, always takes हैं, even for one person.
English “there is” has no words of its own in Hindi. You name the place, then the thing, and end with है or हैं: मेज़ पर एक किताब है, “on the table a book is”.
A closer look
Respect makes a plural
Hindi shows respect in the grammar of the sentence. Talking about your mother, you say मेरी माँ घर पर हैं, not है, although she is one person. The same goes for adjectives and verbs later on: वे बहुत अच्छे हैं, “he is very kind”, of one respected man. Using है about your own parents sounds cold or rude.
Being somewhere and existing
किताब मेज़ पर है says where the book is: the book is known, the place is the news. मेज़ पर एक किताब है says that there is a book: the place comes first, the thing is the news. Same words, different order — this is how Hindi does “there is”.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
तू है — only for the very close
The intimate तू takes है, like he and she. It is used to small children, to very close friends and in prayer; to anyone else it is rude.
तू कहाँ है?Where are you? (to a small child)
Worth knowing
No verb “to have”
Hindi has no verb for “to have”. Possession uses है with a postposition: “near me is a bicycle”.
मेरे पास एक साइकिल है।I have a bicycle.