Polite Requests and Classroom Help

01 / Understand

Choose the relationship before the verb form

Hindi has different imperative forms associated with तू, तुम, and आप. An imperative can give an instruction, invite someone to act, or make a request. Its effect depends on the relationship and situation as well as the verb ending. A host inviting a guest to sit and a stranger issuing an abrupt demand can use related grammatical forms but create different impressions. Learn the form together with an appropriate purpose.

This lesson practices respectful आप forms. They are useful when speaking with an unfamiliar adult, a teacher, or someone you are treating respectfully. The same form can address one person or several people, and it does not change according to whether the addressee is male or female. That differs from many descriptive sentences in Hindi, where masculine and feminine agreement is visible. Do not carry every agreement ending from a statement into a request.

The pronoun itself is frequently omitted because the imperative ending already identifies the level of address. बैठिए can therefore function as a complete invitation to sit in a suitable context. It does not need an added हैं to become respectful. Familiar forms such as बैठो are grammatical in their own settings, but they do not match an exercise that explicitly asks for the आप level. Treat a register contrast as a difference in address, not as evidence that one complete set of Hindi forms is always rude or always wrong.

02 / Understand

Build useful regular respectful forms

For many common verbs, remove the dictionary ending ना and add the respectful imperative ending इए. Thus बोलना gives बोलिए, सुनना gives सुनिए, and लिखना gives लिखिए. The ending belongs to the verb that names the action you want the listener to perform. Practice a few complete requests rather than treating the spelling operation as sufficient by itself. A request needs a clear action and, when relevant, a clear object or location.

Compare the dictionary form पढ़ना with the request पढ़िए. The dictionary form names reading or studying, while the imperative asks the listener to read or study. In a short classroom instruction, यह शब्द पढ़िए identifies the word to read. The object appears before the verb in the model. Hindi can move elements for emphasis, but this ordinary order makes the requested action easy to recognize while you are building fluency.

Some verb stems and common verbs require additional spelling changes or irregular forms, which the next section introduces. You may also see respectful endings written with a य, such as बोलिये. Do not treat a familiar spelling variant as a different social relationship. The examples consistently use बोलिए style spelling, and the quizzes avoid setting accepted spelling variants against one another as if only one were grammatical. Focus first on distinguishing the respectful form from a familiar instruction or an ordinary statement.

03 / Understand

Learn frequent forms that need their own model

Several everyday verbs have especially useful respectful forms that you should learn whole. करना gives कीजिए, देना gives दीजिए, लेना gives लीजिए, and पीना gives पीजिए. These are not made by blindly keeping every letter of the dictionary stem and attaching the same ending. Knowing these four forms lets you ask for help, request an object, offer an object, and invite someone to drink.

With आना, the respectful invitation is आइए. You may hear it from a host inviting a visitor in or from someone asking a person to come closer. Keep the intended action distinct from जाना, which concerns going. An invitation to come and an instruction to go can both be polite, but substituting one for the other changes the direction of the requested movement. The meaning of a verb still matters after its respectful ending is correct.

These imperatives do not take a present copula after them. मदद कीजिए asks for help; adding हैं as though the phrase were an ordinary present description mixes two sentence patterns. The respectful force is carried by the imperative itself. When learning a new verb, record its dictionary form beside one reliable respectful request. This is especially valuable for frequent irregular verbs because they are likely to be needed before you have mastered every part of the verbal system.

04 / Understand

Keep giving and taking in the correct direction

दीजिए asks the addressee to give something. लीजिए asks the addressee to take or accept something. At a table, a guest might ask for water with दीजिए, while a host offering a glass might say लीजिए. Both are respectful, but they describe opposite roles in the exchange. Determine who is holding the object and who is expected to receive it before choosing the verb.

The recipient of giving can be marked with को or an appropriate pronoun form. मुझे पानी दीजिए means “Please give me water.” Here मुझे identifies the recipient, पानी identifies the thing transferred, and दीजिए addresses the person expected to give it. The recipient and the addressee are not the same grammatical role. A change in recipient does not require changing a respectful imperative into a first person verb.

A need statement such as मुझे पानी चाहिए can also function as an item request in an appropriate setting. It states what is wanted or needed, whereas मुझे पानी दीजिए explicitly asks the listener to give it. These are useful alternatives with different structures. Neither one guarantees that the item is available. In a dialogue, let the other person answer, then respond to what they say. Practice the give and take contrast with a harmless object in front of you so that the intended direction is clear rather than merely memorized.

05 / Understand

Use polite expressions without changing the action

कृपया corresponds to please and is useful in formal requests, announcements, and careful polite speech. ज़रा literally relates to a small amount or a moment and can soften a request in conversation. In ज़रा सुनिए, the speaker asks the listener to pay attention for a moment. It does not necessarily mean that the listener should understand only a tiny part of the message. The expression’s conversational function matters alongside its literal sense.

Adding one of these words does not remove the need to choose an appropriate verb ending. If a task asks for respectful आप address, कृपया बोलिए maintains that level. कृपया बोलो still contains the familiar तुम imperative. The familiar sentence may work in a relationship where that address is normal, but adding please has not transformed its grammatical ending into an आप form. Keep the requested level consistent when practicing a specified context.

माफ़ कीजिए is a useful attention or apology phrase. At the beginning of an exchange, it can introduce a question or a request; after a mistake, it can express an apology. The exact English rendering depends on the moment. A courteous opening is helpful, but the listener still needs to know what action you want. Follow it with a concrete request, such as repeating a word or speaking more slowly, instead of assuming that the opening alone communicates the rest of your message.

06 / Understand

Put the negative before the request verb

A negative imperative asks someone not to perform an action. The beginner patterns here place न or मत before the imperative: यहाँ मत बैठिए asks someone not to sit here. The imperative keeps its respectful ending even though the request is negative. Negation changes whether the action is wanted; it does not by itself change the relationship between speaker and listener.

न can also appear after an imperative as a conversational urging particle. That use does not negate the action. Compare न before the verb in a negative request with a final न encouraging someone to comply. Position is therefore part of the meaning. For your first negative requests, keep the negative clearly before the verb and avoid adding the final conversational particle until you can interpret it in context.

The statement negative नहीं is familiar from sentences about facts, but the clear forms practiced here for direct prohibitions are न and मत. This lesson does not claim that every occurrence of नहीं near an instruction is impossible in wider usage. It teaches a dependable beginning contrast between a factual statement and a direct request. To test that contrast fairly, the choices specify the taught pattern or compare an affirmative request with its negative counterpart. Read whether the speaker wants the action performed or avoided before choosing the sentence.

07 / Understand

Ask for repetition and complete the exchange

When a word is unfamiliar, a short respectful request can keep a conversation going. फिर से means again, so कृपया फिर से बोलिए asks the listener to say something again. Add यह शब्द if you need to identify a particular word. Asking for repetition is different from asking for a translation or an explanation. Choose the action that would actually help you understand the message.

धीरे asks for a slower manner of speaking in the model धीरे बोलिए. A person can repeat a sentence just as quickly as before, so repetition and slower speech are different requests. You can practice them separately and combine them when necessary. The examples use a shared classroom context; the listener knows which word is being discussed. In a less clear setting, point to or name the relevant item rather than relying on an undefined this.

After receiving help, धन्यवाद expresses thanks. In the conversation game, the opening attracts attention, the response invites the learner to speak, the learner requests repetition, and the teacher supplies the word before the learner thanks them. That order follows the exchange’s purpose rather than a rule that all Hindi conversations contain exactly these turns. Produce your own request before arranging the provided lines. Later, practice again without the written model and decide whether your listener needs to repeat, slow down, give something, or avoid an action.

Notice the difference

Common mistakes

From understanding to using

Make your own example.

Try these without answer choices. Say your answer aloud or write it below, then compare your reasoning with the model.

Conversation builder

Ask a teacher to repeat a word

Arrange the exchange from the attention phrase to the final thanks.

1. माफ़ कीजिए।

   māf kījie

   Excuse me.

2. जी, कहिए।

   jī, kahie

   Yes, go ahead.

3. कृपया यह शब्द फिर से बोलिए।

   kṛpayā yah śabd phir se bolie

   Please say this word again.

4. किताब।

   kitāb

   Book.

5. धन्यवाद।

   dhanyavād

   Thank you.