Learning Hindi: the mistakes to expect, by first language
Some Hindi difficulties hit everyone. Others depend on the language you grew up with. Start with the ones every learner meets, then open the page for your first language.
Hard for every Hindi learner
Noun gender + agreement
Hindi nouns are masculine or feminine, and adjectives AND verbs agree with them (achchhā laṛkā / achchhī laṛkī).
Postpositions (ne/ko/se/mein/par)
Hindi marks roles with postpositions AFTER the noun, where English uses prepositions before it.
Words to watch: ne ko se mein par
Verb goes last (SOV)
Hindi is Subject-Object-Verb: "I food eat". The verb comes at the very end.
Ergative "ne" in the past
With a completed transitive action, the subject takes "ne" and the verb agrees with the OBJECT, not the subject.
Words to watch: ne
tū / tum / āp politeness
Three levels of "you" by politeness — pick the right one for the relationship, like tu/usted in Spanish.
Devanagari script
A new script where each consonant carries an inherent "a" and vowels attach as signs (mātrās).
Hindi for speakers of…
🇫🇷 French speakers
Word order (SVO→SOV) · +4 more
🇩🇪 German speakers
Verb-final feels half-familiar · +4 more
🇧🇷 Portuguese speakers
Word order (SVO→SOV) · +4 more
🇮🇹 Italian speakers
Word order (SVO→SOV) · +4 more
🇸🇦 Arabic speakers
Shared Perso-Arabic vocabulary (advantage!) · +4 more
🇷🇺 Russian speakers
Aspect thinking transfers — until "ne" · +4 more
🇰🇷 Korean speakers
SOV + postpositions transfer (advantage!) · +4 more
🇨🇳 Chinese speakers
Word order (SVO→SOV) · +4 more
🇮🇩 Indonesian speakers
Word order (SVO→SOV) · +4 more
🇹🇷 Turkish speakers
SOV + noun-then-marker transfer (advantage!) · +4 more
🇬🇧 English speakers
Word order (SVO→SOV) · +3 more
Keep going
- 40 natural Hindi expressions, by situation
- 30 real-life Hindi speaking scenes with translations
- All language pairs
Questions about learning Hindi
What is hard about learning Hindi?
Noun gender + agreement: Hindi nouns are masculine or feminine, and adjectives AND verbs agree with them (achchhā laṛkā / achchhī laṛkī). Postpositions (ne/ko/se/mein/par): Hindi marks roles with postpositions AFTER the noun, where English uses prepositions before it. Verb goes last (SOV): Hindi is Subject-Object-Verb: "I food eat". The verb comes at the very end. Ergative "ne" in the past: With a completed transitive action, the subject takes "ne" and the verb agrees with the OBJECT, not the subject. tū / tum / āp politeness: Three levels of "you" by politeness — pick the right one for the relationship, like tu/usted in Spanish. Devanagari script: A new script where each consonant carries an inherent "a" and vowels attach as signs (mātrās).
Does my first language change which Hindi mistakes I make?
Yes. Your first language shapes the mistakes you make: its sounds, word order and grammar leak into Hindi. That is why WordSlick shows different traps for, say, French speakers and German speakers, and coaches each one separately.
Can I practise speaking Hindi with an AI tutor?
Yes. AskSlick, WordSlick’s AI tutor, holds Hindi conversations at your level, role-plays real situations and corrects you gently, explaining in your own language.