Learning Hindi - How to Say 'I love you' in Hindi

Valentine's Day is approaching and, in preparation, in this language learning lesson plan, we will learn to say I love you in Hindi. There are several synonyms for love in Hindi and different ways of saying I love you. Theek hai? Chalo dekhte hai. (Okay? Let's see).

Subject: Learning to Speak Hindi - to say I love you in Hindi.

Objectives: Students will learn the Hindi words for love and learn to say 'I love you' in Hindi.

Prior Knowledge: It will help to know the following in Hindi -

• Main - I
• Tum, Tu(informal) -You
• Aap (formal) - You. The formal 'Aap' is always used for someone older, an authority figure, and someone you don't know very well. Some people also use it as a polite address in place of the familiar 'tum' or 'tu', so even children can be addressed as 'aap'.

• Hindi follows a subject-object-verb sentence structure. So, while you would say 'I love you' in English, you would say 'I you love' in Hindi, that is, 'Main tumse pyar karta/karti hoon'.

• Hindi verbs change according to subject gender, subject number, tense, action and formal/informal aspects.

• Hindi has two genders, masculine and feminine; and two numbers, singular and plural.

• Hindi is written in the Devanagari script. This is a phonetic script. Words are pronounced as they are written.

• Devanagari alphabet - Not essential, but it wouldn't hurt to know the basics.

• It might help to know a bit about Indian culture.

• The 'n' at the end of 'main' and 'hoon' is nasal. You don't pronounce 'main' as the English word 'main' or 'hoon' like the word 'loon'.

Materials:

• Chalkboard
• Chalk
• Worksheets written in Devanagari script

Procedure:

Tell students that they are going to learn to say 'I love you' in Hindi. Go over the prior knowledge section, if necessary, to refresh basic Hindi knowledge.

There are several synonyms for love in Hindi. You can write these on the board for everyone to see, in both English and Devanagari. The synonyms are as follows -

• Prem - love
• Pyar - love
• Mohhabbat - love
• Iskh - love

Three other synonyms, which would not generally be used in the 'I love you' address form are -

• Kaam - lust
• Sneh - affection/platonic love
• Mamta - affection/platonic love/maternal love

Write and read aloud the following Hindi sentences:

Main tumse prem karta hoon (masculine) - I love you  

Main tumse premr karti hoon (feminine) - I love you

Main tumse pyar karta hoon (masculine) - I love you

Main tumse pyar karti hoon (feminine) - I love you

Main aapse pyar karta hoon (masculine) - I love you

Main aapse pyar karti hoon (feminine) - I love you

Mujhe tumse pyar hai - I love you  

Mujhe tumse mohhabbat hai - I love you

Mujhe tumse iskh huwa hai - I have fallen in love with you

Main bhi tumse/aapse prem/pyar/mohhabbat karta/karti hoon - I love you too

Mujhe bhi tumse iskh huwa hai - I have also fallen in love with you  

And, of course, if you don't want the romantic attention, you can go -

Mujhe akela chod do! - Leave me alone!

A bit melodramatic in the Bollywood style, but it ought to work. If not, here's another Hindi word -

Bacchao! - Help or Save me!

Assessment:

Ask the students to say I love you in Hindi out loud and check that they get the pronunciation right.

Extensions:

Use the Devanagari worksheets to practice writing in Hindi.

See these articles on learning Hindi -

Learning Hindi - Means of Transportation

Learning Hindi - Food and Dinner Vocabulary

Learn to Speak Hindi: Visiting the Vegetable Market

Here's a look at some paintings based on the romantic poetry of the Hindi poet Bihari.