How to learn Hindi by reading

Hindi is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, and it’s written in Devanagari, a script that looks intricate and turns out to be logical. Hindi literature runs from Premchand’s stories of village life to Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand, the first novel translated from Hindi to win the International Booker Prize, in 2022.

Everyday spoken Hindi is very close to Urdu, and speakers understand each other easily. The two differ in script and in their formal vocabulary, which is why learning to read Hindi means learning Devanagari and meeting a register of words that conversation alone won’t give you.

Devanagari, and what it hides

• A script of syllables. Each consonant carries a built-in a: क is ka. Vowel signs attach before, after, above or below it to change the vowel: कि (ki), की (kī), कु (ku), के (ke), को (ko). A line along the top, the shirorekha, links the letters of a word.
• Conjunct consonants. When two consonants meet with no vowel between them, they fuse: क्ष (kṣa), त्र (tra), श्र (śra). These take the longest to recognize.
• Sounds English doesn’t separate. Hindi distinguishes unaspirated and aspirated consonants (क k and ख kh, ग g and घ gh) and dental and retroflex ones (त and ट, द and ड). They change meaning, so they’re worth hearing early.
• Vowels written but not said. Hindi often drops the built-in a: कमरा, “room,” is written kamarā and pronounced kamrā. Listening while you read teaches you where.
• Dots under letters. A dot under a letter, the nukta, marks sounds from Persian, Arabic and English: ज़ (z), फ़ (f). The same dot turns ड and ढ into the flapped sounds ड़ and ढ़, as in लड़का (“boy”) and पढ़ना (“to read”).

Our guide to learning a new script has practical tips for starting Devanagari with audio.

The grammar you meet in stories

• The verb at the end, and postpositions. Hindi says “jungle in” rather than “in the jungle”: जंगल में. Other postpositions include पर (on), से (from, with), को (to) and का, के, की (of).
• Gender everywhere. Verbs and adjectives agree with gender: लड़का जाता है, “the boy goes,” but लड़की जाती है, “the girl goes.”
• The ने construction. In the simple past and perfect tenses of most transitive verbs, the subject takes ने and the verb agrees with the object: मैंने किताब पढ़ी, “I read the book,” uses the feminine पढ़ी because किताब is feminine.
• Three kinds of “you.” आप (respectful), तुम (familiar) and तू (intimate, or rude), each with its own verb forms. Dialogue tells you a lot about relationships through them.
• Two vocabularies. Formal Hindi draws on Sanskrit, everyday Hindi on a mix that includes Persian and Arabic: “question” can be प्रश्न or सवाल, “decision” निर्णय or फ़ैसला. Books use both.

Hindi reading at each level

The CEFR levels, as they appear in Hindi:

• A2, elementary. Short sentences in the present and past, including simple ने sentences, common postpositions, everyday vocabulary, and gender agreement in its simplest forms.
• B1, intermediate. The ने construction in longer sentences, the future, compound verbs that add a shade of meaning (भगा देना, “drive away,” with देना, “give,” adding completion), and relative clauses with जो… वह.
• B2, upper intermediate. The subjunctive and conditionals, the passive, participles, and a wider, more formal vocabulary.
• C1, advanced. Close to the original text, with light condensing. C2 is the complete book.

Our guide to CEFR levels explains the scale as a whole.

The Jungle Book at A2 and at B2

Kipling’s Mowgli stories are set in the forests of central India, and he borrowed some of his animals’ names from Hindi: Baloo comes from भालू (bhālū), “bear,” and the elephant Hathi is simply हाथी (hāthī), “elephant.” Two moments, written for this page:

A2

मोगली एक छोटा लड़का है। वह जंगल में भेड़ियों के साथ रहता है। भालू बालू और काला तेंदुआ बघीरा उसके दोस्त हैं।

Mowgli is a little boy. He lives in the jungle with the wolves. Baloo the bear and Bagheera the black panther are his friends.

B2

जब भेड़ियों की सभा में शेर ख़ान ने मोगली को माँगा, तो मोगली ने “लाल फूल” यानी आग से उसे भगा दिया और फिर इंसानों के गाँव की ओर चल पड़ा।

When Shere Khan demanded Mowgli at the wolves’ council, Mowgli drove him off with the “Red Flower,” that is, fire, and then set off toward the village of men.

The A2 text uses the present habitual (रहता है, “lives”) and two postpositions, में and के साथ (“with”). The B2 sentence shows the ने construction at work. Shere Khan takes ने with the transitive माँगा (“demanded”), and Mowgli takes it with भगा दिया (“drove away”). But the same Mowgli takes no ने with चल पड़ा (“set off”), because चल पड़ना is intransitive. And since both objects are marked with को (मोगली को, and उसे, short for उसको), the verbs stay in the default masculine singular. Notice also the compound verbs, भगा दिया and चल पड़ा, where a second verb adds a sense of completion or suddenness.

A daily Hindi reading routine

1. Listen and read together. Play a section with the text highlighted as it’s read. You’ll hear which written vowels disappear and how aspirated and retroflex sounds differ.
2. Read aloud after the narrator. Repeat a few sentences each day. It fixes Devanagari’s sounds in your mouth as well as your eyes.
3. Tap only what blocks you. When a word is new, tap it for its meaning in context. If the sentence still makes sense, keep going.
4. Notice ने. Once a week, pick a page and find every ने. Ask what the verb agrees with. It’s the quickest way to make the construction feel natural.

Stephen Krashen argued that we acquire language by understanding messages in it, slightly beyond what we already know (Krashen 1982, Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition). For Hindi, reading at your level means meeting the formal vocabulary of books gradually, alongside the everyday words you already know, rather than all at once. More in comprehensible input, extensive reading and reading while listening.

Classics to start with

• The Jungle Book sets its Mowgli stories in the jungles of central India, with names you can now read in Hindi. Episodic and vivid, at A2 and B1.
• Around the World in Eighty Days crosses India by train and by elephant, from Bombay to Calcutta. Short chapters, good at A2 and B1.
• A Little Princess follows Sara Crewe, who grew up in India, at a London boarding school. A warm, simple story at B1.
• The Secret Garden begins in India before moving to a Yorkshire manor, a calm and rewarding B1 read.
• Treasure Island is fast and full of dialogue, a good first novel.

How Lexo helps with Hindi

Every word can be played on its own, which settles at a tap whether that a is pronounced or whether a letter is aspirated, and the whole book is narrated, with different voices for different characters and the text highlighted word by word as it’s read. If Devanagari feels small on your screen, enlarge the type.

Tap any word and a card shows what it means in that sentence, its base form and its part of speech: पढ़ी leads back to पढ़ना, “to read.” It also gives the word’s reading in Latin letters, a quick check while Devanagari’s vowel signs and conjuncts are still new. When a word belongs to a phrase, such as a compound verb, the card explains the phrase as a whole, and the whole sentence is translated into English. Words you want to keep go into your Words list, and sentence-by-sentence mode shows one sentence at a time with its audio and translation.

The level is yours to choose for each book, from A2 to C2. If an edition in Hindi hasn’t been written yet, asking for it starts the writing: chapter 1 is ready in minutes, the rest follows while you read, and the first reader keeps a dated “First edition” mark. Books download for offline reading on iPhone and iPad, and there’s no account to create.

Hindi’s everyday vocabulary owes much to Persian, and a good share of its loanwords come through Persian from Arabic.

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