Hoon, Hain, and Ho in Hindi

Just keeping it real, the hoon, hain, and ho in Hindi are confusing! These words are verbs. They are state-of-being verbs that appear at the end of Hindi sentences. 

Hoon = am 
Hain = is/are (formal)
Ho = are (informal)

Though they are not action verbs they are still verbs. State-of-being verbs are also called linking verbs – because they link the subject of a sentence with information about it.

Recently, in my online conversational Hindi class for kids, I asked a student to translate this sentence: I really like ladoos.

Me: Babu, how do we say I really like ladoos, in Hindi? 
Student: Mujhe ladoo bahoth pasand…hoon? ho? hee?

In the moment, I felt like making a rap song out of this…so I did:

Hindi you’re killin’ me with your hoon, hain and ho
It’s more confusing than when my mom says no
recipe, andaza se masala daalo.
Aap kyaa kar rahay hain? or Aap kyaa kar rahay ho?
How am I supposed to know?

Upar se you have this hoon
Arde yaar, kyun? 

Hindi, you’re like Biryani with all these layers
Though you’re complicated, you’ll always have my heart, just like the Lakers.

Hoon, hain and ho swirling in my brain, giving me chakars 
Mary Poppins had a chamach full of shakar
But yo, I live by akkard bakard.

Main khush hoon, Aap khush hain, Tum khush ho
Balle Balle, I got it!
Thank God Samta Aunty taught it!

Hindi, aapke aage, haath jhordthi…hoon?
Hamesha hamesha aapki seva karun. 

Also, to be clear, there’s no “hee” in Hindi.

Now let’s get back to the task that I asked the student to do: translate, I really like ladoos, into Hindi. She was – understandably – confused about what the last word ought to be: hoon, hain, or ho. So we are going to clarify that now.

Understanding Hoon, Hain,
and Ho in Hindi. 

Here are some examples of these:

I am an auto rickshaw driver. Main auto wallah hoon. 

Uncle is dabbing.
Uncle dab kar khaa rahaa hain. 

What are you making?
Tum kyaa banaa rahee ho?

Hoon, Hain, and Ho = there is a time and place for each of these. 

“Hoon” means am therefore it goes in “I’ sentences i.e. “I am”. That’s the only time you’ll see “hoon” — when the speaker is talking about themselves i.e. Mai acha hoon.

“Hain” has 2 meanings. It means is as well as are. I call this the Maharaja of Hindi endings because SO much of conversational Hindi ends with a “hain”. i.e. Aapka naam kyaa hain? 

“Ho” means are. But didn’t we just say that “hain” means are? Then how is “ho” different from “hain”? Good question Padawan. That requires some more insight into Hindi, which I will address, now. 

Hain vs. Ho in Hindi

As we said, “hain” means is as well as are and “ho” means are. BUT they are different. And the difference is rooted in Indian culture.

Indian culture, like many Eastern cultures, is hierarchical. There is a deep emphasis on speaking and referring, respectfully, to elders and authority figures vs. how to speak with your ride or die’s and those younger than you.

Hain is the formal “is/are”
Ho is the informal. “are”

Did you know that the ubiquitous – “Aap kaise ho?” is technically grammatically incorrect? I know, right? Mind Blown.

Instead it should be Aap kaise hain? because “aap” is the formal “you” so it should pair with the formal “are” = hain.

“Ho” is the informal “are”. So putting “Aap” and “ho” together is a mismatch. 

Here are the grammatically correct uses:

Aap kaise hain?
Tum kaise ho? 

“Tum” is the informal but still respectful, “you”. And with it goes the informal “are” = “ho”. 

Aap (formal you) kaise hain (formal is/are)?
Tum (informal you) kaise ho (informal is/are)? 

So is it wrong to say, “Aap kaise ho?”

NO.

It is 100% accepted in every day conversational Hindi. I’d go far as to say most people say “Aap kaise ho”. So, no it’s not wrong to say this. But it’s useful to understand the distinction.

Let’s look at another example.

What are you eating? 

You could say either:

1. Aap kyaa khaa rahay ho?
2. Aap kyaa khaa rahay hain?

People say the former in every day conversational Hindi all the time. Again, even though technically a sentence with “Aap” should not end with “ho” everyone does it in conversational Hindi, and it’s totally accepted. 

If a little kid says to her Chachu “Aap kaise ho?” Chachu is not going to freak out and be like, “my niece is so disrespectful”. Instead, he is going to respond lovingly with, “Main bahoth khush hoon ke tumne mujhe phone kiya. Tum batao beti, tum kaisi ho?”

Mai vs. Mujhe

Ok, now I want to go back to “I’ sentences. Earlier I said that “hoon” is the ending for “I” sentences because it means am. And that’s true. But there are two “I’s” in Hindi. There is Main and Mujhe. 

But actually “mujhe” does not mean “I”. It means “me” and “to me”. But when translating English to Hindi, it acts like “I”. For example:

“I like ladoos”. In Hindi, it would be “Mujhe ladoo pasand hain”. But in Hindi this sentence is not, “I like ladoos”. It’s “Ladoos are liked by me”. So now the subject of the sentence is no longer “I”, it’s “Ladoos”. Which also means that “I” is not the doer of the action “like” but rather the receiver of it.

But when I teach English speakers in my conversational Hindi classes, the way we think of mujhe is in fact “I”.

Mujhe is used when “I” is not engaged in physical activity and when whatever the topic is, does not involve physical movement on the part of “I”. 

Um…what? I know that’s confusing. Let me explain with the help of examples.

Example: I like Haldirams’ Veg Tandoori Platter. (for real…so delicious, but FYI they don’t start serving it until 12pm – at least that’s true at Haldiram’s restaurants in Delhi). Ok back to the example.

Does liking the platter require physical movement from “I”? Nope. Therefore I like Haldirams’ Veg Tandoori Platter is a “mujhe” sentence.

Here’s another example:

I don’t know which hook step is better Hrithik in Kal Ho Na Ho or SRK in Om Shanti Om.

Does the act of not knowing, require physical movement from “I?”? Nope. Therefore, I = mujhe.

So when “I” is not physically moving or the circumstance does not involve physical movement, we use “mujhe”. And when “I” is mujhe, the ending word is “hain”.

As you probably guessed, this means that we use “main” when “I” is moving or the circumstance requires any sort of physical movement. Or to put it in more academic terms – use “main” when “I” is the doer of the action of the sentence. And in those cases, the ending word is “hoon”.

In each of these examples, “I” is the doer of the physical action. Notice the timing. In the 1st example, “I” is engaged in the physical activity, now. But in the 2nd example, I is not engaged in the physical act of eating, now. That doesn’t matter. “I” still requires to do physical movement, therefore “Main”.

Now let’s look at some “main” and “mujhe” examples side-by-side.

“Main” sentences end with “hoon”.
“Mujhe” sentences end with “hain”.

Then, Why Is It Main Acha Hoon?

Ok, but hang on. Why do we say, “Main acha hoon”? I am not moving when I am feeling good; nor does it require physical movement, so shouldn’t it be “Mujhe acha hoon”?

No. Why? 

Think of it this way. Feeling good is an emotion. Who controls your emotions? You do! In the words of Bruno Mars “Why you mad? Fix ya face”. I can decide to turn that frown upside down at any time. I am the doer, therefore I is “main”. Therefore, “Main acha/achi hoon”.

Summary 

In this article we learned about hoon, hain, and ho in Hindi. These are state-of-being verbs that appear at the end of Hindi sentences. 

Hoo = am 
Hai = is/are
Ho = are (informal)

We described how to use each of them, what formal and informal mean, and the two ways to say “I” in Hindi. I hope this helps you understand Hindi more! Cheers!

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About Samta Aunty

Growing up in Orange County, California, I learned Hindi and Indian culture from my parents and the community. At one point, in addition to understanding Hindi, I developed an interest in speaking, and my parents encouraged me.

Friday night was date-night with my mom. We would eat parathas and watch Hindi movies together. I asked lots of questions and switched to speaking in Hindi at home.

That day, in high school, when my Chachi in Delhi said, “Tumhari Hindi bahut achi hain” is one of my favorite memories.

I started Virtual PreSkool to pay it forward. It’s fulfilling when a student comes to class and excitedly shares that they successfully connected with grandparents/relatives or when they were in India and knew how to ask for directions.

After completing undergrad at UC Irvine, I did my MBA at the USC Marshall School of Business. I’ve been an entrepreneur my entire career.

When I’m not teaching and creating lessons, I’m usually exercising, cooking vegan meals, or traveling. I love writing about travel on my blog PassportPages.

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