How to ask, “how was your day? in Hindi, is “aapka din kaisa thaa?“. (listen below). This is a great conversational question to learn. When I taught this to my students and they practiced with their parents, many of them messaged me to say how they delighted they were.

Here is the transliteration of each word:

Aapka = your

din = day

kaisa = how

thaa = was

How To Answer The Question: How Was Your Day? in Hindi

Now that we have learned how to ask someone, “how was your day?”, let’s learn how to answer it in Hindi.

Let’s start with 3 typical responses:

• My day was fine. Mera din theek thaa.

• My day was good. Mera din acha thaa.

• My day was great. Mera din badiya thaa.

Last and definitely least is one I hope that you rarely say: My day was bad. Mera din bura thaa.

And here is the transliteration:

Mera = my

din = day

theek (fine), acha (good), badiya (great), bura (bad)

thaa = was

Now that you know how to ask, how was your day? in Hindi and you know how to answer the question, let’s explore some variations that will require more understanding of Hindi grammar.

How Was Your Holiday?

Let’s change the question to: How was your holiday?

Aapki = your

chutti = holiday

kaisi = how

thi = was

Did you notice that some of the words were modified between the two questions? That’s called inflection.

What Is Inflection in a Language?

Inflection means that the ending of the word changes. When words are modified to reflect gender, quantity, and/or case. Hindi is one of the most highly inflectional languages in the world.

Here are some examples.

Boy is ladka and girl is ladki. See how they are practically identically, except for the last sound? That change at the end is called inflection.

The concept of inflection takes some getting used to for native English speakers, as English doesn’t have a lot of it. The most common example is changing a noun from singular to plural. We add an “s” to the end – a change to the ending of the word aka inflection.

How Was Your Day? vs. How Was Your Holiday? Why Is There Inflection?

As you saw there is a lot in inflection between the two questions. Three out of 4 words inflected. But why? Because of the subject of each sentence. Stay with me, I will explain.

How was your day? Subject = day = noun
How was your holiday? Subject = holiday = noun

But in Hindi, nouns have gender. Every noun has a gender.

Every noun falls into either the male or the female category…even inanimate objects and places.

Now look at the subject of each sentence again.

How was your day? Subject = day = noun = male noun aka pul-ling
How was your holiday? Subject = holiday = noun = female noun aka stri-ling

So, because the gender of the noun-subject of each sentence is different, that directly causes the other words in the sentence to inflect. Everything revolves around the noun-subject. All of the other words in the sentence have to agree with the noun-subject.

If you haven’t read my article, “Nouns Are The Naan of Hindi” you might find it helpful as I take a deeper dive into this concept of nouns and gender.

Common Mistake

A common mistake made in Hindi is to inflect based on the person or the speaker instead of the subject. For example you might be tempted to say the following:

This is incorrect.

Each question, “how was your day?” or “how was your holiday?” does not inflect. How was your day? will always be, “Aapka din kaisa thaa?” regardless of whether you are asking a male or female. Similarly, How was your holiday? will always be “Aapki chutti kaisi thi?” regardless of whom you are asking.

Similarly the answer does inflect. My day was great, will always be “Mera din badiya thaa”, regardless of whether you (the speaker) is male or female. And, “my holiday was good”, will always be “Meri chutti achi thi” regardless of whether you are male or female.

The sentence revolves around the noun-subject or and that means, the gender of the noun-subject.

When Does The Speaker’s Gender Matter in Hindi?

So far we have said that the gender of the speaker does not cause inflection of Hindi sentences. Are there any cases where the gender of the speaker does cause inflection? Yes – when conjugating verbs.

In the examples below, you can see that the verb conjugation is based on the speaker’s gender.

I am not going to go into verb conjugation in this article, but if you are interested check out my detailed step-by-step guide, “how to conjugate verbs in Hindi.”

Ready to Learn Conversational Hindi?

We have classes for all age groups, including adults! We teach conversational Hindi (no reading, no writing). Our classes are for children growing up outside of the Indian Subcontinent.

Our classes are fun! In addition to Hindi vocabulary, phrases, and grammar, your child will also learn about Indian culture so they can build connections to relatives and their heritage. Students from across the globe take our classes from the convenience of their living room.

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.

Dhanyavaad!