🟡 Kannada for beginners · Chapter 3

Greetings and introducing yourself

Say 'ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ, ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರಾ?' to your landlord, colleague or the security uncle, and watch the conversation change temperature — most people don't expect a newcomer to try.

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The basics

Greetings and introductions are the ten phrases that open every conversation: hello, how are you, I'm fine, my name is, I'm from, I know a little Kannada, thank you, see you.

The problem it solves: in Bengaluru almost everyone can switch to English or Hindi, so many newcomers never start. But the first sentence sets the tone: a Kannada greeting gets warmth, patience and often a better price. You don't need grammar for it — you need ten fixed phrases and one rule about respect.

The mental model: Kannada, like Hindi, has two 'you's. ನೀವು (niivu) is the respectful aap — use it with anyone older, any stranger, any shopkeeper, auto driver or colleague. ನೀನು (niinu) is tu/tum — only for close friends and children. Polite verbs end in -i or -iiri / -iira: ಬನ್ನಿ (come), ಹೇಳಿ (say), ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರಾ (how are you).

Explained

Two sentences unlock most of Bengaluru:

ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ (namaskaara) — hello. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬರುತ್ತೆ (swalpa swalpa kannaDa barutte) — I know a little Kannada.

The second one is a promise that you're trying. People slow down, smile, and teach you the next word.

The ten phrases

ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ            namaskaara          hello (any time)
ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರಾ?         heegiddiiraa?        how are you? (polite)
ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದ್ದೀನಿ       chennaagiddiini      I'm fine (spoken)
ನೀವು?              niivu?               and you?
ನಿಮ್ಮ ಹೆಸರು ಏನು?     nimma hesaru eenu?   what's your name?
ನನ್ನ ಹೆಸರು ರಾಹುಲ್     nanna hesaru raahul  my name is Rahul
ನಮ್ಮ ಊರು ಪಟ್ನಾ       namma uuru paTnaa    my hometown is Patna
ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು         dhanyavaadagaLu      thank you
ಹೋಗಿ ಬರ್ತೀನಿ        hoogi bartiini       bye (I'll go and come)
ಮತ್ತೆ ಸಿಗೋಣ          matte sigooNa        see you again

ಊರು (uuru) is your hometown/native place — namma uuru is literally 'our town'. Kannadigas say 'our' where English says 'my' for home, family and city: namma Bengaluru, namma metro.

Respect is built into the words

               respectful (aap)   informal (tu)
you            ನೀವು niivu          ನೀನು niinu
your           ನಿಮ್ಮ nimma         ನಿನ್ನ ninna
how are you?   ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರಾ?          ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀಯಾ?
               heegiddiiraa?       heegiddiiyaa?
come!          ಬನ್ನಿ banni          ಬಾ baa
say!           ಹೇಳಿ heeLi          ಹೇಳು heeLu

Rule of thumb: *if you'd say aap in Hindi, say niivu in Kannada. The polite command ends in -i*; the bare root (ಹೇಳು, ಬಾ) is informal.

Add respect to a name with -avare (ಅವರೇ): Raghu-avare ≈ Raghu-ji. With strangers, ಸಾರ್ (saar) and ಮೇಡಂ (meeDam) are everywhere; with shopkeepers and auto drivers, ಅಣ್ಣ (aNNa, elder brother) and ಅಕ್ಕ (akka, elder sister) are friendly and respectful.

Why 'go and come'?

In Kannada you never just 'go'. When you leave a friend's house you say ಹೋಗಿ ಬರ್ತೀನಿ (hoogi bartiini) — I'll go and come back. Your host replies ಹೋಗಿ ಬನ್ನಿ (hoogi banni) — go and come back.

Saying only ಹೋಗ್ತೀನಿ (I'm going) sounds final, almost like leaving for good.

Hindi speakers know the feeling from chalta hoon vs phir milte hain; Telugu speakers have vellostaanu. In Karnataka, the promise to return is built into goodbye.

'Aap' → niivu. Polite verbs end in -i. Leave with 'go and come'.

• heegiddiiraa? — 'hey, giddy? Rah!' — asking if someone's feeling giddy is how you ask how they are.
• chennaagiddiini — chennaagi = nicely (chenna ≈ fine, think chain — at peace).
• swalpa — 'small pa': a small amount. Bengaluru's favourite word.
• barutte — Kannada 'comes' just like Hindi aata hai: 'Kannada aati hai?' = kannaDa baruttaa?
• hoogi banni — literally go-come: the goodbye that promises a return.

Mistakes newcomers make

• Using ನೀನು (niinu) with strangers. It's the tu of Kannada. With an auto driver, shopkeeper or older colleague it sounds rude. Default to ನೀವು.
• Saying ಬಾ (baa, come!) to someone older. Use ಬನ್ನಿ (banni). Same for ಹೇಳು → ಹೇಳಿ.
• Copying 'maga' and 'guru' from friends. ಮಗ (maga) and ಗುರು (guru) are Bengaluru slang between friends — fine with your flatmate, not with your manager or landlord.
• Shortening the long vowels. It's heegiddiiraa — hold the ii and the final aa, or it sounds like a different question.
• Saying ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು for every tiny thing. It's formal. In shops and autos people mostly say nothing, smile, or say 'thanks'. Save it for real help.
• Mixing ನನ್ನ (nanna, my) and ನಮ್ಮ (namma, our). Name: nanna hesaru. Hometown, family, city: namma uuru.

Monday, 9:15 AM, the new office

Ananya from Pune meets Mr. Prakash from facilities.

Ananya: ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ ಸಾರ್. (namaskaara saar.) Prakash: ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ! ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರಾ? (namaskaara! heegiddiiraa?) Ananya: ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದ್ದೀನಿ. ನೀವು? (chennaagiddiini. niivu?) Prakash: ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದ್ದೀನಿ. ನಿಮ್ಮ ಹೆಸರು ಏನು? (… nimma hesaru eenu?) Ananya: ನನ್ನ ಹೆಸರು ಅನನ್ಯ. ನಮ್ಮ ಊರು ಪುಣೆ. (nanna hesaru Ananya. namma uuru Pune.) Prakash: ಓ! ಕನ್ನಡ ಬರುತ್ತಾ? (oo! kannaDa baruttaa? — Oh! You know Kannada?) Ananya: ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಬರುತ್ತೆ. ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಹೇಳಿ. (swalpa swalpa barutte. nidhaanavaagi heeLi. — A little. Please speak slowly.) Prakash: (smiling) ಸರಿ, ಸರಿ! (sari, sari! — OK, OK!)

Six lines. He will now greet her in Kannada every morning — which is how she'll learn the next twenty phrases.

Words to know

In two minutes

• ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ (namaskaara) works as hello any time of day.
• ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರಾ? → ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದ್ದೀನಿ, ನೀವು? is the full how-are-you exchange.
• Introduce yourself with ನನ್ನ ಹೆಸರು … and ನಮ್ಮ ಊರು … (my hometown).
• Default to ನೀವು (niivu, like aap) and polite -i commands (ಬನ್ನಿ, ಹೇಳಿ); ನೀನು is for close friends.
• 'Do you know Kannada?' is ಕನ್ನಡ ಬರುತ್ತಾ? — 'does Kannada come?', same as Hindi 'aati hai'.
• ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಬರುತ್ತೆ + ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಹೇಳಿ gets people to slow down and help.
• Leave with ಹೋಗಿ ಬರ್ತೀನಿ (I'll go and come); the host says ಹೋಗಿ ಬನ್ನಿ.

Test yourself

There are 9 questions, 3 puzzles and 5 recall cards for this lesson in the app — the recall cards come back on later days, just before you would forget.