Introduce yourself and ask a yes/no question

A pronoun stands in for a person or thing: मैं means I and आप means polite you. Singular means one person or thing; plural means more than one. Respectful speech can use plural-style हैं for just one person.

Hindi usually puts the verb last. Say मैं कमला हूँ (I am Kamala), यह मेरा मकान है (this is my house). मैं takes हूँ, यह/वह takes है, and polite आप takes हैं even for one person.

Use आप with a new adult acquaintance. Starting a statement with क्या makes a yes/no question: क्या आप नए पड़ोसी हैं? The answer can simply be हाँ or नहीं. Learn आपसे मिलकर खुशी हुई as a greeting for now.

पड़ोसी itself works for a man or woman, but a describing word changes: नए पड़ोसी for a man addressed politely, नई पड़ोसी for a woman. Hindi noun gender belongs to each noun; it is not always the person’s sex.

• मैं कमला हूँ।I am Kamala.

• यह मेरा मकान है।This is my house.

• क्या आप नए पड़ोसी हैं?Are you the new neighbour? (male)

Hindi nouns have gender: they belong to a masculine or feminine class. Masculine मकान (house) takes मेरा (my); feminine चाबी (key) takes मेरी. This noun class need not match a person’s sex. An article is a word like English a or the; Hindi does not need one in these simple introductions.