Question Words in English and Hindi: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How

Questions are how you get information, so question words are among the first to learn.

The core set

English	Hindi
what	क्या
who	कौन
which	कौन सा / कौन सी
where	कहाँ
when	कब
why	क्यों
how	कैसे
how much	कितना / कितनी
how many	कितने
whose	किसका / किसकी

Examples

• What is your name? — आपका नाम क्या है?
• Who is he? — वह कौन है?
• Where do you live? — आप कहाँ रहते हैं?
• When will you come? — आप कब आएँगे?
• Why are you late? — आप देर से क्यों आए?
• How are you? — आप कैसे हैं? (to a man) / आप कैसी हैं? (to a woman)
• How much is this? — यह कितने का है?
• How many children do you have? — आपके कितने बच्चे हैं?

Yes/no questions

Hindi usually adds क्या at the start of a yes/no question:

• क्या आप चाय पिएँगे? — Will you have tea?
• क्या यह सही है? — Is this correct?

Speakers often skip क्या and just raise their voice at the end.

Word order differences

• English: the question word comes first (Where do you live?).
• Hindi: the question word usually comes just before the verb (आप कहाँ रहते हैं?).

Agreement

कौन सा / कौन सी / कौन से changes with the noun's gender and number, like other adjectives:

• कौन सा घर? — which house?
• कौन सी किताब? — which book?
• कौन से बच्चे? — which children?

Tips

1. Learn the ten words in the table.
2. Turn statements into questions as practice.
3. Look up phrases in the dictionary for more examples.

Look up any word with English Hindi Dictionary →