Nepali

Lesson 1 Nepali Pronouns

Words and pronouns matter. Social constructions such as caste and gender dictate interactions with an underlying theme of purity and respect. When addressing someone in Nepali, the pronoun used also dictates the conjugation of the sentence and sentence verbs. In this lesson, we will cover the most commonly used pronouns.

First Person

Nepali Script Romanized Pronunciation English Translation
ma I
हामी hāmī We

Second Person

Nepali Script Romanized Pronunciation English Translation
तँ tam̐ You (low respect)***
तिमी timī You (medium respect)**
तपाईँ tapāī You (high respect) *

***Ta form is used when speaking to dogs/animals and sometimes children. Learn to recognize it, but do not use it when speaking to someone in Nepali.

**Timi is for familiar friends, children, and brothers and sisters.

**Tapai is the safest pronoun for non-native Nepali speakers to use with everyone. Always address/refer to elders with this pronoun, including when speaking about your parents

Third Person

Nepali Script Romanized Pronunciation English Translation
ū He/She (neutral respect)
उनी uni He/She (medium respect)
उहाँ waha He/She (high respect)

Second and Third Person Plural

To make plural forms of second and third person, add हरू (harū) to the end of the pronoun.

Nepali Script Romanized Pronunciation English Translation
तिमीहरू timiharu You all (medium respect)
तपाईँहरू tapaiharu You all (high respect)
उनीहरू uniharu They (medium respect)
उहाँहरू wahaharu They (high respect)

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Resources for Self-Instructional Learners of Less Commonly Taught Languages Copyright © by University of Wisconsin-Madison Students in African 671 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.