Lesson 3

Basic Greetings

Introduction

Welcome to Lesson 3! In this lesson, you will learn how to greet others and introduce yourself in Bengali. Greetings are an essential part of any conversation and are often the first step in connecting with others. Then, we will learn our first grammar topic: how to express locations in Bengali. By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to confidently say hello, ask how someone is doing, ask for someone’s name, inquire about their origin, and respond appropriately.

1. Key Phrases

1.1. Greetings

Hello
Hello (Muslim greeting)
Response to Assalamualaikum
Hello (English)
Good Morning!

নমস্কার (Nomoshkar)

আসসালামু আলাইকুম (Assalamualaikum)

উয়ালাইকুম আসসালাম (Waalaikum Assalam)

হ্যালো (haelo)

শুভ সকাল। (subho sokal)

1.2. Goodbye

Goodbye
Goodbye (Muslim context)

বিদায় (দিয়ে) নমস্কার (Bidai (diye) Nomoshkar)

খুদা হাফেজ (Khoda Hafez)

Cultural Insight

In Bengali culture, greetings vary depending on the context, formality, and relationship between speakers. For example:

“Nomoshkar” is a neutral greeting used across all communities in both formal and informal settings.
“Assalamualaikum” and “Khoda Hafez” are primarily used among Muslims but can also be used respectfully in mixed contexts.

1.3. Asking For Names

What is your name? [Formal/Respectful]
What is your name? [Informal]
My name is…

আপনার নাম কী? (Apnar naam ki?)

তোমার নাম কী? (Tomar naam ki?)

আমার নাম… (Amar naam…)

Understanding “You” in Bengali

Bengali has three different ways to say “you,” depending on the formality and relationship between the speakers:

আপনি (Apni): This is the formal and respectful way to say “you.” It is used when addressing elders, strangers, or in professional settings.
তুমি (Tumi): This is the informal way to say “you.” It is used with friends, peers, and people of the same age group.
তুই (Tui): This is a very informal and intimate way to say “you.” It is used with very close friends, younger siblings, or in casual settings. However, it can be considered rude if used inappropriately.

1.4. Asking About Well-Being

How are you? [Formal/Respectful]
How are you? [Informal]
How are you? [Intimate]
I’m fine, thank you.
I’m not well.
I’m so-so.
And you? [Formal/Respectful]
And you? [Informal]

আপনি কেমন আছেন? (Apni kemon achhen?)

তুমি কেমন আছো ? (Tumi kemon achho?)

তুই কেমন আছিস? (Tui kemon achhish?)

আমি ভালো আছি, ধন্যবাদ. (Ami bhalo achi, dhonnobad.)

আমি ভালো নেই . (Ami bhalo nei.)

আমি ভালো তাদ়মমানিক / মোটামুটি. (Ami bhalo ta-monomi.)

আর আপনি? (Ar apni?)

আর তুমি? (Ar tumi?)

1.5. Asking For Origin

Where are you from? [Formal/Respectful]
Where are you from? [Informal]
I am from [place].

আপনি কোথা থেকে এসেছেন? (Apni kotha theke eshechen?)

তুমি কোথা থেকে এসেছো? (Tumi kotha theke eshechho?)

আমি [place] থেকে এসেছি. (Ami [place] theke eshechi.)

Country Names And Nationalities

Here, we’ll introduce some country names (e.g. UK) and their corresponding nationality term (e.g. British).

Country English	Country	Nationality English	Nationality
Bangladesh	বাংলাদেশ	Bangladeshi	বাংলাদেশী
India	ভারত, হিন্দুস্তান, ইন্ডিয়া	Indian	ভারতীয়, হিন্দুস্তানি
USA	যুক্তরাষ্ট্র	American	আমেরিকান
UK	যুক্তরাজ্য	British	ব্রিটিশ
France	ফ্রান্স	French	ফরাসি
Germany	জার্মানি	German	জার্মান
Canada	কানাডা	Canadian	কানাডিয়ান
China	চীন	Chinese	চীনা
Japan	জাপান	Japanese	জাপানি
Australia	অস্ট্রেলিয়া	Australian	অস্ট্রেলীয়
Italy	ইতালি	Italian	ইতালীয়
Spain	স্পেন	Spanish	স্প্যানিশ
Brazil	ব্রাজিল	Brazilian	ব্রাজিলিয়ান

1.6. Asking For Location

In order to understand and be able to construct the responses to the questions above, we will have a look at the grammar behind it in the next section.

Where are you? [Formal/Respectful]
Where are you? [Informal]
I am in/at [place].
Where do you live? [Formal/Respectful]
Where do you live? [Informal]
I live in/at [place].

আপনি কোথায় (আছেন)? (Apni kothay?) (আছেন can be omitted)

তুমি কোথায় (আছো)? (Tumi kothay (accho)?) (আছো can be omitted)

আমি [place]-এ/ -তে/ -য়ে/ -য়. (Ami [place]-e/te/ye/y.)

আপনি কোথায় থাকেন? (Apni kothay thaken?)

তুমি কোথায় থাকো? (Tumi kothay thako?)

আমি [place]-এ/ -তে/ -য়ে/ -য় থাকি। (Ami [place]-e/te/ye/y thaki)

2. Expressing Location

Let’s get started with our first grammar topic! In this lesson, we want to explore the way Bengali states location focusing on how to indicate where someone is, where they are going or where an action takes place.

2.1. Postpositions and Postpositions Indicating Location

In order to learn how to indicate location we must first familiarize ourself with the concept of postpositions in Bengali. You probably have heard about ‘prepositions’ in English, which are small words like ‘in’, ‘at’, ‘on’, ‘next to’, etc. In English, this type of words usually comes before a noun (e.g. in the house, at the shop, on the chair, next to the table…), hence the name preposition (pre comes from latin meaning ‘before‘). In contrast to English, prepositions in Bengali come after the noun and are therefore called postpositions (post means ‘after‘ in latin). They can either be suffixes, e.g. endings to the noun, or be a separate word coming after the noun.

Let’s look at common postpositions for location to clarify this concept:

-এ (-e), -তে (-te), -য়ে (-ye) and -য় (-y) – in, at, to (used for direction and for static locations, used as a suffix)
থেকে (theke) – from (used for indicating origin / previous location, used as a separate word)

2.2. Origin / Previous Location

In Bengali, the concept of “from” (indicating the origin of movement or action) is expressed using the postposition থেকে (theke). We already got to know this word in the section 1.5. above. Let’s break up the sentences from there.

আপনি কোথা থেকে এসেছেন? (Apni kotha theke eshechen?)
– আপনি means ‘you’
– কোথা means ‘where’ (when the locative postposition is expressed it becomes কোথায়)
– থেকে means ‘from’ as we just learned
– এসেছেন is a conjugated form of the verb আসা (asa) (to come) in the present perfect (‘has come’)

আমি [place] থেকে এসেছি. (Ami [place] theke eshechi.)
e.g. আমি বাংলাদেশ থেকে এসেছি. (Ami bangladesh theke eshechi.)
– আমি means ‘I’
– বাংলাদেশ means ‘Bangladesh’
– থেকে means ‘from’ as we just learned
– এসেছি is the same verb we just and it means ‘have/has come’.

Note how থেকে (theke) follows the place: কোথা (khota) in the first example, and বাংলাদেশ (bangladesh) in the second example.

2.3. Direction and Static Locations

When expressing where someone is at, where someone is going or where something is happening, we use the postpositions -এ (-e), -তে (-te), -য়ে (-ye) or -য় (-y) after the name of the place. These postpositions are a little more complicated than the latter one we learned because we need to figure out which one of these four endings to use . Bengali cares much about the harmony and ease of pronouncing a word. Thus, which of the postposition is used depends on the last letter of the word to make the ending sound as smooth as possible:

-এ (-e) is used when the noun ends in a consonant.
-তে (-te) is used when the noun ends in a vowel sound. It can also be added as a extra add-on after an -এ (-e) ending, resulting in the ending -এতে (-ete). Don’t complicate yourself with this, but know it just in case you might hear it.
-য়ে (-ye) is used with monosyllabic words (short words that consist of only one syllable) and words that end in a standalone vowel (not in a matra).
-য় (-y) is used when the noun ends in an -a vowel, commonly used with place names (like Kolkata, Dhaka).

Examples with -এ (-e) :

স্কুল (skul) + -এ (-e)
→ স্কুলে (skul-e) – in/at/to school

অফিস (ofis) + -এ (-e)
→ অফিসে (ofis-e) – in/at/to the office

বাংলাদেশ (bangladesh) + -এ (-e)
→ বাংলাদেশে (bangladesh-e) – in/to Bangladesh

ভারত (bharot) + -এ (-e)
→ ভারতে (bharot-e) – in/to India

Examples with -তে (-te) :

বাড়ি (bari) + -তে (-te)
→ বাড়িতে (bari-te) – in/at/to the house (or simply: at home)

জার্মানি (jarmani) + -তে (-te)
→ জার্মানিতে (jarmani-te) – in/at/to Germany

Examples with -য়ে (-ye):

মা (ma) + –য়ে (-ye)
→ মায়ে (maye) – at mom’s/ to Mom

চা (cha) + –য়ে (-ye)
→ চায়ে (chaye) – in/to the tea

পা (pā) + –য়ে (-ye)
→ পায়ে (paye) – in/to the foot

ভাই (bhai) + –য়ে (-ye)
→ ভাইয়ে (bhaiye) – at brother’s / to Brother

Examples with -য় (-y):

কলকাতা (kolkata) + -য় (-y)
→ কলকাতায় (kolkata-y) – in/at/to Kolkata

ঢাকা (dhaka) + -য় (-y)
→ ঢাকায় (dhaka-y) – in/at/to Dhaka

কানাডা (kanada) + -য় (-y)
→ কানাডায় (kanada-y) – in/at/to Canada

কোথা (kotha) + -য় (-y)
→ কোথায় (kotha-y) – in/at/to where

The last example might sound a little confusing. To understand the difference in usage of কোথা (khota) and কোথায় (khota-y) let’s review two sentences we already learned above:

Where are you from? (I) তুমি কোথা থেকে এসেছো? (Tumi kotha theke eshechho?)
Where are you? (I) তুমি কোথায়? (tumi kothay?)

Since থেকে (meaning “from”) already marks location/direction, কোথা does not take a locative suffix in the first sentence. In the second sentence, কোথা is used to directly express location (like “at where”). So it takes the locative suffix -য় (-y).

Now, let’s get back to the sentences form the vocabulary sentences, to which we wanted to learn how to respond to.
We can now build sentences like:

আমি এখন বাড়িতে আছি। (Ami ekhon barite achhi.)
= I am at home now.
আমি এখন ফ্রান্সে আছি। (Ami ekhon franse achi.)
= I am in France now.
আমি কানাডায় থাকি। (Ami kanaday thaki)
= I live in Canada.
আমি বাড়িতে থাকি।(Ami barite thaki.)
= I live in the house.

We will discuss verbs later, so don’t get confused by the last word in these sentences.

2.4. Here, There and Elsewhere

There’s three more words I’d like to introduce here that brings us to a general concept of Bengali. Those words are ‘here’, ‘there’ and ‘elsewhere’ in Bengali: এখানে (ekhane), ওখানে (okhane), সেখানে (shekhane). Bengali in general makes the distinction of these three distances:

এখানে (ekhane) refers to a location near the speaker.
ওখানে (okhane) refers to a location near the listener or a little away from both.
সেখানে (shekhane) refers to a location far from both speaker and listener, or previously mentioned in the conversation.

You will soon come upon other words that use this type of distinction based on proximity, e.g. the demonstrative pronouns that will be discussed in the next lesson.

For now, let’s have a look at some example sentences using these words:

আমি এখানে (Ami ekhane)
= I am here.
তুমি ওখানে (Tumi okhane)
= You are there (near).
আপনি সেখানে (Apni shekhane)
= You are there (far).

Unlike in English where we need to use the verb “to be”, no verb is needed in this type of sentences in Bengali. We will learn more about the verb “to be” in Bengali in future lessons.

2.4. Bonus: How to say 'from... till...'

To say “I’m going from the house till the bus station” in Bengali, you can use the postposition থেকে (theke) for “from” and পর্যন্ত (porjonto) for expressing “till” (indicating the direction or destination).

Here are some examples (as mentioned before: just focus on the words and concepts taught now and ignore the other part of the sentence):

আমি বাড়ি থেকে বাস স্টেশন পর্যন্ত যাচ্ছি। (Ami bari theke bas station porjonto jachchi.)
= I am going from the house till the bus station.

This construct can also be used to express time intervals in Bengali:

৩টা থেকে ৪টা পর্যন্ত (3ṭā theke 4ṭā porjonto)
= From 3 o’clock to 4 o’clock.

So, the same structure applies to both places and time!

3. Practice Dialogue

Try to understand the dialogues below by identifying the expressions we learned in this lesson.

Formal Setting:

Person A: নমস্কার! (Nomoshkar!)
Person B: নমস্কার! আপনি কেমন আছেন? (Nomoshkar! Apni kemon achhen?)
Person A: আমি ভালো, ধন্যবাদ. আর আপনি? (Ami bhalo, dhonnobad. Ar apni?)
Person B: আমি ভালো. আপনার নাম কী? (Ami o bhalo. Apnar naam ki?)
Person A: আমার নাম রোহিত. আপনি কোথা থেকে এসেছেন? (Amar naam Rohit. Apni kotha theke eshechen?)
Person B: আমি বাংলাদেশ থেকে এসেছি. (Ami Bangladesh theke eshechi.)
Person A: আপনি কোথায় আছেন? (Apni kothay achhen? — Where are you?)
Person B: আমি এখন কলকাতায় আছি। (Ami ekhon Kolkatay achhi. — I am in Kolkata now.)
Person A: আপনি কোথায় থাকেন? (Apni kothay thaken? — Where do you live?)
Person B: আমি ঢাকায় থাকি। (Ami Dhakay thaki. — I live in Dhaka.)

Informal Setting:

Person A: আসসালামু আলাইকুম! (Assalamualaikum!)
Person B: উয়ালাইকুম আসসালাম! তুমি কেমন আছো ? (Waalaikum Assalam! Tumi kemon achho?)
Person A: আমি ভালো. আর তুমি? (Ami bhalo. Ar tumi?)
Person B: আমিও ভালো! তোমার নাম কী? (Ami o bhalo! Tomar naam ki?)
Person A: আমার নাম সারা. তুমি কোথা থেকে এসেছো ? (Amar naam Sara. Tumi kotha theke eshechho?)
Person B: আমি ভারত থেকে এসেছি. (Ami Bharat theke eshechhi.)
Person A: তুমি কোথায় আছো? (Tumi kothay achho? — Where are you?)
Person B: আমি এখন দিল্লিতে আছি। (Ami ekhon Dillitay achhi. — I’m in Delhi right now.)
Person A: তুমি কোথায় থাকো? (Tumi kothay thako? — Where do you live?)
Person B: আমি মুম্বাইয়ে থাকি। (Ami Mumbaite thaki. — I live in Mumbai.)

4. Exercises

Tip: Create flashcards to match the Bengali phrases to their English meanings.

1. Fill-in-the-Blank Exercise:

Complete these dialogues:

1.
A: আপনি কেমন _______?
B: আমি ________, ________। আর আপনি?

2.
A: তোমার নাম _______?
B: আমার নাম _______।

3.
A: আপনি কোথা _______?
B: আমি ঢাকা থেকে এসেছি।

4.
A: তুমি কোথায় _______?
B: আমি কলকাতায় আছি।

5.
A: শুভ _______! কেমন আছো?
B: ভালো আছি।

6.
A: আপনার দেশ _______?
B: আমার দেশ ভারত ।

7.
A: তুমি কি বাংলাদেশ _______?
B: না, আমি ফ্রান্স থেকে এসেছি।

8.
A: হ্যালো! আপনি কোথা _______?
B: আমি নিউ ইয়র্ক থেকে _______।

Translation Practice:

Translate the following sentences into Bengali two times. First use the formal you, then the informal you.

Hello, how are you?
I’m fine, thank you. And you?
I’m fine too. What is your name?
My name is Maya. What is your name?
My name is Sarah. Nice to meet you!
Nice to meet you too! Where are you from?
I’m from the US. And you?
I’m from India.
Where are you now?
I am in China now. What about you?
I am in the UK.
Goodbye!
Goodbye!

Introduce Yourself!:

Practice introducing yourself in a formal and informal setting. Use the dialogues provided as a guide. You can send me the dialogues via the ‘contact us’ site for correction!

Answers:

1. আছেন? / ভালো, ধন্যবাদ / ভাল, ধন্যবাদ*)

2. কী? / সারা (Sara), আরিফ (Arif), মায়া (Maya), etc.*)

3. Blanks: থেকে এসেছেন?*)

4. আছো?

5. সকাল, দুপুর, সন্ধ্যা depending on time — meaning Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening

6. কী?*)

7. থেকে এসেছো?

8. থেকে এসেছেন? / এসেছি)

Summary

Congratulations! You’ve learned the basics of greeting someone in Bengali and were introduced into the first grammar topic! Remember to practice often and try using the phrases above. In the next lesson, you’ll learn some more basic grammar topics, needed as a foundation to start building sentences in Bengali.