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Today we’re going to have a nice easy relaxing lesson after having a quite few difficult lessons recently! We’re going to learn how to answer a telephone in Hindi. Why does this matter? Well, you want to be polite when you answer the phone because you never know who’s calling!

So you’re phone’s ringing, you pick it up. What’s the first thing you’d say in English? Hello! And believe it or not, that’s what we say in Hindi too; you pick up the phone and say - हैलो hailo! 

We don’t usually say नमस्ते namaste as you answer the phone which might seem a bit odd!

                         The word कौन kaun means ‘who’ in Hindi!

So after you’ve said hello you probably want to know who it is that’s called right? And that’s what we do! We usually ask आप कौन बोल रहे हैं? aap kaun bol rahe hain - and this means 'Who is speaking?’ and it’s very polite. 

Then the person that’s called you will hopefully say something like मैं राजुल हूँ main raajul hoon - I am Rajul. You’ll probably then realise who is it and you can get straight into your conversation about the Cricket or the latest Bollywood Gossip or the financial policy of Sweeden in the 1940s, whatever it is you talk about! 

Ok so you’ve finished chatting, the conversation is over. How do you end the call? It’s most common and polite to end with बाय बाय baay baay - Bye Bye!

Got it? Let’s go through it again, it’s easy! Answer the phone with हैलो, आप कौन बोल रहे हैं? hailo, aap kaun bol rahe hain - Hello, who is speaking? Have your conversation (whatever that is) then end with बाय बाय baay baay - Bye Bye!

You can learn more about this topic as well as hearing audio in a similar lesson on ISpeakHindi Click here!. 

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