You do not need to learn Nepali to travel in Nepal. You need about twenty words, and they will change the trip out of all proportion to the effort. Greetings, numbers, a way to ask how much and how far, and the sentence that stops food arriving on your plate. Everything below is written in Devanagari with a plain English pronunciation, not a linguistic transliteration.
Greetings and courtesy
Nepali has no everyday word that maps onto please. Politeness lives in the verb ending instead: a verb ending in nuhos is the respectful form, and using it is what makes a request polite. So sit down, said politely, is basnuhos.
| Nepali | Say it like | Means |
|---|---|---|
| नमस्ते | na-mas-tay | Hello, and goodbye, palms together |
| नमस्कार | na-mas-kaar | The same, more formal and more respectful |
| धन्यवाद | dhan-ya-baad | Thank you. Used less often than in English |
| सञ्चै हुनुहुन्छ? | san-chai hu-nu-hun-cha | Are you well? The standard follow-up to namaste |
| माफ गर्नुहोस् | maaf gar-nu-hos | Sorry, or excuse me |
| हुन्छ | hun-cha | Yes, fine, that works. Enormously useful |
| ठीक छ | theek cha | It is all right, that is fine |
Two more words matter as much as any greeting: दाइ, dai, meaning elder brother, and दिदी, didi, meaning elder sister. You use them for people who are not your relatives, all the time, for anyone roughly your own age or a little older. The younger equivalents are भाइ, bhai, and बहिनी, bahini. Addressing a tea stall owner as didi rather than as nothing at all changes the tone of the exchange completely, and it is covered properly in our piece on Nepali greetings and how they work.
Numbers, and the one that is a trap
| Number | Nepali | Say it like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | एक | ek |
| 2 | दुई | doo-ee |
| 3 | तीन | teen |
| 4 | चार | chaar |
| 5 | पाँच | paanch |
| 6 | छ | cha |
| 7 | सात | saat |
| 8 | आठ | aath |
| 9 | नौ | nau |
| 10 | दश | das |
| 100 | सय | sai |
| 1000 | हजार | ha-jaar |
छ is the trap. It is the number six and it is also the verb is, which means cha turns up constantly in sentences that have nothing to do with counting. कति छ, kati cha, is how much is there. You will hear cha at the end of a great many sentences and it will not be a six.
Money and shopping
कति? kati, is how much, and it is the single most useful question word in the language. कति पर्छ? kati parcha, is what does it cost. महँगो भयो, mahango bhayo, means that has become expensive, and it is the polite opening of a negotiation rather than a complaint. In shops with marked prices there is nothing to negotiate; in a market there usually is.
Food and the table
| Nepali | Say it like | Means |
|---|---|---|
| पानी | paa-nee | Water |
| खाना | khaa-naa | Food, and specifically a full meal |
| चिया | chi-yaa | Tea, meaning milk tea unless you say otherwise |
| मीठो छ | mee-tho cha | It is delicious. Worth saying, and always well received |
| पुग्यो | pug-yo | That is enough. Stops more food arriving |
| अलिकति | a-li-ka-ti | A little. Use it before the ladle, not after |
| म मासु खान्न | ma maa-su khaan-na | I do not eat meat |
पुग्यो is the one to learn first if you are staying with families. Helpings are ladled onto your plate without being offered, and the polite decline has to be said out loud.
Directions and the trail
कहाँ छ? kahaan cha, is where is it. बाटो, baato, is the road, the path or the way, and putting the two together gets you most of the way to any question about route. कति टाढा छ? kati taadha cha, is how far is it, and the answer will be given in walking hours rather than in kilometres, which is the more useful unit anyway.
बिस्तारै, bistaarai, means slowly, and it is both a request to a driver and the standard piece of advice given to anyone walking uphill. It is genuinely the right advice: going slowly is the core of acclimatising properly, as set out in our altitude guide. सीधै जानुहोस्, seedhai jaanuhos, means go straight on.
Two short words carry a lot of traffic. छैन, chaina, means there is not any, and you will hear it far more than you want to. होइन, hoina, means no, it is not so, as opposed to हो, ho, which means yes, it is so.
Where Nepali will not get you far
Nepali is the national language and it works almost everywhere, but it is not the first language everywhere. In the high northern valleys of Humla and Dolpa the everyday speech is a Tibetan dialect, and older villagers may have little Nepali at all. In the Tarai, Tharu, Awadhi and Maithili are spoken at home. The far west has its own strongly distinct varieties, and the language itself has deep roots in the Karnali — it descends from the Khas speech of the medieval kingdom based at Sinja, which is a story told in the Sinja valley and the origins of Nepali and in the lost Khas Malla kingdom.
None of that is a reason not to learn the twenty words. It is a reason to expect your pronunciation to be corrected in different directions in different valleys, which is one of the pleasures of travelling slowly, and something we argue for in fewer stops, richer trip.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you say thank you in Nepali?
धन्यवाद, dhanyabaad. It is used more sparingly than thank you is in English, and repeating it for every small thing can sound formal or distant. A nod and a namaste often does the same work.
Is there a word for please in Nepali?
Not in the way English uses one. Politeness is carried by the verb ending instead: a form ending in nuhos is the respectful one. Basnuhos, sit down, is polite because of that ending, not because a separate word was added.
What does dai mean?
Elder brother. It is used for men who are not relatives, as a normal form of address for someone around your age or older. Didi is the female equivalent, and bhai and bahini are the younger forms.
Do I need Nepali to trek in Nepal?
No. English is widely spoken on established routes and by guides everywhere. Off those routes, and particularly in the far west and the Karnali, a few words of Nepali stop being decorative and start being useful.
Is Nepali written in the same script as Hindi?
Yes, both use Devanagari, and a reader of one can sound out the other. The languages are related but not the same, and vocabulary and grammar diverge quickly beyond the basics.