Learn Hindi from French at PBC Languages
Free Hindi practice for French speakers: native teachers in small groups plus 1-to-1 exchanges, half an hour each language, at PBC Languages.
Create your free accountNo card needed. Exchanges between members are always free.
French gives you a real head start on Hindi vocabulary before you even open a textbook. Numbers like 'do' (two) and 'teen' (three) come from the same Indo-European root as 'deux' and 'trois', and words like 'naam' (name) echo 'nom' almost syllable for syllable. You'll also recognise loanwords that travelled the other way: 'pyjama', 'shampoo' and 'bungalow' all started life in Hindi or nearby Indian languages and landed in French more or less intact.
What trips up French speakers is the sound system. Hindi splits consonants into aspirated and non-aspirated pairs that French doesn't distinguish at all - 'kaam' (work) and its aspirated cousin 'khaam' sound identical to an untrained French ear until you learn to push a puff of air. Retroflex sounds like ट and ड, made by curling the tongue back, have no equivalent in French either, so you're building a new mouth position from scratch. The French uvular 'r' also has to be retrained into the lighter tap used for र.
Word order is the other big shift: Hindi is subject-object-verb with postpositions after the noun, while French is subject-verb-object with prepositions before it, so 'to the house' becomes 'house-to' in Hindi and the verb jumps to the end of the sentence. The alphabet, Devanagari, looks intimidating but is actually more logical than French spelling once you learn it - each symbol has one sound, no silent letters, no 'ent' that disappears in speech.
Words you will actually hear
| Here | Elsewhere | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| do | deux | Both mean 'two' and come from the same ancient root - the sound similarity is real, not a coincidence. |
| teen | trois | 'Three' in both languages shares the same Indo-European ancestor, which is why the 't' sound survives in both. |
| naam | nom | 'Name' in Hindi and French are close cousins - hearing 'naam' should feel familiar rather than foreign. |
| maa | maman | Both mean 'mum' and share the same soft, doubled sound that shows up in most languages for the closest relative. |
| pajaama | pyjama | Same word, same meaning - French borrowed it directly from Hindi, so you already own this one. |
| shaimpoo | shampooing | Comes from the Hindi verb 'champo' (to massage) - French just added its own ending on top. |
| bangla | bungalow | The French word for a single-storey house comes straight from this Hindi term for a Bengal-style dwelling. |
| kaam | comme | False friend: 'kaam' means 'work', it has nothing to do with 'comme' (as/like) even though they sound alike. |
| bas | bas | False friend: written and pronounced almost the same, but in Hindi it means 'enough' or 'bus', not 'low' or 'stockings'. |
| rang | rang | False friend: 'rang' means 'colour' in Hindi, while in French it means 'rank' or 'row' - same shape, unrelated meaning. |
Classes coming up
Times in your own time zone. This list changes every day.
How it works here
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Sign up and say your level
Two minutes. If you do not know your level, we place you in the first class.
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Pick a class or an exchange
Classes are led by a native teacher. An exchange is with another member: half the time in their language, half in yours.
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Join by video, nothing to install
From your phone or your computer. If you cannot make it, cancel and get your place back.
Questions about this
How long does it take a French speaker to hold a basic conversation in Hindi?
With regular practice, most people get through simple exchanges - introductions, ordering food, asking directions - within a few months of steady classes and exchanges. The aspirated consonants and word order take longer to feel natural than the vocabulary does, so don't judge your progress only by how many words you know.
Is the 1-to-1 exchange really free?
Yes. You spend half an hour helping someone with French and half an hour practising Hindi with them - no money changes hands, you're trading time and language, not paying for a lesson.
What level of Hindi do I need before joining an exchange?
None - you can start from zero. Group classes with native teachers are where you build the basics; the exchange is for putting them to use with someone who's actually speaking the language day to day.
How exactly does the half-hour split work?
You agree it with your partner beforehand: thirty minutes in Hindi, thirty minutes in French, back to back in the same session. Most pairs set a timer so neither language eats into the other's time.
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