Lesson 1 vocabulary — Hello — First Meeting (CEFR A1)
namaskāra
hello / namaskara (greeting)
same Sanskrit-origin word as Hindi namaskār; used for both hello and goodbye
hesaru
name
ends in -u; cognate with Tamil peyar, Telugu pēru
nanna
my
genitive of nānu (I); like Hindi merā, Tamil en
nīnu
you (informal singular)
use only with close friends, children, or juniors; rude with strangers
nīvu
you (formal / plural)
default polite form with strangers; like Hindi āp, Tamil nīṅgaḷ
ellinda
from where
elli (where) + -inda (ablative 'from'); parallel to Hindi kahāṁ se
bandiddīrā
have you come (formal)
from baru (to come); informal form is bandiddīyā
dhanyavāda
thank you
Sanskrit-origin; same word family as Hindi dhanyavād
nānu
I
cognate with Tamil nān, Telugu nēnu
nimma
your (formal / plural)
genitive of nīvu; pairs with nanna the way nīvu pairs with nānu
-inda
from (ablative suffix)
attaches to nouns: Dehli-yinda = 'from Delhi'; like Hindi se, Tamil -iliruntu
-ige
to / for (dative suffix)
Beṅgaḷūr-ige = 'to Bengaluru'; like Hindi ko, Tamil -ukku
svāgata
welcome
used with dative: X-ige svāgata = 'welcome to X'
cennāgide
is nice / is good
cennāgi (well) + ide (is); learn as a fixed chunk meaning 'it's nice'
kuḍiyōṇa
let's drink
from kuḍi (to drink); -ōṇa ending = 'let's ___', like Hindi -ēṁ