In this lesson, you will learn to say your name in Hindi. The English first-person pronoun is “My”.
Hindi has 3 equivalents for “my”.
1. मेरा Mera – To be used with singular masculine nouns.
2. मेरी Meree – To be used with singular and plural feminine nouns.
3. मेरे Mere – To be used with plural masculine nouns.
Examples:
My bed – मेरा बिस्तर Mera bistar – We have used mera here as bistar (bed) is masculine in Hindi and bistar is singular.
My dogs – मेरे कुत्ते Mere kutthe – We have used mere here as kuttha (dog) is masculine in Hindi and kutthe is plural.
My book – मेरी किताब Meree kitaab – We have used meree here as kitaab (book) is feminine in Hindi and kitaab is singular.
My cats – मेरी बिल्लियाँ Meree billiyaan – We have used meree here as billi (cat) is feminine in Hindi and billiyaan is plural.
Here is one of many peculiar cases:
My phone – मेरी फ़ोन Meree phone
My phones – मेरी फ़ोन Meree phone
In both cases, we have the same Hindi translation and so the context of the sentence decides whether the phone is singular or plural.
Now, coming to our main topic:
The word “Name” falls under the category of masculine nouns in Hindi and so “My name” is always “Mera naam”. Naam is the Hindi word for name.
So,
My name is Ravi = Mera naam Ravi hai मेरा नाम रवि है
My name is Harry = Mera naam Harry hai मेरा नाम हैरी है
My name is Lily = Mera naam Lily hai मेरा नाम लिलि है
My name is Rashmi = Mera naam Rashmi hai मेरा नाम रश्मि है
In examples 3 and 4, you may be wondering when is mera used instead of meree as the names Lily and Rashmi are of girls. This is because of the reason mentioned above: The word “name / naam” is masculine and “mera” qualifies “name” and so it is always “mera naam” no matter the gender of the person saying the sentence.
I’m stressing this point because most of them get confused with this.