Lesson 1 vocabulary, Hello — First Meeting (CEFR A1)
namaskaara
hello / namaskara (greeting)
same Sanskrit-origin word as Hindi namaskaar; used for both hello and goodbye
hesaru
name
ends in -u; cognate with Tamil peyar, Telugu peru
nanna
my
genitive of naanu (I); like Hindi meraa, Tamil en
neenu
you (informal singular)
use only with close friends, children, or juniors; rude with strangers
neevu
you (formal / plural)
default polite form with strangers; like Hindi aap, Tamil neengal
ellinda
from where
elli (where) + -inda (ablative 'from'); parallel to Hindi kahaam se
bandiddeeraa
have you come (formal)
from baru (to come); informal form is bandiddeeyaa
dhanyavaada
thank you
Sanskrit-origin; same word family as Hindi dhanyavaad
naanu
I
cognate with Tamil naan, Telugu nenu
nimma
your (formal / plural)
genitive of neevu; pairs with nanna the way neevu pairs with naanu
-inda
from (ablative suffix)
attaches to nouns: Dehli-yinda = 'from Delhi'; like Hindi se, Tamil -iliruntu
-ige
to / for (dative suffix)
Bengaloor-ige = 'to Bengaluru'; like Hindi ko, Tamil -ukku
svaagata
welcome
used with dative: X-ige svaagata = 'welcome to X'
cennaagide
is nice / is good
cennaagi (well) + ide (is); learn as a fixed chunk meaning 'it's nice'
kudiyona
let's drink
from kudi (to drink); -ona ending = 'let's ___', like Hindi -em