The single most natural Hindi opener is और? — literally ‘and?’. Said alone with a rising tone it means ‘so, what’s new’. It sounds like nothing and does an enormous amount of work. Friends greet each other with और, भाई? and the conversation is underway.

आप सुनाइए is the phrase that separates fluent-sounding learners from stuck ones. It literally means ‘you narrate’ and it hands the conversation back. After answering how you are, always return the question — not doing so reads as abrupt.

Also note चल रहा है. Hindi speakers rarely answer a greeting with enthusiasm. ‘It’s going’ is the standard, contented reply, and answering everything is wonderful can sound faintly boastful.

The same greeting changes shape depending on who you face.

Three things adjust together: the pronoun (आप/तुम), the verb ending (हैं/हो), and the adjective for gender (कैसे/कैसी). Getting the pronoun right but the verb wrong is the most common learner error and it is immediately audible.

Hindi has no everyday equivalent of a crisp ‘bye’ — people use namaste again, or the English bye, or one of these. अच्छा is the universal signal that a conversation is ending; it means ‘okay/right’ and Indians say it several times while winding down a call. अपना ध्यान रखना is warm and used freely, including with people you do not know well.

Greetings in India are often not really questions. आप कैसे हैं is closer to a courtesy formula than a genuine health enquiry, and the expected answer is short and positive. Answering with detailed problems to a casual greeting surprises people.

Enquiring after family is normal and expected, not intrusive. घर पर सब कैसे हैं? — how is everyone at home — is a standard part of greeting someone you know, and skipping it can seem cold. Similarly, questions about your job, salary, marital status and children arrive far earlier in Indian conversations than Western ones. It is warmth, not interrogation, and a light answer is perfectly acceptable.

कैसे uses the ऐ vowel, closer to the vowel in English ‘bed’ than to ‘kay-say’. हैं is nasalised through the nose without a hard n; drop the nasal and you have said the singular है. बढ़िया contains ढ़, the aspirated flap — curl, flick and add breath. And ठीक-ठाक opens both syllables with an aspirated retroflex ṭh, so puff on each.

• Mixing pronoun and verb, as in आप कैसे हो. It must be आप कैसे हैं.
• Not returning the question. Always add आप सुनाइए or और आप?
• Answering a casual greeting with a detailed account of your problems.
• Using तुम with someone you have just met.
• Forgetting कैसी for a woman and saying कैसे.

1. Greet five different people correctly, adjusting pronoun and verb each time.
2. Practise answering कैसे हैं and returning the question in one breath.
3. Say goodbye three different ways.
4. Ask after someone’s family in Hindi.
5. Record yourself doing a full thirty-second greeting exchange, both sides.