A friendly guide to Hinglish chat slang

Spend five minutes chatting with strangers in India and you’ll see sentences like “kya scene hai, bro?” or “full timepass tha yaar”. That’s Hinglish, the everyday mix of Hindi and English that millions of people type without thinking. If you’re new to it, or just curious, here is a friendly guide to the words you’ll see most.

A quick note: meanings vary a little from city to city, and slang changes fast. Treat this as a starting point, not a dictionary.

Greetings and small talk

• Kya scene hai? — “What’s up?” or “What’s the plan?”
• Kaise ho? / Kaisi ho? — “How are you?” (the first is usually used for men, the second for women; “kaise ho” is often used for everyone in chat)
• Sab badhiya? — “All good?” Common reply: “Haan, badhiya!” (“Yes, great!”)
• Kya chal raha hai? — “What’s going on?”, usually about your day or life in general
• Aur batao — literally “tell me more”; in chat it means “so, what else is new?” and keeps the conversation going

Words for people

• Yaar — friend or buddy; also used like “man” (“yaar, this exam is killing me”)
• Bhai / bro — brother; used for friends and, casually, for almost anyone
• Behen / sis — sister; used the same way

Reactions

• Sahi hai — “That’s right” or “Nice!”
• Mast — great, awesome (“mast movie thi” — “it was a great movie”)
• Bindaas — carefree, cool, relaxed
• Arre — an exclamation of surprise, frustration or emphasis (“arre, no way!”)
• Haan / haanji — yes; “haanji” is more polite
• Nahi / na — no; “na” is also added to the end of sentences for emphasis (“come na!”)
• Accha — “okay”, “I see”, or “really?” depending on the tone

Everyday favourites

• Timepass — something done just to pass the time; can be fun or pointless
• Jugaad — a clever, low-cost fix or workaround
• Chill maar — “relax”, “take it easy”
• Pakka — definitely, for sure (“pakka?” — “are you sure?”)
• Scene — the situation or plan (“aaj ka scene kya hai?” — “what’s the plan today?”)
• Fundae — tips, advice or theories, often in college slang
• Bakwaas — nonsense, rubbish

Chat shorthand

• k / kk — okay
• hmm — thinking, or sometimes a polite way of saying “I have nothing to add”
• plz / pls — please
• gm / gn — good morning / good night
• lol, lmao — laughing
• ttyl — talk to you later
• idk — I don’t know

A few friendly tips

• If you don’t understand, ask. “Sorry, what does ‘fundae’ mean?” is a great conversation starter in itself. Most people love explaining their slang.
• Don’t force it. You don’t need to use Hinglish to fit in. Plenty of people chat in English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi or any mix they like. Chatavi supports every Indian script and emoji.
• Keep it kind. Some slang can turn into insults or gaali. Abusive language directed at someone breaks our Community Guidelines, and the worst of it is blocked automatically.

If you’re using chats to improve your English, see our guide to practising English by chatting. And if you’re ready to try out your new vocabulary, pick an interest tag and say “kya scene hai?” to someone new.