Bengaluru Slang Explained - A Comprehensive Guide to Bangalore English and Kannada

If you’ve lived in Bengaluru for more than five minutes, you know that the city speaks a lot of languages - all with their unique Bangalorean style. There’s the mother tongue Kannada, as well as English, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi/Dakhini Urdu - all influencing one another strongly to create unique local dialects. Bengaluru has historically been a melting pot of cultures from much before the IT revolution, so it has inevitably created a unique speaking style over the decades and centuries. Before independence, different neighbourhoods of modern Bengaluru were simultaneously part of the British cantonment, Mysore Princely State and Madras Presidency. This has strongly influenced the composition of people and languages. So Bengaluru Kannada is uniquely shaped by these influences. And so are the other minority languages in the city like Tamil, Telugu and Dakhini Urdu.

Furthermore, Bangalore also has a unique form of English shaped by the exact same forces, spoken with an underlying syntax of Kannada, with some Tamil and Telugu sprinkled in, and propagated by the numerous convent schools in the British cantonment parts of the city.

So whether you’re a newcomer to the city and want to learn the slang, or have been living for a while and want to flex your Bengaluru street cred, this is your ultimate guide to understand Bengaluru Kannada and English slang.

1. Greetings & Calling Out People

In Bengaluru, you can call out people and greet them in various way depending on the situation and your relation with them.

Macha / Maga: Macha comes from Tamil and means son-in-law, whereas Maga comes from Kannada and means son. Both are used the same way on the streets, to call out for your closest buddies, like “dude” or “bro”.

"Ok Maga, don’t worry"
“Macha, let’s put one scene”

Guru: An all-weather term to address strangers or acquaintances similar to “hey man” or “hey sir”. Your go-to term when calling out to a waiter, auto driver, tea stall uncle, or even friends. It is medium polite, and a local way to call out to people. Can also be replaced with “Boss” in more anglicized neighbourhoods.

To an auto driver - "Enu Guru, ishtu late aagide?" (What sir, it got so late?)

Lei: A very informal, rough, and intimate way to get a close friend's attention in Kannada, kind of like “Yo” in English. Also used at the end of question sentences.

"Lei, hogonwa?" (“Yo, let's go?”),
“Eno-lei” (“What yo?”)

Da / Dei OR Ra / Rei: Often added to sentences for emphasis similar to the Kannada “Lei” - but these are used in English sentences too. “Da/Dei” comes from Tamil and “Ra/Rei” comes from Telugu, so you hear these variations depending on the neighbourhood.

“What Ra? Too much scene you’re putting!”,
“What Da, Macha?”,
“Why Da Dei?”

Sisya: Paired often with Guru, it literally means "disciple" in Kannada but it’s another super informal way to call out to your mates.

“Sisya, illi baaro lei” (“Bro, come here yo”)

Dovvu / Dove: A lighthearted term used to refer to someone's lover, romantic interest, or the act of flirting.

"Who is that? Nin Dove-a?"

Oota Aaytaa?: The undisputed standard greeting of Bengaluru. It literally means "Did you have food?", but functions as a universal "How are you?" If someone asks you this, know that they genuinely care. There is a variation “Tiffin aaytaa” that is used in the mornings, and is used with the same intention.

2. Everyday Phrases & Reactions

To survive and thrive in Namma Bengaluru, you need these essential expressions in your back pocket.

Swalpa Adjust Maadi: The ultimate Bengaluru life mantra. Translates to "Please adjust a little". It is used politely when you're squeezing into a packed BMTC bus, sharing a table at a crowded darshini, or pushing a deadline at work.

Gottu / Gottilla: Simple and essential - Gottu means "I know," and Gottilla means "I don't know."

"Address gottilla, Guru!"

Bombaat / Sakkath / Chindi: The holy trifecta of Bengaluru hype words! Use them interchangeably to describe anything awesome or hype-worthy.

"Filter coffee sakkath-aage ide!" (“The filter coffee is awesome!”)

Sum-Sumne/ Sim-Simply: It is used when you are doing something without good reason. Sumne means “Simply”, and Kannada has a habit of doubling the first part of the word for emphasis - so Kannada Sum-Sumne easily translates to English too as Sim-Simply!

"Sum-sumne tale tinbeda" (“Sim-Simply don’t eat my head” or “Don’t annoy me”)

Chumma/Summa: It is the Tamil synonym of Sumne, and is equally commonly used with the same meaning - doing something without good reason. Not to be confused with Hindi “chumma” that means kiss!

"Chumma we’re sitting here"

Ondu Kelsa Maadi: A classic problem-solving starter that translates to "Do this one thing." You'll hear this right before someone offers you unsolicited (but usually helpful) advice.

"Ond Kelsa Maadi… illi right tagoli, aamele dead end left" (“Do one thing, Take a right here, and afterwards turn left at the dead end/T-junction”)

Namma Bengaluru: Namma means “Ours” in Kannada. And Bangaloreans love using “Namma” for the city as well as public goods that benefit the society - because it is our city and it belongs to all of us! That is why our metro service is also called “Namma Metro” - It is the metro that belongs to all of us - Our Metro.

"Namma uru, Namma Bengaluru”

3. Cultural Must-Knows

This guide would be incomplete without sharing the knowledge of how to navigate the legendary darshini breakfast culture, the auto-rickshaw banter, and of course Bengaluru’s beloved IPL cricket team - RCB.

By-Two Coffee: A beloved Darshini tradition where you order one small cup of strong south Indian filter coffee, and the staff splits it cleanly into two cups for you and a friend. This math of splitting the coffee gets increasingly complex as more neighbourhood uncles join their local darshini meetup after their morning walk in the park. Depending on the size of the group, you could have “one-by-two coffee”, “two-by-three coffee”, “four-by-seven coffee”, etc. And the servers use their expertise to eyeball and patiently split 4 coffees into 7 cups for their patrons.

Meter mele one-and-half (Wonandaff): The infamous Bengaluru auto-rickshaw meter demand. Meaning "one-and-a-half times the standard fare". Bengaluru auto rickshaw drivers are never happy with the meter charge, but understandably from their perspective, it doesn’t take into account the traffic and stress of driving on our roads. Local bands like Thermal and a Quarter have even made songs commemorating this unique Bengaluru term.

Ee Sala Cup Namde: The battle cry of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fans. Translating to "This year the cup is ours," it is less of a phrase and more of an emotion that binds the entire city together every IPL season. A common misunderstanding that Hindi speakers have is that “Sala” means Year like “Saal” in Hindi, but that is incorrect. “Ee sala” means “This Time” in Kannada. And “Nam-de” means “Ours only”.

4. Bangalore English Quirks

Bengaluru has historically hosted a large and old British cantonment area with numerous old English medium convent schools, which means that English has had a lot of space and time to evolve a unique flavour and slang, different from anywhere else in the world. Bangalore English’s underlying syntax is heavily based on Kannada (and sometimes Tamil) - with the words on top being in English.

Putting Scene: Hanging out and doing a fun activity, usually an outing with friends.

“Come, let’s put some scene tonight!”

It seems: Attached to the end of any sentence to denote secondhand information or hearsay. It is a direct translation of Kannada “anthe” that is used at the end of sentences talking about a hearsay.

"The manager is resigning, it seems"

Sim-Simply: The exact English translation of the Kannada “Sum-Sumne” mentioned above.

“Sim-Simply don’t waste my time da”

Only: Placed emphatically after nouns or verbs for precision. It is a translation of the Kannada suffix “-e/-ne/-de”.

"That day only we met" or "She is still there only"

Means / See means: Used as a shorthand for conditional like if-then. It is a direct translation of the Kannada conditional “andare/endare”.

“You’re not coming means what I’ll do alone?”

And all: A frequently used suffix that means “and other things” or “etcetera”.

"We drank coffee tea and all",
“This and all you’ll tell now-ah?”

Put: Used for “putting” a drink - possibly comes from the way Kannada uses “put” or “haaku” in sentences, as in “oota haaki” (put food). Could also come from the Tamil word for put - “podu”, which is used in the same fashion.

“We’ll go and put one beer?”

Send: Used for “sending” a cigarette - basically smoking something. Possibly originates from Kannada “sedu” - which is the local word for smoking.

“Let’s come out and send one!”

Thulp: Overeating and stuffing your face with some delicious food - possibly originates as a variation of “gulp”, as in to gulp down but aggressively.

“I thulped some great burgers!”

Belt: Synonym of thulp - overeating and stuffing your face with some delicious food.

“I am gonna belt some biryani now!”

Off: A very commonly used emphasis word, that attempts to translate the Kannada emphasis suffix “-bid-/-bitt-”, as in “hog-bidu” (Go off), “maad-bidu” (Do off), or “tin-bidu” (Eat off). This usage doesn’t have a clear translation in standard English so Bangaloreans follow the verb with “off” to emphasise it.

“Do off your homework”,
“Eat off the biryani”,
“Come off to my place, we’ll put one scene”

Now you’re ready to put scene in Bengaluru!

Mastering the local slang is the quickest way to turn Bengaluru from just a place you live into a city you belong to. So next time you're out - don’t chumma go to work and come back. Grab a by-two coffee, say "swalpa adjust maadi" to the uncle next to you, and greet your mate with a confident "How are you da macha!” and put one scene together. Then only you’ll become off one full Bangalorean!

So maga, ondu kelsa maadi - if you’re ready to become even more Bangalorean, then put off one Kannada course with Bhashafy. This is designed by pakka real Bangaloreans, teaching you real-world Kannada to navigate the city. Sum-Sumne we won’t bug you with boring textbook grammar and all. Come off to our Complete Beginner Kannada course linked here, and I promise you I will teach you Kannada in the easiest way possible. If you want to chumma practice some Kannada for free, you can also use our free interactive Kannada vocabulary guide and free Kannada flashcard decks.