Have you just moved to Mumbai or Pune for work or studies? Maybe you've married into a Maharashtrian family and want to chat with your in-laws over a cup of chaha? Or maybe you grew up abroad with Marathi-speaking parents and want to finally reply to your aaji in Marathi? Whatever brings you here, you've picked a great language to learn. Marathi can seem tricky at first, mostly because there aren't many good resources for beginners. So here are some tips to get you started, based on Bhashafy's Marathi learning curriculum.
By reading this, you've already taken the first step. Marathi is spoken by nearly 100 million people, mainly in and around Maharashtra, across an area about as large as Germany or Japan. It has been written for centuries, from Sant Dnyaneshwar's Dnyaneshwari in the 13th century to the Marathi plays, films and songs you hear today, and in 2024 it was officially recognised as a classical language of India. Learning it connects you with the culture and heritage of millions of Maharashtrians. And if you live in Maharashtra, even a little Marathi makes your life not only more convenient, but also so much more interesting, whether you're chatting with the bhaajiwala at the market, your watchman or your neighbours.
You don't need to master Marathi grammar before you start speaking
A lot of people give up on Marathi before they really start, because traditional classes begin with grammar rules and the barakhadi (the chart of letter and vowel combinations kids learn in school). With the right guidance, Marathi is much easier than it looks, even if you don't speak any other Indian language. And I will guide you through how to learn it.
And if you already speak another Indian language like Hindi, you have a big head start. Marathi follows the same sentence structure as Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali and even Tamil or Telugu, and it shares a lot of everyday vocabulary with Hindi. If you can read Hindi, you can already read most of Marathi, because both are written in Devanagari. So don't let anyone tell you Marathi is too hard to learn.
Four things that set Marathi apart from English and Hindi
Marathi has some big similarities with languages like English and Hindi, and some big differences. It helps to know where you can lean on a language you already speak, and where you need to learn something new. Here are the four that matter most for a beginner.
1) Marathi puts the verb at the end of the sentence
In Marathi, the verb comes at the end. All major Indian languages follow this Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, while English uses Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).
- English: I drink tea (S-V-O). Subject "I", verb "drink", object "tea"
- Marathi: Mi chaha pito (S-O-V). Subject "Mi" (I), object "chaha" (tea), verb "pito" (drink)
- Hindi: Main chai peeta hoon (S-O-V). Subject "Main" (I), object "chai" (tea), verb "peeta hoon" (drink)
The Marathi and Hindi sentences line up word for word, and both end with the verb. In English, "drink" sits in the middle.
If you know another Indian language, you can skip the rearranging step, because the words fall in the same order. If you're learning through English, just remember that the verb goes last.
2) Marathi has three genders, and they show up everywhere
Every noun in Marathi is masculine, feminine or neuter, and the words around it change to match. Hindi has two genders. Marathi adds a third, neuter gender. So even inanimate objects like a road, car or home can be masculine, feminine or neuter gendered.
Take the word for "big":
- Rasta mothaa aahe (रस्ता मोठा आहे) - The road is big. Rasta is masculine
- Gaadi mothi aahe (गाडी मोठी आहे) - The car is big. Gaadi is feminine
- Ghar motha aahe (घर मोठं आहे) - The house is big. Ghar is neuter
The masculine ending is a long "aa", the feminine is "i", and the neuter is a short, slightly nasal "a" (Hindi speakers to note - it is written with a dot, ं, in the script).
Your own gender shows up too. A man says Mi jaato (I go) and a woman says Mi jaate. In the past tense it's Mi gelo and Mi geli (I went). So from day one, your verbs reflect who you are.
It sounds like a lot to keep track of, but gender follows clear patterns, and the common words stick quickly with regular use. Nobody in Pune will mind if you get the gender of a chair wrong now and then.
3) Marathi changes its words depending on who you're talking to
Marathi has built-in levels of respect, so the pronoun and verb ending you pick depend on who you're talking to.
"You" has two everyday forms. The formal tumhi is for elders, strangers, in-laws and anyone you want to show respect to. The informal tu is for close friends, younger family members and children. The verb changes to match, and with tu it also changes with the gender of the person you're talking to:
- Tumhi kase aahat? - How are you? (formal)
- Tu kasa aahes? - How are you? (informal, to a man)
- Tu kashi aahes? - How are you? (informal, to a woman)
If you're ever unsure, go with tumhi. Nobody minds a little extra respect, but using tu with an elder can come across as rude. You'll also hear aapan, an even more respectful "you" used in formal speech.
"He" and "she" work the same way. To (he) and ti (she) are for people you're close to or who are younger than you. For elders and people you look up to, Marathi uses the plural forms te (he) and tya (she), and the verb goes plural too:
- To aala - He came (informal)
- Baba aale - Dad came (respectful)
- Ti aali - She came (informal)
- Aaji aalya - Grandma came (respectful)
Maharashtrians also add respect to names. Neighbours and older colleagues become Sunita-tai (tai = elder sister), Joshi-kaka (kaka = uncle) or Anil-rao, and it's a nice habit to pick up early.
So before you speak, ask yourself one quick question: who am I talking to, and who am I talking about?
4) Marathi uses Devanagari, the same script as Hindi
Marathi is written in Devanagari, the script also used for Hindi, Sanskrit and Nepali. Each letter maps to a specific sound, so words are written exactly as they're said. The logic is the same as every other Indian script: vowels, consonants, and vowel signs (matras) that attach to consonants.
If you already read Hindi, you're almost there. The script is practically identical, apart from a few sounds:
- च and ज often sound like "ts" and "dz" in Marathi. चार (four) is tsaar, and जा (go) is dzaa
- ळ is a retroflex "l", made with the tongue curled back, as in शाळा (shaala, school). Hindi doesn't use this letter
- ऐ and औ are said as "a-i" and "a-u", close to "eye" and "ow", so पैसे (money) sounds like pa-i-se
Now, if you don't know Devanagari, should you start with the script? I recommend getting comfortable with spoken Marathi first. Learning to read is a project of its own, and it's much easier once you already know how the words sound. Think of it as step 2, after you've made some progress on step 1: speaking.
Where to go from here
You're ready to begin. Or, as a Maharashtrian host says the moment you walk in, ya, basa (come in, have a seat)!
If you want to progress from phrases and words to having real conversations in Marathi, a bit of structure makes a big difference. Start with Bhashafy's Complete Marathi Course for Beginners and see how far a little consistency can take you.
Bhashafy has over 20,000 satisfied learners across 100+ countries and millions of minutes of lessons taught. Bhashafy's courses are some of the most widely used, highly rated and bestselling courses for Indian languages across the world.
Thank you, or as we say in Marathi - Dhanyavaad!
