से कहना / से पूछना

Saying and Asking Someone

Level 2Sounds Like sē kahanā aura sē pūchanā

The person you say something to or ask takes से: रीमा से पूछिए (Ask Reema).

How It Works

English says ask her or talk to him. Hindi puts से after the person you speak to, ask or talk with.

VerbExampleMeaning
कहना (to say)माँ से कहो।Tell Mom. / Say it to Mom.
पूछना (to ask)उससे पूछो।Ask him.
बात करना (to talk)मुझे आपसे बात करनी है।I need to talk to you.
माँगना (to ask for)उसने मुझसे पैसे माँगे।He asked me for money.

With pronouns, से is written as one word: मुझसे, तुमसे, आपसे, उससे, हमसे, उनसे.

बताना (to tell, to inform) takes को instead: मुझे बताओ (Tell me), रीमा को बताइए (Tell Reema). So मुझसे कहो and मुझे बताओ are both right, with different verbs.

In casual speech you may hear को with कहना, as in उसको कहो; से is the standard choice.

Examples (5)

  1. पहले माँ से पूछो।

    Ask Mom first.

    The person you ask takes से.

  2. मैंने उससे रास्ता पूछा।

    I asked him the way.

    उससे is वह + से.

  3. रीमा ने मुझसे कुछ नहीं कहा।

    Reema didn't say anything to me.

    The person spoken to takes से: मुझसे.

  4. क्या मैं आपसे कुछ पूछ सकता हूँ?

    May I ask you something?

    आपसे marks the person being asked.

  5. मैं हर रविवार दादी से फ़ोन पर बात करती हूँ।

    I talk to Grandma on the phone every Sunday.

    बात करना also takes से for the other person.

Common Mistakes

  • Using से with बताना.

    मुझसे बताओ।
    मुझे बताओ।

    बताना takes को for the person told: मुझे बताओ. Or use कहना: मुझसे कहो.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

से कहना / से पूछनाLevel 2Saying and Asking Someone

Learn This First

Saying and asking put the person with से, which learners keep apart from को.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

सेकहनापूछना