श्री / श्रीमती / सौ / कु.

Titles Before Names

Level 3Sounds Like śrī / śrīmatī / sau / ku.

A person with a title usually takes the respectful plural verb.

How It Works

These titles are common on invitations, letters, notices and in formal speech.

TitleForExample
श्री.a manश्री. केदार
श्रीमतीa married womanश्रीमती पूजा
सौ.a married womanसौ. सायली
कु.a girlकु. प्रिया

श्री., सौ. and कु. are written short, with a full stop. श्रीमती is written in full.

A person with a title takes the plural verb for respect: श्री. केदार येणार आहेत. (Mr. Kedar is coming.) The English meaning stays singular. A girl with कु. often takes a singular verb, because she is young: कु. प्रिया पहिली आली.

The title comes before the name and the name keeps its form. Add यांना, यांचा, यांची or यांचे for -ला, -चा, -ची and -चे: श्री. समीर यांचे पत्र आले आहे. (A letter from Mr. Sameer has come.)

Examples (5)

  1. श्री. केदार उद्या येणार आहेत.

    Mr. Kedar will come tomorrow.

    श्री. comes before a man's name, and the verb आहेत is respectful.

  2. सौ. सायली पुण्यात राहतात.

    Mrs. Sayli lives in Pune.

    सौ. is for a married woman, and राहतात is respectful.

  3. कु. प्रिया आज पहिली आली.

    Miss Priya came first today.

    कु. is for a girl, and आली is singular.

  4. श्रीमती पूजा आमच्या शिक्षिका आहेत.

    Mrs. Pooja is our teacher.

    श्रीमती is written in full and takes आहेत.

  5. श्री. समीर यांचे पत्र आले आहे.

    A letter from Mr. Sameer has come.

    यांचे is the respectful form after the name.

Common Mistakes

  • Using श्री. before a woman's name.

    श्री. सायली पुण्यात राहतात.
    सौ. सायली पुण्यात राहतात.

    As a title before a person's name, श्री. is only for men.

  • Putting the title after the name.

    केदार श्री. उद्या येणार आहेत.
    श्री. केदार उद्या येणार आहेत.

    The title comes first.

How It Connects

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

श्री / श्रीमती / सौ / कु.Level 3Titles Before Names

Learn This First

Titles go before names.

Words in This Pattern

श्रीसौ.