How to Address Male Relatives in Hindi?

Chatting with a group of acquaintances some years ago, I encountered the term “co-brother” for the first time. Now I fancy myself as fairly well- versed in the very precise terminology governing the extended Indian family. I should have been able to decipher references to relatives in Hindi, but this one was new. I reluctantly admitted my ignorance and asked what it meant. I learned that co-brother means the husband of your wife's sister. This is also the definition according to the Cambridge Dictionary; the term has legitimately entered the lexicon.

How is this even relevant? The point is that Hindi and most Indian languages have some very precise terms for family members. This is cultural. The fact is that there was a perceived need to coin the precise term “co-brother” (to differentiate it from the more generic, open-to-misinterpretation term “brother in law”). When a woman refers to, say, her husband’s sister’s husband she would be referring to her “nandoi” (नन्दोई ) and would then use the term “co-brother” to describe him when speaking in English.  The names for family members in Hindi are all very specific.

Every Relation has a Distinct Name

Let us look at the various terms for male relatives in the Hindi language: specific terms to identify extended family members. Let us examine how these terms help to clarify precisely how these family members are related to an individual. There are commonly used terms for father though there are very many variations depending upon community or region

• Father – Papa, Baba, Pitaji (पापा, बाबा, पिताजी)

There are also age-related terms. For instance, kids (and adults) will often not refer to an older brother or cousin by name but will use the term:

• Elder brother – Bhaiya (भइया)

It’s no good just saying “grandfather” – it is too vague. You must clarify whether you're referring to the dada or the nana; terms that have their variations in regional Indian languages as well. When an Indian speaks English they will often punctiliously clarify whether they speak of the paternal grandfather or maternal grandfather:

• Paternal grandfather – Dada (दादा)
• Maternal grandfather – Nana (नाना)
• Great grandfather on the father’s side – Pardada (परदादा)
• Great grandfather on the mother’s side – Parnana (परनाना)

These differentiations are to be found in other Indian languages as well. This is usually the case regardless of whether the speaker’s native tongue is Hindi, Gujarati or Marathi or any of the myriad other languages and dialects spoken in this vast land.

How to address relatives in Hindi

Uncle is an exceedingly imprecise term for the average Hindi speaker. It is usually used as a form of address for older men not related to a speaker. This is a generic term one would use to address a friend’s father, the man at the grocery store, that elder man you meet most days on your morning walk and so on.

To refer to male relatives in Hindi, one uses specific terms such as:

• Father’s brother – Chacha, Kaka (चाचा, काका) or Tau, Tauji (ताऊ, ताऊजी) for father’s older brother, Chhote Papa (छोटे पापा) for father’s younger brother in some parts of India
• Father’s sister’s husband – Fufa, Phupha (फूफा, फ़ूफ़ा)
• Mother’s brother – Mama (मामा)
• Mother’s sister’s husband – Mausa (मौसा)

All this can be bewildering for the poor unsuspecting English speaker. However, the specificity of the terminology takes a lot of the guess-work out of the equation. It becomes clear, when referring to specific members of the extended family, exactly who we refer to. We do this by the simple expedient of using one word instead of several to explain the relationship. It isn’t just that there are specific names for uncles and aunts in Hindi. Nephews are also differentiated. Some relationships have very precise names because they also indicate the seniority of the person relative to the speaker.

• Son of a brother – Bhatija (भतीजा)
• Son of a sister – Bhanja (भान्जा)
• Elder brother of the husband – Jeth (जेठ)
• Younger brother of one’s husband – Devar (देवर)

The great Indian joint family

If you want to learn an Indian language such as Hindi or Gujarati, the language tutors on this very platform will help. The learner need not be intimidated by the complexity of all the names for extended family members in Hindi. Having a tutor with actual native language proficiency helps navigate through all the complexity. There are also many regional variations of terms for male relatives in Hindi and a personal language tutor can help simplify these as well.

It also helps to know about and understand the cultural underpinnings of this; the probable reasons why Indian languages felt the need to coin these precise names for extended family members. One of the likely reasons is that the joint family is still a widely prevalent phenomenon in India; particularly in rural India.

In a joint family household, the married son will continue to inhabit the home of his parents along with his new wife and any children. If he has other male siblings those brothers may also continue to live in the family home along with their wives and children. Conversely the daughter of the family will leave her home to live with the family of her husband, who may also be living with his parents and siblings. That these structures help prop up patriarchy is a rant for another day, and perhaps not relevant subject matter for a reputable Indian language learning website such as this.

Envision, if you will, a large traditional household in a corner of India presided upon by an elderly couple (with perhaps one or more aged parent of theirs). They inhabit the same dwelling as their sons, daughters in law and grandchildren as well as any unmarried daughters. Thanks to the precise terms used to identify each family member, it becomes easy to understand the nature of the relationship between any two individuals. Who is older among the daughters in law, and whether a grandchild is the child of a daughter or a son for instance:

• Son's son – Pota (पोता)
• Daughter’s son – Nati (नाती)

When the suffix becomes important

In all of this there is the ubiquitous term “Ji” which is used as a suffix to an individual’s name or their title. This is generally used to accord respect to the person one is speaking to. It is also the placeholder for the name of a woman’s husband if she is the old-fashioned sort and will not refer to him by name.

Further, it helps place whether the relative in question is one’s own or that of one’s husband. So while a husband may refer to his father’s brother as “kaka” or grandfather as “dada”, the wife may add the “Ji” suffix. She will most likely refer to these personages as “kakaji” (काकाजी) or “dadaji” (दादाजी) to accord extra respect and perhaps to differentiate that they are her husband’s blood relatives and not her own.

Learn more about relatives in Hindi

It is likely that all of this information about what we call relatives and extended family members in Hindi seems complicated and confusing, however, help is at hand. Online Hindi teachers on platforms like Amarkosh can help those with Indian roots refine their skills and can help non-native speakers start from scratch.

Learning a new language can open up a whole new world and help us understand so much about a people, their culture and even their history.  One on one lessons with a language teacher at a time of one’s convenience can help overcome the hesitancy of learning a new language. It can help in brushing up on one’s rusty existing skills. Who knows, soon all the inscrutable references to “fufa” and “mama” and “bhanja” may just start to make sense!