Extend the neighbour hello into real small talk: ask where someone’s headed, answer about yourself, and close politely — still Roman only, polite register.
Audio: Machine-generated Kannada (edge-tts · kn-IN-SapnaNeural).
Helpful for rhythm and recognition — may not perfectly match native Bengaluru pronunciation.
Prefer what you hear from neighbours when the two differ.
Today’s win
After Namaskara + Hegiddiri?, you can run:
Elli hogtiddiri? → Naanu manege / office-ge hogtidini → Sari, nodona → Olle dinagalu.
Spaced review (Lesson 1):
Say out loud before scrolling —
Namaskara · Hegiddiri? · Chennagidini · Neevu? · Nimma hesaru enu? · Nanna hesaru Prayank · Dhanyavadagalu · Sari
01 Why this matters
In a society corridor, the greeting alone feels stiff. Locals almost always add
“where are you going?” — same social role as Hindi kahaan jaa rahe ho?
Answer short, then exit cleanly. That’s fluent neighbour life.
02 One grammar lever: -ge = “to”
Hindi uses -ko / ki taraf for destination. Kannada stacks
-ge (or -kke after some words) on the place:
Pattern
mane + ge → manege (to home) office + ge → office-ge (to office) — English nouns are fine in Bengaluru speech
Verb bit you’ll hear: hogtidini (I’m going) · hogtiddiri (you’re going, polite)
Rough map to Hindi continuous: jaa raha/rahi hoon ≈ hogtidini;
polite “you are going” ≈ hogtiddiri.
03 Phrase cards
Elli hogtiddiri?
slownatural
Where are you going? (polite)
≈ Aap kahaan jaa rahe hain?
Word-by-word: elli (where) · hogtiddiri (are-going-you, polite) ·
Also hear:Elli hogtaiddira? / Elli hogtiddeera? — same intent. Default: Elli hogtiddiri?