Street skill: ask the price, catch numbers 1–10 (and a few money anchors), and push back politely — shops, stalls, and autos in Bengaluru.
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
You can run:
Idhu eshtu? → … rupayi → Swalpa kammi maadi → Sari / Beda
and recognise ondu → hattu when you hear them.
Neighbour chat gets you into the building. Eshtu? gets you through the city —
fruit cart, medical store, auto meter arguments. This is the highest-ROI street phrase after hello.
02 One grammar lever: question word eshtu
Pattern
Eshtu? = how much / how many (≈ Hindi kitna/kitne?)
Point + ask: Idhu eshtu? = How much is this?
Ride: Alli eshtu? / … ge eshtu? = How much to there / to X?
Answers usually land as a number + rupayi (rupees). You don’t need perfect production of every number yet —
first goal is hearing 1–10 and saying the price question confidently.
Don’t memorise the full set today. Drill 1–10 hard; treat 20/50/100 as “spot in the wild.”
04 Phrase cards
Idhu eshtu?
slownatural
How much is this?
≈ Yeh kitna hai?
Word-by-word: idhu (this) · eshtu (how much) · Point with your hand/chin while asking — universal.
Adhu eshtu?
slownatural
How much is that?
≈ Woh kitna hai?
idhu = this (near) · adhu = that (far) — like yeh / woh.
… rupayi
… rupees
≈ … rupaye
You’ll hear: aidu rupayi (₹5), hattu rupayi (₹10), nooru rupayi (₹100).
English “rupees” is also understood; locals still say rupayi a lot.
Swalpa kammi maadi
slownatural
Please reduce a little
≈ Thoda kam kijiye
swalpa = a little · kammi = less · maadi = do (polite).
Soft bargain line for shops/autos — not aggressive.
Jaasti aytu
slownatural
That’s too much
≈ Zyada ho gaya
jaasti = more/too much · aytu ≈ it became / it is. Common pushback.
Sari · Beda
Okay · Don’t want / no need
≈ Theek · Nahi chahiye
Beda is the clean no. Soften with Namaskara + smile if walking away.
Meter haki · Fix a?
slownatural
Put the meter · Is it a fixed fare?
≈ Meter lagaao · Fix hai kya?
Bengaluru auto reality: mix of Kannada + English. Meter haki (put meter) is gold.
You’ll also hear pure English numbers — still answer with Eshtu? first.
Alli eshtu? / Koramangala-ge eshtu?
slownatural
slownatural
How much to there? / How much to Koramangala?
≈ Wahaan kitna? / Koramangala kitna?
Reuse L2 -ge: place-ge + eshtu.
05 Mini vocab bank
Kannada (Roman)EnglishHindi bridge
eshtu?how much/many?kitna?
idhu / adhuthis / thatyeh / woh
rupayirupeesrupaye
swalpaa littlethoda
kammilesskam
maadiplease do (polite)kijiye
jaastitoo much / morezyada
bedadon’t wantnahi chahiye
ondu…hattu1…10ek…das
nooru100sau
06 Model dialogues
A · Shop
You Namaskara. Idhu eshtu?
slownatural
Hello. How much is this?
Shop Hattu rupayi.
slownatural
Ten rupees.
You Swalpa kammi maadi.
slownatural
Please reduce a little.
Shop Entu rupayi sari.
slownatural
Eight rupees, okay.
You Sari. Dhanyavadagalu.
slownatural
Okay. Thank you.
B · Auto
You Indiranagar-ge eshtu?
slownatural
How much to Indiranagar?
Driver Nooru.
slownatural
Hundred.
You Jaasti aytu. Meter haki.
slownatural
Too much. Put the meter.
Driver Sari, haki.
slownatural
Okay, I’ll put it.
You Sari. Hogona.
slownatural
Okay. Let’s go.
Hogona ≈ let’s go (bonus exit into motion — related to L2 hogu).
07 Retrieval practice
1. “How much is this?”
2. Number for 5
3. Number for 10
4. Soft bargain: “Please reduce a little”
5. “That’s too much”
6. Clean “no / don’t want”
7. Spaced: “I’m going home” (L2)
08 Production
Cover the page. Say:
Numbers 1→10 in order (ondu…hattu).
How much is this?
Please reduce a little.
That’s too much. Put the meter.
No need. Thank you.
How much to Koramangala?
09 Real-world task
Before next lesson
At one shop/stall: ask Idhu eshtu? (even if you pay the asked price).
Drill numbers out loud once a day while walking — 1–10 forward and back.
Optional auto: open with destination + eshtu? or Meter haki.
Note any number word you heard and didn’t catch — send it to me.