ठहरना
ṭhaharnā/ʈʰə.ɦəɾ.nɑː/
To say stay in Hindi, use ठहरना (ṭhaharnā) for a temporary stay, such as at a hotel and रहना (rahnā) for remaining somewhere or living in a place. If unsure, use ठहरना.
Meaning: to remain in a particular place (verb)
Ways to say it
| Hindi | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| ठहरना | ṭhaharnā | /ʈʰə.ɦəɾ.nɑː/ (Hindi, Standard) |
| रहना | rahnā | /ɾəɦ.nɑː/ (Hindi, Standard) |
ठहरना is the word for staying somewhere for a while, such as at a hotel or at a friend's house. रहना is used for living in a place or for remaining in a certain state or position, and it is the verb in everyday commands like stay here or stay away.
Which one should you use?
ठहरना is about temporary stays. रहना covers living somewhere permanently and staying in a state or position.
How does it change in a sentence?
The command रहो is used in informal or neutral settings and रहिये politely. In the past tense रहा is the masculine singular form and रही the feminine singular.
How do you pronounce it?
Say ठहरना as ṭhaharnā, IPA /ʈʰə.ɦəɾ.nɑː/, in three syllables. The first sound is a t made with the tongue curled back, followed by a puff of air.
Did you know?
- In Indian culture, inviting a guest to रहना (stay/live) can sometimes be a polite social ritual of hospitality even if the host knows the guest cannot actually stay.
- While रहना means 'to stay' or 'to live', it is also used as an auxiliary verb to create the continuous tense in Hindi, similar to the English word 'ing'.
- The use of रहना to indicate a continuous action may be a semantic loan from the Persian word ایستادن, which functioned as a continuous aspect auxiliary in the Transoxiana dialect.
Examples in context
- रहना!Stay!The bare infinitive रहना! works as a command, stay!Tatoeba #6179195 by fastrizwaan, translation #1349052 by sacredceltic
- यहीं रहो, मैं अभी आता हूँ।Stay here, I'm coming in a second.यहीं रहो means stay right here.
- दरवाज़े से दूर रहना।Stay away from the door.दूर रहना means stay away.Tatoeba #4753360 by sabretou, translation #3184997 by CK
- आप यहां रहेंYou stay here.
- ठीक है, मैं यहीं रुकूँगाAlright, I will stay here.
- 8 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Amit and Pooja are discussing where to spend the night during a trip.
- अमित Amitक्या हम इस होटल में ठहरेंगे?Kya hum is hotel mein thaharenge?Will we stay in this hotel?
- पूजा Poojaहाँ, यहाँ ठहरना सही रहेगा।Haan, yahan thaharna sahi rahega.Yes, staying here will be right.
- अमित Amitठीक है, फिर कमरा बुक कर लो।Thik hai, phir kamra book kar lo.Okay, then book the room.
- पूजा Poojaमैं अभी करती हूँ, अमित।Main abhi karti hoon, Amit.I will do it right now, Amit.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “stay” translations and entries ठहरना, रहना, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries ठहरना, रहना, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR, Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
