हिन्दी · English

Learn Hindi with short stories

Read Hindi books with English alongside, or English books with Hindi alongside: the original and the translation side by side, paragraph by paragraph.

Free Hindi–English stories and ebooks

Stories to read in Hindi, with the English beside each paragraph. They open in the browser, with no account needed, and each one is also a free Hindi–English ebook for Kindle, Kobo or any e-reader: downloading needs a free account, no payment (which file to pick).

Open the Hindi–English library, where you can search the stories and filter them by level.

By level:

Free graded readers in Hindi

Every story here carries its level on the Common European Framework, from A1 for beginners to C1 and beyond, so the library works as a set of free Hindi graded readers: start at the level where you understand most of a page, and move up when the English beside it is something you check only now and then.

Want a book that isn’t here? Make your own Hindi–English parallel text from any EPUB or PDF: free preview, and 50 free pages when you sign up.

Reading Hindi with English alongside

Hindi is written in Devanagari, which is more regular than it first looks: each letter stands for one sound, so once you know the letters you can sound out any word. Many everyday words will already be familiar from Hindi films, songs and from Urdu.

What slows readers down is the grammar around those words: the verb comes at the end of the sentence, small words follow the noun instead of coming before it, and gender shapes verbs and adjectives. With the English next to each paragraph, you can follow the story while those patterns become familiar.

Reading English books with Hindi alongside

For Hindi speakers, a parallel text is a way into books in English without stopping at every idiom or phrasal verb. Read the English and look across to the Hindi when a sentence doesn’t land.

It works for bilingual families too: one book, two languages on the same page, so a parent and a child can each follow in the language they read best.

English stories with Hindi alongside are in the library too.

Where a parallel text helps most in Hindi

The verb at the end

Hindi puts the verb last, so the meaning of a sentence arrives only at its final word. The paired translation shows where the sentence is heading from the start.

Small words after the noun

Where English uses “of”, “to” and “in” before a noun, Hindi uses का, को and में after it, and the verb agrees with the gender of the person or thing. Seeing them beside their English shows what each one adds.

Letters that join

Devanagari joins some consonants into compound letters such as क्ष, श्र and त्र. Meeting them again and again beside the English meaning helps them stick.

Hindi classics to read in parallel

Long out of copyright and easy to find as EPUBs. Any of them makes a good first Hindi–English parallel text:

गोदान, Premchand
ईदगाह, Premchand
उसने कहा था, Chandradhar Sharma Guleri
आकाशदीप, Jaishankar Prasad

Or use a book you already own: the method works best with something you actually want to read. See how to read a parallel text to get the most from it.

Questions about Hindi–English stories

Where can I read Hindi stories with English side by side for free?

Right here: 44 Hindi–English stories open in the browser with no account, the English beside every paragraph, from A1 to B2.

What is a Hindi–English parallel text?

A Hindi text placed beside its English translation, paragraph by paragraph, so you can read in one language and glance across to the other whenever you need to.

Which Hindi story should I start with?

Pick the level where you understand most of a page: the beginner stories use short sentences and common words, and the levels above them add longer sentences and richer vocabulary. Each story shows its level on the Common European Framework.

Can I read Hindi–English stories on a Kindle or Kobo?

Yes. Every story is also a bilingual ebook; downloading needs a free account, no payment.