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The Punjabi Phrasebook ਵਾਕਾਂਸ਼ ਪੋਥੀ

Everything on this site that teaches you what to say, in one index: 540 phrases across 35 real situations, plus the standalone collections and full dialogues. Every entry has Gurmukhi, romanisation and audio. Pick the situation you're actually walking into.

Collections

Six pages that stand on their own — each one a complete read rather than a slice of the main phrasebook.

Greetings ਸਤਿ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ Hello, goodbye, and the blessing behind the words. Love & Affection ਪਿਆਰ Romance, and the quieter love spoken inside a family. 14 entries Slang & Sayings ਠੇਠ ਬੋਲੀ How people actually talk when nobody is being careful. 13 entries Blessings (Asees) ਅਸੀਸ What elders say over you, and what it means. 13 entries Swear Words ਗਾਲ੍ਹਾਂ Understand what you hear. Graded, with context. 18 entries Dialogues ਗੱਲਬਾਤ Whole conversations, line by line, with audio on every line. 30 conversations

All 35 situations

These are the categories inside the main phrasebook. Each link opens that section directly.

Greetings How you open a conversation in Punjabi says more about the relationship than the words do. "Sat Sri Akal" is the safe default almost anywhere; add "ji" for anyone older than you and you will rarely put a foot wrong. 16 phrases Meeting Someone New First conversations in Punjabi run through family and place before they run through work. Expect to be asked where your people are from long before anyone asks what you do. 10 phrases Making Conversation The connective tissue of everyday Punjabi: agreeing, changing the subject, filling a pause. These are the phrases that keep you in a conversation once the greetings are done. 11 phrases Politeness & Requests Punjabi politeness lives in verb endings and in "ji" more than in a word for "please". Say the same request with "tussi" instead of "tu" and it becomes respectful without adding anything. 10 phrases Eating & Hospitality Refusing food once is expected; refusing it three times is a negotiation. This is the language of being fed in a Punjabi house, and of feeding someone else. 12 phrases At Home The Punjabi you actually hear most: someone calling from another room, asking where something is, telling you to shut the door. Small sentences, constant use. 12 phrases Family & Relationships Punjabi has a separate word for almost every relative, and using the right one is a form of respect. Pair this with the full family terms page for the whole map. 8 phrases Emotions & Expressions How to say you are tired, delighted, fed up or worried, in the register people actually use rather than the dictionary one. 12 phrases Weather & Seasons In Punjab the weather is not small talk so much as farming news. These phrases carry you through the heat, the monsoon and the winter fog. 8 phrases Time & Plans Making arrangements: what time, how long, let's go, I'm on my way. Punjabi is relaxed about precise clock time and precise about the part of day. 9 phrases Work & Studies Talking about your job or your course, saying you're busy, and the phrases that come up when family asks how it's going. 7 phrases Shopping & Money Asking a price, saying it's too much, and settling somewhere in between. In a market, the first price is an opening position, not a fact. 9 phrases Health & Wellbeing Everyday not-feeling-well language, and the phrases for checking in on someone who isn't. For a clinic visit, see the doctor's section. 7 phrases Travel & Directions Asking the way, agreeing a fare, saying you're lost. Directions in Punjabi lean on landmarks far more than on street names. 13 phrases Celebrations & Wishes Congratulations, birthday wishes and the blessings offered at happy news. Punjabi good wishes are usually given, not just said. 7 phrases At the Doctor Describing symptoms, understanding what you're asked, and following instructions. Written for the moment you are translating for a parent or grandparent as much as for yourself. 20 phrases Emergencies The sentences you want already in your mouth: call an ambulance, there's been an accident, I need help now. Short, direct, no politeness softening. 20 phrases On the Phone Punjabi phone calls have their own openings and closings. This covers answering, asking who's calling, bad signal, and getting off the phone politely. 20 phrases At the Gurdwara What is said and asked around a visit: the greeting at the door, questions about the service, langar, and the everyday courtesies of the space. 20 phrases Weddings & Parties A Punjabi wedding runs for days and each one has its own language. These are the greetings, congratulations and small talk that carry you through them. 20 phrases Talking with Elders The single highest-value section for diaspora learners. Respectful forms, the questions elders ask, and the answers that land well. 20 phrases With Children How adults actually talk to Punjabi children: encouraging, instructing, comforting. Also the fastest way to hear your own pronunciation corrected. 20 phrases Encouragement & Compliments Praise, reassurance and the phrases that tell someone they did well. Punjabi compliments are warm and often invoke a blessing. 19 phrases Apologies & Making Up Saying sorry, accepting an apology, and the softening phrases that let a disagreement end without either person losing face. 19 phrases Daily Routine Waking, eating, leaving, coming back. The most repeated sentences in anyone's day, which makes them the fastest to make automatic. 20 phrases Asking for Help Getting someone's attention, asking a favour, and accepting or declining help without awkwardness. 19 phrases Airport & Journeys Check-in, luggage, delays and the long-haul language of visiting family. Especially useful on the flight over, where you'll hear all of it. 20 phrases At School & With Teachers Parents' evenings, homework, and the phrases that come up between a Punjabi-speaking family and a school. 18 phrases Renting & Household Problems Landlords, repairs, bills and the things that break. Practical adult vocabulary rarely taught in beginner courses. 19 phrases At the Bank & Sending Money Accounts, transfers and sending money home — a conversation a large share of the diaspora has regularly, and rarely has the words for. 20 phrases Taxis & Buses Getting in, saying where you're going, agreeing a fare, and asking to be let out. The autorickshaw negotiation is its own small art form. 20 phrases Cooking Together Kitchen Punjabi: ingredients, quantities, heat and timing. The best possible setting for practising, because someone is always correcting you. 20 phrases Festival Greetings What to say at Vaisakhi, Diwali, Lohri, Gurpurab and the rest — including the replies, which are usually a blessing back. 20 phrases Condolences & Comfort The hardest phrases to improvise and the worst ones to get wrong. Formal, gentle language for loss and for sitting with someone in it. 18 phrases Catching Up & Small Talk Long-time-no-see conversations: how has everyone been, what's new, and the polite fishing for news that a Punjabi catch-up runs on. 17 phrases

How to use the phrasebook

  • Start from the situation, not the grammar. Pick the section you'll need this week — the doctor, the gurdwara, a wedding — and learn those twenty. Motivation follows usefulness.
  • Cover a column and test yourself. Every section has a cover control: hide the English or the Gurmukhi and check yourself one phrase at a time.
  • Say it out loud and score it. The microphone on each phrase compares your recording with the native one on your own device. Nothing is uploaded.
  • Send a whole section to your deck. One button adds every phrase in a category to your practice deck, which brings them back just before you'd forget them.
  • Then read the grammar. Once a pattern is in your mouth, sentence structure and verbs explain why it works — and let you build your own.

Frequently asked questions

How many Punjabi phrases are on this site?

540 in the main phrasebook across 35 categories, plus the greetings, love, slang, blessings and swear-word collections and 30 full dialogues. All free, all with audio.

Which phrases should a beginner learn first?

Greetings, politeness and eating — in that order. They cover most of a first visit, and Punjabi hospitality means you will use the eating section within an hour of arriving. Start here walks the whole path.

Are these phrases Indian Punjabi or Pakistani Punjabi?

The spoken language is shared; the script is not. These pages are written in Gurmukhi, used in Indian Punjab. Pakistani Punjabi is written in Shahmukhi, but almost every phrase here is said the same way on both sides of the border.

Is the audio a real voice?

Every phrase has a pre-generated native-style recording rather than a browser text-to-speech voice, so the rhythm and vowel length are right. If a clip is ever missing the site falls back to your browser's own voice.