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🇮🇳 Chhattisgarhi #61 Most Spoken Language (29M speakers)

Chhattisgarhi
— Indo-Aryan language of Central India, closely related to Eastern Hindi varieties, and typically SOV

Indo-Aryan • Eastern Hindi • Devanagari script • SOV • Non-tonal

Number Of Speakers (est.)
~18 Million+ reported as a mother tongue in Indian census counts (2011). Many speakers are also recorded under Hindi due to administrative grouping.
Central India
Everyday Speech
Strong Oral Tradition
Where It Is Spoken
Mainly in Chhattisgarh, with speaker communities in nearby parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand, and surrounding regions.
Plains & Forest Regions
Urban + Rural
Family / Branch
Indo-European → Indo-Iranian → Indo-Aryan → Central Indo-Aryan → Eastern Hindi → Chhattisgarhi
Hindi Belt Neighbor
Regional Identity
Writing System
Most commonly written in Devanagari. Historically, some texts also appear in Odia script. Modern usage is growing in print, online media, and education-related materials.
Abugida
Phonetic-Friendly
Word Order
Common pattern is SOV (Subject–Object–Verb). Postpositions are used rather than prepositions, and verbs often appear at the end of the clause.
Postpositions
Verb-Final Clauses
ISO Codes
ISO 639-3: hne • Glottocode: chha1249
Language Databases
Cataloged
What Makes It Distinct
Chhattisgarhi has a strong local identity and a rich folk tradition. It shares many structures with nearby Eastern Hindi varieties, yet it stands out in everyday vocabulary, pronunciation, and expressive particles used in conversation.
Speakers often shift smoothly between Chhattisgarhi and Hindi depending on setting, audience, and formality.
Sound Profile
  • Clear vowel system: Vowel length can affect meaning in related Indo-Aryan patterns.
  • Retroflex consonants: Sounds made with the tongue curled back are common (shared with many Indian languages).
  • Natural rhythm: Speech is often syllable-timed, giving a steady flow in everyday talk.
Grammar Snapshot
  • SOV structure: The verb commonly comes last in statements.
  • Postpositions: Relationship markers follow nouns (similar role to “in/on/to” in English, but placed after the noun).
  • Gender & agreement: Like many Indo-Aryan languages, grammatical gender and agreement patterns appear, especially in adjectives and verbs.
  • Honorific choices: Politeness is expressed through pronouns and verb forms, especially in formal speech.
Dialects And Local Varieties
Chhattisgarhi includes several local varieties across districts. Neighboring forms such as Surgujia are often discussed alongside it. Differences tend to be strongest in vocabulary and pronunciation, while core sentence structure remains familiar across the region.
Common Words
Namaste (Hello)
Dhanyavaad (Thank You)
Haan (Yes)
Naa (No)
Note: Everyday Chhattisgarhi also uses many local forms alongside widely understood Indo-Aryan greetings.
Chhattisgarhi Builder (SOV • Postpositions • Simple Clauses)
Use this to see the common verb-final pattern. The examples are simplified for learning and may not show all real-life variations.





The verb typically comes last. Postpositions usually follow the noun phrase they mark.

chhattisgarhi