The Hindi Word ‘Wala’, Finally Explained

Dictionaries tell you that the word ‘wala’ means the owner or purveyor of something. They’re not lying to you–as evidenced by the curious occupational surname ‘Furniturewala’! But modern Hindi speakers use the word so much that you’re honestly missing out unless you are aware of the full spectrum of meaning these two syllables carry.

A quick note: ‘Wala’ is the masculine form, ‘wale’ is polite or plural, and ‘wali’ is feminine. ‘Waalon’ is used with objects.

‘Wala’ means ‘guy’, as a modifier

This is actually the usage that crops up in day-to-day usage. The pizza guy becomes the Pizza-wala. The guy who irons your clothes becomes Istri-wala (istri = ironing). It’s not very politically correct, but it reveals something about modern Indian life. There are so many people employed in little jobs – car washing, shoe repairing, nostril shaving – as their only means of income, and the urban middle-to-upper class that use their services only refer to them as a post, not by name.

On a less sober note, it can be used wherever else you would use ‘guy/man’ or ‘girl/woman’:

‘Look at that guy in the suit’ becomes Suit-wala ko dekho, while ‘A Delhi girl’ is a Delhi-wali.

Use ‘wala’ to specify ‘The _________ one’

This is actually pretty similar to the previous usage, but for inanimate objects. Yeh means ‘this’ and woh means ‘that’, so Yeh wala and Woh wala are used to differentiate between ‘this one’ and ‘that one’.

This is especially useful when ordering or buying something. For example: two wallets are on the counter. You decide to buy the red (= lal) one. So smile at the shopkeeper and say Lal-wala do, please.

Or you’re in love (= pyaar). More than that, it’s true (= asli) love. Sigh and say, yeh toh sirf pyaar nahi, asli-wala pyaar hai…

If you’re going to Chennai, ask yourself, which train am I catching? The one to Chennai, or the Chennai-wali train.

‘Wala’ describes imminent action.

The present continuous in English has a lot of scope for abuse. That is to say, its ambiguity in usage leads to infuriating situations like this:

Person 1: Come quickly!

Person 2: O.K., I’m coming.

Person 1: Ah, but you’re not! You’re still there! I don’t see you moving!

This casual usage, where the verb describes imminent rather than current action, is formed using ‘wala’ in Hindi.

Oblique infinitive + ‘wala’ + ‘hona’ replaces the present continuous, i.e.

Verb root + raha + ‘hona’.

So the above discussion would go like this:

Person 1: Jaldi aao!

Person 2: Thik hai, aane wala hoon. instead of

Thik hai, aa raha hoon.

And Person 2 has no elbow room to be pedantic! You can also use this in the sense ‘about to’, so ‘She’s about to go’ becomes Woh jaane-wali hai.

Now you know the uses of ‘wala’, Hindi speech and writing will make a lot more sense. This ubiquitous suffix is an essential part of your Hindi knowledge.