Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, is a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language. It had 180 million speakers in 1991.

The distinction between aspirated and unaspirated consonants will be difficult for English speakers, as well as the distinction between dental and alveoloar (or retroflex) consonants. Learners of Hindi will find that they need to carefully distinguish between four different d-sounds and four different t-sounds.