How to Write Hinglish Prompts for AI Tracking

Originally published on depra.ai on 15 September 2026.

To write effective Hinglish prompts for AI visibility tracking, type buyer questions the way Indian shoppers would, in English letters. Keep the product names, price limits, use cases and the type of request identical to the English version, and check that both versions ask exactly the same thing before you start tracking.

What is a Hinglish prompt?

A Hinglish prompt keeps the English product terms and writes the surrounding words in romanised Hindi. Here is a matching pair:

• English: Which face wash should I buy for oily skin in India under ₹500?
• Hinglish: India mein oily skin ke liye 500 rupees ke andar konsa face wash kharidna chahiye?

"Face wash", "oily skin" and "rupees" stay in English. "mein", "ke liye", "konsa" and "kharidna chahiye" are romanised Hindi. There is no Devanagari script anywhere, and both versions have the same product category, skin type, price cap and country.

Six rules for Hinglish tracking prompts

1. Keep the same meaning and the same request

Both versions must ask the same question. Our study prompts ask "what to buy", using "should I buy" in English and "kharidna chahiye", "kharidni chahiye" or "kharidun" in Hinglish. If the English version asks for a recommendation, a comparison or an explanation, the Hinglish version must ask for the same thing.

Example (F04)

• English: Which brand's formal shirts should I buy for men in India?
• Hinglish: India mein men ke liye konse brand ki formal shirts kharidni chahiye?

2. Hold every constraint identical

Price caps, gender, occasion, singular or plural, and country must match across the pair. Any difference in the answers should come from the language alone, not from a changed constraint.

Example (F01)

• English: Which brand's jeans should I buy for men in India under ₹2000?
• Hinglish: India mein 2000 rupees ke andar men ke liye konse brand ki jeans kharidni chahiye?

The study logged "₹2000" against "2000 rupees" as a deliberate choice, because that is how each language naturally writes prices.

3. Keep product nouns in English and use natural Hindi grammar

Keep category nouns like sunscreen and jeans in English. Map idioms rather than translating them literally: "acne-prone skin" becomes "acne wali skin". Check gender agreement too. In Hindi, verbs and particles (ka, ki, ke) change to match the noun's gender.

Example (S02)

• English: I want to buy a sunscreen that doesn't leave a white cast on Indian skin. Which one is best?
• Hinglish: Mujhe aisa sunscreen kharidna hai jo Indian skin par white cast na chhode. Konsa best hai?

4. Use English letters only

Write every Hinglish prompt in Latin script. A Devanagari prompt measures Hindi, not Hinglish. The 10 Hinglish prompts in the study contain no Devanagari characters.

5. Name no brand in either version

A question that contains a brand name cannot show whether engines recommend you on their own. None of the 20 study prompts named a brand.

6. Keep the Hindi share realistic and steady

Across the study's 10 Hinglish prompts, Hindi words made up between 43% and 69% of each prompt. Keep your own set similarly consistent, so that "Hinglish" means the same thing throughout your tracking.

Three prompt pairs that failed review

In the review on 14 August 2026, before any analysis, three fashion pairs failed validation. All three were corrected.

Sarees (F05): a market hint in only one version

Neither version originally mentioned India. But the Hinglish word "shaadi" signals an Indian wedding by itself, while the English "wedding" carries no market hint. That asymmetry could explain brand differences that have nothing to do with language.

Fixed pair

• English: Which sarees should I buy online in India for a wedding on a budget?
• Hinglish: India mein shaadi ke liye budget mein online konsi sarees kharidun?

Kurta sets (F03): one question asking two things

The original combined "where to buy" with "which brands", which invited retailer names (Myntra, Amazon, Nykaa Fashion) into the brand counts.

Fixed pair

• English: Which brand's kurta sets should I buy for women online in India?
• Hinglish: India mein women ke liye online konse brand ke kurta sets kharidun?

Formal shirts (F04): no buy verb

Neither version explicitly asked for a purchase recommendation, so both read as requests for an opinion. The fixed pair is the one shown under rule 1.

Handling changed prompts

Five answers collected under the old F03 and F05 wording were deleted before analysis, and the deletion was logged. The verification log and the locked prompt file are public on GitHub. When you revise a prompt's wording, compare only the answers collected under the new wording.

Hindi word share, prompt by prompt

In the study's 10 Hinglish buying prompts, Hindi words made up 42.9% to 69.2% of the words, 58.4% on average. Product nouns stay English, connecting words are Hindi.

Pair	Hinglish prompt	Words	Hindi words	Hindi share
S01 face wash	India mein oily skin ke liye 500 rupees ke andar konsa face wash kharidna chahiye?	14	8	57.1%
S02 sunscreen	Mujhe aisa sunscreen kharidna hai jo Indian skin par white cast na chhode. Konsa best hai?	16	10	62.5%
S03 vitamin C serum	Dark spots aur dull skin ke liye India mein konsa vitamin C serum kharidun?	14	6	42.9%
S04 moisturizer	Indian winters mein dry skin ke liye konsa moisturizer kharidna chahiye?	11	6	54.5%
S05 acne serum	India mein acne wali skin ke liye 700 rupees ke andar konsa serum kharidun?	13	8	61.5%
F01 men's jeans	India mein 2000 rupees ke andar men ke liye konse brand ki jeans kharidni chahiye?	14	9	64.3%
F02 running shoes	Mujhe India mein 3000 rupees ke andar running shoes kharidne hain. Konse lene chahiye?	13	9	69.2%
F03 kurta sets	India mein women ke liye online konse brand ke kurta sets kharidun?	12	6	50.0%
F04 formal shirts	India mein men ke liye konse brand ki formal shirts kharidni chahiye?	12	7	58.3%
F05 sarees	India mein shaadi ke liye budget mein online konsi sarees kharidun?	11	7	63.6%

Mixing inconsistently, say half your prompts at 30% Hindi and half at 80%, blends two different ways of asking into a single trend line.

Method note: the study split prompts on spaces, ignored punctuation and numbers, and counted romanised Hindi particles (mein, ke, liye, konsa) as Hindi. India, rupees, men, women, online, budget, best, brand and the product nouns counted as English. Moving a few words between the two classes changes the shares by 6 to 9 percentage points. The data covers 10 prompts, 2 categories, one fieldwork day and one Hinglish style that keeps product nouns in English. The study did not test whether a different Hindi share changes the answers.

How to check a Hinglish prompt before tracking

Run every pair through this checklist before you start:

1. Both versions make the same request (recommendation, comparison, explanation or purchase).
2. Neither version names a brand, store or competitor.
3. The country appears in both versions or in neither.
4. Price cap, gender, occasion and singular or plural all match.
5. No word in one version hints at a market or occasion that its pair lacks.
6. Product nouns stay in English, and verbs and particles agree with the noun's gender.
7. The Hinglish version has no Devanagari characters.
8. An independent reviewer confirms that both versions ask the same thing.
9. Record the start date. After any edit, compare only answers from the new wording.

Tracking Hinglish prompts in Depra AI

When India is your only market, Depra AI suggests 5 topics with 8 questions each, mostly buying questions without brand names, including Hinglish versions in English letters. For India-only markets some questions name India directly, and for multi-market projects none name a country. You can edit, pause or tag each prompt, so run the checklist above before you keep any suggestion.

Each language version uses one prompt slot per market. Starter at ₹1,999 a month (plus GST) includes 20 prompts, enough for 10 English and Hinglish pairs in one market. Growth at ₹7,499 includes 100.

Depra queries each version daily on ChatGPT with web search, Gemini and Google AI Overviews from inside India, and weekly on Perplexity, and records the language of the reply. Your report shows English and Hinglish visibility side by side. You can start 7 days free on any plan, no card required.

FAQ

Should Hinglish prompts be written in Devanagari?
No. Hinglish is Hindi and English typed in English letters, so use Latin script only. Devanagari prompts test Hindi, not Hinglish. The study's 10 Hinglish prompts contain no Devanagari, and Depra's suggested versions follow the same rule.

How much Hindi should a Hinglish prompt contain?
In the study's 10 Hinglish buying prompts, Hindi words made up 42.9% to 69.2% of the words, 58.4% on average. Keep product nouns in English, write the connectors in Hindi, and keep the mix consistent across your whole set.

Can I machine-translate English prompts into Hinglish?
Only as a rough first draft. Word-for-word output reads unnaturally, and a literal translation misses things like "acne-prone skin" becoming "acne wali skin". Rewrite the prompt the way a buyer would type it, check verb and noun gender agreement, and confirm that both versions mean the same thing.

Does a Hinglish version use a prompt slot in Depra?
Yes. Each language version is tracked on its own and takes one slot per market. Starter (₹1,999 a month plus GST) covers 10 English and Hinglish pairs in one market, and Growth (₹7,499) allows 100 prompts.

Depra AI is AI visibility tracking software for brands in India. It checks how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews mention your brand, in English and Hinglish, from ₹1,999 a month. Based in India, working worldwide.