尼泊尔语属印度-雅利安语支，在尼泊尔、不丹、印度和缅甸的一些地区使用。是尼泊尔的官方语言。大概一半的尼泊尔人使用尼泊尔语作为其母语，其它尼泊尔人将其作为第二语言。使用范围包括东尼泊尔，直到印度领土北安查尔邦（Uttaranchal）和喜马偕尔邦（Himachal Pradesh）。

尼泊尔语是分布在最东部的帕哈里语，它是一组使用于喜马拉雅山低海拔地区的语言。尼泊尔语在发展过程中与一些藏缅语族有着非常紧密的联系，最显着的是尼瓦尔语，显示了藏-缅语的影响。尼泊尔语与北印度语很近似，但稍显保守，来自波斯语和英语的词汇少于北印度语，较多的词源自梵语。现今，尼泊尔语一般使用天城文。Bhujimol 是一种最古老的尼泊尔本地文本。

Nepali is an Indo-Aryan language. It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal. It is also spoken in certain parts of India, particularly by Indian Gorkha, and by a significant number of Bhutanese and some Burmese people. In India, Nepali is listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India having an official status in the Indian state of Sikkim and in West Bengal's Darjeeling district. Nepali developed in proximity to a number of Indo-Aryan languages, most notably the Pahari languages and Magahi, and shows Sanskrit influences. However, owing to Nepal's geographical area, it has also been influenced by Tibeto-Burman languages. Nepali is mainly differentiated from Central Pahari, both in grammar and vocabulary, by Tibeto-Burman idioms owing to close contact with the respective language group. Nepali language shares 40% lexical similarity with the Bengali language. British resident at Kathmandu Brian Houghton Hodgson has observed that it is, in eight-tenths of its vocables, substantially Hindi.