The Hindi alphabet

44 letters, each with its name and roughly the sound it makes. The sounds are English approximations — enough to sound a word out, not enough to pass for a local.

🇮🇳 Devanagari · An abugida: each consonant carries a vowel already, and other vowels are marks on it.

A consonant already contains the vowel a; the other vowels are written as marks attached to it, and the standalone vowel letters below appear only at the start of a word. The horizontal line along the top is drawn last and strings the word together.

Vowels

• अ a u in but
• आ aa a in father
• इ i i in bit
• ई ii ee in see
• उ u u in put
• ऊ uu oo in boot
• ऋ ri ri
• ए e e in they
• ऐ ai a in cat
• ओ o o in go
• औ au o in dog

Consonants

• क ka k
• ख kha k with a puff of air
• ग ga g
• घ gha g with a puff of air
• ङ nga ng
• च cha ch
• छ chha ch with a puff of air
• ज ja j
• झ jha j with a puff of air
• ञ nya ny in canyon
• ट ta t, tongue curled back
• ठ tha the same with a puff of air
• ड da d, tongue curled back
• ढ dha the same with a puff of air
• ण na n, tongue curled back
• त ta t on the teeth
• थ tha the same with a puff of air
• द da d on the teeth
• ध dha the same with a puff of air
• न na n
• प pa p
• फ pha p with a puff of air
• ब ba b
• भ bha b with a puff of air
• म ma m
• य ya y
• र ra r
• ल la l
• व va v or w
• श sha sh
• ष sha sh, tongue curled back
• स sa s
• ह ha h

Now read something in it

The letters are the smaller half. The 8,906 commonest Hindi words are where they start meaning something.

Reading it is one thing.

Being understood when you say it is another. That takes a person.

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