Hindi Basics & Devanagari Vowels Flashcards
In Hindi, every letters always has the same pronunciation! So learning the alphabet and ditching romanization is gonna be the fastest way for you to learn :)
The Hindi Alphabet is called…
Devanagari
अ
transliteration: a [SHORT]
pronounced: “uh” - like the “a” in alive
*this vowel does not modify a consonant at all
आ
ा
transliteration: aa [LONG]
pronounced: “aah” - like the “a” in father
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: ा to the RIGHT of the consonant. (if you see a circle before the symbol just ignore it, the symbol you add to the consonant looks like a tall capital “T”)
इ
ि
transliteration: i [SHORT]
pronounced: “i”
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: ि to the LEFT side of the consonant even though the vowel sound follows the consonant
ई
ी
transliteration: ee [LONG]
pronounced: “ee” like ee in feet
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: ी to the RIGHT of the consonant.
उ
ु
transliteration: u [SHORT]
pronounced: “oo” like oo in boo
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: ु UNDER the consonant
ऊ
ू
transliteration: oo [LONG]
pronounced: “ooh” like oo in boo EXCEPT it’s longer than उ
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: ू UNDER the consonant
ए
े
transliteration: e [SHORT]
pronounced: “ay” like ay in lay (but a little more like “eh”)
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: े to the TOP of the consonant
ऐ
ै
transliteration: ai [LONG]
pronounced: “eh”
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: ै to the TOP of the consonant
ओ
ो
transliteration: o [SHORT]
pronounced: “ouh” like o in domain or ough in dough
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: ो to the RIGHT of the consonant
औ
ौ
transliteration: au [LONG]
pronounced: “ouh”
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: ौ to the RIGHT of the consonant
ऋ
ृ
transliteration: ri
pronounced: “ree” like rea in read
*when you modify a consonant with this vowel, you add this symbol: ृ UNDER the consonant [note that this flick goes in a different direction than ऊ ‘s flick which opens downwards and उ’s flick which opens to the right]
[note: this letter is only ever found in words of sanskrit origin}
Nasalized Vowel Notes
for every vowel in Hindi besides “ri”, there is a nasalized version of the vowel which should be treated as a separate vowel in itself. The nasalized version just looks like the regular vowel plus the “चन्द्रबिन्दु” (candrabindu) - literally a “moon dot”. It looks like an upwards facing crescent moon with a dot above it and goes ABOVE the vowel. (for example: अँ ) It’s transliteration is “n” but NO “n” sound is actually added - it just means its the nasalized version. Nasalization means you say something “through your nose”.
अँ
transliteration: an
आँ
transliteration: aan
इँ
transliteration: in
ईं
transliteration: een
उँ
transliteration: un
ऊँ
transliteration: oon
एँ
transliteration: en
ऐं
transliteration: ain
ओं
transliteration: on
औं
transliteration: aun
How many vowels are in Hindi?
12 Vowels
How many consonants are in Hindi?
36 consonants
Hindi is read in what direction?
Hindi is read left to right, just like in English
Does Hindi use articles?
No - unlike English, Hindi doesn’t use any articles. So there are no words for “the” or “a” in Hindi.
Different Sentence Structure
Verbs always go at the end of the sentence in Hindi
Noun Genders?
Yup. Nouns in Hindi all have genders. Just like languages such as Spanish and French, there is a masculine and a feminine form, and the sentence’s adjectives and verbs change depending on the gender of the noun.
Are there pronunciation changes?
No. Hindi is a phonetic language, meaning that everything in the language is pronounced exactly as it is written.
Different Types of Vowels
There are two types of vowels. The first one is an independent vowel, which is used at the beginning of a syllable. The second one is dependent vowel, which is used when the vowel follows a consonant.
What’s that line?
There is a horizontal line above each word, and this line connects all the letters in a word.
Where are the periods?
Often you will see a “।” ending a sentence instead of a period, but it serves the same purpose.
(a) + (h) pronunciation rule
if the (h) consonant is not followed by a vowel/vowel sound, and there is a short (a) directly preceding it → the (a) before the (h) is pronounced like (e) in the English word “get”. This rule is what makes “yah” pronounced like”yeh”. (Voh is just irregular, tho. no one knows why its pronounced voh.)
