I ended up writing this post after coming across Indian ethnicity folks who grew outside India, knew Hindi, and wanted to read/write Devanagari, the standard script for writing Hindi.
One advantage which Hindi has over English is that spellings and pronunciations map one-to-one. As an example, the “u” in “but” and “put” is pronounced differently in English. This never happens in Hindi.
Now, coming to the writing part. Compared to say, English, or even Spanish, the system is a bit involved. Primarily, there is a concept of vyanjana(व्यंजन), which are similar to alphabets in English and modifiers like Maatraa(मात्रा) and some other characters. Maatraa approximately maps to vowels while vyanjana maps to consonants. For Devanagari-based languages like Hindi and Sanskrit. You read them left to right and top to bottom. The “top to bottom” might sound a little confusing. Still, we will see how it plays a vital role in reading a maatraa (modifier).
As with any language, practical learning is about learning the basics well enough that you can learn new concepts later-on. With that in mind, here’s the list of all basic concepts.
Hindi alphabets or varnamala (वर्णमाला)
Kakhara (ककहरा)
The vyanjana-only part is called Kakhara (ककहरा). So, let’s start with that. How many vyanjana are there? Well, it varies. Anywhere between 35-40, depending on what source you are looking at. And that’s fine, you only need to know the important ones in the beginning.
Here are 28 vayanjanas, which I would say are essential.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| क | ख | ग | घ | – |
| च | छ | ज | – | – |
| ट | ठ | ड | ढ | – |
| त | थ | द | ध | न |
| प | फ | ब | भ | म |
| य | र | ल | व | श |
| – | स | ह | – | – |
And their approximate pronunciations.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| क (k as in kaagaz) | ख (kh as in khatam) | ग (ga as in gamla) | घ (gha as in ghar) | – |
| च (ch as in chutney) | छ (chha as in chaatari) | ज (ja as in jaldi) | – | – |
| ट (t as in Tom) | ठ (th as in thakur) | ड (d as Dabur) | ढ (dh as in dhakkan) | – |
| त (t as in tamizh/tamil) | थ (th as in thermocol) | द (d as in darbar) | ध (dh as in dhanwan) | न (n as in number) |
| प (p as in paapad) | फ (aprox: ph as in sphere) | ब (b as in basket) | भ (bh as in bhoot) | म (m as in mother) |
| य (y as in yarn) | र (r as raat) | ल (l as in Lanka) | व (v as in vast) | श (sh as in sharp) |
| – | स (s as in sunny) | ह (h as in honey) | – | – |
I found a video which covers the pronunciations of Kakhara (ककहरा) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aroTk2gE9dU.
I would highly recommend mastering these frequent words in Kakhara (ककहरा). Once you have done them, jump to the maatraas.
Maatraa (मात्रा)
Here are the essential modifiers. Let’s see the list first, and then I will share how they modify the vyanjana. The first 10 are actually 5 sounds pairs, first short and then long.
| Letters | |
|---|---|
| 1. | अ |
| 2. | आ |
| 3. | इ |
| 4. | ई |
| 5. | उ |
| 6. | ऊ |
| 7. | ए |
| 8. | ऐ |
| 9. | ओ |
| 10. | औ |
| 11. | अं |
| 12. | अँ |
The last two are not really maatraas but are modifiers, so, I am just keeping them with the rest of the maatraas. I skipped a few less important ones like visarga.
And let’s see how they get used.
| Letters | Pronunciation | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | अ | Just “a”. No use. All normal “vyanjana are ending with it. Removing it makes something a half-letter which I describe later | – |
| 2. | आ | Long sound “aa” | Raaj (राज) + आ = Raajaa (राजा). So, just a vertical line next to the character. Note that the equivalent of full-stop in Hindi is poorna virama, which is a vertical line as well, but the bar on the top can distinguish the two cases. For example, “राज ।” (Raj.) vs. “राजा” (Raajaa) |
| 3. | इ | Short “e” sound like “i” in Nottingham | This shows up as a vertical bar on the left of the applied character (ि), which connects with the character on top. For example, jatil (जटिल) which means a quirky problem |
| 4. | ई | Long “e” sound like funny | This is the exact mirror of the short “e” sound. It shows up as a vertical bar on the right of the applied character ( ी), which connects with the character on top. For example, funny (फनी) |
| 5. | उ | Short “o” sound like naajuk | This goes at the bottom of the letter (ु). For example, naajuk (नाजुक) |
| 6. | ऊ | Long “o” sound like booty | This goes at the bottom of the letter (ू). For example, booty (बूटी ) |
| 7. | ए | Short “ai” sound like kaminee | This goes at the top of the letter (े). For example, kaminee (कमीने) |
| 8. | ऐ | Long “ai” sound like canny | This is ए repeated twice at the top of the letter (ै). For example, canny (कैनी) |
| 9. | ओ | Short “o” sounds like “komal” | This is ए with a vertical like to the right of the letter (ो) . For example, komal (कोमल) |
| 10. | औ | Long “o” sound like “aurat” | This is ए repeated twice with a vertical like to the right of the letter (ौ). For example, aurat (औरत) |
| 11. | अं | Nasal Bindu sounds like “bunty” | This is a dot applied on the top between the two letters, it is supposed to be pronounced. For example, Bunty (बंटी). |
| 12. | अँ | Chandra Bindu sounds like “chaand”. Compared to the nasal Bindu, the “n” sound is more prominent | This shows up on the top between the two letters; it is pronounced (ँ). For example, chaand (चाँद). |
Words
To form words, we combine varna (vyanjana + maatraa) and connect them with a single line on top. You already saw examples of that in the previous section.
Half-letters
Half-letters are for cutting the sounds short, that is, removing the “a” sound from the letter. The half-letters can show up at the bottom, for example, kattar (कट्टर) or in the same row, for instance, bhakt (भक्त). It’s a matter of style and convention, but putting them in the same row is usually more common even though both forms are correct. A peculiar case is of “r” which has three variations, for example, Prakriti (प्रकृति), the sound on the bottom of प(“p”) as well as the bottom of क (“k”) are both “r” sounds. The third variation shows in kirti (कीर्ति). Note that the third variation, being on top, is pronounced before the letter it is on while the first two are pronounced after the letter they are on. But don’t worry, apart from a few common words like Kirti, half “r” are relatively rare. Few more examples, Hindu (हिंदू or हिन्दू – both are fine), Indra (इंद्र), mummy (मम्मी) and dhwani (ध्वनि)
Nukta
Nuktas are dot at the bottom. They modify a letter to produce sounds that are foreign to Hindi. The most common example of that is the “z” sound. For instance, zoo (ज़ू) . The “z” sound in the word zoo is foreign to Hindi and is introduced via nukta-modification (ज -> ज़). The f sound is a loan from Farsi and is written as फ़.
Advanced
The pending varna (वर्ण)
Vowels
- ऋ
- ः – Visarga
Consonants
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| क | ख | ग | घ | ङ |
| च | छ | ज | झ | ञ |
| ट | ठ | ड | ढ | ण |
| त | थ | द | ध | न |
| प | फ | ब | भ | म |
| य | र | ल | व | श |
| ष | स | ह | क्ष | त्र |
| ज्ञ | ड़ | ढ़ |
And the pronunciations,
Vowels
- ऋ (Hri as in Hritik Roshan). Contrast this maatraa with half-र. So, for example, प्रकृति (Prakriti). The “ri” sound is actually a maatraa but it is pronounced as if it is रि.
- The two vertical dots at the end of “अंतः”. They are used to convey an exhalation and pause.
Consonants
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| क | ख | ग | घ | ङ (rarely used, n as in going) |
| च | छ | ज | झ (jh as in jhandaa/flag) | ञ (rarely used, Spanish ñ as in niña) |
| ट | ठ | ड | ढ | ण |
| त | थ | द | ध | न |
| प | फ | ब | भ | म |
| य | र | ल | व | श |
| ष (similar to श except you bend tongue upwards) | स | ह | क्ष (ksh as in kshatriya) | त्र (tras as netra/eye) |
| ज्ञ (purists will tell you that it should be pronounced jya as in jyaan but everyone outside the classroom says gya as in knowledge/gyaan) | ड़ (dh as in kadhai | ढ़ (dh as in padhai/study) |
Hindi vs Sanskrit pronunciation difference
- A word like राम would be pronounced Raam by a Hindi speaker with an abrupt ending while a similar word would be pronounced Raama with an “a” ending. It is subtle but important. This can make a difference, eg. a Hindi speaker would say Tul-see-das while a Sanskrit speaker would say Tu-la-see-daa-sa.
- Another issue, which I have noticed, those it is only my hypothesis, is the different pronunciation of Bindu. Consider नरसिंह. A Hindi speaker would pronounce it Narsingh while a Sanskrit speaker would say Narsimha. The latter spelling and pronunciation are more common in South India while the former is more prominent in north India.
Disclaimer: I am not a linguist. Just a native speaker of Hindi and English.