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Pronunciation Guide

Nothing beats listening to a native speaker, but the following notes should help you to attain the right pronunciation. The Hindi transcription used in this book is the internationally most common one. English speakers must pay attention to some main differences in order to make themselves understood. Here are the basic rules:

VOWELS

Most vowels in Hindi have a clear equivalent in English, so that pronouncing should not pose any major problem.

The vowels are:

Hindi letter		Approximate English equivalent
अ	a	run, fun; sometimes, when between a consonant and h, as in bad
आ	ā	father, as in Southern British
ऐ	ai	lie
औ	au	couch
ए	e	between best and paid
इ	i	hit
ई	ī	heat
ओ	o	between Southern British cot and door
उ	u	put
ऊ	ū	moon

The Hindi vowels differ in length—as in shabd (word) and āj (today). But there is a degree of variation in the pronunciation of certain vowels, often due to regional differences.

Consonants

Unlike the Hindi vowel system, the consonants are more complex and to master them some more information is necessary:

Retroflex consonants

There is a crucial difference between dental and retroflex consonants in Hindi. In dental consonants, the tongue touches the upper front teeth, whereas retroflex consonants are pronounced with the tongue turned back to the roof of your mouth. For example, set your mouth up to pronounce a “regular” d, but then curl your tongue right up so that the bottom part of it touches the top part of your mouth. As you try to pronounce the original d, you will feel your tongue “flapping” forward. American English has also some of these retroflex sounds, most commonly in the middle of words like “bidder”, “heart”, and “bitter”, or at the end of words like “bad”, “butter”, and “bat”. The three retroflex consonants are: ḍ, ṭ, and ṇ. Strictly speaking ṣ is also a retroflex, but in practice it is rarely distinguished from an English “sh”.

Aspirated consonants

Hindi also distinguishes breathed or aspirated consonants from light or non-aspirated ones. Aspirated consonants are those pronounced with an audible expulsion of breath, i.e. a discernable, heavy puff of air. The aspirated consonants are marked by an h following them (except for sh which is always pronounced as the English “sh”) and they are: bh, ch, dh, ḍh, gh, jh, kh, ph, th and ṭh.

On the other hand, non-aspirated consonants are pronounced far lighter—i.e. with minimal breath—than their English equivalents. For the matter of making yourself understand it is vital to emphasize the difference between aspirated and unaspirated consonants.

Nasalization

Hindi has several nasal consonants which affect the vowel placed before them in a similar way to the “n” in French (e.g. “bon”) or the Portuguese “m” (e.g. “bem”). These nasal sounds are: ṃ, ñ and ṅ but even the consonants m, n and ṇ can cause light nasalization when positioned in front of another consonant, e.g. Mumbaī (Mumbai)

The consonants are:

Hindi letter		Approximate English equivalent
ब	b	box, “light”
भ	bh	box, “breathed”
च	c	champion
छ	ch	church, “breathed”
द	d	dog, “light”
ध	dh	dog, “breathed”
ड	ḍ	like d, “flapped”—in the middle of a word often like a “flapped” r
ढ	ḍh	like ḍ, “breathed”
फ़	f	fat
ग	g	give, “light”

Note: In Arabic and Persian loanwords the g sound is sometimes produced further back against the epiglottis, and is in those cases underlined: g. However not all speakers of Hindi use this sound and g may thus be rendered as g at all times. The difference in sound is minute and can only be detected by advanced speakers. The g sounds a tiny bit “scratchy”.

घ	gh	give, “breathed”
ह	h	hat
ज	j	jet, “light”
झ	jh	jet, “breathed”
क/क़	k	kick, “light”

Note: As with g, in Arabic and Persian loanwords the k sound is sometimes produced against the epiglottis, and in those cases is underlined: k.

ख/ख़

kh

kick, “breathed”

Note: In Arabic and Persian loanwords kh is sometimes pronounced as the ch in Scottish loch—in this case we underline it: kh—however not all speakers of Hindi use this sound and kh may thus be rendered as kh at all times.

ल	l	let
म	m	mat
	ṃ	like m, “lightly nasalized”
न	n	need
ण	ṇ	like n, “flapped”
	ñ	like n, “nasalized”
	n.	ink
प	p	pet, “light”
फ	ph	pet, “breathed”
र	r	rat, but rolled as in Scottish English or Italian
	ṛ	“flapped” r as in the American butter
स	s	sit
श	sh	shine
ष	ṣ	like s, “flapped”—but most often pronounced like sh
त	t	ten, “light”
थ	th	ten, “breathed”
ट	ṭ	like t, “flapped”
ठ	ṭh	like ṭ, “breathed”
व	v	way
ज़	z	zebra, “light”

English loan words

Note that there are numerous English loan words in Hindi and they are generously used in casual conversation. These loan words get the Great Indian Masala Treatment, craftily adjusting them to local tongues and ears. The result may at first be unintelligible to native English speakers. It will take time (or ṭāim, as Hindi speakers would say) to get used to the Indianized pronunciation.

The consonants t and d are usually pronounced like the retroflex consonants ṭ and ḍ (see ṭāim), and o sometimes becomes a slightly nasalized a or ā (as in prāblam = problem, affis = office, lāṭ = lord, the latter being hardly recognizable from the original).

Synonyms

The Hindi vocabulary is augmented by many words from non-Indian languages (mostly Persian and Arabic), and con­sequently, there are often several synonyms for any one word in English. As we will see, there are five synonyms for the humble word “but”; some are derived from Sanskrit, others from foreign sources. There are also five Hindi words for “blood” (khūn, rakt, rudhir, lahū, lohu). It is advisable to memorize all the synonyms that will crop up in the course of our little book: Regionally and individually a different synonym may be preferred—and you wouldn’t want to get stuck because of that silly fifth word for “but”, would you?

Hindi loan words in English

Languages don’t just travel on one-way streets: During the time of the British Raj, the British colonial period in India, the foreign rulers imported many words from Indian languages. Some were corrupted beyond recognition, but “something is better than nothing”, as the Indians say. Here are a few of the most common words taken from Hindi:

• Bandanna (from bāndhnā, to bind)

• Bungalow (from baṅglā, a one-storeyed house)

• Cha (from cāy, tea; the basis of the quaint old Briticism “Fancy a cuppa cha, my dear?”)

• Curry (from kaṛhī, a spicy sauce or soup)

• Dacoit (from ḍākū, robber)

• Juggernaut (from Jagannāth, another name for God Vishnu)

• Jungle (from jaṅgal, a thick forest or wasteland)

• Maharaja (from mahārājā, great king)

• Mahout (from mahāvaṭ, a keeper or driver of elephants)

• Pyjamas (from pājāmā, a kind of loose cotton pants)

• Punch (the drink), from pāñc (five), since the original beverage was concocted from five ingredients

• Shampoo (from campī, a head massage, and cāmpnā, to massage)

• Thug (from ṭhag, deceiver; also the word for a member of a murderous cult called ṭhagī, whose adherents roamed the Indian countryside and robbed and killed travelers in the name of Goddess Kali.)

• To loot (from lūṭnā, to rob, plunder)

• Verandah (from baraṇḍā)

Pronunciation, the pitfalls

As we have seen, there are different kinds of consonants in Hindi (“regular” and retroflex, aspirated and unaspirated), as well as different kinds of vowels (long and short). To the untrained ear, the difference may appear minor, but employing the wrong type of consonant or wrong length of vowel can fatally alter the meaning of a word. For example:

ḍāl = a lentil dish; dal = group, team, (political) party.

nāṭā = small in stature; nātā = relationship.

Pronunciation, some encouragement

Initially, pronouncing a new language might get your tongue in a proverbial twist, but practice makes perfect—so don’t be shy at speaking, even at the risk of making mistakes or gaffes. There are only a few non-Indian Hindi speakers, and the locals will be absolutely delighted to find a foreigner making the effort to learn their mother tongue. They will gladly help you improve your skills. Simply go for it!

The Hindi alphabet

Hindi letter	Roman equivalent
अ	a
आ	ā
इ	i
ई	ī
उ	u
ऊ	ū
ऋ	ri
ए	e
ऐ	ai
ओ	o
औ	au
क/क़	k/k
ख/ख़	kh/kh
ग	g
घ	gh
च	c
छ	ch
ज/ज़	j/z
झ	jh
ट	ṭ
ठ	ṭh
ड	ḍ
ढ	ḍh
ण	ṇ
त	t
थ	th
द	d
ध	dh
न	n
प	p
फ/फ़	ph/f
ब	b
भ	bh
म	m
य	y
र	r
ल	l
व	v
श	sh
ष	ṣ
स	s
ह	h
क्ष	kṣ
ज्ञ	jny

The full forms of the vowels are written at the beginning or end of a word, or when they are in combination with another vowel. Otherwise Hindi writes the vowels with small signs over, under, before or after the consonant that comes before them.

A TINY BIT OF GRAMMAR

The old sex thing

We knew that this would get your attention, so let’s talk about …well, actually, gender. In Hindi grammar there are two genders, male and female. Nouns have either male or female gender and any adjective relating to a noun has to adjust its gender to the gender of the noun—somewhat like in French. Verbs also have male and female forms. Depending on who is acting, the verb will have to adopt the male form ♂ or female♀form.

What’s Your Address?

Nope, we’re not gonna write you a letter. It’s all about addressing people. There are three types of addresses in Hindi, three words for the simple English “you”. Which of the three you use depends on your relationship with, or the status of, the person you wish to address.

• tū – OK among very close relatives, friends and lovers, otherwise it’s insulting. It’s sometimes deliberately used to demean someome.

• tum – Used among friends, family members and good acquaintances.

• āp – the most polite form of address, for people of high standing, strangers, and in formal situations.

Similarly, the possessive pronoun “your” has three forms: terā/terī, tumhārā/tumhārī and āpkā/āpkī. Grammatically, the pronouns are treated like adjectives, so their gender would have to be adjusted to the gender of the associated noun.