How to Say Hindi Words

Devanagari is a syllabary language

Consonant followed by vowel
Inherent -a- sound is ignored, replaced with vowel sound instead
Consonant at end of word
Inherent -a- sound is ignored
Vowels

Each vowel has two forms 

  • independent: when it comes at beginning of word or after another vowel
  • dependent: when it comes right after  a consonant and modifies it
Conjunct Letters

Letters that have been joined together - which means there is no inherent -a- sound between the two letters. ex:

  - kya

Unpronounced Vowels
  • The inherent -a- sound is the only sound that is ever unprounounced.
  • This happens when the word ends in a vowel and there are three or more syllables in the word.
  • If so, you may need to ignore the inherent -a- located in the middle of the word
  • EX. Devanagari (prounounced "nagri", not "nagari")
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