Consonants in Hindi phrasebook
Many Hindi consonants come in three different forms: aspirated, unaspirated and retroflex.
Aspiration means "with a puff of air", and is the difference between the sound of the letter "p" in English pin (aspirated) and spit (unaspirated). In this phrasebook, aspirated sounds are spelled with an h (so English "pin" would be phin) and unaspirated sounds without it (so "spit" is still spit). Hindi aspiration is quite forceful and it's OK to emphasize the puff: bharti.
Hindi retroflex consonants, on the other hand, are not really found in English. They should be pronounced with the tongue tip curled back. Practice with a native speaker, or just pronounce as usual ? you'll usually still get the message across.
| Devanagari
|
Transliteration
|
Equivalent/Comments
|
|---|
| ? |
k |
as in skip.
|
| ? |
kh |
as in sinkhole.
|
| ? |
g |
as in go.
|
| ? |
gh |
as in doghouse.
|
| ? |
ṅ |
as in sing. Used only in Sanskrit loan words, does not occur independently.
|
| ? |
c |
as in church.
|
| ? |
ch |
as in pinchhit.
|
| ? |
j |
as in jump.
|
| ? |
jh |
as in dodge her.
|
| ? |
ñ |
as in canyon. Used only in Sanskrit loan words, does not occur independently.
|
| ? |
? |
as in tick. Retroflex, but still a "hard" t sound similar to English.
|
| ? |
? |
as in lighthouse. Retroflex
|
| ? |
? |
as in doom. Retroflex
|
| ? |
? |
as in mudhut. Retroflex
|
| ? |
? |
retroflex n. Used only in Sanskrit loan words.
|
| ? |
t |
does not exist in English. more dental t, with a bit of a th sound. Softer than an English t.
|
| ? |
th |
aspirated version of the previous letter, not as in thanks or the.
|
| ? |
d |
dental d.
|
| ? |
dh |
aspirated version of the above.
|
| ? |
n |
dental n.
|
| ? |
p |
as in spin.
|
| ? |
ph |
as in u'ph'ill.
|
| ? |
b |
as in be.
|
| ? |
bh |
as in abhor.
|
| ? |
m |
as in mere.
|
| ? |
y |
as in yet.
|
| ? |
r |
as in Spanish pero, a tongue trip. Don't roll as in Spanish rr, German or Scottish English.
|
| ? |
l |
as in lean.
|
| ? |
v |
as in Spanish vaca, between English v and w, but without the lip rounding of an English w. (IPA: ?).
|
| ? |
? |
as in shoot.
|
| ? |
? |
almost indistinguishable retroflex of the above. slightly more aspirated. Used only in Sanskrit loan words.
|
| ? |
s |
as in see.
|
| ? |
h |
as in him.
|
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Hindi phrasebook
