Hindi Alphabet

[Anju]

Hindi is written in the Devanagari Script, whose alphabet is as follows:

Vowels


अ a -- as in understand
आ ā -- after
इ i -- hit
ई ī -- heat
उ u -- put
ऊ ū -- hoot
ऋ ṛ -- wriggle
ए e -- men
ऐ ai -- like aye
ओ o -- more
औ au -- foul
अं - ang (to produce a nasal tone- like in rung
अः - ah (aspiration- not commonly used in modern Hindi)


Dependent Forms of the Vowels With the consonant त (t) to demonstrate the addition of vowels to consonants

त ta
ता tā
ति ti
ती tī
तु tu
तू tū
तृ trri
ते te
तै tai
तो to
तौ tau

तं tang
तः tah

Nasalised Vowels - addition of anuswar or chandra bindu to anything causes it to be pronounced with a nasal tone
anuswar अं is demonstrated above- it gives a -un or -an kind of sound when used in the middle of a word, that is joined to the following consonant - like

तंग = tung
रंक = runk
पंत = punt (soft t)
चंपा = champa

While, ँ is used to produce a pure nasal tone

अँ ã आँ ă इँ ĩ ईँ ĭ उँ ũ ऊँ ŭ एँ ẽ ऐँ aĩ ओँ õ औँ aũ

तँ tã ताँ tă तिँ tĩ तीँ tĭ तुँ tũ तूँ tŭ तेँ tẽ तैँ taĩ तोँ tõ तौँ taũ


Consonants

क k
क़ q
ख kh
ख़ kh
ग g
ग़ g
घ gha
ङ n *
च c
छ ch
ज j
ज़ z
ञ ñ
ट ṭ
ठ ṭh
ड ḍ
ड़ ṛ
ढ ḍh
ढ़ ṛh
ण ṇ
त t
थ th
द d
ध dh
न n
प p
फ ph
फ़ f
ब b
भ bh
म m
य y
र r
ल l
व v
श śh
ष ṣh
स s
ह h





Conjuncts

When two consonants are pronounced together they are often joined together in a form called a conjunct, for example स+त→स्त in the word दोस्त dost (friend).

Two consecutive consonants not forming a conjunct can indicate the presence of अ a, as in कम kam (little, a small amount of). However, two non-conjunctive consonants can also indicate that the consonants are pronounced separately. For example in बिलकुल bilkul (completely), the ल and क do not form a conjunct because बिल and कुल are separate syllables-बिलकुल is pronounced bil—kul.

It is generally not possible to tell whether two non conjoined consonants are separated by 'अ' or not. Sometimes the absence of 'अ' is marked by a stroke under the leading consonant, but this is rarely done outside of dictionaries. Hindi-English dictionaries also give the pronunciation in roman script, from which the pronunciation can be inferred. Also, there are some patterns:

* Two consecutive unjoined consonants at the start of a verb are almost always separated by 'अ'.
* Verbs in their regular infinitive form consist of a stem followed by ना nā. In this case the n is not conjoined with a preceding consonant, e.g. बोलना bolnā (to speak) देखना dekhnā (to see). The same principle applies to the imperfective form of verbs, e.g. बोलता boltā (speaks).
* When two words form a compound word, the consonants at their interface are not conjoined e.g. गपशाप=गप-शाप gapshap=gap-shap (gossip, an echo word) अजकल=अज-कल ajkal=aj-kal (these days). The latter is formed from aj (today) and kal (yesterday, tomorrow).

[Juanito]

Thanks Anju..For those who want to improve their knowledge of devanagari script, check this website:

Hindi script tutor

[shivans]

too good !!