Welcome to the first lesson!

In this lesson, you will learn about Devanagari, the script used to write Hindi.

This lesson is just an introduction. I’ll talk about Devanagari in more detail in the next few lessons.

I’m going to talk about the spelling of two words: देवनागरी and नमस्ते.

The Spelling of देवनागरी

Here’s how the word “Devanagari” is written:

Click the button to hear how it sounds.

Let’s look at the spelling of देवनागरी:

देवनागरी = द + े +  व + (अ) + न + ा + ग + (अ) + र +  ी

Notice how every letter has a horizontal line on top. When the letters are put together, the word has a horizontal line on top.

Now let’s look at each letter.

The letter द

The first letter is द. Here’s how this letter sounds:

It sounds like a ‘d’, doesn’t it? There is an important difference, though. Here’s how to pronounce this letter: first, say the “th” sound in the word “the”. Feel where your tongue is. Do you feel how it is touching your teeth? Now, keep your tongue in the same place and pronounce a ‘d’ sound. In other words, don’t blow any air between your tongue and teeth like you do when you say “the”. You will probably pronounce द correctly.

Try to say द a few times. When you say it, say it with an “a” vowel (as in “amaze”), like “duh”. Practice it a few times and compare your pronunciation with the recording.

Great! You’ve learned a letter!

The letter ए ( े)

Now let’s look at the second letter:  े.

This letter is the vowel ए. All vowels have two forms. When a vowel comes after a consonant, its maatraa form is used. The maatraa form of ए is  े. Here’s how it looks with the consonant द: दे. It is a diagonal line that is above the letter.

The vowel ए is pronounced like the “ay” in “pay”. Here’s how it sounds:

Listen to how it sounds a few times. Now, try to pronounce it.

When do we use ए then? Here are a few examples:

In the first example, ए came at the beginning of the word. In the second example, ए came after a vowel.

So, the answer is:

The letter व

Okay, let’s move on to the next letter: व. It is sometimes pronounced like a “w”, and sometime like a “v”. With some experience, you’ll learn which pronunciation to use with which words. In the word देवनागरी, it is pronounced like a “v”.

Try to pronounce this letter a few times, and listen to the audio recording.

The letter अ

Let’s talk about the next letter.

Notice that I wrote it as (अ):

देवनागरी = द + े +  व + (अ) + न + ा + ग + (अ) + र +  ी

What does that mean? अ is pronounced like the “a” in “amaze”. Remember how you pronounced द? You pronounced it with अ.

अ has no maatraa form. In Devanagari, if a consonant doesn’t have a maatraa, then it is followed by the default vowel: अ. If there is no maatraa, then अ is implied.

When a vowel comes before the consonant before अ, and a vowel comes after the consonant after अ, it often isn’t pronounced. Look at the word देवनागरी. The vowel  े comes before the first अ, and the vowel ा comes after it. “Devanagari” is pronounced as if it were written “Devnagri”.

Don’t worry. This might seem complicated, but once you start using it, it won’t be hard. I’ll give more examples later. Just remember:

The letter न

Okay, next letter: न. It’s pronounced like “n”. Do you remember how you pronounced द? Put your tongue in the same place again. Feel where your tongue is when you say the “th” in “the”. Keep your tongue there, and make an “n” sound. You’ll probably pronounce न correctly this way. In other words, it is another dental consonant.

Try it a few times. Listen to the audio recording and compare your pronunciation.

The letter आ

Okay – now you’ve learned the first five letters of the word देवनागरी. The next one is आ. आ is a vowel. It is pronounced like the “a” in “awesome”, but your mouth should be more open.

It’s maatraa form is ा. The maatraa is written to the right of the consonant.

Listen to the recording. Try to pronounce it a few times.

The letter ग

On to the next letter: ग. ग is pronounced like the “g” in “go”.

The letter अ (again)

The next letter is again the default vowel: देवनागरी = द + े +  व + (अ) + न + ा + ग + (अ) + र +  ी

Why is it there? There’s no maatraa following the ग.

Is it pronounced or not? It isn’t pronounced since there are vowels on both sides: the vowel आ ( ा) on the left, and the vowel ई ( ी) on the right.

The letter र

The next letter is र. It is pronounced like ‘r’. It even looks like an “R” doesn’t it? It is usually flapped (i.e. “rolled”, but quickly).

Listen to the pronunciation and try to pronounce it a few times:

The vowel ई ( ी)

The final letter is ी. The vowel ई is pronounced like the “i” in “thing” or the “ee” in “feet”. It’s maatraa form is ी.

Listen to its pronunciation and try to pronounce it a few times.

Now you know every letter in the word देवनागरी!

Try to pronounce that word a few times:

What you’ve learned so far

So, to review, you’ve learned the following letters: द, ए ( े), व, अ, न, आ ( ा), ग, र, ई ( ी).

Here are a few words with these letters. First try to pronounce them, then listen to their pronunciation to see if you got it right.

Some words had a dot. A dot can mean several different things. In all of the examples above, the dot represents न. For instance, नींद can be spelled नींद or नीन्द, but नींद is more common. This dot is called an anusvar. A dot can represent other things too.  We’ll discuss them later.

The word दर्द has a little “hook” on the top right. This is one way that the letter र is written. We’ll talk about this more later.

See – you can already read and say a lot of words!

The word नमस्ते

Let’s learn another word: नमस्ते (“namaste”). Maybe you’ve heard this word before.

नमस्ते is a formal greeting in Hindi. Let’s look at its spelling:

नमस्ते = न + (अ) + म + (अ) + स + त + े

You already know न. Remember, if no vowel is written between two consonants, there is an implied अ. The next consonant is म. It is pronounced like “m”. The consonant is स. It is pronounced like “s”.

Notice how स is written in नमस्ते. The line on the right side is missing, and it is joined to the next letter, त. This is called a “conjunct”. A conjunct is used when the vowel अ is not pronounced between two letters. Thus, there’s no अ between the स and त. Notice that I didn’t write (अ) between them.

त is pronounced like ‘t’, but it is a dental consonant.

Finally, the last vowel is े, which you already know.

Okay – try to say नमस्ते. Then, listen to the following recordings:

Okay, you’ve just learned 3 new letters!

Some more examples

Here are some more words. Try to pronounce them all. Listen to the audio recordings.

Summary

You’ve learned a lot in this lesson. Here’s what you learned:

• Hindi is written using a script called “Devanagari”
• The letters द, ए ( े), व, अ, न, आ ( ा), ग, र, ई ( ी), म, स, त
• All vowels have two forms, the independent form and the maatraa form.
  • The independent form is used when a vowel is not preceded by a consonant.
  • Otherwise, the maatraa form is used.
• The vowel अ has no maatraa form. It is the default vowel. It is sometimes not pronounced when there are adjacent vowels.
• The default vowel can be suppressed with a conjunct.

Exercises

Read each of the following words. First, try to pronounce them. Then, listen to the recording to see if you pronounced it correctly.