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Teaching
Truth in Nepali |
Fast Nepali
Sounds, Characters, and Alphabet
Download printable
version—
fast_nepali_sounds_alphabet.pdf.
LIST OF CONTENTS [Go to Top]
1 – Pronunciation and Romanized Script
2 – Alphabet
3 – Practice
1 –
1
PRONUNCIATION AND
ROMANIZED SCRIPT
Before you decide to learn the Devanagari
script in
which Nepali is written, you can use a Romanized form
of writing. The letters and their
pronunciation are shown
below, as extracted from www.jaspell.uk/sounds_dev_unicode.htm
and www.jaspell.uk/devanagari/pron.pdf.
Click on a character in the following chart to hear its
sound.
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CLASSIFICATION OF DEVANAGARI
SOUNDS |
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C O N
S O N
A N T S |
V O
W E L S |
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Family |
Hard |
Soft |
Soft |
Soft |
Hard |
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Held Huffed |
Held Huffed |
Nasals |
Semi- vowels |
Spirants |
Short |
Long |
Diphthongs |
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Guttural |
ka kḫa |
ga
gḫa |
ṅa |
ha |
ḥ |
a |
ā |
e ê (ai/ei) |
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kaḥ |
ka |
kā |
ke kê
(kai/kei) |
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Palatal |
ca cḫa |
ja jḫa |
ña |
ya |
śa |
i |
ī |
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ki |
kī |
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Cerebral |
ṭa ṭḫa |
ḍa ḍḫa |
ṇa |
ra |
ṣa |
ŗ (rri) |
[rrii] |
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ṛa
ṛḫa |
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kŗ (krri) |
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Dental |
ta tḫa |
da dḫa |
na |
la |
sa |
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Labial |
pa pḫa |
ba bḫa |
ma |
va, wa |
(ka+)ḥ |
u |
ū |
o ô (ow/au) |
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Others |
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kā͂=kā+ ͂ |
ku |
kū |
ko kô (kau) |
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kĩ=ki+ ͂ |
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k`
(=k + |
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Vowels are nasalized with a moon-dot (chandrabindu) or, if
part of the vowel is above the bar, only a dot (bindu). For example, kā͂ काँ and kĩ किं. The nasal mark is Romanized
as ‘ ͂ ’.
[Go to Top] [List of Contents]
The alphabet lists vowels and then consonants—in order of
their sounds classification.
Vowels in Alphabetical Order of Devanagari
a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, ŗ, e, ê, o, ô, ḥ, ͂
अ, आ,
इ, ई, उ, ऊ,
ऋ, ए, ऐ, ओ, औ, :, ঁ
क,
का,
कि
की, कु,
कू, कृ, के, कै, को, कौ, कः,
कँ (trailing)
a sounds like ‘a’ in along; but like ‘o’ in pot in pa, pḫa, ba, bḫa, ma. (Compare ‘a’ in mangetout and wander.)
ā sounds long like ‘a’ in past, father or palm.
The rare English sound of ‘a’ in apple is contrived as a
long ā with a chandra moon over it. We’ll show it
as ӑ.
However ‘yā’ may preferred in Nepali, is in tyāksī (taxi).
A similar English sound is contrived as a
long ē with a chandra moon over it. We’ll show it
as ӗ.
i sounds short like ‘i’ in pill.
ī sounds long like ‘ie’ in believe.
u sounds short like ‘u’ in pull.
ū sounds long like ‘oo’ in pool.
ŗ sounds short like ‘ri’ in prickly or prismoidal.
e sounds of medium length like ‘e’ in pen or ‘ay’ in pay.
ê is classified as a long ē , but we’re using ê to show that it becomes like a diphthong sounding like ‘ei’ in feint or ‘ai’ in faint. (Many books
Romanize it as ‘ai’, but this can be confused with the juxtaposition of the
short vowels ‘a’ and ‘i’.)
o sounds of medium length like ‘o’ in told.
ô is classified as a long ō , but we’re using ô to show that it becomes like a diphthong sounding like ‘ow’ in now or, rarely, in owner. (It is sometimes
Romanized as ‘au’, but this could be confusing other vowels ‘a’ and ‘u’ occur together.)
ḥ (‘visarga’) is abruptly expelled like ‘uhh’ or as ‘ah’ in Judah.
` is our Romanization of the
halant (or hasanta) mark (্) that shows no vowel is present—as in
paṛ`nu (to read).
͂ represents the nasalization
of vowels, as in a, ã; ā, ā͂; kā, kā͂.
Consonants in Alphabetical Order of Devanagari
(These
are shown with the inherent vowel, ‘a’.)
Guttural: ka, kḫa,
ga, gḫa, ṅa
क,
ख, ग, घ,
ङ
Palatal: ca, cḫa, ja, jḫa, ña
च, छ,
ज, झ, ञ
Retroflex: ṭa, ṭḫa, ḍa, ḍḫa,
ṇa, ṛa, ṛḫa
ट, ठ,
ड, ढ, ण,
ड़, ढ़
Dental: ta, tḫa, da, dḫa, na
त, थ,
द, ध, न
Labial: pa, pḫa, ba, bḫa, ma
प, फ,
ब, भ, म
Semi-vowels: ya, ra,
la, va
य, र,
ल, व
Sibilant: śa, ṣa, sa
श, ष,
स
Aspirant: ha
ह
c
is like ‘ch’ in chin.
ḫ is used to indicate that the
associated consonant is huffed. (Compare
‘bh’ in the English word, ‘abhor’.
h is a separate consonant, not like ḫ
that is used to ‘huff’ consonants.
Foreign sounds are represented by adding a dot to the
closest sounding Devanagari characters. fa
= फ़ , qa = क़ , za = ज़ .
[Go to Top] [List of Contents]
3
Thanks to all who have assisted in preparation of this document, and best wishes to each reader.
The Author
[Go to Top] [List of Contents]
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Fast Nepali Sounds, Characters, and
Alphabet This document has been published and
revised by Jaspell 2019.
It is not for sale. © 2019 Jaspell (B J Burford
& E J Burford) 5 February, 2019