Learn the base of Hindi

Lesson 1

Hindi is spoken exactly as it is written so being a phonetic language it is very easy to learn to read .

Letters S, N , M , K and R This is the Hindi letter S as in Surf

and this is the letter N as in NuN.
.

If we join them together we get the word , can you guess what it might be ?
Learn the base of Hindi Zhinsn1

Yes it is Sun !!

You can make similar lessons yourself by using a Devanagri font. Open windows character map program - its in the windows directory- and copy some letters . Paste them into a windows paintbrush program using the text tool and save as a monochrome bitmap file. Open this file in thumbs or paint shop pro and save as a gif file. For really large letters you need Universal word program.
Lets look at more letters.
This is the letter K as in stucK-note all Hindi letters have a line on top and only the short sound is pronounced . Learn the base of Hindi Zhink1

.

The next two letters are M and N.
Learn the base of Hindi Zhinm1

M as in MuM

N as in NuN

To make a word we just join the letters together again so that the top line becomes continuous for eg mn (mind)

Now look at these four letters again
Learn the base of Hindi Zhins

S

K

M

N

Sit back visualise these in your mind and say them aloud.

.....S ,...........K , ............M. , ......and .........N

Now for a real tough test to see if you can read your first word in Hindi

..

(nmk--pronounced as namuk -salt)

If you got it right -well done . Award yourself a brownie point. Now learn another letter making the R sound as in Rum.

Lets read another word - to do - kr - Learn the base of Hindi Zhinkr

.

Remember the five letters we have learnt

S

Learn the base of Hindi Zhins

K

...

M

..

N

.. and

R

Learn the base of Hindi Zhinr

.

Visualise all five again
...S, .........K , ............M. , ...........N ....and R....

Whats this word -die - .. yes it mr (murr) .

and this one ?
.....rm (Rum) and this is ....rn (Run)

Now see if you can read your first sentence in Hindi
Learn the base of Hindi Zhinnm3

...nmk km kr (namak kam kar) --- salt less do i.e. make it less salty!

Well done.

As a test see if you can match the follwoing words Sir , Run , Rum , Rusk , Musk ,. 1 point for each correct answer.

Answers Rusk .... Run... Sir .... Musk ... Rum

Many readers have pointed out that in the words in this lesson eg in Musk the letter S is only half pronounced and should be written in its half form

So the word Musk above really reads as Masak . To write it phonetically we should use the half S as below .

One can get too carried away about half letters and some Indian languages like Punjabi dont have them . If in doubt dont use it . You have come to the end of Lesson 1 .

For an easy end to this lesson guess what these numbers are in Hindi . They are being used less and less being replaced by our common numbers 1 , 2 , 3 etc.

Go over the lesson again and again .

Write out the english letters as below and fill in the blanks as you go through the lessons . The five letters K M N R and S and half letter S are done for you. Keep referring to this figure as you go through the lessons.

In the next lesson we introduce the vowels .

Lesson 2

Alphabet small size

Check to see if you can remember them

....sn (sun)
and this one is .chr (to graze)......

Hi Neel !
Next lets look at a vowel.
A vertical line .AFTER a letter makes a long aa sound so m...... becomes
...or Maa (mother).

see if you can read this word.... Yes its Maamaa -mother's brother.

What are the following English words ?
........March ;

and this one-can you guess what the new letter sounds like ?

..Smart!

Notice the last lettet is the T sound. The spelling is strictly not correct as the s should be a half sound but we will deal with that later.

See if you can read following sentence.
.... ...........,..
.
.
....

You should have read Ram maramar n kr , saram (Gujrati version) kr - Ram fight dont do , shame be !

For now just go over the one vowel aa sound .... and the 7 cosonants learned ..
..k....m.....n....r....ch.....s .. and ...t

Lesson 3

To recap what has been learnt so far .
One vowel aa sound .... and 7 consonants ..
..k....m.....n....r....ch.....s .. and ...t

As a test see if you can read the word for tomato in Hindi
...yes.... tmaatr.

How about truth ?
-sch -pronounces as such.

Whats this English word ?
...Car.

Lets look at two vowels . The little i or e...

is place in FRONT but pronounced AFTER the letter eg. . this word below reads Miss as in English.
...the line at the top should be joined but overlook that quirk for the moment.

The big ee....

is placed AFTER the letter. For eg this is the English word Team.
..

The following sentence in English has three new letters -for the P sound as in Pup , the L as in Look and the THE sound as in moTHEr .
P L THE

See if you can read this sentence . Remember to fill in your worksheet from Lesson 1
..................
...The teacher meets the people.

Well done if you got all three new ones correct !
--pronounce THE - soft d ; the ..p sound as in Purse.
and the ...L as in Learn ? .

What are the following English words?
..::::.....:::
...:::::
...

Answers - the Minaret ; Speak ; Leach

Notice that the above three words contain all the ten consonants ----
K L M N P R S T , CH , THE and the vowels AA , Little E and Big EEE learnt so far . Make sure you can recognise them before moving on to ..........

Lesson 4

we will learn four more letters -the b sound as in Burn , sh sound as in SHirt , j sound as in Junk , and the z sound as in scarS or maiZe
...Burn .....SHirt ;.. ...Junk and .......maiZe

Now for a real tough test .What are these English words ?
......Bark

....Shark

....Jill

..Stars..Notice the Z is just like a J but with a dot below it.

What's this word ?
..........Clean Sheet.

.............rich judge

...Creep

....Beech

Next we look at two more vowels .
The little u which after a letter gives it a short u sound eg lOOk
...and the big u... which gives it the long ooo as in mooon.

These are put BELOW the letter so look is written as

.....and moon as

Whats this word ?
....noon ; and this one?
.....Juice ;; and this Hindi word .....
....zulm (injustice) .

Now see if you can decode a whole sentence

Neel cooks the chicken.
Think it all too easy ? Wait till you see the next lesson

Lesson5

Go over the first four lessons spending about 5 minutes on each to make sure you have the shape of the letters firmly in your mind.

In this lesson we learn of four more vowels
...which placed on top of a letter gives it an 'ae' sound as in Ape.

Whats this word ?

...Paper

A double one on top like this
gives it a deeper ae sound as in Apple . Whats this word? .

....

. Yes Parrot.

To get th 'O' sound as in Oar we put this after a letter
..
..whats this word . ....its MORE -peacock.

and finally the deeper 'Au' sound as in crOcodile
.

What this word ?
....Molly -girls name

Lesson 6

The vertical line is the aa sound as in faather withthe mouth wide open. However there is also a more truncated aa sound with the mouth less open as in the word laaf (lough) with a little moon shaped sign on top of the vertical line . So the Indians tend to say dactar instead of doctor with the a in dac with the mouth just half open as in the figure below .

So when you see the moon over the vertical line remember its only a half aa sound.

The un nasal sound is in two forms .

a) A dot

over the top as in the word rUNg (of a ladder ).

and b) as a longer deeper sound ann

as in the word cANt

Two letters which sound similar are the soft t -

made with the tip of the tongue touching the back of the upper top teeth and protruding slightly beyond them and
the soft th sound with the tongue a bit further back as in souTH....

Whats this word ?
.........tota -----parrot .

Whats this word ?

.....Thanks !

Can you guess what this new letter sounds like
.....Laf (lough) it is the letter F written in Hindi as

Whats this word ?
....Traffic.

See if you can guess the sound of another letter

from this word

...maD ie the D is represented by the letter

Whats this word ?
....Jade.

For a final test see if you can read this somewhat painful story in English. It has one new letter , see if you can guess the sound.

.......The bee stung John . He told his mum. She told him not to cry. The sound for a vowel i (or little e) is represented by the letter .

.

Note that the L in t-o-l-d should really be a half L as otherwise the word reads tolud. We will come to half letters later. Can you identify all the letters learnt in this lesson ?

. with un sound as in hung

....aan sound as in shant

....the soft t as when the tongue touches the bottom teeth -Lata -name of a girl.

....the soft th as in mirTH or THud .
.....The F as in First.

....the hard d as in Driver and finally the vowel sound for little e or i written on its own .

.......as in drY. Go over the lesson again . Next week we look at more vowels on their own.

Lesson 7

Vowels when on their own and not modifying another sound are written differently. The little e was shown last week. Lets look at
A as in Until
Aa as in Army
little e as in Interview
and the big ee as in Easter.
See if you can spot which is which.
...A as in Alarm.
...Aa as in Artist.
...i as in Income and finally
....big EE as in craEEm (crime)
Whats this sentence in English ?

....A man answered the door.
and these two ?

....Uncle Jack joined the army ; Are you serious ?

.....I want ice cream in the night.
Go over the lesson again . Notice that v is used in want . There is no letter for w in Hindi and many Indians tend to pronounce w as v. Note also the half n in want . Some people say the n with a nasal sound so you can use a dot instead of the half n.

Lesson 8
Detached forms of the Vowels continued
These are the two detached forms of the u
-little u

and big u in this sentence.

....The proud mouse !
Little u is

and big u is

Similarly this is the detached form of the vowel ae as in Ape

and the Aae as in mAt.

Whats this sentence?...
.. A arrow hit the ant.(It was a small arrow) .
So liitle ae is ..
as in Ape
and big aae is...
... as in Atomic or @.
O as in Only is written as

and big au as in autumn as
.
Whats this phrase ?..
... This autumn only.
The letter for o on its own is..
...and for au on its own is..

Lesson 9
There are many forms of the letters N . Only the first one displayed is ususally used . Some are more nasal than others . It is only important to know about them because you might come across them . Remember only the first one is actually used a lot.

Compound letters

Unlike other Hindi letters these have two syllables and are probably derived from Sanskrit.
The first is soft t ......and r ....combined tr

as in Yatra
( journey)

The next is R and I combined Ri
as in Rishi (holy man )

The next is sh.... and r.... combined shr
as in Shrap (curse)

The next is k..... and sh.... combined ksh... as in .... Kshatriya (warrior)

And finally the G.... and y..... gya
as in Gyan (knowledge)
Learn the base of Hindi Zhingya

Lesson 10

There are some fierce looking letters which are really a combination of two Hindi letters. For example H and Y combined is hya .

They are not used that much but still is important to know them to be able to read Hindi.

Note the second letter is in the foot of the first..

Guess which is the combined form for

D and D ( Dd) ;

D and Y (Dya)

D and chesty D (Ddh)

h AND Y (Hya)....Note Y is in foot of H

Although they look difficult they are just combining two letters you have already learnt.

Next try

R and long U ( Roo)

L and Ri (Lri)

- Note that the small downward curve is often used to add a ri sound to many letters.. It can be written at the bottom when it is pronounced after the letter as in the lri sound here or at the top when the ri is pronounced before the letter.

and D and V (Dva)
.

The following round off the combined letters - two ts , two ths , and two soft ts
.

Dont worry if you found this lesson difficult . these letters are used very rarely
.The only things left to learn are half letters and numbers and that we will do in the next lesson.

Lesson 11

Half Letters

Recall the sentence Neel cooks the chicken

The second word is written here as if pronounced with the full accent on each letter . So it really reads "KOOKUS". To make it as phonetic as possible the second K is written as a half K .

Can you read this ?

Yes its Neel cooks , note the second k has been halved.

Nearly all Hindi letters can be written as half letters and the letter is then pronounced with a short clip .

The following images contain sounds for most of the letters . See if you can match each letter to its sound

K , KH , j , soft t , Ksh , Gya, P , N , hard G , Dh , Ch , Chh, B , M , F , Ye , L , Bh . Sh , S , He
...........

The answers going across the top letters of each picure are

K , Kh , hard G , chesty dh , F , M . Bh , F again , , M again , Bh again

The middle letters in each are

Ch , Chh , J , Soft T , Ye , L , V

and the bottom letters are

Ksh , Gya , B , N, P , Sh, S , H , Ksh again , Gya again , N . There is a chesty Sh which looks like the N above but has a diagonal line .

The following completes the half letters . See if you can guess the sound.

They are the common N , soft Th , soft T and Ye

For a real tough test see if you can read this word , its what you have been learning all along.

Yes its Hindi ! Note the half N .

For an easy end to this lesson guess what these numbers are in Hindi . They are being used less and less being replaced by our common numbers 1 , 2 , 3 etc.

Next lesson we look at a few more vowel sounds , the letter R and its forms , and after that the complete
alphabet

Lesson 12

Letter R

This is short lesson which will be extended in the coming weeks.

The letter R often has the short and long U placed in the middle rather than at the bottom.

What are these words ?

A short diagonal stroke also gives an R sound after a letter , usually placed below P or F . Note the R here modifiying the first word FAS to what ?

.

The answer is France ! Note the nasal N dot over the F.

A short sign like the one above the letter six on your keyboard is often put under the T give a Tr sound. Whats this word?

Yes the R modifies the TK to give Truck .

Another is the Ri sound put under M and N but also other letters . whats this word - (Hindi for dance ) ?

Answer is Nritya.

An R sound can also be placed ABOVE a letter where it is sounded BEFORE the letter it is placed . As a test see if you can read the last word in the image below .

Learn the base of Hindi Zhinmrk

Lesson 13

Its time now to have a look at the whole Hindi alphabet . For how to write these letters look at Lesson 18

First the English nearest equivalent is given , then an English and a Hindi word where it would fit.

This lesson may seem a little difficult but is really just a recap of what you have learnt so far.

Consonants

First Line

These are gutturals produced from the back of the throat.

1.K as in hooK , Kamra (Room) ; ......2. Kh as in Khaki , Khargosh (rabbit) ;......3. G as in Gate , Gum (sadness) ;.....4. Gh as in Ghandi , Ghar (house ) ; and 5. N

Once again the five letters above are K ; Kh ; G ; Gh ; N

Second Line

These are palatals where the tongue touches the back of the throat.

1.Ch as in Chunkey ( tongue touches top of mouth) , Chamcha (spoon) ;.....2. Chh as in no equiv in English ( tongue touches bottom teeth saying Ch).... , Chatri (Umbrella) .....; 3.J as in Jungle , Jab ( when) ; ...4.Jh as in no equiv in English-tongue touches bottom teeth , in Hindi as in Jhansi , Jhanda( flag) ;..5.. N

The letters are Ch ; Chh ; J ; Jh ; N. There is another way of writing JH which is quite popular and we will see that in Lesson 18

Third Line

These are cereberals where the tongue is rolled back a bit.

1.T as in Turkey , tmatur( tomato) ; ....2. Th as in no equiv -tongue curls in more when saying t .... , .Thandi (cold) ;....3.D as in Dog, darr ( fear) ;.... 4.Dh -tongue curls more saying D- no equiv in English , dhakan (lid) ; and N 5.The letter Dh with a dot under it sounds like a combined sound with the tongue curled right back touching the roof and then uncurling hitting the palate and then the back teeth - no equiv in English , in Hindi ladki (girl) ;... 6 ughDH as in paDH (study ) .

The letters are T , THH , D , DH , N , ughDh and ughDHh

Fourth Line

These are dentals where the tongue touches the teeth

1.Soft T ( tongue touches top teeth) no equiv , Tabla ( drum) ;.. 2.Th as in Thanks , haTHi (elephant) ;...3.Dh as in The , Davat (Invitation) ;.. 4.Dhh (from chest -no equiv) , Dhanush ( Bow) ;..5.N

The letters are soft T , Th , The , Thh , N

Fifth Line

These are labials where the lips come together.

1.P as in Purse , Patang (Kite) ;... 2.F as in First , Fal ( Fruit) ;...3.B as in Bird , Batakh (Duck);...4.Bh as in no equiv(from chest ) , Bhalu ( Bear) ;...5.M as in Mum , Matr(Bean) ;

The above letters are P,F,B,Bh,M.

Sixth Line

These are semivowels
.

1.Y as in Yo , Yug ( fire ritual);..2.R as in Run, Rath (Chariot)...3.L as in Lull, Ladhak;..4.V as in Vole , Var(Groom)

The above letters are Y , R, L , V

These are sibliants and the aspirant H

Sh as in Shirt , Shalgam (radish) Sh(chesty Sh-no equiv), shatkon (icon) .S as in Sup , Sapera ( snake charmer) 8.H as in hurt , Hum ( us)

The above letters are SH , SHH , S and H

Seventh Line

Next are compound letters .
1.Ksh as in no equiv, Kshma (forgive) ;...2.SoftTr -no equiv -tongue touces top teeth trying to say Tr , Trishul (religious symbol) ;... 3.Ghya no euiv -Ghyan (Knowledge) ,.4. SHR as in shrug or shrap (curse) 5 Ri as in Wrist or Rishi

The above letters are KSH , TR , GY , SHR and Ri

Next are more compound letters

The letters are 1. Dy as in viDYa -knowledge 2. Ru as in Ruth 3 Roo as in Room 4 HY as in HYundi or HYa (shame) 5. Lri as in Lrissa 6 DDh as in Yuddh (war ) 7 DV as in Dwarka ( place in India) 8 N'k as in aN'k - letter 9 N'g as in aN'g (limb)

Doubled lettters

The letters are tt as in kutta (dog) , dd as in saddi -century , tt as in lattu (top toy ), dd -not shown here as in haddi -bone , tthtth -hatti ( stubborn) , shht as in nashht (destroy) shhtth and N' . Also not written here is Z which is J with a dot underneath it.

Half Letters

Only some are listed below . They are just truncated full letters . As a test can you guess what they sound like?
..fig1 ;...fig2.....fig3;....fig4;....fig5;

Answers

The first one is K . Fig 2 has n, th,soft t , y and the next figure 3 has f , m , bh ,y,l, v, ksh , gya, n

Fig 4 has kh , g, b,s , ch, l , the, j , m ... fig 5 has b, bh , t(double t ) , f , gya, ksh , bh , p , gh , m

Detached Vowels

First Line

1.A as in Umm , Anar (Pomergranate);..2.AA as in Aunt , Aag ( Fire) ;..3.I as in India, Emli ( spice) ;...4.Ee as in East , Eent (brick) ;...5.U as in oops , ooloo (owl) 6.oo as in moon , oon (yarn)
..........

The vowels are ugh, Aa, i, ee , u and oo

Second Line

1. Ae as in Ami , Aedi (heel);..2..Aae as in Estimate, Aenak(Spectacle) ;...3.O as in only , Om (prayer);...4.Au as in Autumn , Aurat (woman);...5.Nasal N -as in Uncle , Angoor (grape) ; ..6..Aangh as in Aunt . Aankh(eye) ;...7.aei-rarely used
..............

The vowels are ae , aae, o , au , ungh , angh and aei (sanskrit) eg prataei -sanskrti for morning.

This completes the detached vowels

Vowel marks when used with consonants

First Line

1.Aa as in Master, Mama;..2..little e as Miss, Mill (to meet);..3..Long ee as in Meat , Teer (Arrow);..4. oo as in Pull, Pashu (animal)..5..Long oo as in pool , Fool (flower);
......

The marks are Aa , i, ee, u , oo

Second Line

1.Ae as in made , Mez(table);..2.Aae as in Stack , Gas;..3..O as in Roe, Moti (pearl);...4.Au as in Crawley, Hathoda ( hammer);..5..Ungh as in stung, Kanga (comb); ...6.Angh as in Cant , Sanp (snake);...7. uggh (doubling) -no equivealent - as in Chh (six) rarely used.
............

If you have stuck it out this far , well done !

As a test see if you can write down the English words January , February ...December in Hindi script and check it with the next lesson. Also write the numbers one , two .. till twenty as best as you can.

Letter R

The letter R often has the short and long U placed in the middle rather than at the bottom.

What are these words ?

.

A short diagonal stroke also gives an R sound after a letter , usually placed below P or F . Note the R here modifiying the first word FAS to what ?

.

The answer is France ! Note the nasal N dot over the F.

A short sign like the one above the letter six on your keyboard is often put under the T give a Tr sound. Whats this word?

.

Yes the R modifies the TK to give Truck .

Another is the Ri sound put under M and N but also other letters . whats this word - (Hindi for dance ) ?

.

Answer is Nritya.

An R sound can also be placed ABOVE a letter where it is sounded BEFORE the letter it is placed . As a test see if you can read the last word in the image below .

Lesson 14

Compare your writing in Hindi with the following. Dont worry if you got the 'spelling' slightly wrong . You may pronounce the months differently !.It can be very hard to know when to put in the half letters. Give yourself five marks for each correct month you identify .

The correct answers are May March July December April June September October November January February August .

Now identify the following English numbers in the correct order . five marks for each.

The correct answers are 3 7 10 8 13 9 1 11 2 16 15 4 12 17 6 5 14 18 20 and 19.

Lesson 15

The next figure contains common English names , followed by Muslim boys and one Muslim girls name and finally common Hindu names . See if you can get them all correctly.
Learn the base of Hindi Zhinnam

The answers are Andrew , Michael , Tim , Anthony .
The next line has David , Bobby , Shane , Randy , Peter.
The third one is Larrisa , Sara , Joan and Indian girls name Rakhi.
The fourth has Ramzan , Hyder , Fara
The last one has Chand , Rishi , Gyan , Tribhuvan , Govinda .

Now lets look at some common phrases
Learn the base of Hindi Zhin151

Were you able to read them all ? The correct answers are : This is ; Guard that woman please ; Bow to the Rishi ; What (note since there is no w in Hindi most Indians tend to pronounce w as v ) are you doing this evening ? ; I have run out of money ; What time does the train leave? ; Direct me to the bank .

Lesson 16

These are the sentences from the last lesson.

I have pain in my stomach, I need to see a doctor, I am sorry I dont understand hindi, I live in greece,How do I get to a hotel ? I want to get off at the next stop ,Where is the nearest telephone ?. My name is... , Are you married?, So you speak english !, What is your telephone number? , Are u free to go out tonight ?, I want to marry you.

Here are how they are written in Hindi.

See if you can match the following sentences with the ones in the figure shown below. One of them has Hindi names . This lesson has nearly all the alphabet letters at least once , so if on going through it a second time you can get all the sentences correct , well done !

A. Oil in China B. Only Mark , Gyan , Rishee, Akshay , Tren made it . C. I have a pain in my stomach D.I need to see a doctor at once . E. Thank the French F. Shant do it G. Yes the colour brown and Khakhi go well together H . Oops John you made a mistake.

The answers are 1=C ; 2G; 3E;4H;5F;6D;7A;8B

Lets look in detail how these sentences are made up . Some of the words are written as they might sound . You may not agree with the vowels or the half letters the pronounciation of which depends on where in the world you come from.

Some notes on the above. In sentence one note the accent mark which looks like a half moon . It signifies the accent is on T and not on S.
In 2 the word well is spelt vael as there is no equivalent to W . You might write it as uvell to get closer to the sound. In 3 note the r mark modifying the F in French. In 4 there is a half P . In 6 the aaet is often written with only a single ae mark on top.In 8 note the r in mark over the k modifies M the previous letter.The Sh sound here is the more chesty Shh as in Shun , different from the Sh in no. shine 5.

Hindi Lesson 17

These are the sentences from the last lesson.

I have pain in my stomach, I need to see a doctor, I am sorry I dont understand hindi, I live in greece

Here are the sentences translated into Hindi. Note Hindi masculine words usually end in A eg MAMA (uncle) while female end in i eg MAMI (aunt)

Where is the nearest telephone ?. My name is... , Are you married?, So you speak English !

Here are the answers explained

What is your telephone number? , What are you doing tonight ?, I want to marry you.

Here are the answers.

Extras sounds

Hindi being one of the Indo -European group of languages , nearly all the letters sound the same as in English , There are however a few extra sounds and these can cause some difficulty. Lets look at four of them . The first is the letter TTH, the second one in the figure below.
. The 1st and 3rd sounds are identical to English being T as in Tom and D as in Drum. The fourth DH is just D sounded from the chest. The first hard T in Tom is made by touching the tip of the tounge on the prominent ridge of the hard palate - test it out on yourself. The third , hard D as in Drum is made by touching the tongue further back. TTH is midway between the two , ie on the uppermost ridge of the hard palate.

Were you able to read the words?. Here are the answers.
,It takes a liitle practice but is not difficult to sound TTH correctly.

Next we have the AD'( ughD) sound . Touch the tongue on top as in D , now roll it back further and then unroll it without touching the palate - this gives you the ughD' sound . In Hindi this sound is marked by a dot below the D and Dh sounds. Read the words below.
.

The answers

Another in the T series is the soft t. . If you make the T sound with the tongue and then the THE sound touching the tongue to the top of the upper teeth then the soft t is inbetween this and the TH as in THanks . So here the tip of tongue touches the bottom of the upper teeth and the first third of the tongue is pressed against the teeth and the palate. Read the following words.

and the answers
.

The tongue touches the front of the palate for the CH as in CHina sound . For the CHH soundthe tongue touches the palate slightly more back.

The answers

You can often find out from the local temple about any Hindi teachers to get these absolutely right. As these are the letters which often non Hindi speakers tend to mispronounce it is worth making an effort to get them right.

In the next lesson we will build up a vocabulary of the common words.

R.Mandair from Vancouver , Canada writes..

I was just going through your "Learn to read Hindi" section. Very good effort but there are quite a few gramatical /spelling errors that need to be checked out. For example in your lesson 17, the words - DARD (pain; It should be sounding as "Durd", which is an Urdu word for pain, not as "Darad" which you have written as in hindi ), DOCTOR( In Hindi, it should sound as "Daaktar" without an " O"sound ) , SAMAJHTA (understand- it should be with a sound of "Jh" , not "Samajta" as it is written there.), also the last word "Hoon" should be with the badi U ki matra & an ardhchandra bindi on top. There might be more errors , but I only looked at lesso # 17 . I hope this will bring it to your attention .
Just as American and English differ in spelling so the sound pronounciation can vary in parts of India . So the vowels and chest sounds -j and jh - can both be used. Again doctor is a literal translation and its true that some Indians say daaktar but both spellings are correct . An intermediate sound daaktar signfied by a curved character ( on its side with the curve facing up as in a saucer , on top of the d is also used.

Hindi Lesson 18

How to write Hindi letters

A step means you take the pen off the paper. Most Hindi letters can be written in 2 or 3 steps. The last step is the drawing of the horizontal line at the top. Experienced Hindi writers can reduce them further by for example retracing their pen back up a vertical stem.

This and the next lesson cover almost all the compound letters , vowels etc. so we can familiarlise ourselves with all the letters and are able to read them when we scan in a few stories from publications.Some of the steps in writing certain letters are left for you to do as excercise. Note the faint arrow line , the tail of the arrow gives you the direction from which the pen starts.The next figure contains the first two lines of the alphabet . The first five letters are the Gutturals all produced from the back of the throat and the next five from CH onwards - the palatals-so called because the tongue strikes the hard palate.
Note that a very few Hindi letters can be written in more than one way . JH and A and AA are the best examples. Compare JH with that in lesson 13

Next come the cerbrals because the tongue points up to the head , the dentals where the tongue strikes the upper teeth and the labials where the lips are closed. It is worth getting a pen and writing each on a piece of paper as you read through the next figure.

Now follow the semi vowels , the sibliants or s sound and finally H the aspirant.

We will expand lesson 18 next week. In the meantime have a go at lesson 18 and 19 again.

Here is how the vowels are written . Ugh is formed in three steps. AA in four by adding an aa mark to ugh.

Aan of course if formed from Ugh etc.

In the top part of the figure below are the vowel marks. Note little i is actually added after the letter eg M is written down first as in the English word miss below; when it appears before the letter M.

.Note the mark for r which follow the letter in the word Prate and the ri which modifies M in Mrig . But that the top r modifies the previous letter eg. in the word Mark where it modifies the preceding letter M even though it put over the K. Finally note the two vertical dots which give an ae sound and mostly used in Sanskrit words eg in the word Prataee as above built up from P then adding a r mark in the foot of the P etc. Prate Kal in Sanskrit means morning.

Next we look at compound letters. There are about 10 of these although only KSH , TR ,GY, SHR , and Ri are considered as part of the alphabet . These are written by starting with the vertical line first. We will add more in the coming week so that scanned articles can be read.

The next figure has Z , N , Ru , ROO, Hy, Hm, LRi, and the symbol for peace OM

The following figure contains some interesting letters. On the top line are the guttural form of N combined with K , and also next to it g.

Sometimes ugh and AA are written as in this figure. Again it is important to know these so that one may not be surprised when reading a magazine.

THE can also be combined with a couple of letters . One of them as in the figure above gives the word for war -yudh.
Lets have a look in this rather long lesson at some doubled letters. These below are the common and a couple of examples are given.

Finally lets check we remember all the half letters. Although this lesson may seem difficult you have met nearly all the letters before.Some like the t and d's are just smaller version of the full letter while jh and r do not seem to have any half letter form
Learn the base of Hindi Zhin86

Hindi Lesson 19

Next we look at compound letters. There are about 10 of these although only KSH , TR ,GY, SHR , and Ri are considered as part of the alphabet . These are written by starting with the vertical line first. We will add more in the coming week so that scanned articles can be read.

The next figure has Z , N , Ru , ROO, Hy, Hm, LRi, and the symbol for peace OM

The following figure contains some interesting letters. On the top line are the guttural form of N combined with K , and also next to it g.

Sometimes ugh and AA are written as in this figure. Again it is important to know these so that one may not be surprised when reading a magazine.

THE can also be combined with a couple of letters . One of them as in the figure above gives the word for war -yudh.
Lets have a look in this rather long lesson at some doubled letters. These below are the common and a couple of examples are given.

Finally lets check we remember all the half letters. Although this lesson may seem difficult you have met nearly all the letters before.Some like the t and d's are just smaller version of the full letter while jh and r do not seem to have any half letter form

Read the following sentences in the next figures . You wont meet any harder than these and if you can read them correctly you can consider yourself as having mastered the Hindi alphabet.

Answers are

In this figure there are more compound letters.

Note in sentence 1 below in the first word vidhyarthi , the little i is written before the v but pronounced after it. In contrast the r mark is written over the TH but pronounced after the DY

There may be an odd compound letter we have missed out . If you spot one please send us email . In the next
few lessons we will look at some common words.

Hindi Lesson 20

This lesson has been renamed . Have a look at a new Lesson 18 which shows how to write the Hindi Alphabet.

Vocabulary

We will look at some common words in Hindi . Its not possible to put the whole dictionary here so only the most common ones are being shown . This lesson will gradually be expanded over the coming weeks. If you have any words you would like to put in , please email us ukindia.

In Western India Urdu words are more common while in Eastern India the more sanskrit type predominate. In some cases both are given. Most people in India understand English so its not absolutely vital to know Hindi to get around.

Each set of new letters is put on a new line so you can follow them more easily. The pronouciation guide is given below the figure.
I , You (respectful) , You (familiar) , He She It They , Mine , Yours
His Hers Its , Ours , Theirs , Why , What
Where , When , How, Who , Yes , No
Maybe , Father (Hindi) , Father (Urdu) , Wife(Hindi) , Wife(U) , Husband

The words in Hindi are maaen, aap , t'um, vh , maera , t'umhaaraa
uskaa, hmaaraa,unhonkaa,kyon, kyaa
khaan, kb, kaaesae , kisnae,haan, nahin
shaayd,pit'aa,baap,stri or pt'ni , beevi, pt'i

Later on we will interlope some more letters here but have a look at some animals.
animal (h) , animal(u), elephant , camel ,horse
lion (u) tiger , tigeress , lion(h),leopard
bear (h) , bear(u) , crocodile , monkey
rabbit, goat,sheep,tortoise, pig
mouse, fish , deer, donkey , snake

As a test see if you can write down what the above words sound like and check next time.Next for those who know Hindi write down in Hindi the following words. If you dont know Hindi then look at the answers in each paragraph and write them down in Hindi. We will put the Hindi figures in the coming weeks.

C

boyfriend-h, boyfriend-u , lover-h,lover-u , enemy-hindi , enemy -urdu ,girlfriend , oldman , oldwoman teacher , doctor , sailor , farmer ,tailor , shopkeeper ,policeman.lawyer shop, school , house , room , garden , court , police station , bus stop , railway station

C answers

dost , mitr, aashique,premi,shatry , dushman,saheli, . , buda, budi, , book ,stamp, envelope , letter, video , radio , pen , paper fridge , oven , gas , petrol , eat , drink ,food , thirst , hunger , full , spoon , fork , knife , plate , cup , saucer , phone,CD , money , cheque book, credit card , sweater, trouser , shirt , underwear , watch , payjama, saree, comb , shampoo , soap , towel bathroom , toilet , bedroom , dining room , kitchen hotel , rest house , stomach , eye ,ear , nose , mouth , lip, hair , head , neck, chest , heart , liver , foot , leg , penis , vulva, nail ,teeth, tongue contact lens , spectacles lion- urdu, lion-hindi,tiger,tigeress , monkey , horse, donkey flower , rose , plant , tree ,seed sun, moon,planet, sunny, shade , dark, light ,bright ,
dull 1-10 , ten past one, cow,pig, dog,bitch,cat, bird, eagle, vulture,chicken .peacock, table,chair, stool, bench, bed, sunday-friday car , train ,ship lawyer,nurse,hair flu, headache,toothache,backache,coughsprain eye,ear,hand neclace,bangle,anklet,ear ring,chainnose ring sandles,shoes,handkerchief,belt,hat key,matches,broomumbrella,bag door, window,floor,roofstair.wall almond,peanut,salt,sugar ,yoghurt,tea,flour,oil,milk,butter,cheese,egg,meat tomato,onion,green chili,carrot,cauliflower,peas,aubergine,corriander,potato, apple,mango,banana,orange,tangerine crow,claw,elephant,monkey,crocodile,goat,fish,camel,mouse,tortoise,cucumber,