Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu

This page contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

This page contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Hindi and Urdu pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.

See Hindustani phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Hindi-Urdu. See Devanagari and Urdu alphabet for help converting Hindi and Urdu spelling to pronunciation.

KeyEdit

Consonants
IPA^[1]	Hindi^[1]	ISO 15919 ^[1]	Urdu	Approximate English equivalent
k	क	ka	ک	sky
kʰ	ख	kha	کھ	ache (khh sound)
ɡ	ग	ga	گ	green
ɡʱ	घ	gha	گھ	aghast
ŋ	ङ	ṅa	ن	bank (mostly Hindi; Urdu uses [n] (ن)).
tʃ	च	ca	چ	catch
tʃʰ	छ	cha	چھ	choose
dʒ	ज	ja	ج	jazz
dʒʱ	झ	jha	جھ	hedgehog (strong jhh sound)
ɲ	ञ	ña	ن	roughly like canyon (mostly Hindi; Urdu uses [n] (ن)).
ʈ^[2]	ट	ṭa	ٹ	artist
ʈʰ^[2]	ठ	ṭha	ٹھ	Thai, tarp (deeper thh sound)
ɖ^[2]	ड	ḍa	ڈ	odd, depot
ɖʱ^[2]	ढ	ḍha	ڈھ	adhere
ɳ	ण	ṇa	ن	bunny (mostly Hindi; Urdu uses [n] (ن)).
t̪^[2]	त	ta	ت، ط	kite
t̪ʰ^[2]	थ	tha	تھ	thump (dental thh sound)
d̪^[2]	द	da	د	the
d̪ʱ^[2]	ध	dha	دھ	within (as a dhh sound, tongue touches palate, strong air exhalation)
n	न	na	ن	not
p	प	pa	پ	pencil
pʰ	फ	pha	پھ	pith (phh sound)
b	ब	ba	ب	butter
bʱ	भ	bha	بھ	abhor
m	म	ma	م	much
j	य	ya	ی	yak
r	र	ra	ر	rapture (r may be trilled)
l	ल	la	ل	leaf
ʋ^[3]	व	va	و	varies between w and v
ʃ	श	śa	ش	shoe (light s with h sound)
ʂ	ष	ṣa	ش/س	assure (strong s; no h sound) (mostly Hindi; Urdu uses either [ʃ] (ش) or [s] (س)).
s	स	sa	ث، س، ص	sue
ɦ	ह	ha	ح	head
q	क़	qa	ق	quail (k in the throat, tongue not touching palate) (mostly Urdu; sometimes substituted for [k] (क) in Hindi)
x	ख़	k͟ha	خ	Bach (kh in the throat, tongue not touching palate) (mostly Urdu; sometimes substituted for [kʰ] (ख) in Hindi)
ɣ	ग़	ġa	غ	similar to a French r (mostly Urdu; sometimes substituted for [ɡ] (ग) in Hindi).
z	ज़	za	ذ، ز، ض، ظ	zen, zero
ʒ	झ़	zha	ژ	pleasure, seizure
ɽ	ड़	ṛa	ڑ	gourd
ɽʱ	ढ़	ṛha	ڑھ	as [ɽ] plus h; somewhat as the US: warhead or Greek rho
f	फ़	fa	ف	phantom, food (f sound)

Vowels
IPA	Hindi	ISO 15919	Urdu	Approximate English equivalent
ə^[4]	अ, प	a	اَ، بَ	strut, but
aː	आ, पा	ā	آ, بَا	far, heart
ɪ^[5]	इ, पि	i	اِ، بِ	dill, still
iː^[5]	ई, पी	ī	اِی، بِی	feed
ʊ^[5]	उ, पु	u	اُ، بُ	book, took
uː^[5]	ऊ, पू	ū	اُو، بُو	moon
r̩	ऋ, पृ	r̥	ری، پر	Syllabic ‹r›: better mostly Hindi; Urdu uses [r] (ر)).
eː	ए, पे	ē	اے، بے	Yale
ɛː	ऐ, पै	ai	اَے، بَے	Ben, hen
oː	ओ, पो	ō	او، بو	foe
ɔː	औ, पौ	au	اَو، بَو	awe
ŋ, ɲ, ɳ, n, m, ◌̃	ं	ṁ	ـں	jungle
◌̃	ँ	m̐	ـں	nasal vowel faun ([ãː, õː], etc.)
ɦ	ः	ḥ	ه	ahead

Suprasegmentals
IPA
ˈ◌	stress (placed before stressed syllable)
◌ː	doubled consonant (placed after doubled consonant)

NotesEdit

^ ^a ^b ^c In the letter series beginning with क, क = क् + अ; ka = k + a. Thus 'क' has the inherent vowel 'अ', giving 'क' without added vowel sign using diacritics (The halanta "्" is removed). But the IPA shown here has the consonant 'k' only & does not include the vowel 'a'.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h To an English-speaker's ear, [ʈ ʈʰ t̪ t̪ʰ] all sound like /t/, and [ɖ ɖʱ d̪ d̪ʱ] all sound like /d/. However, to a Hindi-Urdu-speaker's ear, each is a very different sound. [t̪ d̪] are like the Spanish or French [t d], with the tongue touching the teeth. [t̪ʰ d̪ʱ] are how a Hindi-Urdu speaker hears English [θ ð] (the th and dh sounds). Hindi-Urdu [ʈ ɖ] are pronounced with the tongue further back, touching behind the teeth mid-palate. [ʈʰ ɖʱ] are how a Hindi-Urdu speaker hears English t d, and [ʈ] is how they hear the English t after an s (as in st).
^ [v], [w] and intermediate [ʋ] are allophonic in Hindi-Urdu. Some words, such as vrat ('व्रत', 'ورت', religious fast), are pronounced with [v]; others, such as pakwan ('पकवान', 'پكوان', cooked food), are pronounced with [w].
^ /ɛ/ occurs as a conditioned allophone of /ə/ near an /h/ surrounded on both sides by schwas. Usually, the second schwa undergoes syncopation, and the resultant is just an /ɛ/ preceding an /h/.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d /iː, ɪ/ and /uː, ʊ/ are neutralised to [i, u] at the end of a word.

[inherentv-1] In the letter series beginning with क, क = क् + अ; ka = k + a. Thus 'क' has the inherent vowel 'अ', giving 'क' without added vowel sign using diacritics (The halanta "्" is removed). But the IPA shown here has the consonant 'k' only & does not include the vowel 'a'.

[coronal-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h To an English-speaker's ear, [ʈ ʈʰ t̪ t̪ʰ] all sound like /t/, and [ɖ ɖʱ d̪ d̪ʱ] all sound like /d/. However, to a Hindi-Urdu-speaker's ear, each is a very different sound. [t̪ d̪] are like the Spanish or French [t d], with the tongue touching the teeth. [t̪ʰ d̪ʱ] are how a Hindi-Urdu speaker hears English [θ ð] (the th and dh sounds). Hindi-Urdu [ʈ ɖ] are pronounced with the tongue further back, touching behind the teeth mid-palate. [ʈʰ ɖʱ] are how a Hindi-Urdu speaker hears English t d, and [ʈ] is how they hear the English t after an s (as in st).

[vwallophone-3] [v], [w] and intermediate [ʋ] are allophonic in Hindi-Urdu. Some words, such as vrat ('व्रत', 'ورت', religious fast), are pronounced with [v]; others, such as pakwan ('पकवान', 'پكوان', cooked food), are pronounced with [w].

[4] /ɛ/ occurs as a conditioned allophone of /ə/ near an /h/ surrounded on both sides by schwas. Usually, the second schwa undergoes syncopation, and the resultant is just an /ɛ/ preceding an /h/.

[V-5] /iː, ɪ/ and /uː, ʊ/ are neutralised to [i, u] at the end of a word.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

^β

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