Devanagari Script

Vowels (स्वर)

Hindi has 11 vowels. They come in short/long pairs where applicable. Each vowel has two forms: an independent form (used at the start of a word or after another vowel) and a dependent form called a matra (covered in the next section).

Consonants (व्यंजन)

Hindi has 33 consonants, organized by where in the mouth the sound is produced. The first 25 are arranged in five groups of five (called vargas), following a consistent pattern: voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, voiced unaspirated, voiced aspirated, nasal.

Velar (कवर्ग) — back of the mouth

Palatal (चवर्ग) — hard palate

Retroflex (टवर्ग) — tongue curled back

These sounds don't exist in English. Your tongue curls back to touch the roof of your mouth, further back than where English "t" or "d" are produced. To English ears, these sound like "harder" versions of t/d.

Dental (तवर्ग) — tongue touches upper teeth

Your tongue touches the back of your upper front teeth. Similar to Spanish or Italian t/d. Softer than the retroflex set above.

Labial (पवर्ग) — lips

Semivowels (अन्तःस्थ)

Sibilants and fricative (ऊष्म)

Matras (मात्रा)

When a vowel follows a consonant, it doesn't appear as a separate letter. Instead, it attaches to the consonant as a shortened mark called a matra. The vowel अ (short "a") has no matra — it's the default sound every consonant already carries. So क by itself is already "ka."

Schwa deletion

Every consonant in Devanagari carries a built-in short "a" sound (the schwa). But in Hindi, that "a" gets dropped in certain positions. The script doesn't tell you when — you have to know the rules. This is probably the single most important thing to learn after the alphabet itself.

Rule 1: Word-final schwa is always dropped

If a word ends in a consonant letter with no matra, don't pronounce the inherent "a."

Rule 2: Some internal schwas get dropped too

When a schwa appears between consonants in the middle of a word, it's often dropped — especially when the preceding syllable already has a vowel and the following consonant also leads into a vowel.

Conjuncts (संयुक्ताक्षर)

When two or more consonants appear together without a vowel between them, they form a conjunct (consonant cluster). Since every consonant inherently carries an "a" sound, the script needs a way to suppress it.

The halant (्)

The halant (also called virama) is a small diagonal mark placed below a consonant to remove its inherent vowel. क is "ka" but क् is just "k" (no vowel). When you see क् followed by त, it becomes the conjunct क्त (kta).

How conjuncts are formed

Half-forms: The first consonant loses its right vertical stroke and attaches to the next consonant. This is the most common method. For example: न् + द = न्द (nda), स् + त = स्त (sta).

Vertical stacking: The first consonant sits on top of the second. Common with consonants that don't have a vertical stem: द् + ध = द्ध (ddha), ट् + ट = ट्ट (tta).

Special र forms: When र comes first, it appears as a small hook above the following consonant (called repha): र् + म = र्म, as in धर्म (dharm). When र comes second, it appears as a diagonal line below the preceding consonant: प् + र = प्र (pra), क् + र = क्र (kra).

Common conjuncts

Nuqta (नुक्ता)

The nuqta is a dot placed below certain consonants to represent sounds that don't exist in native Hindi. Five of them come from Persian/Arabic (via Urdu). Two are native Hindi sounds that just happen to use the same notation.

In casual writing, the nuqta dot is often left off the borrowed sounds. You'll see जरूरी instead of ज़रूरी and फोन instead of फ़ोन. Both are understood. But ड़ and ढ़ are different — dropping the nuqta changes the sound entirely (ड and ड़ are not the same consonant).

Nasals and special marks

Anusvara (ं) vs chandrabindu (ँ)

Both indicate nasal sounds, but they work differently.

The anusvara adapts to whatever consonant follows it: before a labial (प/ब/म), it sounds like "m" (संभव = sambhav). Before a dental (त/द/न), it sounds like "n" (हिंदी = hindii). Before a velar (क/ग), it sounds like "ng" (गंगा = gangaa).

Visarga (ः)

The visarga looks like a colon placed after a letter. It represents a light "h" breath release. You'll almost only see it in Sanskrit-borrowed words: दुःख (duhkh — sorrow), प्रातः (praatah — morning). In everyday Hindi, it's rare and often dropped in speech.

Numbers

Western numerals (1, 2, 3) are used in most modern contexts — newspapers, phones, commerce. Devanagari numerals still show up on street signs, house numbers, currency notes, government documents, and traditional calendars. You should recognize them, but you won't need to write them day to day.

Punctuation

Hindi has one unique punctuation mark. Everything else is borrowed from English.

In casual writing (texts, social media), many Hindi speakers use the English period (.) instead of the purna viram (।). Both are understood.

Common confusions for English speakers

Retroflex vs dental

This is the biggest phonetic challenge. Hindi has two sets of t/d/n sounds where English has one. English t/d are produced with the tongue on the ridge behind the teeth (alveolar), which falls between the Hindi dental and retroflex positions.

Aspirated vs unaspirated

English speakers aspirate consonants without thinking about it ("pin" has a puff of air, "spin" doesn't), but in English it never changes the meaning. In Hindi, aspiration changes the word entirely.

Letters that look similar

ड vs ड़ and ढ vs ढ़

The nuqta dot on ड़ and ढ़ changes the sound from a stop (tongue hits and holds) to a flap (tongue quickly flicks). These are different consonants, not stylistic variants.