Hindi

Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

There are 11 vowels and 35 consonants in Standard Hindī. They are shown below:

Vowels

The vowel /æ/ occurs in English loans and is represented by ऐ, which was originally used in Sanskrit for the 'ai' or 'əi' diphthong. But today in Khariboli, the Standard dialect, the vowel stands for /æ/ in almost all Hindi words. The other ten vowels have phonemic nasal counterparts. The vowel sequences /əi/ and /əu/, both oral and nasal, also occur. Note that the short 'a', often seen at the end of masculine Sanskritized words as well as elsewhere, which makes the non-Hindi speakers to pronounce it as short or long 'a', the back vowel, is actually the neutral vowel Schwa 'ə'. The short vowel 'e' as in English 'set' also occurs at some places in urban Hindi in place of schwa, like "rehnā" (रहना. to live), but there is no diacritic to mark it.

Consonants

	Bilabial		Labio-dental		Dental		Alveolar		Retroflex		Post-alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Plosives/ Affricates	p ph	b bɦ			t̪ t̪h	d̪ d̪ɦ			ʈ ʈh	ɖ ɖɦ	ʧ ʧh	ʤ ʤɦ		k kh	g gɦ	q
Nasals	m						n							ŋ
Fricatives			f				s	z				ʃ				χ	ʁ		ɦ
Flaps							ɾ		ɽ ɽɦ
Approximants			ʋ										j
Lateral approximant							l

The 25 plosives occur in five groups, with each group sharing the same position of articulation. These positions in their traditional order are: velar, retroflex, palatal, dental, and bilabial. In each position, there are five varieties of consonant, with four oral stops and one nasal stop. An oral stop may be voiced, aspirated, both, or neither. This four-way opposition is the hardest aspect of Hindi pronunciation for a speaker of English.

The voiced, unaspirated consonants are the easiest for English-speakers to pronounce. The initial sounds of "get", "jet", "debt", and "bet" are perfect examples of the velar, palatal, dental, and bilabial positions, respectively. The apico-domal or retroflex position is the hardest for an English speaker: the apex of the tongue must be curled backward and brought into contact with the dome of the palate, well behind the gum-line. In casual Hindi, however, bringing the tongue slightly above the alveolar ridge will also do.

The voiceless, unaspirated consonants are similar to those in French or in English words like "skin", "spin", and "stand". Aspirated voiceless consonants are similar to those in the English words "pat", "cat", "chat", and "tap" (though they are typically more heavily aspirated than in English). The voiced, aspirated consonants are the hardest to pronounce, but can be approximated by following the unaspirated version with an audible "h" sound. The nasal sounds are the same as in English.

The 4 resonants are y, r, l, and v. These are similar to English, except that r is a tap as in Spanish, not an approximant, and v is usually between English "v" and "w", though it may vary as either of those English sounds.

The native fricatives of Hindi are s and sh, which are pronounced as in English. There is also a Breathy voice ɦ which is generally considered a fricative as well, and it is more or less like English "h" in "home".

There is a fourth fricative in the orthography, written ष, which is sometimes transcribed as "ssa" or "sha2". It was originally pronounced as in Sanskrit, but it has merged with in modern Hindi.

Borrowed Sounds

The sounds f, z, rd, and rdh are found only in loanwords. The first two are as in English. The latter two are retroflex taps, and never begin a word. The additional sounds //, //, and // may be found in some loanwords. Some of the borrowed sounds are difficult for Hindi speakers to pronounce and many Hindi speakers will simply ignore the dot and pronounce the word as if it wasn't there.

Writing system

• The anuswara (dot placed above a vowel) may represent one of these consonants: rda, nda, na, ma. These are pronounced after the vowel. This style is deprecated.
• The visarga (:) placed after a vowel represents ha.
• The anuswara (.) and visarga (:) are often included in list of vowel letters, but according to the standardized form of Hindi, they are consonants.
• A chandra-bindu sign is placed above a vowel to indicate nasalized vowel (anunasika).
• An ardha chandra-bindu placed above the vowel aa indicates 'o' sound of English (as in "office", "college"). Some people also use this sign, placed above a, to indicate 'e' (as in "bet") sound of English.

Grammar

Punctuation in Hindi commonly uses western conventions for commas, exclamation points, and question marks. Sometimes periods are used to end a sentence, though sometimes the traditional "full stop" (a vertical line) is used.

Nouns in Hindi have gender, and are either masculine or feminine. Masculine nouns are more common, but there are no overall rules for whether a word will be masculine or feminine so many of them simply need to be memorized. Adjectives and verbs agree in gender and number with nouns, so proper use of gender is required to converse on a native level. Many masculine nouns end in a long aa sound and many feminine nouns end in a long ii sound, though many nouns will have neither of those endings and and exceptions, for even common words occur.

Hindi has three levels of honorifics, or politeness. As reflected in the personal pronoun "you", aap is the most formal, tum is mid level, and tu is very informal. Aap and tum are grammatically plural like the english "you", and adjective and verb agreement follows that.

Besides the standard interogative terms of who, what, why, when, where, how and how many, the Hindi word kyaa, which also can mean what, can be used as a generic interogative often placed at the beginning of a sentence turning a statement into a question. This makes is clear when a question is being asked and in this use it has no direct translation in English. Questions can also be formed simply by modifying intonation exactly as English questions are.

Imperatives (commands or suggestions) typically have four levels, the first three corresponding to the three levels of honorifics, and the last expressing an additional level of politeness akin to "would you be so kind as to..." that might be used in English. The tu imperative is simply the verb stem formed by removing the infinitive particle na. The tum imperative is formed by adding o to the verb stem, and the aap imperative is formed by adding ie or iye to the stem. The additional form adds gaa to the aap form. Because imperatives can already include politeness, the word kripaya which can be used as please is much more uncommon than the use of please in English, and is typically only used in cases of true urgency or importance. Otherwise its use may reflect mockingly formal speech.

Word order

The standard order can be modified in various ways to impart emphasis on particular parts of the sentence. Negation is formed by adding the word nahii ("no") or the particle na in some cases.

Common tenses and aspect

See also: Grammatical aspect.

Case

Literature

The beginnings of Hindi literature go back to the Prakrits that are a part of the classical Sanskrit plays. Tulasidas's Ramacharitamanas attained wide popularity. Modern masters include Jaishankar Prasad, Sumitranandan Pant, Maithili Sharan Gupta, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Mahadevi Varma, Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayana 'Ajneya' and Munshi Premchand.

Common difficulties faced in learning Hindi

• the phonetic mechanism of some sounds peculiar to Hindi (eg. rda, dha etc) The distinction between aspirated and unaspirated consonants will be difficult for English speakers. In addition, the distinction between dental and alveoloar (or retroflex) consonants will also pose problems. English speakers will find that they need to carefully distinguish between four different d-sounds and four different t-sounds.
• Even pronunciation of vowels: In English, unstressed vowels tend to have a "Schwa" quality. The pronunciation of such vowels in English is changed to an "uh" sound. This is called reducing a vowel sound. The second syllable of "unify" is pronounced "uh" not "ee." The same for the unstressed second syllabe of "person" which is also pronounced "uh" rather than "oh." In Hindi, English-speakers must constantly be careful not to reduce these vowels. Probably the most important mistake here is for English speakers to reduce final "ah" sounds to "uh." This can be especially important because an English pronunciation will lead to misunderstandings about grammar and gender. In Hindi, "vo bolta hai" is "he talks" whereas "vo bolti hai" is "she talks." A typical English pronunciation in the first sentence would be "vo boltuh hai," which will be understood as "she talks" by most Hindi-native speakers.
• The 'a' ending of many Sanskrit and Sanskrit borrowed gender-masculine words, due to Romanization, is highly confused by non-native speakers. It should never be pronounced as long back vowel "ā", but as the neutral Schwa "ə". In Sanskrit, the so-written "Shiva (शिव)" should be pronounced as "Shivə" and never "Shivā", as the latter stands for the Parvati, the wife of Shiva and is feminine. In Hindi, the ending 'ə' of such masculine words is altogether dropped, or pronounced very feebly if the penultimate consonant is a cluster of two or more consonants. eg. In Hindi, "Shiva" is "Shiv", "Krishna" is usually "Krishn", "dharma" is "dhərm", "karma" is "kərm", "VaruNa" is "VəruN", etc. There are exceptions, of course, if the devanagari script itself dictates the additional diacritical mark for the vowel "ā" at the end of certain masculine words, like Brahmā (ब्रह्मा).
• the Verbal Concordance; Hindi exhibits Split ergativity; see Ergative-absolutive language for an example.
• Postpositions (ne)
• Relative-correlative constructions. In English interrogative and relative pronouns are the same word. In "Who are you?" the word "who" is an interrogative, or question, pronoun. In "My friend who lives in Chicago can speak Hindi," the word "who" is not an interrogative, or question, pronoun. It is a relative, or linking, pronoun. We find this pattern with other words: where, when, why, etc. are used both to ask questions and to link words. In Hindi, there are different words for each. The interrogative pronoun tends to start with the "k" sound:" kab = when?, kahaaN = where?, kitna = how much? The relative pronouns are usually very similar but start with "j" sounds: jab = when, jahaaN = where, jitna = how much. Hindi uses these j-sound pronouns where English uses relative pronouns and clauses. In English we say, "I study where she studies" but in Hindi we say this differently. "jahaaN vo padhti hai (she studies) vahaaN main padhta hoon (I study)." Here "jahaaN" means "where" and "vahaaN" means there.
• Honorifics. For many English speakers, the fact that Hindi uses a three-part system of honorifics in the second person pronoun ("you") is deeply mystifying. It shouldn't be. The more formal pronouns are used in situations in which it's proper to express a degree of social respect. The less formal pronouns depart from this and indicate, on the one hand, intimacy, or on the other, an absence of social respect. The most formal is "aap" and is the safest for foreigners to use in all situations. It is used in situations that range from deeply respectful to the merely businesslike. When first meeting adults, whether at the bank, hotel or a restaurant, we should use "aap." The more intimate "tum" would be acceptable in talking with children or with adults with whom one is on more intimate terms. The safest thing with adults is wait and see what pronoun they use with you. They will almost certainly start off with "aap," but might, over time, start to use "tum" if your relationship becomes more like that of close friends. If your Hindi is too weak to determine whether they are using "aap" or "tum," then by all means, you should use "aap." Many grammars say that foreigners will rarely have the chance to use "tum" with Indian colleagues, but that is true only if one behaves like a "memsahib" or "sahib." The most intimate pronoun for you is "tu." This is only used in situations where there is a total absence of human formality: it is used in addressing animals or God, for example. With humans, it should probably be avoided, even for children. With another adult, the use of "tu" may express the intimacy of lovers (but even here "tum" is safer) or extraordinary anger. What's the connection? All of these situations involve the lack of social respect. Persons from lower socio-economic classes may often simply use a two-part system of honorifics: tu-tum. Foreign speakers of Hindi will probably be wise to not imitate this.
• Direct and Oblique inflections
• Optative and Conditional moods
• Compound verbs

See also

• The list of Hindi words and list of words of Hindi origin at Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sibling project
• Hindi literature
• Origin of some common Hindi words
• Complex Text Layout languages
• Where is Hindi on the Internet?
• Languages of India
• List of national languages of India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers
• History of Hindi: a detailed chronology