0Hindi Vowels
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
a ? i ? u ? ? e ai o au
- This is the letter ?a. It looks kind of like a 3 with a capital T after it and then a little small line in the middle joining them up. Can you see? Look at it again, ? Listen to it again.
It is pronounced as ’a’, like the sound at the start of the English words, alive, apply, alert. It makes a very short sound. Can you practice saying it; ? a. Now practice writing it; ? a. Practice saying it and writing it at the same time! Listen to it more and more; ? a.
- This is the letter? aa. What does it look like? Well it’s very simialar to ? a but ? aa has an extra vertical line on the right hand side. Can you see the difference? ????? acchaa good!
We pronounce ? aa as a long 'a’ sound, this is like the 'a’ in father. F-aa-ther. Listen to it several times. Say it out loud a few times; ? aa. Write it out a few times; ? aa Got it? ?aa. Are you ready to learn a word that uses ? aa?
- This is the letter ?i. What does it look like? Well it’s a bit like a capital S with a line on top and a strange little tail.? i is pronounced just like the i in the English word pit or hit. Make sure you listen to it many times! Again, like ? a, ? i should make quite a short sound. Practice writing and saying the letter, ? i, ? i, ? i. Got it? ????? acchaa good!
- This is the letter ?ee. What does it look like? It’s very similar to ? i but it has this flick on top, can you see the difference? ? i and ? Got it? . ? ee is pronounced just like the 'ee’ in the words feet or see. It’s a long vowel sound. eeeeeee. Ready to learn some words using ? ee?
- This is the letter ?u. What does this letter look like? This one’s simple, it’s just like a 3 with a line on top. Can you see? Careful not to confuse this letter with the vowel we already know, ? a . Can you see the difference?
So how to we pronounce ? u? Well it sounds just like the ‘oo’ in the word foot or the 'u’ in put.
- This is the letter ?oo. What does this letter look like? It’s actually very similar to ? u , just it has a small flick on the right hand side! Can you see the difference? ? oo and ? Got it?
? oo is pronounced just like the 'oo’ in the word food or mood. Be sure to listen to it pronounced many times! It is the long vowel sound compared to the short vowel sound of ? u.
When we want to add the vowel to a consonant we add the symbol ? underneath. Remember our word for Owl? ????? ulloo Can you see the ? oo here! Yeah, it’s at the end with the ? la giving ?? loo
- This is the letter ?e. What does it look like? Well think of it as a man hopping around on one leg! The pronunciation of this vowel can be quite difficult because it’s not a sound we’re really used to in English, you can hear it pronounced above. All it takes is a little practice and you will get it perfect so don’t worry too much to begin with If you’re familiar with French then ? e is pronounced exactly like the French vowel é, like in clé - key, or like “er” at the end of a French verb like manger, aller. But if you’re not familiar with French then try and say the English word ‘may’ really slowly. ? e is simply the first vowel sound you make when saying 'may’, after the m but before the second vowel sound. ?? ek - is the number One in Hindi. Can you see the letter ? e at the start? Great! That was easy!
- This is the letter ?ai. It is just like ? e but has a flick on top. It looks a little bit like a cup of drink with a straw in it. Can you see?
? ai is pronounced just like the e in the English word 'hen’ or 'pen’. Don’t get confused with ? e though! ? e is written e but pronounced as the first vowel in 'may’ and ? ai is written ai but pronounced as the e in 'hen’. Admittedly this is quite tricky to get your head around. So let’s see some example words;
- This is the letter ?o. This is pronounced just like the ‘o’ in the English word domain or like the french 'eau’ and not like the 'o’ in hotel. What does this letter look like? just it has a little flick on the top, can you see the difference? ? o and ? aa , ? aa and ? o. Got it? The verb 'To Sleep’ in Hindi is ???? sonaa. Can you see the letter ? o here? See the symbol ? on the letter ? sa at the start giving us ?? Remember that ?? so does not sound like the English word 'so’ as in 'it was so difficult’.
- This is the vowel? au. What does it look like? Well it’s similar to ? o just ? au has two flicks on the top. ? au is the only vowel in Hindi that has two flicks at the top (when not attached to a consonant) so it’s easy to remember! How do we pronounce it then? It’s pronounced just like 'aw’ in awesome or awful ??? kaun means 'who?’ in Hindi. Here’s a useful little Hindi sentence you might want to know - ?? ??? ??? voh kaun hai? - Who is that?
- This is the letter ??i. What does it look like? Well this one’s a little tricky, but it I’d say it looks like a T with three arms, two on the left and a big evil hook in his right hand, can you see? How do you pronounce ? ?i? This is easy, it’s just like the ‘ri’ in the English word critic or riddle! Take special notice here to the 'direction’ of the flick so you don’t get it confused with the vowel ? u ; ? ?i in ????? k?ipayaa - Please and… ? u in ?????? kuttaa - Dog. Can you see that the vowel signs flick in opposite directions? ????? acchaa - Good!
