Devanagari (देवनागरी) Posted by kunthra on Mar 5, 2009 in Hindi Language
Namaste (नमस्ते)! This is my first post of the year and the fact is, I am so excited to share my knowledge of the Hindi language and culture with all of you. I thought it would be fitting to introduce a common Hindi greeting that you might have heard before. Namaste (नमस्ते) literally means I bow to you. You’re probably thinking that the phrase “I bow to you” is a little over the top for a greeting, but it just goes to show how respectful Indians are when they greet each other. This is a useful and common greeting. You would use Namaste (नमस्ते) when you want to say hello in Hindi. Chances are, you’ll probably use it very often if you’re in India. I’ll do a more thorough post on Hindi greetings some other time.
For today I’d like to start with Devanagari (देवनागरी), which is the Hindi writing system. I’m going to show you the actual Hindi script and show you how it’s pronounced. Just to warn you though, it’s pretty hard to match a perfect English equivalent sound to some of the Hindi letters. For some of the sounds, the English equivalents are approximations of what it would sound in Hindi.
Everyone ready? Let’s start with the vowels:
अ a as in About This letter can be seen in the Hindi word for pineapple which is ananas (अनन्नास)
आ aa as in fAther Aam (आम) is the Hindi word for mango
इ it’s kind of pronounced as the i in sIn You san see this letter in the Hindi word for tamarind (इमली) which is a spice used in Indian food.
ई it sounds like the i in machIne (ईख) is the word for sugarcane
उ sounds like oo as in bOOk (उल्लू) means owl
ऊ sounds like the oo in mOOd (ऊन) is wool
ऋ sounds like ri in RIo de janeiro (ऋतु) means season
ए similar to the a in shAme (एड़) is the word for heel as in the heel of your foot
ऐ similar to the e in the name Ed (ऐनक) which is the word for glasses
ओ similar to the British pronunciation for the ou in Ought (ओठ) means lip
औ similar to the au in gaudy (औरत) is the word for woman
Ok, so let’s stop here for today. Next time we’ll look at devangari (देवनागरी) in further depth!
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Comments:
Francis:
Hello.
i did’nt found a website where i can read a name in devanagari.
i want to tattoo my 2 daughters names in devanagari (nepali) on my arms.
names are éléna & françoise (whe’re french)
can you help me ???
thanks for all
Kunthra:
Hi Francis,
I’m not familar with the French language, so I don’t really have a clue as to how I could translate those names into Devanagari.
DN:
Éléna = एलेना
Françoise = फ़्रांस्वाज़ in Hindi; फ्राँस्वाज in Nepali.
David Beckham has his wife’s name in Hindi tattooed on his back—but it’s misspelled. Be careful.
LLG:
hey i would like to know how to write my name, Lea in devanagari (Nepali)
Derrik T:
Hi there,
would you help me please
I am wondering how the word “knowledge” (either used to denote spiritual or casual knowledge) and “wisdom” are spelled in Hindi (if you can write it using English letters because I would be lost in Devanagari)
Thank you
Kunthra:
Derrik,
knowledge = ihm
galiyanur:
how to write name manish in hindi..thank u very much. i want to write it for my friend
Nicky:
Hi.
Anyone can help me to write my son name “Paxton” in Nepalese ?
Thank you
amitha:
please could you translate my name from english alphabets to hindi alphabets. the name is RITESH.
I would like to have it tatooed.
Thanks
Mukund:
Namaste / Hello Amitha ji,
Aap kaise ho ? How are you ?
U may write Ritesh as :
रितेश रीतेश
Both the words are correct.
By the way, Would U like to practise Hindi with Native speaker ? U r welcome.
Dhanaywaad, fir milenge,
Angeleana:
Would you help me write my name in hindi, its Angeleana pronounced “angel-lee-Ana” instead of Angelina “angel-ee-na”
Fran Madden:
Great post. Thanks for the info. The Devanagari alphabet is so beautiful to look at, but I have to say that I am struggling to learn how to read it. Good luck!
ginlover:
hello,, can anybody help me?
i wanna make a tattoo written my name,,
but i wanna make it in devanagari,,
i already got it,, i use an translattor aplication,, it just a machine, so i am affraid it’s wrong,,
…u know, a permanent tattoo will remain till i death right?
haha,,
so, please help me to translate my name into devanagari,,
my name:
BRIAN
RIANTINO
SEBASTIAN,,
thx for u all kindness,,
😀
dejan:
hi, please help me to translate my girl name into devanagari…she is PETRA! thx