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Half Consonants Posted by kunthra on Apr 18, 2009
Most Hindi consonants have a half consonant. I’m going to list the Hindi consonants and their half consonant equivalent. Then I’m going to give examples of Indian words that have these half consonants. I’ll transliterate the English pronunciation of these words and the meanings for these words. For some of these words, you’ll see a…
Visarga and Other Special Dotted Characters Posted by kunthra on Apr 15, 2009
There’s something called a visarga. A visarga comes after a vowel and takes the pronunciation from the vowel it follows. Here are some examples: ka = k + ah क : = क + अ kaa = k + aah का : क + आ kih = k + ih कि : क…
Anusvaar Posted by kunthra on Apr 12, 2009
The anusvaar (अनुस्वार ) is a nasal dot that determines the pronunciation of a word. The anusvaar (अनुस्वार ) itself does not determine the pronunciation of a word. Rather, it is the character that follows the anusvaar (अनुस्वार ) that determines the pronunciation. There are seven possibilities that affect the pronunciation of an anusvaar (अनुस्वार…
Dependent Vowels Posted by kunthra on Apr 8, 2009
Namaste (नमस्ते )! In Hindi, the vowels have a dependent form called matra (मात्रा ). Matras (मात्रा ) are vowels that cannot be written alone. They have to be accompanied with a consonant. Matras (मात्रा ) are different from independent vowels because independent vowels can be written alone. Independent vowel: अ Dependent vowel: none Dependent…
Numbers 11-30 Posted by kunthra on Apr 4, 2009
We’re going to continue where we left off with the numbers. Here’s numbers 11-30. 11 : ११ – (ग्यारह ) 12 : १२ – (बारह ) 13 : १३ – (तेरह ) 14 : १४ – (चौदह ) 15 : १५ – (पन्द्रह ) 16 : १६ – (सोलह ) 17 : १७ – (सत्रह…
Similar Hindi Words Posted by kunthra on Mar 30, 2009
Some Hindi words look very much alike, almost to the point where they confuse the reader into thinking that the two words are the same. Here is a list of Indian words that look alike, but are not. Try to find out how each pair is different from each other: pickle = (अचार ) behavior…
Hindi Numerals Posted by kunthra on Mar 28, 2009
Namaste (नमस्ते)! We’re going to take a look at Hindi numbers. Although Indians can read Arabic numerals like 1, 2, 3 etc. we still have our own number system with different symbols. Also, keep in mind that the symbols are really easy to read and predictable. It’s the pronunciation that’ll kill you. 0 : (०)…