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 virama (विराम ) which is a special mark below the consonant. Every Hindi consonant has what is called a schwa sound or an English a sound like the a in Aunt.

The virama (विराम ) indicates that the a sound is muted. For instance, this Hindi word would be pronounced as kam (कम). With the virama (विराम ) under the k (क्), it’s pronounced as km. The virama (विराम ) is not often used because the half consonants do the same exact job. First the English equivalent of the Hindi consonant will be listed. Then the Hindi consonant will be listed, followed by a comma, and it’s half consonant will be listed following the comma. Then the Hindi word with the half consonant (without the virama) will be listed.

Try and see if you can figure out the half consonants within the Hindi word. If you think you know them, list the half consonants in the comment section of this post. Just list a couple of the half consonants and then we’ll give someone else a try to do the next couple of half consonants. I’ll give you a hint: the half consonants look like the original consonants, but uncompleted.

k – क, क् : पक्का (pakkaa) (strong)

kh – ख, ख् : ख्वाब (khwaab) dream

g – ग, ग् : ग्लास (glaas) glass

gh – घ, घ् : विघ्न (vighna) obstacle

ch – च, च् : बच्चा (bacca) kid

j – ज, ज् : राज्य (raajya) kingdom

t – ट, ट् : छुट्टी (chutti) holiday