Devanagari

Devanagari is the script used in Sanskrit. The etymology is not entirely known. One theory suggests it means the script of the holy city. Another suggests it comes from a Gujarati Brahmin group who named it. A complex feature of Devanagari in Sanskrit is its adherence to the rules of Sandhi. The series of syllables or ashkaram is called the varnamala. It consists of 14 vowels, 2 modifiers and 33 consonants. the best way of learning is through familiarisation there are also quizzes on this website and excersises which will help you learn the words

These are the vowels

अ

This letter is 'a'. It is said with the tongue resting near the soft palate. It sounds like the 'a' in 'America'

आ

This is a long 'a'. Like short 'a' it is said with the soft palate. It is pronouced like the 'a' in 'Father'

इ

This is 'i'. It is said with the toungue on the bump on the roof of the mouth behind the teeth. It is pronounced like the 'ea' in 'heat'

ई

this one is ii it is pronounced like the ee bee

उ

this one is u it is pronounced like the u in suit

ऊ

this is uu it is pronounced like the uu in pool

ऋ

this is r it is pronounced like the ri in river

ऌ

this is l it is pronounced like the rly in jewlery

ऍ

this one is pronounced like the a in man

ऎ

this one is pronounced like the ie in pie

ए

this is like the e in energy

ऐ

this one is pronoucned like the a in gate

ऑ

this one is aang with a nasal 'ng'

ऒ

this one is like the oy in oyster

ओ

this one is like the o in home

ॠ

this one is like the ri in risk

ॡ

this is lee like in leeway

ॲ

this one is a short o

ॳ

this is like the ay in day. the next five vowels are uncommon

ॴ

this is pronounced as the phonetic rams horn symbol

ॵ

this is a eurr sound it corrosponds with the o with a circumflex

ॶ

this one corrosponds with ụ

ॷ

this is a long ụ

These are the vowel signs

ऺ

this one adds a ạ its not common

ऻ

this one adds a ạ

़

this one has a name, nuqta. It is used in some indic langauges to change indic letters to fit non indic (mainly farsi) sounding words

so for example the word z does not exist in devanagari but if you look at a word like 'angrezi' meaning english

you can see that the devanagari letter 'ja' has nuqta under it to make it 'za' and nuqta itself has one to make 'ka' 'qa'

ऽ

this one is called Avagraha. it indicates prodelision so an example would be shiva aham

when following sandhi becomes shivo'ham. here the ' is an avagraha

ा

this one adds an aa

ि

ी

ु

ू

ृ

ॄ

ॅ

ॆ

े

ै

ॉ

ॊ

ो

ौ

्

ॎ

ॏ

ॕ

ॖ

ॗ

ॢ

ॣ

These are the signs

ऀ

ं

ः

ऄ

These are the consonants

क

ख

kha

ग

घ

ङ

च

छ

ज

झ

ञ

ट

ठ

ड

ढ

ण

त

थ

द

ध

न

ऩ

प

फ

ब

भ

म

य

र

ऱ

ल

ळ

ऴ

व

श

ष

स

ह

क़

ख़

ग़

ज़

ड़

ढ़

फ़

य़

ॸ

ॹ

ॺ

Numbers

०

१

२

३

४

५

६

७

८

९ Hover over the letter to see what it is.

ddh

tth

kssa

jha

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