Bengali बांग्लाLanguage

Learn Bengali — the complete course

Written by: authorship not independently recorded. Maintained by Prakash. Reviewed by: not recorded. Updated: 2026-10-03. Editorial policy and corrections.

Draft: not yet reviewed by a native speaker. Existing availability and indexing are preserved by owner instruction; that is not an editorial approval. Suggest a correction.

🔊 Tap any speaker button to hear the words on this page spoken. Too fast or slow? Use the speed button at the bottom-right of the page.

Everything below is free and trilingual: every word and phrase in English, Hindi and Bengali (বাংলা, Bangla) side by side — with pronunciation for each one. 230+ million people speak Bengali: Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley — plus large diaspora communities in the UK, the US and the Gulf.

How to use this course. Start at Beginner, work down the topics in order, and quiz yourself after each one. US Foreign Service Institute Category III (about 1,100 hours to professional proficiency) — grouped with Hindi. The script is phonetic, verbs are regular, and there is no grammatical gender, which makes the start gentler than Hindi.

Choose your level

BeginnerFrom zero: the script, first words and simple sentences. ElementaryPast the first plateau: tenses, real conversation, daily topics. IntermediatePoliteness, complex sentences and natural speech — modest and honest.

Topics

BasicsThe starting point: the script, your first words, and where to begin.ConversationWhat to actually say to a person: greetings, politeness and small talk.Pronunciation, reading & writingThe sounds learners get wrong, and the path to reading your first letter.GrammarWord order, verbs, pronouns and the mistakes everyone makes — explained, not listed.VocabularyHigh-frequency words grouped by meaning: family, colours, and core nouns.Travel phrasesStations, directions, fares and hotels — the phrases you will actually use.Daily life & cultureFestivals, food culture and the phrases of everyday life.Numbers & counting1–20, the tens, and 100 — with the counting pattern.Time & datesDays, today/tomorrow, and telling the time.Food & eatingOrdering, tastes and table talk — in restaurants and markets.Shopping & moneyPrices, bargaining and the phrases for markets and shops.

Advanced topics

Health & doctorBody parts, symptoms, hospitals and medicines — the Bengali you need when health matters.Office & workJobs, offices, meetings and money — the Bengali of working life.Education & schoolSchools, subjects, exams and results — the Bengali of learning.Weather & natureSkies, seasons, rivers and animals — the Bengali of the living world.Home & familyRooms, kitchens, relatives and daily chores — the Bengali of home.Festivals & celebrationsPuja, pandals and parab — celebrate the Bengali year.

Guides — read one a day

The ten long-form guides for this course: two are written for beginners, two for people who already read the script, and one is honest about how close this language is to Hindi. Each runs to well over a thousand words and links to the others.

Beginner's guideHow to learn from scratch, and the honest first 30 days. Alphabet, letter by letterEvery letter with the sound it makes. Grammar basicsWord order, verbs and the sentence ladder. Phrases for travelStations, hotels, fares and the phrases you will use. Numbers 1 to 100Counting, prices and time — with the counting pattern. Most common wordsThe highest-frequency words, in eight groups, with pronunciation for each. Common mistakesThe traps learners fall into in this language, and the fix for each one. How to read the scriptA step-by-step path from letters to reading real sentences. vs HindiWhat Hindi speakers already know, and what trips everyone else up. Practise speaking aloneShadowing, self-talk and a routine you can keep without a tutor.

Practice labs

Practice labsQuiz, typing trainer, worksheets and conversation scenarios.
Topic quizMultiple-choice questions from the lesson bank, with explanations.
Bengali typing trainerRoman prompt → type it in Bengali script.
WorksheetsPrintable prompts with writing space and answers.
Conversation scenariosTrilingual dialogues: market, tea stall, asking the way.
Review deckThe 20 core words — tick them off as they stick.
My progressYour local checklist (this device only).

Want a teacher? Everything above is free and works alone. Our tutors teach Hindi one to one — the Bengali course itself needs no tutor and no sign-up.

Your learning journal

Lessons you mark complete, cards you review and any streak are saved in this browser only — nothing is uploaded, and there is no account to create.

Open the journal

Today: one small learning step

Read one lesson, review up to ten due cards, and listen once if your device has a matching voice. Open your device-only journal.

This course, level by level, in plain HTML

The player above keeps your progress; these pages keep the content. Each published level of the Bengali course — its lessons, vocabulary, grammar, dialogues, practice questions, quiz, worksheet and level test, with all the answers — is also a page you can read without JavaScript, print, or link to. Unpublished levels are not presented as complete. The Bengali ladder in full →

The same learner, from A1 to C2

Each rung of the Bengali course is a person at a different age: a child at A1, an adult using Bengali at work around B1+, and by C2 someone who has spoken it for a lifetime. The picture is the level — the same ladder every language here climbs, and here is how the eleven rungs work.

A child learning Bengali at level A1 (child) — A1 a child

A teenager learning Bengali at level A2 (teen) — A2 a teenager

A young adult learning Bengali at level B1 (youth) — B1 a young adult

An adult learning Bengali at level B1+ (adult) — **B1+** an adult

An adult learning Bengali at level B2 (adult) — B2 an adult

An older adult learning Bengali at level C1 (senior) — C1 an older adult

An elder learning Bengali at level C2 (elder) — C2 an elder