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Click any letter to hear how it is described, see its vowel mark, and get a real Hindi word that uses it. Forty-four letters, grouped the way Hindi groups them — by where in your mouth the sound is made.
The complete chart is below as a table, so nothing here needs JavaScript.
Devanagari's traditional order is a phonetics lesson disguised as an alphabet. It starts at the back of the mouth with क ख ग घ, moves to the palate with च छ ज झ, then the curled-back retroflex ट ठ ड ढ, then the teeth with त थ द ध, and finally the lips with प फ ब भ. Within each group the pattern is identical: plain, aspirated, voiced, voiced-aspirated, nasal. Learn the pattern once and the other four groups come almost free.
Each consonant already contains a vowel. क is not 'k' — it is 'ka'. To write a bare consonant you add a small stroke underneath called a halant: क्. This single fact is behind most beginner confusion about why Hindi words look longer than they sound, and once it lands, reading gets much faster.
| Letter | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| अ a | the u in 'but' — short and neutral | अनार — anaar, pomegranate |
| आ aa | the a in 'father' — held longer | आम — aam, mango |
| इ i | the i in 'sit' | इमली — imli, tamarind |
| ई ee | the ee in 'see' | ईख — eekh, sugarcane |
| उ u | the u in 'put' | उल्लू — ulloo, owl |
| ऊ oo | the oo in 'boot' | ऊन — oon, wool |
| ऋ ri | roughly 'ri' in modern Hindi; a Sanskrit vowel | ऋषि — rishi, sage |
| ए e | the e in 'they', without the y glide | एक — ek, one |
| ऐ ai | the a in 'cat', roughly | ऐनक — ainak, spectacles |
| ओ o | the o in 'go', without the w glide | ओखली — okhli, mortar |
| औ au | the aw in 'law' | औरत — aurat, woman |
| Letter | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| क ka | k as in 'skin' — no puff of air | कमल — kamal, lotus |
| ख kha | k with a strong puff of air, as in 'kite' | खरगोश — khargosh, rabbit |
| ग ga | g as in 'go' | गमला — gamla, flowerpot |
| घ gha | g with breath behind it — no English equivalent | घर — ghar, house |
| ङ nga | ng as in 'sing'; never starts a word | — — , found inside words only |
| च cha | ch as in 'church', but lighter | चम्मच — chammach, spoon |
| छ chha | ch with a puff of air | छाता — chhaata, umbrella |
| ज ja | j as in 'jam' | जहाज़ — jahaaz, ship |
| झ jha | j with breath behind it | झंडा — jhanda, flag |
| ञ nya | ny as in 'canyon'; rare on its own | — — , found in conjuncts |
| ट ta | hard t — tongue curled back to the roof | टमाटर — tamaatar, tomato |
| ठ tha | the same, with a puff of air | ठंडा — thanda, cold |
| ड da | hard d — tongue curled back | डमरू — damaroo, small drum |
| ढ dha | the same, with breath | ढोल — dhol, drum |
| ण na | n with the tongue curled back | — — , found inside words |
| त ta | soft t — tongue against the upper teeth, as in Spanish | तितली — titli, butterfly |
| थ tha | the same, with a puff of air | थाली — thaali, plate |
| द da | soft d — tongue against the teeth | दवात — davaat, inkpot |
| ध dha | the same, with breath | धनुष — dhanush, bow |
| न na | n as in 'net' | नल — nal, tap |
| प pa | p as in 'spin' — no puff | पतंग — patang, kite |
| फ pha | p with a puff; in loanwords often f | फल — phal, fruit |
| ब ba | b as in 'bat' | बकरी — bakri, goat |
| भ bha | b with breath behind it | भालू — bhaaloo, bear |
| म ma | m as in 'man' | मछली — machhli, fish |
| य ya | y as in 'yes' | यज्ञ — yagya, ritual offering |
| र ra | a light tapped r, as in Spanish 'pero' | रथ — rath, chariot |
| ल la | l as in 'love' | लट्टू — lattoo, spinning top |
| व va | between English v and w | वन — van, forest |
| श sha | sh as in 'ship' | शेर — sher, lion |
| ष sha | a retroflex sh; in modern Hindi usually said like श | षट्कोण — shatkon, hexagon |
| स sa | s as in 'sun' | सूरज — sooraj, sun |
| ह ha | h as in 'hat' — always pronounced | हाथी — haathi, elephant |
Devanagari is easy to get slightly wrong when it is typed by hand — a missing matra, the wrong nukta. If something here looks off to you, trust a native speaker over this page and please tell us so it gets fixed — it takes a moment and a real person reads it. Romanised spellings are a guide to the sound, not a standard: there is no single official way to write Hindi in Latin letters.
Standard Devanagari for Hindi has 11 vowels and 33 consonants — 44 core letters. You will also meet five consonants with a dot underneath (क़ ख़ ग़ ज़ फ़) used mainly in words from Persian, Arabic and English, and a set of conjuncts where two consonants join.
Not quite. It is an abugida: each consonant carries a built-in 'a' sound, and vowel marks called matras change it. That is why क is 'ka' rather than 'k', and why का is 'kaa'.
The traditional order is not arbitrary — it groups consonants by where in the mouth they are made, starting at the back (क ख ग घ) and moving forward to the lips (प फ ब भ). Learning it in that order teaches you the sound system at the same time, which is why this page keeps it.
Most learners read simple words within four to six weeks of regular practice. It is phonetic and consistent, so once you know the letters you can pronounce any word you see — which is more than English offers.
You can learn every letter on this page alone, and most people do. What you cannot check alone is whether the sound coming out of your mouth is the one on the chart — the four-way distinctions in each row are exactly the ones a beginner cannot hear in their own speech.
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