Learn about the Hindi writing system
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Alisha: What writing system does Hindi use? |
| Shakti: And has it changed over time? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation. Emma Ebrahim is an exchange student and she is due to make a presentation about the Hindi language. She calls her friend from college, Tarun Talwar, to ask, "What is the Hindi script called?" |
| एमा: हिंदी लिपि को क्या कहते हैं? (hiNDii Lipi ko kyaa kahaTe hain?) |
| Dialogue |
| एमा: हिंदी लिपि को क्या कहते हैं? (hiNDii Lipi ko kyaa kahaTe hain?) |
| तरुण: देवनागरी। (DevaNaagarii.) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| एमा: हिंदी लिपि को क्या कहते हैं? (hiNDii Lipi ko kyaa kahaTe hain?) |
| Alisha: "What is the Hindi script called?" |
| तरुण: देवनागरी। (DevaNaagarii.) |
| Alisha: "Devanagari." |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: So the script in which Hindi is written is called… |
| Shakti: देवनागरी। (DevaNaagarii.) |
| Alisha: This name comprises two words. The first is... |
| Shakti: देव (Dev), |
| Alisha: which means "heavenly" or "divine"; it is also used for "deities." And the second is |
| Shakti: नागरी (Naagarii). |
| Alisha: This word is derived from the Sanskrit word |
| Shakti: नगरम् (Nagaram), |
| Alisha: which means "abode," "town," or "city," Together, it means "abode of divinity or deities," In other words, the Devanagari script is the script of the Gods. The Devanagari script is also shortened to |
| Shakti: नागरी (Naagarii). Besides Hindi, the Devanagari script is also used to write many other languages, such as Sanskrit, Nepali, Konkani, Maithli, Sindhi, and Marathi. The Devanagari script evolved from the ancient Brahmi script to the Gupta script to the Nagari script. The Nagari script gave rise to two scripts, that is, the Nandinagari and the Devanagari script. |
| Alisha: By the 7th century AD, the Devanagari script was in regular use. It was almost completely developed by the 11th century. The script that we see now appeared somewhere around the 12th century. |
| Shakti: Hindi is written from left to right and is a phonetic language. |
| Alisha: This means that the words are spoken exactly as they are pronounced. After Mandarin, Spanish, and English, Hindi is the fourth most widely used language in the world. It is spoken by more than 300 million speakers around the world. There is no letter case in Hindi. This means that unlike English, Hindi doesn't have any capital letters. The vowels and consonants are arranged in a system called "a garland of letters," |
| Shakti: In Hindi, we call it वर्णमाला (varnamaaLaa). It has 47 primary characters, including 33 consonants or व्यंजन (vyaNjaN) and 14 vowels or स्वर (Svar). |
| Alisha: Devanagari is an abugida or alphasyllabary script. This means that, in the Hindi script, consonants and vowels are treated as one unit. Every consonant letter has an inherent vowel sound and, if you change the vowel sign, the sound changes too. This is just the opposite of languages which use full-alphabets, like English, where vowels and consonants are treated as different units. So, what is the inherent vowel sound in each consonant? |
| Shakti: The inherent vowel sound is अ (a). |
| Alisha: In the Devanagari script, each consonant has this inherent vowel sound, but each consonant also has a pure form. This can be called the pure form or the half form of the consonant. |
| Shakti: For example, the first consonant in the वर्णमाला (varnamaaLaa) is क (ka). The vowel sound, अ (a), is inherent in this consonant. But, there is also a pure or half form of the consonant, in which the अ (a) sound is not present. This one is क् (k). |
| Alisha: Let's hear this once more. |
| Shakti: The consonant with the अ (a) sound is क (ka) and the half form is क् (k), क (ka) and क् (k). |
| Alisha: Hindi has 11 common vowels. These can be present in the script in an independent form or a dependent form. Vowels can appear in the independent form if they appear in the beginning of a word or immediately after another vowel. Here are a few examples when the vowel is present in its independent form at the beginning of the word. |
| Shakti: अच्छा (acchaa), which means "good." ऊन (uuN), which means "wool." इसका (iSakaa) which means "his/her." or ऐनक (aiNak), which means "glasses," |
| Alisha: The dependent form of the vowel is used when it follows a consonant. Each vowel has a corresponding vowel modifier form, |
| Shakti: and this vowel modifier form is known as मात्रा (maaTraa). Since अ (a) is a default vowel, it doesn't have a corresponding मात्रा (maaTraa) or vowel modifier form, but all the other vowels have their own मात्रा (maaTraa). |
| Alisha: Hindi also has eight additional consonants, which are used to represent sounds derived from Persian or Arabic languages. |
| Shakti: Yes, for example, the primary Hindi consonant is क (ka), but in Hindi writing, if you add a dot or नुक़्ता (NuqTaa) below this consonant, it changes to the slightly different sound of क़ (qa). Similarly, the primary Hindi consonant ज (ja), with a नुक़्ता (NuqTaa), changes to the sound of ज़ (za). For example, आज़ादी (aazaaDii) or "freedom," |
| Alisha: Devanagari also has certain compound characters or conjuncts. In these conjuncts, one of the characters is in pure or half form. |
| Shakti: For example, the half form ग् (g) plus य (ya) forms ज्ञ (gya), like in the word ज्ञान (gyaaN) or "knowledge," |
| Alisha: These compound characters look like completely different letters. That is, you won't be able to identify the consonants involved in their formation just by looking. |
| Hindi also has its own set of diacritic marks. The addition of these diacritics changes the sound of the consonant or the vowel. |
| Shakti: These diacritic marks are अनुस्वार (aNuSvaar), चंद्र-बिंदु (caNDr-biNDu), विसर्ग (viSarg), नुक़्ता (NuqTaa), अवग्रह (avagrah), हलंत (haLaNT), and पूर्ण विराम (puurn viraam). Among these, पूर्ण विराम (puurn viraam) is the Hindi full-stop and हलंत (haLaNT) is used to represent the half or pure form of a consonant. अनुस्वार (aNuSvaar) and चंद्र-बिंदु (caNDr-biNDu) are used for indicating nasalization of the preceding vowel—for example, नहीं (Nahiin), which means "no" or "not" in Hindi. In this word, the vowel ई (ii) is followed by a nasalization, as indicated by the अनुस्वार (aNuSvaar). |
| Alisha: In Devanagari script, a horizontal line is placed on top of the characters. The script can be divided into three zones, upper, middle, and lower. Vowels or parts of vowels are seen in the upper area, that is, above the horizontal line. The middle area contains the consonants, some vowels, or parts of vowels. The lower area is home to some vowels and some diacritic marks. |
| Shakti: The horizontal line is known as the शिरोरेखा (sirorekhaa) or headline. Diacritic marks, such as the अनुस्वार (aNuSvaar) and चंद्र-बिंदु (caNDr-biNDu), are placed above this horizontal line. Parts of vowel modifier marks, such as for इ and ई, are present above the line as well. The baseline or the lower area is home to diacritics, such as हलंत (haLaNT) and vowel modifier marks such as for उ (u) and ऊ (uu). |
| Alisha: The standard keyboard layout for Devanagari is Inscript, which is supported by all major operating systems. You can also make use of phonetic tools to type in Hindi. That is, you type in Roman letters and you get the result in Devanagari. Google Input Tools is one of the most user-friendly options for people who want to type in Hindi but are not familiar with the Inscript keyboard layout. |
Outro |
| Alisha: We hope you learnt some interesting and new facts about the Hindi script. Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Shakti: फिर मिलेंगे! (phir miLenge!) |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
Intro |
| Alisha: What writing system does Hindi use? |
| Shakti: And has it changed over time? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation. Emma Ebrahim is an exchange student and she is due to make a presentation about the Hindi language. She calls her friend from college, Tarun Talwar, to ask, "What is the Hindi script called?" |
| एमा: हिंदी लिपि को क्या कहते हैं? (hiNDii Lipi ko kyaa kahaTe hain?) |
| Dialogue |
| एमा: हिंदी लिपि को क्या कहते हैं? (hiNDii Lipi ko kyaa kahaTe hain?) |
| तरुण: देवनागरी। (DevaNaagarii.) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| एमा: हिंदी लिपि को क्या कहते हैं? (hiNDii Lipi ko kyaa kahaTe hain?) |
| Alisha: "What is the Hindi script called?" |
| तरुण: देवनागरी। (DevaNaagarii.) |
| Alisha: "Devanagari." |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: So the script in which Hindi is written is called… |
| Shakti: देवनागरी। (DevaNaagarii.) |
| Alisha: This name comprises two words. The first is... |
| Shakti: देव (Dev), |
| Alisha: which means "heavenly" or "divine"; it is also used for "deities." And the second is |
| Shakti: नागरी (Naagarii). |
| Alisha: This word is derived from the Sanskrit word |
| Shakti: नगरम् (Nagaram), |
| Alisha: which means "abode," "town," or "city," Together, it means "abode of divinity or deities," In other words, the Devanagari script is the script of the Gods. The Devanagari script is also shortened to |
| Shakti: नागरी (Naagarii). Besides Hindi, the Devanagari script is also used to write many other languages, such as Sanskrit, Nepali, Konkani, Maithli, Sindhi, and Marathi. The Devanagari script evolved from the ancient Brahmi script to the Gupta script to the Nagari script. The Nagari script gave rise to two scripts, that is, the Nandinagari and the Devanagari script. |
| Alisha: By the 7th century AD, the Devanagari script was in regular use. It was almost completely developed by the 11th century. The script that we see now appeared somewhere around the 12th century. |
| Shakti: Hindi is written from left to right and is a phonetic language. |
| Alisha: This means that the words are spoken exactly as they are pronounced. After Mandarin, Spanish, and English, Hindi is the fourth most widely used language in the world. It is spoken by more than 300 million speakers around the world. There is no letter case in Hindi. This means that unlike English, Hindi doesn't have any capital letters. The vowels and consonants are arranged in a system called "a garland of letters," |
| Shakti: In Hindi, we call it वर्णमाला (varnamaaLaa). It has 47 primary characters, including 33 consonants or व्यंजन (vyaNjaN) and 14 vowels or स्वर (Svar). |
| Alisha: Devanagari is an abugida or alphasyllabary script. This means that, in the Hindi script, consonants and vowels are treated as one unit. Every consonant letter has an inherent vowel sound and, if you change the vowel sign, the sound changes too. This is just the opposite of languages which use full-alphabets, like English, where vowels and consonants are treated as different units. So, what is the inherent vowel sound in each consonant? |
| Shakti: The inherent vowel sound is अ (a). |
| Alisha: In the Devanagari script, each consonant has this inherent vowel sound, but each consonant also has a pure form. This can be called the pure form or the half form of the consonant. |
| Shakti: For example, the first consonant in the वर्णमाला (varnamaaLaa) is क (ka). The vowel sound, अ (a), is inherent in this consonant. But, there is also a pure or half form of the consonant, in which the अ (a) sound is not present. This one is क् (k). |
| Alisha: Let's hear this once more. |
| Shakti: The consonant with the अ (a) sound is क (ka) and the half form is क् (k), क (ka) and क् (k). |
| Alisha: Hindi has 11 common vowels. These can be present in the script in an independent form or a dependent form. Vowels can appear in the independent form if they appear in the beginning of a word or immediately after another vowel. Here are a few examples when the vowel is present in its independent form at the beginning of the word. |
| Shakti: अच्छा (acchaa), which means "good." ऊन (uuN), which means "wool." इसका (iSakaa) which means "his/her." or ऐनक (aiNak), which means "glasses," |
| Alisha: The dependent form of the vowel is used when it follows a consonant. Each vowel has a corresponding vowel modifier form, |
| Shakti: and this vowel modifier form is known as मात्रा (maaTraa). Since अ (a) is a default vowel, it doesn't have a corresponding मात्रा (maaTraa) or vowel modifier form, but all the other vowels have their own मात्रा (maaTraa). |
| Alisha: Hindi also has eight additional consonants, which are used to represent sounds derived from Persian or Arabic languages. |
| Shakti: Yes, for example, the primary Hindi consonant is क (ka), but in Hindi writing, if you add a dot or नुक़्ता (NuqTaa) below this consonant, it changes to the slightly different sound of क़ (qa). Similarly, the primary Hindi consonant ज (ja), with a नुक़्ता (NuqTaa), changes to the sound of ज़ (za). For example, आज़ादी (aazaaDii) or "freedom," |
| Alisha: Devanagari also has certain compound characters or conjuncts. In these conjuncts, one of the characters is in pure or half form. |
| Shakti: For example, the half form ग् (g) plus य (ya) forms ज्ञ (gya), like in the word ज्ञान (gyaaN) or "knowledge," |
| Alisha: These compound characters look like completely different letters. That is, you won't be able to identify the consonants involved in their formation just by looking. |
| Hindi also has its own set of diacritic marks. The addition of these diacritics changes the sound of the consonant or the vowel. |
| Shakti: These diacritic marks are अनुस्वार (aNuSvaar), चंद्र-बिंदु (caNDr-biNDu), विसर्ग (viSarg), नुक़्ता (NuqTaa), अवग्रह (avagrah), हलंत (haLaNT), and पूर्ण विराम (puurn viraam). Among these, पूर्ण विराम (puurn viraam) is the Hindi full-stop and हलंत (haLaNT) is used to represent the half or pure form of a consonant. अनुस्वार (aNuSvaar) and चंद्र-बिंदु (caNDr-biNDu) are used for indicating nasalization of the preceding vowel—for example, नहीं (Nahiin), which means "no" or "not" in Hindi. In this word, the vowel ई (ii) is followed by a nasalization, as indicated by the अनुस्वार (aNuSvaar). |
| Alisha: In Devanagari script, a horizontal line is placed on top of the characters. The script can be divided into three zones, upper, middle, and lower. Vowels or parts of vowels are seen in the upper area, that is, above the horizontal line. The middle area contains the consonants, some vowels, or parts of vowels. The lower area is home to some vowels and some diacritic marks. |
| Shakti: The horizontal line is known as the शिरोरेखा (sirorekhaa) or headline. Diacritic marks, such as the अनुस्वार (aNuSvaar) and चंद्र-बिंदु (caNDr-biNDu), are placed above this horizontal line. Parts of vowel modifier marks, such as for इ and ई, are present above the line as well. The baseline or the lower area is home to diacritics, such as हलंत (haLaNT) and vowel modifier marks such as for उ (u) and ऊ (uu). |
| Alisha: The standard keyboard layout for Devanagari is Inscript, which is supported by all major operating systems. You can also make use of phonetic tools to type in Hindi. That is, you type in Roman letters and you get the result in Devanagari. Google Input Tools is one of the most user-friendly options for people who want to type in Hindi but are not familiar with the Inscript keyboard layout. |
Outro |
| Alisha: We hope you learnt some interesting and new facts about the Hindi script. Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Shakti: फिर मिलेंगे! (phir miLenge!) |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide