Learn अ - कः Hindi Alphabets Online | Learn Hindi Basics

Introduction

Hindi is among the oldest languages to be discovered by mankind, which has its roots laid back in around the 10^th Century AD. It is a descendant of Sanskrit, which was the earliest speech of the Aryans in India. Hindi Alphabets are known as “Varnmaala” and are being further categorised. Hindi – also known as Hindustani or Khari-Boli, is written in the Devanagri script, which is the most scientific writing system in the world and is widely spoken by over ten million people across the globe as their first or second language, which makes it 3^rd most widely spoken language in the world. Hindi numbers have been used in most of the oldest Hindi records found in the country

Hindi is spoken by almost the entire Indian population and has managed to influence many other languages spoken in this country. It has been adopted as an official language in most parts of India, but is yet to be declared as the National language. Recently, it has also been suggested that Hindi be one of the official languages of the United Nations because of a large number of Hindi speakers across the world, and the Indian government has been actively working on the same.

The Hindi literature can be majorly divided into four stages, namely:

Adikal (The early period) ranging from 10^th to 14^th Century
Bhaktikal (The devotional period) ranging from 14^th to 18^th Century
Ritikal (The scholastic period) ranging from 18^th to 20^th Century
Adhunikal (The modern period) 20^th Century onwards

Alphabets in Hindi

Hindi alphabets are known as “Varnmaala” which are broadly characterized as Swar and Vyanjan. The Varnmaala can be listed as below:

Varnmaala	Hindi examples	Pronounced as	Phonetic Examples
अ	अनार	a	Up
आ	आम	aa	Arm
इ	इमली	i	Is
ई	ईख	ee	Eat
उ	उल्लू	u	Uber
ऊ	ऊन	oo	Oops
ॠ	ऋषि	ri	Risk
ए	एडी	e	Ate
ऐ	ऐनक	ai	Ant
ओ	ओखली	o	Open
औ	औरत	au	Audio
अं	अंगूर	am/an	Number
अः		aha
क	कबूतर	ka,ca	King
ख	खरगोश	kha	Khaki
ग	गमला	ga	Gun
घ	घड़ी	gha	Ghastly
ङ		Nga
च	चम्मच	cha	Chair
छ	छतरी	chha	Chhatisgarh
ज	जल	ja	Jam
झ	झंडा	jha	Jhalem
ञ		Nja
ट	टमाटर	Ta	Take
ठ	ठठेरा	Tha	Thane
ड	डमरू	Da	Danger
ढ	ढोलक	Dha
ण		Na
त	तरबूज़	ta
थ	थैली	tha	Thick
द	दवाई	da	The
ध	धनुष	dha	Buddha
न	नल	na	Name
प	पतलून	pa	Parent
फ	फल	pha,fa	Flower
ब	बकरी	ba	Bank
भ	भालू	bha	Bhavan
म	मछली	ma	Made
य	योगी	ya	Yacht
र	रस्सी	ra	Rain
ल	लड्‍डू	la	Lawyer
व	वाहन	va,wa	Vase
श	शरबत	sha	Shine
ष	षटकोण	Sha	Share
स	साबुन	sa	Sale
ह	हिन्दी	ha	Hat
क्ष	क्षत्रिय	kSha	Rickshaw
त्र	त्रिशूल	tra
ज्ञ	ज्ञानी	Gya	Gyan
श्र	श्रमिक	Shra	Shred
क	कबूतर	Ka	Colour
का	काग़ज़	kaa	Carton
कि	किताब	Ki	King
की	कील	Kee	Keep
कु	कुंवर	Ku	Kung Fu
कू	कूलर	Koo	Cool
कृ	कृपाण	Kri	Crypto
के	केला	Ke	Case
कै	कैलाश	Kai	Camera
को	कोयला	Ko	Cold
कौ	कौवा	Kau	Cow
कं	कंगन	Kang	Kangaroo
कः		Kaha

Vowels

Out of the total 48 letters in the Hindi Varnmaala, there are a total number of eleven Vowels (Swar) in Hindi alphabets.

Swar	Hindi examples	Pronounced as	Phonetic Examples
अ	अनार	a	Up
आ	आम	aa	Arm
इ	इमली	i	Is
ई	ईख	ee	Eat
उ	उल्लू	u	Uber
ऊ	ऊन	oo	Oops
ॠ	ऋषि	ri	Risk
ए	एडी	e	Ate
ऐ	ऐनक	ai	Ant
ओ	ओखली	o	Open
औ	औरत	au	Audio
अं	अंगूर	am/an	Number
अः		aha

Swar are basically of three types:

Hrisv swar– Those which are spoken easily and in no time. These are four in number:

Hrisv Swar	Hindi examples	Pronounced as	Phonetic Examples
अ	अनार	a	Up
इ	इमली	i	Is
उ	उल्लू	u	Uber
ॠ	ऋषि	ri	Risk
अं	अंगूर	am/an	Number
अः		aha

Deergha swar– Those which are spoken in comparatively more time. These are seven in number:

Deeghr Swar	Hindi examples	Pronounced as	Phonetic Examples
आ	आम	aa	Arm
ई	ईख	ee	Eat
ऊ	ऊन	oo	Oops
ए	एडी	e	Ate
ऐ	ऐनक	ai	Ant
ओ	ओखली	o	Open
औ	औरत	au	Audio

Plut swar– Those which take the most time, like ओ in ओ३म (Om)

Other than swar, there are also, Ayogvah, which are two in number: अं, अः

अं: is the anuswar
अः is the visarg

Consonants

Vyanjan, which are the consonants of Hindi alphabets are divided into:

Sparsh Vyanjan: These are 25 in number, with 5 categories and 5 letters in each of the five categories, namely:

क category : क ख ग घ ङ

च category : च छ ज झ ञ

ट category : ट ठ ड ढ ण

त category : त थ द ध न

प category : प फ ब भ म

Below is a list of the Sparsh Vyanjan and their usage:

Sparsh Vyanjan	Hindi examples	Pronounced as	Phonetic Examples
क	कबूतर	ka,ca	King
ख	खरगोश	kha	Khaki
ग	गमला	ga	Gun
घ	घड़ी	gha	Ghastly
ङ		Nga
च	चम्मच	cha	Chair
छ	छतरी	chha	Chhatisgarh
ज	जल	ja	Jam
झ	झंडा	jha	Jhalem
ञ		Nja
ट	टमाटर	Ta	Take
ठ	ठठेरा	Tha	Thane
ड	डमरू	Da	Danger
ढ	ढोलक	Dha
ण		Na
त	तरबूज़	ta
थ	थैली	tha	Thick
द	दवाई	da	The
ध	धनुष	dha	Buddha
न	नल	na	Name
प	पतलून	pa	Parent
फ	फल	pha,fa	Flower
ब	बकरी	ba	Bank
भ	भालू	bha	Bhavan
म	मछली	ma	Made

Antash Vyanjan: These are four in number:

Antash Vyanjan	Hindi examples	Pronounced as	Phonetic Examples
य	योगी	ya	Yacht
र	रस्सी	ra	Rain
ल	लड्‍डू	la	Lawyer
व	वाहन	va,wa	Vase

3. Ushm Vyanjan: These are also four in number:

Varnmaala	Hindi examples	Pronounced as	Phonetic Examples
श	शरबत	sha	Shine
ष	षटकोण	Sha	Share
स	साबुन	sa	Sale
ह	हिन्दी	ha	Hat

Merging Vowels and Consonants

When we merge the vowels and consonants in Hindi alphabets, we get a new letter with a special character (called maatra) attached to it, which gives a unique sound to the consonant, the vowel is added to. The special character, called maatra will differ based on the vowel being used. Below is a simple representation of the same:

Swar+Vyanjan	Hindi examples	Pronounced as	Phonetic Examples
क= क + अ	कबूतर	Ka	Colour
का= क + आ	काग़ज़	kaa	Carton
कि= क + इ	किताब	Ki	King
की= क + ई	कील	Kee	Keep
कु= क + उ	कुंवर	Ku	Kung Fu
कू= क + ऊ	कूलर	Koo	Cool
कृ= क + ॠ	कृपाण	Kri	Crypto
के= क + ए	केला	Ke	Case
कै= क + ऐ	कैलाश	Kai	Camera
को= क + ओ	कोयला	Ko	Cold
कौ= क + औ	कौवा	Kau	Cow
कं= क + अं	कंगन	Kang	Kangaroo
कः= क + अः		Kaha

Example

To understand how Hindi alphabets are used as building blocks to make complex sentences, please see the following :

“दया वो भाषा है जिसे बहरा भी सुन सकता है और अँधा भी देख सकता है “

“Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see”

– Mark Twain

You can use our free learning app which helps you to come across a lot of different Hindi alphabets, words and sentences which helps in improving your Hindi basics.