The Devanagari Script

INTRODUCTION

Like almost all major languages, Nepali too employs a written script to facilitate record keeping and conversation. Just as how English uses the Latin Alphabet, Nepali uses a script called The Devanagari. This script is unique in the sense that it features a characteristic horizontal line above all the letters.

In this script, there are vowels and consonants, which have separate characters. There are three possible sounds you can make:

Vowel sound (like ‘a’)
Consonant sound (like ‘k’)
Consonant + vowel sound (like ‘ki’)

In the Latin Alphabet, each vowel and consonant are written separately. For example, if you have to give the sound ‘ki’, you write ‘k’ + ‘i’. Each character is written whole and separate. In Nepali, we do things a different way.

The script is phonetic in nature; it is spoken as it is written (this has some exceptions, but we can discuss this later). Furthermore, it is an alphasyllabary script. This means, apart from having separate characters for each vowel and consonant, when we express a consonant + vowel sound, the vowel is added directly to the consonant. This can be seen as a diacritic on the consonant. A single unit of this sound is called a syllable.

Furthermore, a consonant sound can be a mix of two or more consonants. This is called a consonant cluster. You can read more about this here. We have rules for this as well, but you can read more about this in the lesson Diacritics.

For now, let’s learn all the characters that make up the Devanagari script.

There are a total of 12 vowels in the Nepali Language and 33 consonants on the script. Devanagari has no Capital Letters and is written left-to-right horizontally.. Note that there are three extra consonants at the end because they are traditionally included in the alphabet series. We discuss these in Conjuncts.

You can find the audio for consonants here and for vowels here. If you like visual aid, you can find the video for consonants here and vowels here.

CHART

VOWELS

There are 12 vowels in Nepali.

Vowel	IAST	Approximate Sound	IPA	Audio
अ	a	ago	ə
आ	ā	father	aː
इ	i	sit	i
ई	ī	beet	iː
उ	u	put	u
ऊ	ū	root	uː
ए	e	bed	e
ऐ	ai	a+i	əi
ओ	o	go	oː
औ	au	a+u	əu
अं	ṃ	uncle	ãː
अ:	ḥ	uh	–

CONSONANTS

There are 33 consonants in Nepali. Note that the consonants as listed are attached here with an inherent ‘a’ sound (a of ago) called schwa for easy pronunciation. In the IPA, the schwa is omitted. Remember that the sounds are only approximations. You can find the real sound in the Drive.

Consonant	IAST	Approximate Sound	IPA (schwa omitted)
क	k(a)	alcohol	k
ख	kh(a)	Khalifa	kʰ
ग	g(a)	gun	g
घ	gh(a)	Ghana	ɡʱ
ङ	ṅ(a)	sing	ŋ
च	c(a)	church	ts
छ	ch(a)	church (with more aspiration)	tsʰ
ज	j(a)	jug	dz
झ	jh(a)	jug (with more aspiration)	dzʱ
ञ	ñ(a)	canyon	ɲ
ट	ṭ(a)	master	ʈ
ठ	ṭh(a)	Thomas	ʈʰ
ड	ḍ(a)	dog	ɖ
ढ	ḍh(a)	dog (with more aspiration)	ɖʱ
ण	ṇ(a)	Panda	ɳ
त	t(a)	Like the Spanish ’t’	t̪
थ	th(a)	thunder	t̪ʰ
द	d(a)	the (rhymes with uh)	d̪
ध	dh(a)	the (with more aspiration)	d̪ʱ
न	n(a)	nun	n
प	p(a)	spun	p
फ	ph(a)	fun	pʰ
ब	b(a)	bun	b
भ	bh(a)	vault	bʱ
म	m(a)	mall	m
य	y(a)	yawn	j
र	r(a)	run	ɾ
ल	l(a)	lawn	l
व	w(a)	want	w
श	ś(a)	shawl	ʃ
ष	ṣ(a)	sun	ʂ
स	s(a)	sun	s
ह	h(a)	hum	ɦ

WA/VA ALLOPHONY

The letter ‘व’ can be pronounced either as ‘wa’ or ‘va’, meaning that ‘wa’ and ‘va’ are the allophones. Note that in Nepali, the ‘v’ sound is much closer to ‘b’ than an actual ‘v’. Thus, it is better to pronounce it with a ‘b’ sound.

Since it can stand for two different sounds, you should consult a native speaker or a bilingual for the actual pronunciation.

NOTES

The transliteration here uses IAST. Actual writing in context may differ due to the exclusivity of IAST.
IPA refers to the International Phonetic Alphabet, which gives a unique sound to a unique letter.
Learning Devanagari is pivotal in learning Nepali; you should not depend on transliteration alone. You should be able to read and write before jumping into the grammar portion.
The way the letters are arranged is how they are really arranged; just like ‘A, B, C … Y, Z’, letters are arranged as ‘क, ख, ग…’
Note that I have omitted the three compound letters, as they are not really true consonants but are usually included in the list.
Although there are three ‘s’ sounds, they are all pronounced the same in Nepali. Thus स, श and ष all share the same sound of स (sa). Some speakers may distinguish श (śa).
Although ‘व’ is transliterated into ‘va’, the sound is identical to ‘ba’. It can also be pronounced ‘wa’. For my lessons, I will use ‘v’ as the transliteration but remember to pronounce it with a ‘b’ sound instead.
To make the dental consonants, try this exercise: Say ‘thunder’. Now, say ‘talk’. Notice the position of your tongue when you say ’thu’ and ’ta’. Now, when you say ’ta’, put your tongue in the position of ’thu’ and close it completely (as in, touch the tongue instead of leaving a small gap).
To make the aspirations (such as in cha, gha etc.), say the unaspirated version but block a bit more air (to make it more forceful) for slightly more period. This results in a breathier sound.