Numbers are written slightly differently than in print form, thus is an important thing to learn when you are practising Nepali. As an added bonus, I have included the number system as well, because numbers are counted a bit differently in Nepali.
ZERO TO FOUR
FIVE TO NINE
EXAMPLE NUMBERS
THE NUMBER SYSTEM
Unlike the International System, Nepali has its own number system, with intervals in two instead of three. For example, writing 12 Million will be “12,000,000” but in Nepali, it will be “1,20,00,000”. See the following diagram:
The first three numbers will be in the interval of three, while any number after that will be grouped in intervals of two.
EXERCISES
A. WRITE THE FOLLOWING IN HANDWRITTEN NUMBERS
1. 145652 2. 46474790 3. 6245338
B. PLACE APPROPRIATE COMMAS IN THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS ACCORDING TO THE NEPALI NUMBER SYSTEM
In every language, differences exist between the handwritten version and the printed version of the script. Certainly, we were writing long before the printing press was created by Gutenberg, and most definitely ages before digitalisation. This might make learning the handwritten script moot, but here is a simple argument to learn it: they are vastly different creatures.
In the printed version of the English Language’s script, you can find many variations and differences (depending on your source). For example, there are typographies that lack the pointy ends called serifs; there are also fonts that lack these serifs. Yet, we seldom write our notes in serif simply because it is cumbersome. Some people (especially the older generations) also write in cursive, which some people might find illegible. As a tale goes, an expat in Japan used to write his/her private documents in cursive because many Japanese were not familiar with this style.
Take a look at the lower-case of the alphabet ‘a’. In print, you will usually find a short hook above it, while the handwritten version lacks it. If you were unfamiliar with one of the other forms, would you be able to read it?
In Nepali, there are some alphabets which look vastly different from their digital counterparts. In order to facilitate you into the world of handwritten script, I have laid out my handwriting so that you can study it. Mind you, my handwriting isn’t really a prize-winner!
Punctuation marks are important to learn if you want to write coherent sentences. Fortunately, punctuation marks do no differ a lot in Nepali, except the full stop, which is represented by a horizontal slash. There are nine punctuation marks in Nepali. Punctuation marks are called ‘विराम चिन्ह’ (virām cinha) in Nepali.
FULL STOP ( । )
The full stop (period) in Nepali is a vertical slash ( । ). The full stop is called पूर्णविराम (pūrṇavirām) in Nepali.
COMMA ( , )
The Comma is called अल्पविराम (alpavirām) in Nepali.
SEMICOLON ( ; )
The Semicolon is called अर्धविराम (ardhavirām) in Nepali.
THE QUESTION MARK ( ? )
The Question Mark is called प्रश्न चिन्ह (praśna cinha) in Nepali.
THE EXCLAMATION MARK ( ! )
The Exclamation Mark is called विस्मयादिबोधक (vismayādibōdhak) in Nepali.
THE BRACKETS ( ( ) )
The Brackets (parenthesis) are called कोष्ठक चिन्ह (kōṣṭhak cinha) in Nepali.
THE QUOTATION MARKS ( “ ” )
The Quotation Marks are called अवतरण चिन्ह (awataraṇ cinha) in Nepali.
THE DASH ( — )
The Dash is called निर्देशक चिन्ह (nirdeśak cinha) in Nepali.
THE HYPHEN ( – )
The Hyphen is called योजक चिन्ह (yojak cinha) in Nepali.
EXERCISE
FILL IN THE CORRECT PUNCTUATIONS USING NEPALI PUNCTUATIONS
1. We had a good time in Kathmandu 2. She said You must go to bed 3. What are you doing next weekend
ANSWERS
1. We had a good time in Kathmandu। 2. She said, “You must go to bed।” 3. What are you doing next weekend?
Consonant clusters (group of two or more consonants) appear frequently throughout the text, with some appearing more often than others. In order to increase speed of writing and condensing the text, special ligatures were created. These ligatures (characters that represent a compound of two or more consonants) are very useful and are used frequently. For example, the cluster ‘tr’ has a special compound character, as you can see below:
त् (t) + र् (r) + अ (a) = त्र (tra)
The character ‘त्र’ (tra) is a called a special ligature, since only a handful of them have a special form. We shall now be exploring the most common ones you can find in literature.
DUE PROCESS
While all of the special ligatures are a single uninterrupted character, most of them are created with a straight-forward logic. The preceding consonant is usually given the top or the front space of the ligature while the succeeding consonant is given the bottom or the back space of the ligature. Observe how the following special ligature is created (colour-coded to highlight the backbone):
Some are not so obvious but it doesn’t matter because there are relatively few of them. In the section below, you can see a chart of these special ligatures.
SPECIAL LIGATURES CHART
Remember that you may wish to omit the special ligature altogether to favour the more systematic way. However, both versions are correct and readable.
SYNOGLYPHS
Due to changing times, some characters have been modified. Yet, the older forms are very much used while writing, though it may be obsolete in some parts. As such, there are two glyphs that look different but have the same meaning and pronunciation. These glyphs are also known as synoglyphs.
While writing with hand, the synoglyph is more likely to be used.
Also, some people choose to omit the loop around certain characters like ग (ga), भ (bha). This results in a much more sharper look (on the picture below, the right one):
In the end, which version you choose is a matter of preference. I personally omit the loops but many people I know do not. As long as it is legible, it shouldn’t pose any problem.
Devanagari is an alphasyllabary script, meaning consonant-vowel sequences are written as one unit as opposed to individual units. In the previous lesson, we discussed how consonants behave and how they can be used to build ligatures. In this lesson, we will look how we can make the consonant or the ligature carry a vowel to form a syllable.
If you look at a sample text:
सानो छ खेत, सानो छ बारी, सानै छ जहान
You will notice that along with all the consonants and vowels, there are these funny dashes and curves that accompany it. Those marks are called diacritics, marks which modify a letter to alter the way it sounds. In Devanagari, vowel diacritics are employed, with each vowel having a unique diacritical mark. These diacritics can go above, below, before or after the character.
An important thing to remember is that a character or a ligature can only carry one vowel diacritic. You cannot add diacritics to independent vowel sounds as well.
THE KILLER STROKE
The most important diacritic must be the हलन्त (halanta), which we will discuss first. In essence, it cancels any vowel sound a syllable carries. As such, the vowel diacritic vanishes and is represented with a short left-facing dash under the character. The हलन्त (halanta) looks like this: ्.
It is sometimes called the ‘killer stroke’, since it ‘kills’ any vowel sound attached to the character. For example, ‘न’ is pronounced as ‘na’ but with a हलन्त (halanta), it will become a bare consonant i.e. न् (n).
When we modify the consonant by adding a vowel sound to it, the killer stroke will disappear. In its stead, there will be a vowel diacritic. Now, let’s explore the diacritic of each vowel.
DIACRITICS CHART
Note that the dotted circle below indicates where the character will go. I need to emphasise an important caveat here; the last two diacritics are consonant diacritics (more on this later):
THE MATHEMATICS
This is not literal mathematics, but rather a display on how the diacritics add to the consonant (or ligature). Let’s explore the more simple case now.
Let’s say you want to make the sound ‘ni’. How do you do it? In English, you might do it as:
n + i = ni
In Devanagari, you take the corresponding diacritic to the vowel (in this case, ‘ ि ’ for ‘i’) then add it to the consonant (in this case, ‘न्’ for ‘n’). As said before, the killer stroke vanishes:
न् (n) + ि (i-diacritic) = नि (ni)
The process is very simple and straightforward. Let’s try a few more examples:
An important thing to know is that the ‘a’ sound has no diacritic, so you simply remove the हलन्त (halanta) only. Below, you can see the diacritics as they appear in Unicode:
अ (a)
None
आ (ā)
ा
इ (i)
ि
ई (ī)
ी
उ (u)
ु
ऊ (ū)
ू
ए (e)
े
ऐ (ai)
ै
ओ (o)
ो
औ (au)
ौ
अं (ṃ)
ं
अ: (ḥ)
ः
Here is an image showing the compounding done on प (pa):
THE CONSONANT DIACRITIC
Remember how I told you that the last two diacritics on the diacritic chart are not vowel diacritics but rather consonant diacritics. For some reason, they are traditionally included in the vowel section and sung! However, we have to make understand why this is vitally important to know. This is why I refer to अं (ṃ) as ‘ ṃ’ and not ‘aṃ’.
Unlike vowel diacritics, consonant diacritics are unable to remove the killer stroke from the character. This is because they simply change how the character is articulated. The ‘ṃ’ simply adds a slight nasalisation while the other adds a short burst of air. As such, another vowel diacritic needs to be added (before the nasaliser) to produce any syllable:
There are two more important consonant diacritics. The letters अँ (m̐) and ऋ (ṛi) form diacritics that are important as well. The former is called ‘candrabindu’ and it nasalises the syllable, while the latter adds a distinct ‘ṛi’ sound. The latter isn’t really a consonant diacritic because it ends in a vowel sound, but since it starts with a consonant sound, I have placed it here. It acts pretty much like a vowel diacritic, meaning you cannot add a vowel sound to it.
The candrabindu will nasalise any syllable it appears on top. To nasalise a verb, block the airflow to the nasal passage with the back of your tongue. This will give a more nasal voice.
The above is pronounced as ‘bā’ but with more nasal tone. The way it will be transliterated varies, with either m̐ or ~, but the pronunciation remains identical. (This is because of different software parsing).
The other diacritic sometimes appears in certain words and imparts a ‘ṛi’ sound.
म् (m) + ृ (ṛi-diacritic) = मृ (mṛi)
EXCEPTION
While the above applies to many cases, there are two exceptions. When we combine र् (r) with an ‘u’ or a ‘ū’ sound, we use a different form of diacritic. It looks like a tail and is added between the hinge of the character:
र् (r) + u = रु (ru) र् (r) + ū = रू (rū)
FORMAL NAMES
The diacritics have formal names that are easy to build. They are simply named after what they sound like, then we add कार (kār). For example, ा (ā-diacritic) is called ākār.
When there is ambiguity because the two vowels sound the same, then we use the convention of ह्रस्व (hraswa) and दीर्घ (dīrgha). The shorter vowel (i and u) is given ह्रस्व (hraswa) while the longer vowel (ī and ū) is given दीर्घ (dīrgha). Note that these words go before the formal name (e.g. hraswa ukār for ु).
To see how diacritics behave, you can download an Excel sheet by clicking here [for online viewing only, click here or here(mirror link)].
EXERCISES
A. WRITE DOWN THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES IN DEVANAGARI
Nepalgo 
