Learning Devanagari
Photo: Anup Sadi, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Devanāgarī (देवनागरी), sometimes called Nagari for short, is a writing system used in most of India. It consists of about 52 primary letters which combine to form syllables. Major languages of India, including Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and the "god language" Sanskrit use this script. Minor languages like Bodo, Kokborok, Maithili and Santali also use this script.
UnderstandDevanagari writing is often likened to a washing line: a line is drawn above the words, and the letters are hung out to dry below the line. A break in the line indicates a break between words.
LettersEach vowel has two forms: an "isolated" form when beginning a word or following another vowel; and another used within a word by use of diacritics called मात्रा (mātrā).
LigaturesOne of the things which appears daunting to most learners are the over 100 conjunct characters. These happen when two or more consonants are joined together (with no vowel between).
PunctuationPunctuation is the same as in English, except for the period, or full stop called the विराम virāma: "।". When a question is used with a question marker like Hindi क्या kya, meaning what; no question mark is needed.
ExceptionsDevanagari is quite regular, but there are a few pronunciation quirks to watch out for when using it to read languages like Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi and Nepali.
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Learning Devanagari" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Anup Sadi, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons