Sounds

Here are all of the sounds you'll see in normal Sanskrit. For convenience, all of the sounds here are given both in Devanagari and in romanized Sanskrit.

For clarity, we use some technical terms like "aspirated" or "semivowel," but there's no need to remember these terms, and they're provided just in case you find such terms useful.

You can hear most of these sounds pronounced here.

Vowels

Vowels are simple, open sounds. When we pronounce them, our breath flows straight out of our mouths.

• अa
• आā
• इi
• ईī
• उu
• ऊū

• ऋṛ
• ॠṝ
• ऌḷ

• एe
• ऐai
• ओo
• औau

The vowels a, i, u, ṛ, and ḷ are called short. All other vowels are called long and are pronounced for twice as much time as the short vowels.

In Sanskrit's early history, the sounds ṛ, ṝ, and ḷ were pronounced in a simple way. But over time, they came to be pronounced a little differently. So, you may hear all kinds of different pronunciations for these vowels.

anusvāra and visarga

The next two sounds are pronounced differently based on context:

• अंaṃ
• अःaḥ

Here, we've added a before these sounds to make them easier to pronounce.

aṃ is called the anusvāra. The anusvāra is a nasal sound that is pronounced to match the sound that follows it. So, saṃtoṣaḥ sounds like santoṣaḥ.

aḥ is called the visarga. Originally, the visarga was probably pronounced like the letter "h" in "hotel," but in modern times it is pronounced as an echo of the vowel that it follows. So, aḥ often sounds like aha, and likewise iḥ as ihi, aiḥ as aihi, and so on.

Consonants

Consonants are created when the tongue disturbs the flow of air through the mouth.

For the first 25 consonants, the airflow through the mouth stops completely. These consonants are produced when the base of the tongue touches the soft palate:

• कka
• खkha
• गga
• घgha
• ङṅa

These when the middle of the tongue touches the hard palate:

• चca
• छcha
• जja
• झjha
• ञña

These when the tip of the tongue touches the top of the roof of the mouth:

• टṭa
• ठṭha
• डḍa
• ढḍha
• णṇa

These when the tip of the tongue touches the base of the teeth:

• तta
• थtha
• दda
• धdha
• नna

These when the lips touch:

• पpa
• फpha
• बba
• भbha
• मma

In these consonants, the "h" means that the sound is aspirated, or pronounced with an extra puff of air. Native English speakers can hear this difference by comparing the "p" sounds in "pan" and "span." If you don't know a language with sounds like this, you may need to practice to hear the difference.

Next are the semivowels, which are pronounced when the flow of air is more constricted. ra has a rough sound that you might hear in most Indian languages, as well as some European languages like Spanish.

• यya
• रra
• लla
• वva

Last are the sibilants. For these sounds, the tongue disturbs the flow of air and gives the sound a "hissing" quality.

• शśa
• षṣa
• सsa
• हha

ha should be a voiced sound, like gha and bha but not like kha or pha. This sound may be hard for native English speakers to hear and produce.