Language/Bengali/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

হ্যাল (Hyālō) Bengali learners! 😊

Bengali also known as Bangla (বাংলা), is a language of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, spoken by the Bengalis in Bangladesh and India as well as other native populations.

The Bengali language is written in the Brahmi script, which is also used to write many other Indian languages, such as Garo and Manipuri.

There are 43 characters – 32 for consonants and 11 for vowels.

You will find below a description of each letter and sound in the international phonetic, with the English equivalence and with some videos from native speakers.

Enjoy your learning journey with PolyglotClub! 😊

Once you've tackled this lesson, take some time to dive into these complementary subjects: Seasons, Bengali Lesson: Greetings.

Bengali Alphabet and International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Consonants

Letter	ক	খ	গ	ঘ	ঙ	চ	ছ	জ	ঝ	ঞ	ট	ঠ	ড	ঢ	ণ	ট	ঠ	ড	ঢ	ণ	প	ফ	ব	ভ	ম	য	র	র	শ	ষ	ষ	হ	ড়	ঢ়	য়
Name	kô	khô	gô	ghô	ngô	chô/sô	chhô/ssô	ǰô	ǰhô	ñô	ṭô	ṭhô	ḍô	ḍhô	ṇô	ṭô	ṭhô	ḍô	ḍhô	ṇô	pô	phôfô	bô	bhô	mô	jô	rô	rô	shô	ṣô	ṣô	hô	ṛô	ṛhô	yô
IPA	kɔ	kʰɔ	gɔ	ɡʱɔ	ŋɔ	tʃɔ, tsɔ, sɔ	tʃʰɔ, tsʰɔ, sɔ	dʒɔ, dzɔ, zɔ	dʒʱɔ, dzʱɔ	nɔ, ẽɔ	t̠ɔ	t̠ʰɔ	d̠ɔ	d̠ʱɔ	nɔ	t̠ɔ	t̠ʰɔ	d̠ɔ	d̠ʱɔ	nɔ	pɔ	pʰɔ, ɸɔ, fɔ	bɔ	bʱɔ	mɔ	dʒɔ, dzɔ, zɔ	rɔ	rɔ	ʃɔ, ɕɔ	ɕɔ, ʃɔ	ɕɔ, ʃɔ	ɦɔ, hɔ	ɽɔ	ɽʱɔ	e̯ɔ

Vowels

Letter	অ	আ	ই	ঈ	উ	ঊ	ঋ	এ	ঐ	ও	ঔ
Diacritic	◌	া	ি	ী	ু	ূ	ৃ	ে	ৈ	ো	ৌ
Name	ô	a	i	īee	u	ūoo	ṛri	e	oi	o	ou
IPA	ɔ, o	a	i	i	u	u	ri	e, ɛ	oi	o, ʊ	ou

Equivalence with English sounds

Vowels of Bengali Alphabet

অ	As ‘a’ in mal
আ	Stressed অ
ই	As ‘I’ in ill
ঈ	As ‘e’ in eke
উ	As ‘u’ in Ubuntu
ঊ	As ‘ou’ in you
ঋ	As ‘ri’ in risk
ৠ	Double sound of “ri”
এ	As ‘e’ in par se
ঐ	As ‘a’ in as
ও	As ‘o’ in go
ঔ	Stressed and long sound of ‘o’

Consonants of Bengali Alphabet

ক	As ‘k’ in kite
খ	Coupled sound of ‘k’, ‘h’= ‘kh’
গ	As ‘g’ in gun
ঘ	Coupled sound of ‘g’, ‘h’= ‘gh’
ঙ	As ‘gn’ in gnome. Does not produce a particular sound: Just used for articulation of tongue while pronouncing the next word
চ	As ‘ch’ in chair
ছ	This sound is not available in English. The tongue touches a bit away (to the inner side) from the teeth while pronouncing ‘ch’ as in chair.
জ	As ‘j’ in jug
ঝ	This sound is not available in English. This is produced using the naval sounds while the tongue touches the upper part of mouth cavity.
ঞ	Just like ‘gn’ of gnome with a slight up movement of tongue. No particular sound just articulation while speaking.
ট	As ‘t’ in top
ঠ	Hard sound of ‘t’. Not available in English.
ড	As ‘d’ in dark
ঢ	Coupled sound of ‘d’ and ‘h’= ‘dh’. Not available in English but as ‘dh’ in Indian musical instrument ‘dhol’.
ণ	Nasal sound when the tongue touches a bit away from teeth. In ন, the tongue touches the roots of the teeth.
ত	Soft sound of ‘t’ as used in the name of country Bharat
থ	As ‘th’ in thermo
দ	As ‘th’ in the
ধ	Not available in English. Again, naval sound produced by coupling soft ‘d’ and ‘h’= ‘dh’.
ন	As ‘n’ in man
প	As ‘p’ in push
ফ	Sound of ‘f’ if pronounced with closed lips. ‘f’ of German language.
ব	As ‘b’ in ban
ভ	Not available in English. Coupled sound of ‘b’ and ‘h’= ‘bh’.
ম	As ‘m’ in mass
য	As ‘y’ in yacht
র	As ‘r’ in run
ল	As ‘l’ in love
শ	As ‘sh’ in shot
ষ	Sound of ‘sh’ when the tongue touches the roots of the teeth. In শ, the tongue touches the upper part of mouth cavity.
স	As ‘s’ in sound
হ	As ‘h’ in has
জ্র	Coupled sound of ‘j’ and ‘n’= ‘jn’
ত্র	Coupled sound of soft ‘t’ and ‘r’—‘tr’.
ক্ষ	Coupled sound of ‘k’, ‘s’, ‘h’= ‘ksh’. A bit similar to ‘x’
শ্র	coupled sound of ‘s’, ‘h’, ‘r’=’shr’. As ‘shr’ in shroud

Variations of consonants in Bengali

ক়	Sound of ‘k’ produced from the throat: equal to ‘q’ of English.
খ়	Sound of ‘kh’ produced from the throat. As ‘kh’ used in the name of ‘khan’.
গ়	Sound of ‘g’ produced from the throat.
জ়	As ‘z’ in zebra
ড়	Next variation of ‘d’. Not available in English and very difficult to produce for foreigners. As ‘re’ in Crore.
ঢ়	Not available in English. Next variation of coupled sound of ‘dh’.
ফ়	As ‘f’ in fast. As ‘v’ in German language

Symbols used in Bengali

ঁ	Sound of ‘n’ with the previous consonant along with some other symbols used for that consonant
ং	Sound of ‘m’ with the previous consonant
ঃ	Sound of ‘h’ with the previous consonant
া	Sound of stressed ‘a’ with the previous consonant
ি	Sound of ‘i’ as in ill with the previous consonant
ী	Sound of ‘e’ as in eke with the previous consonant
ু	Sound of ‘u’ as in Ubuntu with the previous consonant
ূ	Sound of ‘ou’ as in you with the previous consonant
ৃ	Sound of ‘rhy’ as in rhythm with the previous consonant
ে	Sound of ‘ai’ as in aim with the previous consonant
ৈ	Sound of ‘a’ as in as with the previous consonant
ো	Sound of ‘o’ as in go with the previous consonant
ৌ	Stressed sound of ‘o’
্	Halant. This is used to make the consonant half making it disjointed from the sound of অ.
.	Symbol of ‘.’ Full stop in English.

Videos to learn the Bengali Alphabet with pronunciation

Bengali Alphabet Learning for Children

LONG VIDEO!

Bengali Keyboard