Language/Bengali/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

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.

Bengali 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.

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

Bengali Alphabet	English Sound	Pronunciation Example
ক	k	ক As ‘k’ in kite
খ	kh	খ Coupled sound of ‘k’, ‘h’= ‘kh’
গ	g	গ As ‘g’ in gun
ঘ	gh	ঘ Coupled sound of ‘g’, ‘h’= ‘gh’
ঙ	ņ	ঙ As ‘gn’ in gnome
চ	ch	চ As ‘ch’ in chair
ছ	chh	ছ As ‘ch’ as in chair
জ	j	জ As ‘j’ in jug
ঝ	jh	ঝ This is produced using the naval sounds while the tongue touches the upper part of mouth cavity
ঞ	n	ঞ Just like ‘gn’ of gnome with a slight up movement of tongue
ট	ţ	ট As ‘t’ in top
ঠ	ţh	ঠ Hard sound of ‘t’
ড	đ	ড As ‘d’ in dark
ঢ	đh	ঢ Coupled sound of ‘d’ and ‘h’= ‘dh’
ণ	n	ণ Nasal sound when the tongue touches a bit away from teeth
ত	t	ত Soft sound of ‘t’ as used in "Bharat"
থ	th	থ As ‘th’ in thermo
দ	d	দ As ‘th’ in the
ধ	dh	ধ sound produced by coupling soft ‘d’ and ‘h’= ‘dh’
ন	n	ন As ‘n’ in man
প	p	প As ‘p’ in push
ফ	ph	ফ Sound of ‘f’ if pronounced with closed lips
ব	b	ব As ‘b’ in ban
ভ	bh	ভ Coupled sound of ‘b’ and ‘h’= ‘bh’
ম	m	ম As ‘m’ in mass
য	j	য As ‘y’ in yacht
র	r	র As ‘r’ in run
ল	l	ল As ‘l’ in love
শ	sh and s	শ As ‘sh’ in shot
ষ	sh	ষ Sound of ‘sh’ when the tongue touches the roots of the teeth
স	sh and s	স As ‘s’ in sound
হ	h	হ As ‘h’ in has
য়	e and -
ড়	ŗ
ঢ়	ŗh
অ		অ As ‘a’ in mal
আ		আ Stressed অ
===ই===		ই As ‘I’ in ill
===ঈ===		ঈ As ‘e’ in eke
===উ==		উ As ‘u’ in Ubuntu
===ঊ===		ঊ As ‘ou’ in you
===ঋ===		ঋ As ‘ri’ in risk
===ৠ===		ৠ Double sound of “ri”
===এ ===		এ As ‘e’ in par se
===ঐ===		ঐ As ‘a’ in as
===ও===		ও As ‘o’ in go
===ঔ===		ঔ Stressed and long sound of ‘o’