If you've just decided to learn Hindi, this is one of the first forks in the road you'll run into: do you start with the script, or with spoken Hindi? Plenty of traditional Hindi teachers and community classes start with the alphabet. Our take at Bhashafy, shaped by watching thousands of learners go through this, leans the other way. Start with spoken Hindi, and treat the script as its own project a little later on. Trying to learn a brand new spoken language and an unfamiliar script at the same time is genuinely overwhelming. In fact, it's one of the most common reasons beginners quit early - they get stuck memorizing the barakhadi chart before ever speaking a usable sentence in Hindi.
Traditional Hindi teachers start with the script because they're used to teaching Hindi-speaking children who are already fluent in the spoken language at home. That isn't the right approach for complete beginners starting from scratch.
If you're the child of Hindi-speaking NRIs and already understand some spoken Hindi from home, you may be ready for the script earlier than a true beginner. Decide the order based on your own starting point and goals.
TLDR: If you don't already read Devanagari, learn some spoken Hindi first and pick up the script after. That way you'll understand what you're reading, and you won't feel overwhelmed trying to speak a new language and decoding a new script at the same time.
Why learning the script too early fails
If you're starting from absolute zero, learning the spoken language and the script at the same time is a recipe for overload. Here's why so many beginners end up giving up:
- Too much at once: Poorly designed courses make students memorize the whole alphabet, plus all the vowel signs and joined letters, before they ever learn how to say "How are you?" in Hindi. Most beginners burn out after their first ka-kha-ga-gha without learning a single usable sentence.
- Reading without meaning: If you learn to decode letters before you know any words, you end up reading aloud without understanding a thing. When you learn spoken Hindi first, every word you read is one you already know.
- It slows down speaking: Speaking needs muscle memory in your mouth and an ear tuned to native speed. Decoding unfamiliar symbols at the same time gets in the way of building conversational confidence.
Do you already read Marathi or another Indian script?
Before you dive in, take stock of what you already know.
If you read Marathi, Sanskrit or Nepali, you already know Devanagari, the script Hindi is written in. You can read most Hindi words right away. The differences are mostly in pronunciation and a few extra marks:
- ज्ञ (gya): Marathi says "dnya", but Hindi says "gya", so ज्ञान (knowledge) is gyaan in Hindi
- च (cha) and ज (ja): Always "cha" and "ja" in Hindi, never "ts" and "dz", as in चार (chaar - four) and जा (jaa - go)
- ऐ (ai) and औ (au): Said as single vowels in Hindi, close to the "e" in "bet" and the "aw" in "law", so पैसा (money) is closer to "pesaa" than "pa-i-saa"
- The dotted letters: A dot under a letter, called a nukta, marks sounds from Urdu, Persian and English, like ज़ (za), फ़ (fa), क़ (qa), ख़ (kha, a throaty "kh") and ग़ (gha, a throaty "g"), as in ज़रूर (zaroor - definitely)
- ड़ (ṛa) and ढ़ (ṛha): A quick flap of the curled-back tongue, as in सड़क (sadak - road) and पढ़ना (padhnaa - to read)
- No ळ: Hindi doesn't use the retroflex "l" that Marathi has
If you read another Indian script, like Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada, you also have a big head start. All major Indian scripts share the same underlying structure. The vowels (a, aa, i, ee, u, oo and so on) and the consonant groups (ka-kha-ga-gha-nga, cha-chha-ja-jha-nya and so on) follow the exact same order. You simply have to learn new shapes.
How does an abugida script like Devanagari work?
If you don't know any Indian script - it helps to first understand how the abugida system of Indian scripts works. In Devanagari, a consonant is the base, and vowels attach to it as small marks. That's different from an alphabet like English, where consonants and vowels are separate letters written side by side.
How vowel signs (matras) work
In English, the letter K stands for a consonant sound on its own, and you add a vowel next to it, like in "kite" or "keep".
Devanagari works differently. A consonant carries a built-in "a" sound. So क is not just "k" - it's "ka".
You then change that vowel by adding vowel signs, called matras, around the base letter:
- क: ka
- क + vowel sign: का, कि, की, कु, कू, के, कै, को, कौ (kaa, ki, kee, ku, koo, ke, kai, ko, kau)
Notice how each sign sits around the base letter क (ka) - before it, after it, above it or below it. The same idea runs through almost every Indian script.
The silent "a"
Here's one twist that's especially important in Hindi. That built-in "a" is usually dropped at the end of a word, and often in the middle too. So घर is ghar, not ghara, नमक is namak (salt), not namaka, and कमरा is kamraa (room), not kamaraa. The rules take a while to explain, but your ear will pick them up quickly once you already know the spoken words - which is exactly why we recommend speaking first.
When you use the full vowel letters
Full vowel letters (like अ a, आ aa, इ i, ई ee) also exist, but you only use them when a vowel comes at the very start of a word, with no consonant to attach to:
- आम - aam (mango): The word starts with a vowel, so the full letter आ (aa) is used
- इधर - idhar (here): Again, the word starts with a vowel, इ (i)
Nasal vowels
Hindi has vowels said through the nose, marked with a small moon-and-dot (ँ, called chandrabindu) or a dot (ं, called anusvara) above the letter, as in हाँ (haan - yes) and मैं (main - I).
What are joined letters (conjuncts) in Devanagari?
Next, watch out for conjuncts - two or more consonants joined together with no vowel in between. Think of the "tr" in the English word "tree", or the Hindi word स्त्री (stree - woman).
If you wrote स + त + र + ी (sa + ta + ra + ee) side by side, you'd get "satari" - not what we want. We want "stree", so the built-in "a" of the first consonants "sa" and "ta" has to go. In Devanagari, you do that by writing the first consonant as a half letter, usually by dropping its vertical line, and joining it to the next one:
- स्: Half sa (s)
- त्र: Ta joined with ra (tra)
- ी: The long ee matra
- Result: स्त्री (stree)
Most half letters are easy to recognize once you've seen a few, since they're usually the left half of the full letter. A handful of conjuncts have their own special shapes, and they come up so often that they're worth learning first:
| Conjunct | Made of | Example word |
|---|---|---|
| क्ष | क + ष (ksha) | परीक्षा (pareekshaa - exam) |
| ज्ञ | ज + ञ (gya) | ज्ञान (gyaan - knowledge) |
| त्र | त + र (tra) | मित्र (mitra - friend) |
| प्र | प + र (pra) | प्रेम (prem - love) |
| श्र | श + र (shra) | श्री (shree - a respectful title, like Mr.) |
| द्ध | द + ध (ddha) | शुद्ध (shuddh - pure) |
One more to look out for: when र (ra) comes first in a cluster, it turns into a small hook on top of the next letter, as in सर्दी (sardee - winter).
The full Hindi alphabet - vowels (swar) and consonants (vyanjan)
Now let's look at the script as a complete alphabet.
Vowels (swar)
| Devanagari | Sound | As in the English word |
|---|---|---|
| अ | a | About |
| आ | aa | Father |
| इ | i | Fit |
| ई | ee | Feet |
| उ | u | Pull |
| ऊ | oo | Pool |
| ऋ | ri | Rhythm |
| ए | e | Gate |
| ऐ | ai | Bet (drawn out) |
| ओ | o | Pole |
| औ | au | Law |
| अं | am / an | Sum / Sun |
| अः | ah | Aha! |
| ऑ | o (short) | Doctor |
These are the full, standalone vowel letters, used only when a vowel starts a word, as in आम (aam) and इधर (idhar). ऋ (ri) turns up mainly in words borrowed from Sanskrit, like ऋषि (rishi - sage), and ऑ is used to write English words like ऑफिस (office) and डॉक्टर (doctor).
Consonants (vyanjan)
Consonants are grouped into rows that follow the same pattern, which makes them much easier to learn in sets than as 33 random shapes. Each row is made at a different place in the mouth, starting at the back of the mouth and moving forward, row by row, until you reach the lips.
| Row | Devanagari | Sounds like | Where it's made |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ka letters | क ख ग घ ङ | ka, kha, ga, gha, nga | Back of the mouth |
| Cha letters | च छ ज झ ञ | cha, chha, ja, jha, nya | Roof of the mouth |
| Ṭa letters (retroflex) | ट ठ ड ढ ण | ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa | Tongue curled back to touch the roof of the mouth |
| Ta letters (dental) | त थ द ध न | ta, tha, da, dha, na | Tongue touching the back of the top front teeth |
| Pa letters | प फ ब भ म | pa, pha, ba, bha, ma | Lips |
| Others | य र ल व श ष स ह | ya, ra, la, va, sha, sha, sa, ha | Semi-vowels and other sounds |
| Joined letters | क्ष त्र ज्ञ | ksha, tra, gya | Taught with the alphabet in school |
| Dotted letters (with nuqta) | क़ ख़ ग़ ज़ फ़ | qa, kha, gha, za, fa | Sounds from Urdu, Persian and English |
In everyday Hindi, श (sha) and ष (sha) sound the same, so don't worry about telling them apart when you speak. And many speakers skip the dot in everyday writing, so you'll see जरूर as well as ज़रूर.
Within every row, the order is very systematic too:
- 1st letter of every row is unvoiced: ka, cha, ṭa, ta, pa
- 2nd letter of every row is unvoiced and aspirated (with a puff of air): kha, chha, ṭha, tha, pha
- 3rd letter of every row is voiced: ga, ja, ḍa, da, ba
- 4th letter of every row is voiced and aspirated: gha, jha, ḍha, dha, bha
- 5th letter of every row is nasal: nga, nya, ṇa, na, ma
How to practice reading Hindi: a step-by-step progression
This is where many traditional teaching methods go wrong. A learner is handed a giant chart and told to memorize every vowel, consonant, matra and conjunct before they start reading.
We recommend almost the opposite: start reading almost immediately, as soon as you know your first few letters. Nobody memorizes the whole chart perfectly before they start, so practice with whatever you know and add to it as you go.
Follow this progression to build your reading speed naturally.
Step 1: Single syllables
- जा (jaa - go)
- आ (aa - come)
- हाँ (haan - yes)
- दो (do - give, or two)
- लो (lo - take)
- मैं (main - I)
- तू (too - you)
- वो (vo - he, she or that)
Step 2: Two-syllable words (no conjuncts)
- पानी (paa-nee - water)
- दादी (daa-dee - grandmother)
- खाना (khaa-naa - food)
- चाय (chaa-y - tea)
Step 3: Two-syllable words (with conjuncts)
- दोस्त (dost - friend)
- मस्त (mast - great)
- अच्छा (ach-chhaa - good)
- बच्चा (bach-chaa - child)
- पक्का (pak-kaa - for sure)
Step 4: Longer words
- नमस्ते (na-mas-te - hello)
- धन्यवाद (dhan-ya-vaad - thank you)
- हिन्दी (hin-dee - Hindi)
- समोसा (sa-mo-saa - samosa)
- मिठाई (mi-ṭhaa-ee - sweets)
Step 5: Real signs in Delhi and Lucknow
North India is one giant Hindi reading exercise! Shop names, metro boards, bus boards and the backs of trucks are all covered in Devanagari. Make a game of it on your commute.
- दिल्ली (Dillee - Delhi) and लखनऊ (Lakhnaū - Lucknow) on train and bus boards
- प्रवेश (pravesh - entry) and निकास (nikaas - exit) at every metro station
- मिष्ठान भंडार (mishthaan bhandaar - sweet shop) on shop signs
- बुरी नज़र वाले तेरा मुँह काला (Buree nazar vaale tera munh kaalaa - a cheeky charm against the evil eye), painted on the back of countless trucks
- चाय (chaay - tea) on stalls outside almost every station
What if I don't live in north India?
Don't worry, there's plenty of Hindi online to practice reading. Try the Hindi Wikipedia, or the online editions of Hindi newspapers and news sites. At first, focus on letters and short words rather than full sentences, and work up to longer words and then full sentences. Google's Read Along app, designed to help kids learn to read aloud, is another fun option.
Remember, you can start practicing even if you've only learned a handful of letters.
Reading vs writing: practice them separately
Reading and handwriting are two separate skills, and they serve different purposes for a beginner. Don't let the slower task of learning to write hold back your reading.
- Reading pays off quickly: It lets you read road signs, metro boards, restaurant menus and Hindi Wikipedia.
- Handwriting takes time: Getting the shapes right, including the line across the top of each word, takes a lot of fine-motor practice.
We suggest leaning more on reading practice than writing practice at first, but make the choice based on your own goals. Your writing will usually progress more slowly than your reading, so keep up the pace by reading letters and words like little puzzles, and practice writing on the side if you want to write Hindi by hand.
Is there a course to make progress fast in Hindi?
Bhashafy's Complete Hindi Course for Beginners follows exactly this spoken-first path that we recommend in this article. You start speaking from day one, and the Devanagari script is taught in the final section, from basic letters to full sentences, so you already know what you're reading.
Bhashafy has over 20,000 satisfied learners across 100+ countries and millions of minutes of lessons taught. Bhashafy's courses are some of the most widely used, highly rated and bestselling courses for Indian languages across the world.
Thank you, or as we say in Hindi - Dhanyavaad!
