Pronunciation
This cheat sheet covers Bangla phonology, or the sounds used when speaking Bangla. This page focuses mainly on the pronunciation of Bangla as spoken in Dhaka and other urban areas in Bangladesh. The pronunciation in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal differs slightly. The pronunciation of each sound is given using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) An IPA chart with audio is available at ipachart.com. A rough English pronunciation is also given for each sound.
Vowels
[Thompson pp. 12–16]
Bangla has seven distinct vowel sounds, much like Italian. You can click on the IPA for each sound to hear it pronounced.
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | a in father | আম am ‘mango’ |
| i | /i/ | ee in seen | চিঠি ciṭhi ‘letter’ |
| u | /u/ | oo in food | কুকুর kukur ‘dog’ |
| e | /e/ | e in Spanish mesa | এইটা eiṭa ‘this one’ |
| ê | /ɛ/ | e in met | এক êk ‘one’ |
| o | /o/ | o in Spanish no | ওজন ojon ‘weight’ |
| ô | /ɔ/ | aw in law | অনেক ônek ‘a lot’ |
Nasalized Vowels
Bangla vowels can also be nasalized, which means that the sound goes through the nose like in English ‘huh?’ and ‘uh-huh’. Nasalization is indicated with a tilde (~) above the vowel. In Bangladeshi dialects, nasalized vowels are often either left out or pronounced as n. Below is a comparison of how words with nasalized vowels are pronounced in Standard Bengali and in Bangladeshi Bengali.
| Word | Standard | Bangladeshi |
|---|---|---|
| কাঁদা ‘to cry’ | kãda | kanda, kada |
| ইঁদুর ‘mouse’ | ĩdur | indur, idur |
| ঝুঁকি ‘risk’ | jhũki | jhuki |
| পেঁয়াজ ‘onion’ | pẽaj | peaj |
| হ্যাঁ ‘yes’ | hễ | hễ |
| ধোঁয়া ‘smoke’ | dhõa | dhoa |
| পঁচাশি ‘eighty-five’ | pỗcashi | pôcashi |
Note that হ্যাঁ hễ ‘yes’ is always pronounced with a nasalized vowel, even in dialects that don’t use nasalized vowels in other words.
The semivowels y and w
The semivowel y occurs between vowels and is pronounced more like e, kind of like the y in layer: chaya, bayu, nôyon, mayer, diye, meye.
Before a consonant, y sounds like e: khay = khae, dêy = dêe, hôy = hôe.
The semivowel w occurs between vowels and is pronounced more like o, kind of like the w in lower: gawa, hôwa, dêwa.
Consonants
[Thompson pp. 16–18]
An important feature of Bangla consonants is called aspiration, which is when a consonant is pronounced with a puff of air. In English, for example, the k in kite is aspirated, while the k in sky is not. You can test this by holding a tissue in front of your mouth: when pronouncing an aspirated consonant, the tissue will move, while unaspirated consonants will not move the tissue.
Velar stops (k, kh, g, gh)
The velar stops are pronounced with the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth. In English, the velar stops are k and g; the Bangla velars are quite similar.
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| k | /k/ | unaspirated k as in sky | কি ki ‘what?’ |
| kh | /kʰ/ | aspirated k as in kite | খাওয়া khaoa ‘to eat’ |
| g | /g/ | g as in go | গা ga ‘body’ |
| gh | /gʱ/ | aspirated g; like the gh in doghouse | ঘোড়া ghoṛa ‘horse’ |
Palatal stops (c, ch, j ,jh)
The palatal stops are really palatal affricates, much like English ch as in chin or j as in juice.
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| c | /t͡ɕ/ | ch as in chin, but with no aspiration | চা ca ‘tea’ |
| ch | /t͡ɕʰ/ | aspirated ch as in chin | গাছ gach ‘tree, plant’ |
| j | /d͡ʑ/ | j as in juice | জানা jana ‘to know’ |
| jh | /d͡ʑʱ/ | aspirated j; like the dgeh in hedgehog | ঝাল jhal ‘spicy’ |
Note that c is pronounced like the ch in chin, not like the c in car. You’ll sometimes see Bengali people write c and ch as ch and chh when writing Bangla informally using the Latin alphabet. For example, চা ca ‘tea’ would be written cha.
In some dialects in Bangladesh, c and ch are pronounced like s in sun, and j and jh are pronounced like z in zone. In these dialects, ache ‘there is/are’ is pronounced as ase.
Retroflex stops (ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, ḍh)
This group of consonants is traditionally classified as retroflex, but Bengalis generally pronounce these as closer to English t as in time or d as in day.
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ṭ | /t/ | unaspirated t as in sting | টানা ṭana ‘to pull’ |
| ṭh | /tʰ/ | aspirated t as in tin | ঠাণ্ডা ṭhanḍa ‘cold’ |
| ḍ | /d/ | d as in day | ডাকা ḍaka ‘to call’ |
| ḍh | /dʱ/ | aspirated ḍ; like the dh in madhouse | ঢেউ ḍheu ‘wave’ |
Dental stops (t, th, d, dh)
The dental consonants are pronounced with the tongue right up against the teeth. This is kind of like the th in English thin or then, but with your tongue directly touching your teeth instead of leaving any space.
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| t | /t̪/ | th in thin, but with the tongue touching the teeth | তুমি tumi ‘you (informal)’ |
| th | /t̪ʰ/ | aspirated t, like the thh in bathhouse | মাথা matha ‘head’ |
| d | /d̪/ | th in then, but with the tongue touching the teeth | দাম dam ‘price’ |
| dh | /d̪ʱ/ | aspirated d | ধান dhan ‘rice plant’ |
It’s important to distinguish the dental consonants from the retroflex consonants, as it can change the meaning of a word. For example, তাক tak means ‘shelf’, while টাক ṭak means ‘bald patch’.
Labial stops (p, ph, b, bh)
The labial stops are pronounced with the lips touching, like English p and b.
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| p | /p/ | unaspirated p in spin | পানি pani ‘water’ |
| ph | /pʰ/ /f/ |
aspirated p in pin (West Bengal) f in fan (Bangladesh) |
ফুল phul ‘head’ |
| b | /b/ | b in boy | বাবা baba ‘father’ |
| bh | /bʱ/ | aspirated b, like b in abhor | ভালো bhalo ‘good’ |
The sound ph is pronounced like the p in pin in most West Bengali dialects and like the f in fan in most Bangladeshi dialects. For example, ফুল ‘flower’ is generally pronounced phul in West Bengal and ful in Bangladesh. On this website, w use ph to represent this sound to be inclusive of both pronunciations, but sometimes we’ll use f to emphasize that pronunciation if necessary.
Nasals (m, n, ng)
The nasal consonants are very similar to English.
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| m | /m/ | m in mom | মা ma ‘mother’ |
| n | /n/ | n in no | না na ‘no’ |
| ng | /ŋ/ | ng in singer | বাঙালি ‘bangali’ ‘Bengali person’ |
The sound ng cannot occur at the beginning of a word.
Fricatives (sh, s, h)
The Bangla fricatives are pronounced exactly the way they are in English!
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| sh | /ʃ/ | sh in shoe | শোয়া shoa ‘to lie down’ |
| s | /s/ | s in sun | আস্তে aste ‘slowly’ |
| h | /ɦ/ | h in hot | হাত hat ‘hand’ |
The sound s usually doesn’t occur on its own. It’s usually found before another consonant: আস্তে aste, বিশ্লেষণ bisleshon, বিস্ফোরণ bisphoron, শ্রেষ্ঠ sreshṭho. It’s also used in loanwords from other languages: স্টেশন sṭeshon ‘station’, সাইক্লোন saiklon ‘cyclone’.
Liquids (r, ṛ, ṛh, l)
There are three rhotics, or R-like sounds, in Bengali: r, ṛ, and ṛh. The pronunciation of these sounds varies a lot from dialect to dialect.
In most Bangladeshi dialects, r, ṛ, and ṛh are all pronounced as /ɹ/, or like the r in red.
In most West Bengali dialects, r, ṛ, and ṛh are pronounced differently.
- r can be pronounced anywhere from the r in red to the tapped r in Spanish caro.
- ṛ is pronounced with as a tap with your tongue curled back, like a cross between English r and d. It’s kind of like the rd in garden in the General American accent. In IPA, this sound is written /ɽ/.
- ṛh is like ṛ but with aspiration, kind of like the rdh in guardhouse in the General American accent. In IPA, this sound is written /ɽʱ/.
The sounds ṛ and ṛh cannot occur at the beginning of a word.
The sound l is pronounced /l/, like the l in leave. Keep in mind that this sound is quite light in Bangla, not like the dark l in bottle.
Other consonants (z)
The sound z /z/ is pronounced just like English z, as in zipper. This sound is only used in loanwords from other languages, such as জাকাত zakat ‘charity’, which comes from Arabic. Many speakers will replace z with j, pronouncing জাকাত as jakat instead.