The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Sanskrit pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
Sanskrit has many complex phonological processes, called sandhi , that alter sounds due to the presence of neighboring sounds at morpheme or word boundaries. See Shiksha for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Sanskrit.
Consonants
IPA
Nagari
IAST
English approximation
b
ब
b
ab out
bʱ
भ
bh
abh or ('h' not silent)
c
च
c
ch ew
cʰ
छ
ch
Church ill (stress on 'h')
d̪
द
d
th is
d̪ʱ
ध
dh
roughly like old h ouse
ɖ
ड
ḍ
roughly like bord er
ɖʱ
ढ
ḍh
roughly like birdh ouse
ɡ
ग
g
ag ain
ɡʱ
घ
gh
dogh ouse
h
ः
ḥ
h ead
ह
h
j
य
y
y ak
d͡ʑ
ज
j
j uice
d͡ʑʱ
झ
jh
roughly like hedgeh og
k
क
k
sc an
kʰ
ख
kh
c an
l
ल
l
l eaf
m
म
m
m uch
n
न
n
ten th
ɳ
ण
ṇ
roughly like burn t [1]
ɲ
ञ
ñ
roughly like cany on[1]
ŋ
ङ
ṅ
ban k [1]
p
प
p
sp an
pʰ
फ
ph
p ot
r
र
r
thr ee (Scottish English)
s
स
s
s ue
ʂ
ष
ṣ
roughly like sh tick
ʃ
श
ś
sh eep
t̪
त
t
th rill (Scottish English)
t̪ʰ
थ
th
roughly like math
ʈ
ट
ṭ
roughly like curt
ʈʰ
ठ
ṭh
roughly like courth ouse
ʋ
व
v
between w ine and v ine
Vowels [1] [2]
IPA
Nagari
IAST
English approximation
ə
अ, प
a
quota
aː
आ, पा
ā
bra
eː
ए, पे
e
Somewhat like wai t
i
इ, पि
i
happy
iː
ई, पी
ī
fee t
l̩
ऌ, पॢ
ḷ
Syllabic ‹l›: bottle
l̩ː
ॡ, पॣ
ḹ
Long syllabic ‹l›
oː
ओ, पो
o
o ld (Irish English)
r̩
ऋ, पृ
ṛ
Syllabic ‹r›: better
r̩ː
ॠ, पॄ
ṝ
Long syllabic ‹r›: bir d
u
उ, पु
u
loo k
uː
ऊ, पू
ū
loo t
əi
ऐ, पै
ai
Somewhat like bai l
əu
औ, पौ
au
o pen (British English)
Other symbols
IPA
Nagari
IAST
English equivalent
̃
ँ
ṃ
nasal vowel ([ãː] , [õː] , etc.) [1]
ˈ
stress
(placed before stressed syllable)
Notes
^ a b c d e Vowels may occur nasalized as an allophone of the nasal consonants in certain positions. See anusvara , chandrabindu .
^ Sanskrit distinguishes between long and short vowels . Each monophthong has a long and short phoneme. The diphthongs , historically /ai, aːi, au, aːu/ , also have a difference in quality : /e, əi, o, əu/ . Vowels may rarely occur extra-long .
References