/ˈaɪ.pə/

Hindi-Urdu

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO hin · Glottolog · 345,000,000 speakers
71
Consonants
23
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Hindi-Urdu — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 94 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

affricate

t̠ʃʰː ~ t̠ʃː ~ d̠ʒ̤ ~ d̠ʒː ~ d̠ʒ ~ t̠ʃ ~ t̠ʃʰ ~ d̠ʒ̤ː ~

approximant

ʋ ~ ʋː ~ j ~ jː ~

fricative

ɦ ~ f ~ fː ~ ʁ ~ χ ~

lateral fricative

l̤ ~ lː ~ l ~

nasal

n̪ ~ n̪ː ~ n̪̤ ~ m ~ mː ~ m̤ ~ ɽ̃ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ z ~ sː ~ zː ~ ʒ ~ ʃː ~ ʂ ~

stop

t̪ʰ ~ t̪ ~ d̪̤ ~ d̪ ~ d̪ː ~ d̪̤ː ~ t̪ʰː ~ t̪ː ~ b̤ ~ p ~ pʰ ~ b ~ pː ~ bː ~ pʰː ~ b̤ː ~ ʔ ~ ɖː ~ ɖ̤ ~ ʈː ~ ʈʰː ~ ʈʰ ~ ɖ ~ ʈ ~ ɖ̤ː ~ qː ~ q ~ kʰː ~ ɡ̤ ~ kː ~ ɡː ~ k ~ kʰ ~ ɡ̤ː ~ ɡ ~

trill

r ~ rː ~

Vowels

uː ~ ɔõ̯ ~ ɔo̯ ~ ʊ ~ ɔ̤ ~ oː ~ iː ~ ɪ ~ ɑ ~ æẽ̯ ~ eː ~ aː ~ ɜ ~ ɪ̈ ~ æe̯ ~ ũː ~ õː ~ ʊ̃ ~ ɪ̃ ~ ĩː ~ ãː ~ ẽː ~ ɜ̃ ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
94
phonemes

Hindi-Urdu has 94 phonemes, placing it in the 100th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Hindi-Urdu, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Hindi-Urdu, not in English (79)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

t̠ʃʰː t̠ʃː d̠ʒ̤ d̠ʒː t̠ʃʰ d̠ʒ̤ː ʋ ʋː jː ɦ fː ʁ χ l̤ lː n̪ n̪ː n̪̤ mː m̤ ɽ̃ sː zː ʃː ʂ t̪ʰ t̪ d̪̤ d̪ d̪ː d̪̤ː t̪ʰː t̪ː b̤ p pː bː pʰː b̤ː ʔ ɖː ɖ̤ ʈː ʈʰː ʈʰ ɖ ʈ ɖ̤ː qː q kʰː ɡ̤ kː ɡː k kʰ ɡ̤ː r rː uː ɔõ̯ ɔo̯ ɔ̤ ɪ ɑ æẽ̯ eː aː ɜ ɪ̈ æe̯ ũː õː ʊ̃ ɪ̃ ĩː ãː ẽː ɜ̃

In English, not in Hindi-Urdu (30)

English speakers learning Hindi-Urdu won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

h n w ŋ e i d ʃ v ts ɛ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Hindi-Urdu →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Kurukh 37%
Compare →
Nepali 32%
Compare →
Urdu 32%
Compare →
Telugu 30%
Compare →
Punjabi 27%
Compare →

Compare Hindi-Urdu with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao