/ˈaɪ.pə/

Nepali

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO npi · Glottolog · 16,000,000 speakers
53
Consonants
21
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Nepali — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 74 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

ts ~ tsː ~ dz ~ d̤z̤ː ~ d̤z̤ ~ tsʰː ~ dzː ~ tsʰ ~

fricative

ɦ ~

lateral fricative

l ~ lː ~

nasal

n ~ nː ~ m ~ mː ~ ŋ ~ ŋː ~

sibilant fricative

sː ~ s ~

stop

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

trill

rː ~ r ~

Vowels

u ~ ou ~ o ~ i ~ ʌ ~ ʌu ~ a ~ oi ~ ei ~ eu ~ ʌi ~ e ~ ai ~ au ~ ui ~ iu ~ ũ ~ ĩ ~ ʌ̃ ~ ã ~ ẽ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
74
phonemes

Nepali has 74 phonemes, placing it in the 98th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Nepali, not in English (63)

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

tsː dz d̤z̤ː d̤z̤ tsʰː dzː tsʰ ɦ lː nː mː ŋː sː t̪ʰ t̪ʰː d̪̤ː d̪ d̪ː d̪̤ t̪ t̪ː bː b̤ː p b̤ pʰː pː ɖ̤ ɖ ʈʰː ɖː ʈ ʈː ʈʰ ɖ̤ː k kʰ kː ɡ̤ ɡː kʰː ɡ̤ː rː r u ou o ʌ ʌu a oi ei eu ʌi ai au ui iu ũ ĩ ʌ̃ ã ẽ

In English, not in Nepali (34)

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

h j t̠ʃ w iː oː d ʊ z ʃ ʒ f v d̠ʒ 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 Nepali →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Maithili 42%
Compare →
Bhojpuri 39%
Compare →
Magahi 35%
Compare →
Bengali 34%
Compare →
Telugu 33%
Compare →

Compare Nepali 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