Phonological difficulty for English speakers: Very Challenging

Hindi-Urdu — Pronunciation for English Speakers

This guide is based on a phoneme-by-phoneme comparison of Hindi-Urdu and English. Hindi-Urdu and English share 15 sounds — about 16% of Hindi-Urdu's inventory. The remaining sounds are where English speakers will need to focus their practice.

New sounds to learn

Familiar sounds

English sounds not used

Sounds to learn from scratch (79)

These phonemes exist in Hindi-Urdu but not in English. English speakers will need to learn to produce and perceive them as new categories — not just a variation of an existing English sound.

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

Familiar sounds (15)

These phonemes exist in both Hindi-Urdu and English. You already produce and perceive them — though they may appear in different positions or syllable structures.

j l m pʰ s t̠ʃ iː oː b ʊ z ɡ ʒ f d̠ʒ

English sounds not used in Hindi-Urdu (30)

These English phonemes don't exist in Hindi-Urdu. Native Hindi-Urdu speakers learning English will face the reverse challenge with these sounds.

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 Hindi-Urdu inventory · English vs Hindi-Urdu comparison →