Samskrtam for

Beginners
Day 3
The System of Sanskrit Sounds:
Table: Linguistic labels of the Sanksrit Sounds
The System of Sanskrit
Sounds

Table: Linguistic labels of the

Sanksrit Sounds
Ordering of the
Sanskrit Sounds
• This order of Sanskrit sounds
works along three principles:
• it goes from simple to
complex;
• it goes from the back to
the front of the mouth; and
• it groups similar sounds
together.
Vowels - Simple Vowels
a is pronounced in the low back of the mouth,
i is pronounced higher up,
u then is pronounced with a rounding of your lips and thus, in a way, further to the front of
the mouth.
Next there are the vowel (or ‘vocalic’) forms of r and l, written in transliteration as ṛ and ḷ.
Each sound is given first in its short, then in its long variant: a ā i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ (ḷ ̄). All these are
known as the simple vowels.
Vowels – Complex Vowels
They are followed by the complex vowels, e ai o au. At an earlier stage
of the language, e and o actually were *ai and *au, and current ai and
au once were *āi and *āu. Knowing that e ai o au were once *ai *āi
*au *āu allows us to understand not only why all four of these are
known as ‘complex’ vowels (all of them once actually were vowel
combinations or ‘diphthongs’), but also to see that the pattern of ‘short
vowel, then long vowel’ that we saw in a ā i ī etc. is maintained here,
too. All four complex vowels count as long.
CONSONANTS
a) Stops
Among the consonants, we first get the stops. Their name derives from the fact that, in order to
pronounce them, we stop and then release the flow of air at some point in our mouth.
First come the velar stops or velars, formed by briefly stopping the air in the back of our throats
(at the so-called velum).
Then come the palatals (the tongue touches the hard palate, or roof of the mouth),
the retroflex stops (tongue ‘retroflected’, i.e. curled back and touching the roof of the mouth),
the dentals (tongue touches teeth; dent- = Latin ‘tooth’), and
the labials (lower and upper lips touch; labia = Latin ‘lip’). In each of these ‘places of
articulation’ we find several different stops. They are traditionally listed in the order of
unvoiced unaspirated – voiced unaspirated – unvoiced aspirated – voiced aspirated, thus in a
way proceeding from ‘simple’ to ‘complex’. ‘Voiced’ means that the vocal cords vibrate
WRITING WORDS
a) Combining Consonants and Vowels
There is one distinct difference between devanāgarī and the alphabet used by e.g. English: in
English writing, all letters are equal, and written one after the other. Yet in devanāgarī, there
is a difference between the representation of consonants and that of vowels: the ‘main’
signs represent consonants. The sign for the vowel following a consonant is then added to
the right, to the left, above or below the consonant sign. There is no sign indicating the
vowel a: given that this is the most frequent vowel in Sanskrit, it apparently seemed most
economical to have its presence ‘assumed’ whenever no other vowel was explicitly
indicated. The absence of a vowel after a consonant is indicated by the virāma (literally
‘stop, end’), a small diagonal stroke below the consonant sign: e.g. क् k (vs. क ka from Table
1). For examples of vowels other than a, compare:
• Sanskrit Pronounciation Guide

• Pronunciation of vowels:

In the following table

column 1 gives the
Sanskrit letter, 2 gives its
transliteration and 3 gives
one or two examples as
to how it should be read.
Vowels sound like the
underlined letters.
• Sanskrit Pronounciation Guide

• Pronunciation of vowels:

In the following table

column 1 gives the
Sanskrit letter, 2 gives its
transliteration and 3 gives
one or two examples as
to how it should be read.
Vowels sound like the
underlined letters.
• Sanskrit Pronounciation Guide

• Pronunciation of vowels:

In the following table

column 1 gives the
Sanskrit letter, 2 gives its
transliteration and 3 gives
one or two examples as
to how it should be read.
Vowels sound like the
underlined letters.
Pronunciation of consonants

Consonants are pronounced in association with any of the vowels, as they do not
have independent pronunciations.
For example, क् as it is, can’t be pronounced.
Added with अ, क् + अ = क, read as ‘co’ in come.
क् + इ = कि read as ‘ki’ in king
क् + उ = कु read as ‘cu’ in cushion
क् + ऐ = कै read as ‘ki’ in kite
Pronunciation of
consonants - Examples

•Consonants sound as the underlined

letters in the examples below:
Pronunciation
of consonants
- Examples
Pronunciation
of consonants
- Examples
Pronunciation
of consonants
- Examples
karnah
• netram
nā́ sikā
From ना=सा (nāsā) + -इका (-ikā)
• hastah
• Pāda
• feet
• Ṭāṅga
• leg
• anguli
• angushtah
• thumb finger
• Tarjani
• (because we use index finger when
arguing with someone – root word:
tarja)
• Madhyama –
• middle
• Anamika
• Means: no name
• there can be other names to it also
mudrikanguli (meaning ring finger)
kanishtika
• Kaniṣṭhika - The smallest, the youngest
…
• Little finger
 • मम नाम प्रसन्नः।
• mama nāma prasannaḥ.
• My name is Prasanna.

• भवतः नाम किम्?

• bhavataḥ nāma kim?

What is your • What is your (masculine) name?

• मम नाम रमेशः।

name? • mama nāma rameśaḥ.

• My name is Ramesh.

• भवत्याः नाम किम्?

• bhavatyāḥ nāma kim?
• What is your (feminine) name?
• मम नाम सरोजा।
• mama nāma sarojā.
• My name is Saroja.
Subhāṣhita for the day
alasasya kuto vidyā, avidyasya kuto dhanam |
adhanasya kuto mitram, amitrasya kutaḥ sukham || (IAST)

alasasya kuto vidyA, avidyasya kuto dhanam |

adhanasya kuto mitram, amitrasya kutaH sukham || (ITRANS)

• अलसस्य कु तो विद्या अविद्यस्य कु तो धनम् ।

• अधनस्य कु तो मित्रं अमित्रस्य कु तः सुखम् ॥ (Devanagari)