A1 · Devanagari and the sounds of Hindi
Two t’s and two d’s
dental and retroflex consonants
Hindi has a t and a d with the tongue on the teeth and another pair with the tongue curled back.
At a glance
- Remember
- Tongue on the teeth for t and d, tongue curled back for the other pair — and English t and d always go to the curled ones.
- Form
- त — तीन, बातt, tongue on the teeth
- Signal words
- त
- द
- ट
- ड
- थ
- ध
- ठ
- ढ
- Trap
- Wrong:मेरी बहन दॉक्टर है।Right:मेरी बहन डॉक्टर है।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
How it is written and said
Each row gives the rule first, then examples in Hindi that show it.
| t, tongue on the teeth | त — तीन, बात |
| d, tongue on the teeth | द — दाल, दस |
| t, tongue curled back | ट — टमाटर, आटा |
| d, tongue curled back | ड — डाल, डिब्बा |
| English t and d in loanwords | ट, ड — टिकट, डॉक्टर |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
त and द: the tongue touches the back of the upper teeth.
घर में तीन कमरे हैं।There are three rooms in the house.
ट and ड: the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth.
यह टमाटर लाल है।This tomato is red.
Swapping one for the other changes the word.
वह रोज़ यहाँ आता है।He comes here every day.
English t and d are heard as retroflex, so loanwords take ट and ड.
मेरा टिकट कहाँ है?Where is my ticket?
Example sentences
आज दाल और चावल है।Today there are lentils and rice.
पेड़ की डाल टूट गई।The branch of the tree broke.
आटा ख़त्म हो गया।The flour has run out.
मेरा पता यह है।This is my address.
मेरी बहन डॉक्टर है।My sister is a doctor.
दस बजे आइए।Please come at ten.
6 more example sentences
आपकी बात सही है।What you say is right.
टमाटर सस्ते हैं।Tomatoes are cheap.
वह तेज़ चलता है।He walks fast.
दरवाज़ा बंद है।The door is closed.
टैक्सी बाहर खड़ी है।The taxi is waiting outside.
डिब्बा ख़ाली है।The box is empty.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
An English speaker hears no difference and picks the dental द, which to Hindi ears sounds soft and foreign. English d always becomes ड in Hindi, and English t becomes ट: डॉक्टर, टिकट.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English makes its t and d with the tip of the tongue on the ridge behind the upper teeth. Hindi has no sound there. Instead it has two pairs on either side of it. त and द are dental: the tongue presses against the back of the upper teeth, as in French or Spanish. ट and ड are retroflex: the tip curls back and touches the roof of the mouth further in.
The difference changes words. आताis “comes”आटाis flour; दालis lentilsडालa branch Mixing them up is the commonest reason a Hindi speaker does not understand a learner at once.
To a Hindi ear, the English t and d sound retroflex. That is why English loanwords are written with ट and ड: टिकट, डॉक्टर, टैक्सी, डेस्क. And it is why Indian English sounds the way it does.
The breathy partners follow the same split: थ and ध are dental, ठ and ढ retroflex. The flapped ड़ and ढ़ belong to the retroflex side as well.
A closer look
Feeling the difference
Put the tip of your tongue between your teeth and say “ta”: that is close to त. Now curl the tip back until it touches the hard roof behind the ridge and say “ta” again: that is ट, with a darker, hollow sound. English t lies between the two, which is why it is easy to say a third thing that is neither.
English th is not Hindi थ
The transliteration writes थ as th, but it is not the sound of English “thin”. It is the dental t with a puff of breath, as the topic on breathy sounds explains. साथ (with) ends in a t and a breath, not in the sound of “bath”.
Worth knowing (2)
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ड and ड़ are not the same
The plain retroflex ड stands at the start of a word or after a nasal (डिब्बा, ठंडा); the flapped ड़ between vowels (बड़ा). Same place in the mouth, different movement.
बड़ा डिब्बा ऊपर है।The big box is at the top.
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Two n’s
There is a retroflex nasal too, ण, found in words from Sanskrit. In everyday speech it is often said like न, but it keeps its letter in writing.
इसका कारण साफ़ है।The reason for this is clear.
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