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In this episode, we will be looking at the 3rd consonant in the Hindi alphabet: ग   We will write this in the Latin script as “ga”.  Try to learn the Hindi script.  What does ग look like?  There is a horizontal line on the top, as with most Hindi letters.  There is a line that comes halfway down and loops around to the left.  This is followed by a full length straight vertical line.

Let us look at some words that contain this letter:

Beginning of the word:

गत (gat) – last, past, previous

गरदन (gardan) (f) – neck

गरम (garam) – warm, hot

गप (gap) (f) – gossip

Middle of the word:

आगरा (aagraa) – Agra (city in India where the Taj Mahal is located)

लगना (lagnaa) – to begin

अगला (aglaa)- next

End of the word:

आग (aag) (f) – fire

With a vowel:

गाजर (gaajar)(f) – carrot

गाड़ी (garii) (f) – car; train

गाना (gaanaa) (m) – song

गिरना (girnaa) – to fall

आगे (aage)- in front

Look at the wiki page about ग

Look at the other letters.

Discuss this and other podcasts in our forums.

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आज आपने क्या सीखा?

What did you learn today?

Words that begin with व (va) and ख  (kha)  (This is meant to be reading practice.   Try finding the meanings, and post them in the comments.)

वन – (van)

वक – (vak)

वट – (vat)

खटमल – (khaTmal)

वर – (var)

खन – (khan)

वरन – (varan)

खटक – (khaTak)

खट – (khaT)

खग – (khag)

वरक – (varak)

खरल – (kharal)

Vowels

अ आ

इ ई

उ ऊ

ऋ

ए ऐ

ओ औ

अं अः

Poem

मिट्ठू-मिट्ठू तोता

मिट्ठू-मिट्ठू तोता,

डाली ऊपर सोता।

लाल मिर्ची खाता,

राम-राम चिल्लाता।

मिट्ठू – sweet

तोता – parrot

डाली – branch

ऊपर – up

सोता – sleeps

लाल -  red

मिर्ची -  chili

खाता – eats

राम -  Ram

चिल्लाता -  yells 

Stephen’s Journal

आज मैंने पियानो सीखा।

Today, I learned piano.

आज मैंने “कन्नूईंग” किया।

Today I did “canoeing”.

अभी मैं हिंदी सीख रहा हूँ।

Now I am learning Hindi.

Discuss this lesson in our moderated Hindi forum:

http://www.ispeakhindi.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=6

(moderated means that your message will be reviewed before it can be seen by others…considering the spam that we had gotten…this is a good thing!)

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The last letter that we looked at was क (ka).  With क you make a “k” sound with very little air.  Now we are looking at ख  (kha).  This has a similar sound to the last letter, but it has a lot of air, also known as aspiration. 

Hearing the difference between क and ख is one of the first difficulties with understanding spoken Hindi.  To the English speaker’s ear, these sound the same.  But to the native Hindi speaker, they have trained their ears to hear them as very different.  For the rest of the episode, you will only hear this second ख.    In the next “Letter focus” episode, we will practice hearing the differences.

What does ख look like?  Like almost all Hindi letters there is a line at the top.  There the first part looks like a “2″ that sweeps back and touches the other line that comes down and has a little circle between the the 2 and a vertical line.  The circle touches that second straight vertical line. 

Now let us see how it sounds.

ख ख ख ख ख

Let us hear it at the beginning of some words:

खरगोश (khargosh)- rabbit

खत (khat) – letter (like you get in the mail)

In the middle:

देखना (dekhnaa) – to see

रखना (rakhnaa) – to put

लिखना (likhnaa) – to write

At the end:

देख – see (command)
रख – put (command)
लिख – write (command)

With some different vowels:

खाना – food (also means “to eat”)

पंखा  – fan

भूखा – hungry

खोना – to loose

खुला – open

खुलना – to open

खेल – game

खोलना – to play

दिखाना – to show

खिलौना – toy

Check out this letter on our Wiki

There is a page for each consonant.

You will find words that use each letter, a description of the way it looks, letters that it is often confused with, how to type it, and more.  Be sure and add any notes that you think others will find useful.

You can discuss this podcast in our forums.

We will be covering one letter each week.  That way you have a chance to focus on a particular sound/letter one day each week, and the other days we will try to publish other types of episodes (songs, conversations, news, grammar, etc.).

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My two sons and two of their friends have Hindi lessons at our house each weekend.  Meena Ji has been teaching them the Hindi letters and how to start reading.  Also, they have been learning some basic Hindi phrases and Hindi words. 

I thought you might be interested in tracking their progress and learning some of the things that they have learned.  Also, teaching can be a great way to learn!  By having to do the podcasts, it helps to focus their attention on what they are learning.

Today they review the parts of the body.  See if you can follow along.

सिर (sir) – head

आँख (aankh) – eye

चेहरा (cheharaa) – cheek

कान  (kaan) – ear

ओट (oot) – lips  (should be होंठ ? )

अँगुली (angulii) – finger

नाक (naak) – nose

दाँत (daant) – teeth

हाथ (haath) – hand

भुजा (bhujaa) – elbow

टाँग (taang) – knee

पैर (pair) – foot

They also learn a word to go with each vowel:

अ – अनार – pomegranate

आ – आम – mango

इ – इमली – tamarind plant

ई – ईख – sugar cane

उ – उल्लू – owl

ऊ – ऊँट – camel

ऋ – ऋषि – sage

ए – एड़ी – ankle

ऐ – ऐनक – glasses

ओ – ओखली – mortar

औ – औरत – woman

अं – अंगूर – grapes

अः – no word so खाली – empty

And they learn to read two letter words.  Most of these words are very obscure.  They were chosen not because of their usefulness, but because of their simplicity to read.  Try to ready along as Akosh and Stephen read them.

नल -tap

नट – actor

बन – forest

टन – ton

टब – tub

लट – a lock of hair

बल – power

बटन – button

पर – on

जल – water

जप – chant

रज – dust

जब – when

पल – moment

नर – man

लपट

जन – living thing

रब –

रन

रपट – slip

Each week the kids get together to learn Hindi.  We are looking to improve this episode each week.  Please email us any suggestions that you have.  I hope you like the variety of sessions that we have been doing lately.

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क

Today we are going to focus on the first consonant of the Hindi alphabet.  This is the letter क.

Look at the way it is written.  “ka” is the looks like a “T” with a sideways “8″ that is missing part of a loop.

Take a moment to look at the letter क and say it a few times.

ka  ka  ka

Try to say it without any air coming out of your mouth.  Put your hand in front of your mouth, and try to say it so that you can’t feel the air.

Keep that in mind as we try saying क in the words below.

Beginning of the word:

कल kal  -yesterday; tomorrow

कब kab -  when

कप kap – cup

कम kam – less

कमल kamal – lotus

कबूतर kabuutar – pigeon

Middle of the word:

बकरी bakrii- goat

नौकर noukar- servant

पकना paknaa- to ripen

End of the word:

वक vak – crane (bird)

एक  ek – one

नमक namak – salt

नाक naak – nose

ऐनक aenak – glasses

With a vowel

केला – kela – Banana

मकान makaan – house

When we write a क using English, we will write it as “ka”.  Sometimes the vowel is different or is not there, and the ‘a’ may be changed or dropped.