Vowels

अ	a	a in “about”
आ	ā	a in “father” (long)
इ	i	i in “sit”
ई	ī	ee in “see” (long)
उ	u	u in “put”
ऊ	ū	oo in “food” (long)
ऋ	ṛ	vowel r, like “ri” in “rich” (short)
ॠ	ṝ	the same, held longer
ऌ	ḷ	vowel l, like “le” in “table”
ए	e	ay in “day” (always long)
ऐ	ai	ai in “aisle”
ओ	o	o in “go” (always long)
औ	au	ow in “now”

Vowel signs (mātrās) after a consonant: का kā · कि ki · की kī · कु ku · कू kū · कृ kṛ · के ke · कै kai · को ko · कौ kau. A consonant with no sign has a built-in short a (क = ka).

Consonants

Throat (velar)

क	k	k in “skin”
ख	kh	k with a puff, “blockhead”
ग	g	g in “go”
घ	gh	gh in “doghouse”
ङ	ṅ	ng in “sing”

Palate

च	c	ch in “church”
छ	ch	ch with a puff, “staunch heart”
ज	j	j in “jam”
झ	jh	dgeh in “hedgehog”
ञ	ñ	ny in “canyon”

Tongue curled back (retroflex)

ट	ṭ	t with the tongue tip curled back
ठ	ṭh	the same with a puff
ड	ḍ	d, tongue curled back
ढ	ḍh	the same with a puff
ण	ṇ	n, tongue curled back

Teeth (dental)

त	t	t with the tongue on the teeth (French t)
थ	th	t with a puff, “at home” (never “thin”)
द	d	d on the teeth
ध	dh	dh in “adhere”
न	n	n in “nut”

Lips

प	p	p in “spin”
फ	ph	p with a puff, “uphill” (never “f”)
ब	b	b in “bat”
भ	bh	bh in “abhor”
म	m	m in “mat”

Others

य	y	y in “yes”
र	r	a light tapped r
ल	l	l in “love”
व	v	between v and w
श	ś	sh in “shine”
ष	ṣ	sh with the tongue curled back
स	s	s in “sun”
ह	h	h in “hand”

An h after a consonant (kh, gh, th, dh, ph, bh…) means a puff of breath; it is never the English “th”, “ph” or “sh” sound.

Special signs

कं	ṃ	anusvāra: a nasal hum, sounding like the nasal of the next consonant (saṃskṛta)
कः	ḥ	visarga: a soft breath echoing the vowel before it (devaḥ ≈ “deva-ha”)
क्	—	virāma: removes the built-in a (क ka → क् k)
कँ	m̐	candrabindu: the vowel is said through the nose
कऽ	’	avagraha: an a dropped after e or o (so ’ham = so aham)

What the marks in IAST mean

• Line on top (ā ī ū ṝ): a long vowel, held about twice as long.
• Dot under r, l (ṛ ṝ ḷ): r or l used as a vowel.
• Dot under t, d, n, s (ṭ ḍ ṇ ṣ): tongue tip curled back (retroflex).
• ṃ: anusvāra (nasal hum) · ḥ: visarga (echoing breath).
• ṅ: ng as in “sing” · ñ: ny as in “canyon” · ś: sh as in “shine”.

Long and short syllables, and stress

A syllable is heavy if its vowel is long (ā ī ū ṝ e ai o au), or it is followed by two consonants, or it ends in ṃ or ḥ; otherwise it is light. Usual modern stress (as in Latin): stress the second-last syllable if it is heavy (saṃ·skṛ·ta: skṛ is light, so the stress falls on the heavy saṃ; ma·hā·bhā·ra·ta; rā·mā·ya·ṇa); if not, go back to the third-last, then the fourth-last. Old Vedic pitch accents are not shown.

Common endings (inflections)

Nouns: deva (masculine, “god”)

devaḥ	the god (subject)	devāḥ	the gods
devam	the god (object)	devān	the gods (object)
devena	by / with the god	devaiḥ	by the gods
devāya	to / for the god	devebhyaḥ	to / for the gods
devāt	from the god	devebhyaḥ	from the gods
devasya	of the god	devānām	of the gods
deve	in / on the god	deveṣu	in the gods
he deva	O god!	he devāḥ	O gods!

Verbs: bhū “to be, become”, present tense

bhavati	he / she / it is	bhavanti	they are
bhavasi	you are (one person)	bhavatha	you are (several)
bhavāmi	I am	bhavāmaḥ	we are

Dictionary headwords are stems (deva, bhū); in texts the words carry these endings, and sounds join across word boundaries (sandhi).