Bangla Alphabet

The Bangla alphabet (বাংলা বর্ণমালা Bangla Bôrnomala) is more technically classified as an abugida, which means that vowels are indicated by marks attached to consonants, rather than using separate letters. Bengali is written from left to right, with a horizontal line (called মাত্রা matra) running along the tops of letters. The pronunciation of each sound is given using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) An IPA chart with audio is available at ipachart.com.

Details on the pronunciation of each letter is available on the pronunciation cheat sheet.

Vowels

The eleven vowel letters in Bangla are called the স্বরবর্ণ shôrobôrno. Each vowel letter has two forms:

• the full letter used at the beginning of a word and after vowels, and
• the vowel mark used after consonants.

The table below shows each vowel letter in both forms, the name of the letter, and the letter’s pronunciation.

Vowel Notes

• The vowels are classified as “short” and “long” for purely historical reasons. Bangla doesn’t distinguish between short and long vowels.
• You’ll notice that both ই and ঈ make the same sound i, but they’re distinguished in spelling for historical reasons. The same is true of উ and ঊ, which are both pronounced u.
• The “vowel” ঋ is actually pronounced ri, which includes the consonant r. For example, ঋতু is pronounced ritu.
• The letters অ and এ each have two sounds. Which sound you use is determined by vowel harmony, which will be covered in detailed in a later lesson. In general, অ is pronounced ô before a, e, oi, o, ou and o before i, u. Similarly, এ is pronounced ê before a, e, oi, o, ou and e before i, u. These aren’t strict rules, and there are exceptions.

Vowel Marks

Consonants carry the inherent vowel অ ô. That is, the letter ম by itself, for example, is read as mô, not just m. To change the vowel that comes after a consonant, you attach a vowel mark For example, ম mô + া a = মা ma. The following table shows the vowel marks corresponding to each of the full vowels.

Some vowel marks are irregular with certain consonants:

• গ gô + ু hrosshu-kar = গু gu: গুণ gun ‘virtue’
• শ talobbo shô + ু hrosshu-kar = শু shu: শুক্রবার shukrobar ‘Friday’
• ন donto nô + ত tô + ু hrosshu-kar = ন্তু ntu: কিন্তু kintu ‘but’
• স donto shô + ত tô + ু hrosshu-kar = স্তু stu: প্রস্তুত prostut ‘prepared’
• র rô + ু hrosshu-kar = রু ru: রুটি ruṭi ‘roti, bread’
• র rô + ূ dirghu-kar = রূ ru: রূপ rup ‘form’
• ত tô + র rô + ু hrosshu-kar = ত্রু tru: শত্রু shotru ‘enemy’
• হ hô + ু hrosshu-kar = হু hu: বহু bohu ‘many’
• হ hô + ৃ ri-kar = হৃ hri: হৃদয় hridôy ‘heart’

Consonants

The consonant letters are called ব্যঞ্জনবর্ণ bênjonbôrno.

Unlike in English, each consonant letter carries the inherent vowel অ ô. This means the letter ক is read as kô, not k. The name of each letter is typically the consonant sound plus o; for example, the letter ক has the name kô since it makes the sound k.

The consonants are ordered systematically by the type of sound and where in the mouth they are pronounced.

Consonant Notes

• The two jôs (জ borgiyo jô and য ôntostho jô) are both pronounced j.
• In some Bangladeshi dialects, চ cô and ছ chô are pronounced s, and জ borgiyo jô, ঝ jhô, and য ôntostho jô are pronounced z.
• The two nôs (ণ murdhônno nô and ন donto nô) are both pronounced n.
• The three shôs (শ talobbo shô, ষ murdhônno shô, স donto shô) are all pronounced sh by default. Additionally, শ talobbo shô and স donto shô make the sound s before other consonants. স donto shô also represents the sound s in loanwords, especially from English, Arabic, and Persian.
• The letter য় ôntostho ô has a few different uses:
  • It is used for the semivowel y, like in ছায়া chaya ‘shadow’.
  • The vowels অ shôre ô, আ shôre a, and এ e cannot occur in the middle of a word, so য় is used with vowel marks to represent those sounds. For example, shoa ‘to lie down’ is spelled শোয়া, not *শোআ.
  • At the end of a word or before a consonant, য় sounds like a very short এ e: খায় khay sounds like khae.
  • The combination এয়ে eye is pronounced like a doubly long e: মেয়ে meye ‘girl’ sounds like me-e.
  • The combination ওয়া is pronounced wa: নেওয়া nêwa ‘to take’, যাওয়া jawa ‘to go’, হওয়া hôwa ‘to be’.

  Other Symbols

  • ৎ khônḍo tô is pronounced t and is used only at the end of a syllable in word derived from Sanskrit: বিদ্যুৎ biddut ‘lightning’.
  • ং is called onusshôr or onusshar and is used for the ng sound at the end of a syllable: বাংলা bangla ‘Bangla’, রং rông ‘color’.
  • ঃ bishôrgo has a few uses:
    • It can double the following consonant: দুঃখ dukkho ‘sadness’.
    • It can represent the h sound at the end of an exclamation: উঃ uh ‘oof’.
    • It can indicate abbreviations: ডাঃ for ডাক্তার ḍaktar ‘doctor’.

    Consonant Conjuncts

    Multiple consonants without a vowel between them are written as conjunct letters made up of multiple consonant letters. Conjunct letters are called যুক্তাক্ষর juktakkhor in Bangla. Most of the time, the constituent consonants of a conjunct are easily recognizable:

    র bôy shunno rô before a consonant is written as a reph: র rô + ত tô = র্ত rtô.

    র bôy shunno rô is written as a flourish called rôphola when it comes after a consonant: গ gô + র rô = গ্র grô.

    When য ôntostho jô comes after a consonant, it is written as a squiggly jôphola, which doubles the preceding consonant: দ dô + য jô = দ্য ddô, as in বিদ্যা bidda ‘learning’.

    In many cases except at the end of a word, jôphola before অ shôre ô or আ shôre a can change the vowel sound to ê: ব্যাকরণ bêkoron ‘grammar’, অন্যান্য ônnênno ‘other’.

    The conjunct জ jô + ঞ ĩô = জ্ঞ ggô basically behaves as if it were গ্য. This means that if it comes before ô or â, it can sometimes change the vowel to ê: জ্ঞান gên ‘wisdom’, but জিজ্ঞাসা jiggasha ‘question’.

    When ব bô comes after a consonant, it is written as bôphola, which doubles the preceding consonant: ত tô + ব bô = ত্ব ttô, as in ভ্রাতৃত্ব bhratritto ‘brotherhood’.

    ত্ম tmô and দ্ম dmô are pronounced ttô and ddô, respectively: আত্মা atta ‘soul’, পদ্মা pôdda ‘Padma (River)’.

    The conjunct ক kô + ষ murdhônno shô = ক্ষ is called khiyô and is often considered an entirely separate letter.

    • At the beginning of a word, it is pronounced kh: ক্ষতি khoti ‘harm’.
    • In the middle of a word, it is pronounced kkh: অক্ষর ôkkhor ‘letter’.
    • The conjunct ক্ষ khiyô + ম mô = ক্ষ্ম is also pronounced kkh: লক্ষ্মী lokkhi ‘Lakshmi’.

    Some conjuncts are more irregularly formed:

    • ক kô + ত tô = ক্ত ktô: ডাক্তার ḍaktar ‘doctor’
    • ক kô + ষ murdhônno shô = ক্ষ khiyô: অপেক্ষা ôpekkha ‘await’
    • ক kô + র rô = ক্র krô: শুক্রবার shukrobar ‘Friday’
    • ঙ ũô + ক kô = ঙ্ক ngkô: অঙ্ক ôngko ‘mathematics’
    • ঙ ũô + গ gô = ঙ্গ nggô: বঙ্গ bônggo ‘Bengal’
    • জ borgiyo jô + ঞ ĩô = জ্ঞ ggô: বিজ্ঞান biggên ‘science’
    • ঞ ĩô + ট cô = ঞ্চ ncô: অঞ্চল ôncol ‘region’
    • ঞ ĩô + জ borgiyo jô = ঞ্জ njô: গেঞ্জি genji ‘shirt’
    • ট ṭô + ট ṭô = ট্ট ṭṭô: ভুট্টা bhuṭṭa ‘corn’
    • ণ murdhônno nô + ড ḍô = ণ্ড nḍô: ঠাণ্ডা ṭhanḍa ‘cold’
    • ত tô + ত tô = ত্ত ttô: উত্তর uttor ‘north’
    • ত tô + র rô = ত্র trô: পত্রিকা potrika ‘newspaper’
    • দ dô + ধ dhô = দ্ধ ddhô: যুদ্ধ juddho ‘war’
    • ন donto nô + ত tô = ন্ত ntô: পর্যন্ত porjonto ‘until’
    • ন donto nô + ত্র trô = ন্ত্র ntrô: মন্ত্রী montri ‘minister’
    • ন donto nô + থ thô = ন্থ nthô: গ্রন্থ grôntho ‘book’
    • ন donto nô + ধ dhô = ন্ধ ndhô: বন্ধ bôndho ‘closed’
    • ষ murdhônno shô + ট ṭô = ষ্ট shṭô: মিষ্টি mishṭi ‘sweet’
    • ষ murdhônno shô + ঠ ṭhô = ষ্ঠ shṭhô: শ্রেষ্ঠ sreshṭho ‘best’
    • ষ murdhônno shô + ণ murdhônno nô = ষ্ণ shnô: কৃষ্ণ krishno ‘Krishna’
    • স donto shô + ত্র trô = স্ত্র strô: স্ত্রী stri ‘wife’
    • স donto shô + থ thô = স্থ sthô: স্বাস্থ্য shastho ‘health’
    • হ hô + ন donto nô = হ্ন hnô: চিহ্ন cihno ‘sign’
    • হ hô + ম mô = হ্ম hmô: ব্রহ্ম brôhmo ‘Brahma’