HINDI

READING BOOKLET
PIMSLEUR
SIMON & SCHUSTERS

Graphic Design: Maia Kennedy

and Recorded Program 2006 Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Reading Booklet 2006 Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Pimsleur

is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio,

a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Mfg. in USA.
All rights reserved.
ii
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
HINDI
VOICES
English-Speaking Instructor ................... Ray Brown
Hindi-Speaking Instructor .................. Vivek Mathur
Female Hindi Speaker ............................ Dolly Raja
Male Hindi Speaker ............................Bharat Singh
COURSE WRITERS
Dr. Jilani Warsi Christopher J. Gainty
EDITORS
Elizabeth Horber Beverly D. Heinle
REVIEWERS
Anoop Bhargava Dilnavaz Bamboat
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Beverly D. Heinle
PRODUCER & DIRECTOR
Sarah H. McInnis
RECORDING ENGINEERS
Peter S. Turpin Kelly Saux
Simon & Schuster Studios, Concord, MA
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Reading Lessons
Introduction ........................................................ 1
Devanagari Alphabet .......................................... 5
Lesson One ......................................................... 9
Lesson Two ........................................................ 10
Lesson Three ...................................................... 11
Lesson Four ........................................................ 12
Lesson Five ........................................................ 13
Lesson Six .......................................................... 14
Lesson Seven ...................................................... 15
Lesson Eight ....................................................... 16
Lesson Nine ....................................................... 17
Lesson Ten ......................................................... 18
Lesson Eleven .................................................... 19
Lesson Twelve .................................................... 20
Lesson Thirteen .................................................. 21
Lesson Fourteen ................................................. 22
Lesson Fifteen .................................................... 23
Lesson Sixteen ................................................... 24
Lesson Seventeen ............................................... 25
Lesson Eighteen ................................................. 26
Lesson Nineteen ................................................. 27
Lesson Twenty ................................................... 28
iv
HINDI
Introduction
Hindi is one of 23 official languages of India, and
is reported to be the second most commonly spoken
language in the world. (Only Mandarin Chinese has
a greater number of speakers.) Approximately 500
million people around the world speak a dialect of
Hindi, and an even greater number have at least some
familiarity with it. Indias popular Bollywood films
have served to expose viewers in many parts of the
world to the sounds of Hindi.
However, included in those 500 million are
speakers of the many regional dialects of the language,
which are often quite different. Hindustani is the term
used to describe this closely related series of languages
or dialects, including Hindi and Urdu. In this course,
we teach Standard Hindi as spoken in New Delhi.
While elsewhere in India other dialects are more
prevalent, the New Delhi dialect will be understood
by most people you will meet. And while there are 23
official languages, only Hindi and English are official
government languages of communication.
The Hindi language actually shares some roots
with English, as both are considered descendants
of the Indo-European parent language spoken in
Central Asia approximately seven thousand years
2
HINDI
Introduction (continued)
ago. However, while English has its linguistic roots
in the West Germanic language family, Hindi is a
descendant of the classical Sanskrit of Central Asia
and belongs to the Indo-Iranian family. Today, most
Indians are multi-lingual, speaking Hindi, English
(one of the main dialects of English, called Indian
English), and one or more regional dialects.
Hindi is a close relative of the Urdu language
spoken in Pakistan, and speakers of the two languages
can often understand one another, at least to some
extent. Both languages are descendants of the collo-
quial Hindustani spoken in northern India in the ninth
and tenth centuries. (The name Hindi is of Persian
origin, and was first used by Persian-speaking Turks
who established the Delhi Sultanate in the eleventh
century A.D.) That said, the marked cultural differ-
ences between India and Pakistan have caused the
Hindi and Urdu languages to develop along somewhat
different lines, so that they are no longer entirely
mutually comprehensible. Though extremely similar,
the two are now considered separate languages. Urdu
is written in a Persian-Arabic script, while Hindi is
written in the Devanagari script.
3
HINDI
Introduction (continued)
The written system of Hindi, known as
Devanagari, dates back to approximately the 11
th

century A.D. There are also other languages,
such as Sanskrit, Marathi, and Nepali, which use
the Devanagari script. A noticeable feature of
Devanagari is the top horizontal line which is formed
when letters are combined. Hindi is read from left
to right and written with spaces between words.
However, the letters which make up a word often
combine and when the letters join together they
sometimes change form. In Hindi there is a definite
correspondence between spelling and pronun-
ciation. There are a total of 11-14 vowels and
33- 36 consonants, depending on the chart used.
There are no capital letters, but Hindi vowels
have a different appearance when they appear
independently or following another vowel than
they do when they appear in a word following a
consonant. In a word following a consonant, they
change to what is known as a maatraa form. As a
maatraa, a vowel can be placed before, after, above, or
below a consonant. Devanagari also includes several
diacritical marks, the chandrabindu and bindu, which
nasalize the vowels.
4
HINDI
Since Hindi is written using the Devanagari
alphabet, you will need to learn to associate the
sounds with what is probably a new system of
symbols. A listing of the Devanagari alphabet can be
found beginning on page 5. This is for your reference
only; you will not need the list to learn to read Hindi,
since all of the instruction is on the audio.
Introduction (continued)
For more information, call
1-800-831-5497 or visit us
at www.Pimsleur.com
5
HINDI
Devanagari Alphabet Vowels
Transliteration Sound *Maatraa Letter

None a as in about a

o

a as in father aa

o
i as in sit i

o

ee as in seem ee

o

u as in put u

o

oo as in pool oo

o

a as in late ei

o

a as in glad ae

o

o as in go ou

o

aw as in saw au

None
ri as in grip
This vowel occurs only in
words that are borrowed
from Sanskrit and is rarely
.used in Hindi
ri
Diacritical Marks
chandrabindu nasalizes vowels
o

bindu nasalizes vowels o

* The circle represents a consonant and shows the

relative position of the maatraa to the consonant.
6
HINDI
Devanagari Alphabet Consonants
Transliteration Sound Letter

within a word or at the end of a
word like the k in skit; sometimes
in the beginning of words the g as
in gold
k

breathy-k as in look-here kh

g as in gate g

breathy-g as in dog-house gh

ng as in swing n

ch as in check ch

breathy-ch as in catch-him Chch

j as in June j

breathy-j as in dodge-him jh

This sound does not exist in
English; most like the n in unjust

combination of t and d as in train /
drain
T

breathy-t as in ant-hill Th

d as in date D

This sound does not exist in

English; most like an r followed by
a quick d
Ra

breathy-d with a very noticable
breath at the end
Dh
.
7
HINDI
Transliteration Sound Letter
Devanagari Alphabet Consonants (continued)

breathy-Ra Rha

This sound does not exist in

English; most like the n in end
N

soft t as in at, or at-the ta

breathy-ta tha

d as in breadth da

breathy-da dha

n as in name or anthem na

p as in pun pa

breathy-p as in top-hat pha

b as in bun ba

breathy-b as in clubhouse bha

m as in mug ma

y as in young ya

r as in serene ra

l as in lunch la

between an English v and w va

sh as in shell sh

sh as in German Schneider Sh
.
8
HINDI
Devanagari Alphabet Consonants (continued)
Transliteration Sound Letter

s as in sun Sa

h as in head Ha
Borrowed Sounds Consonants
Transliteration Sound Letter
(ct as in section (Sanskrit ksha
(tr as in trishna (Sanskrit tra
(g-y combination (Sanskrit gy
.
(k (Arabic qa

.
(ch as in loch (Persian khha
.
(g (Persian ghha

(z as in zone (English z
.
(f as in fin (English f
.
.
9
HINDI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Lesson One
Lesson One
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
10
HINDI
Lesson Two
Lesson Two
1. "
2. "
3. "
4.
5. /
6. H
7. +H
8.
9.
10. +
11. +"
12. +
13. H
14. " l
15. H
16. "
17.
18. l
19. +
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
11
HINDI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Lesson Three
Lesson Three
1. H+
2.
3.
4. *
5. "*
6. "Z
7. +*
8. +*
9. +
10. H
11. +
12. "
13. "
14. +
15.
16. +
17. +
18. "*
19. ""
20. +
12
HINDI
Lesson Four
Lesson Four
1. "
2.
3. "
4. +
5. "
6. ""
7. H
8. +
9. H
10. +
11. @"
12. @+
13. @"
14. @+
15. ++
16. +"
17. "
18. "+
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
13
HINDI
Lesson Five
Lesson Five
1. *
2.
3.
4. +
5.
6.
7. +
8. "
9. H
10.
11. H_
12. l g
13. "_
14. +_
15.
16. H_
17. +*
18. H_
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
14
HINDI
Lesson Six
Lesson Six
1. "
2. +
3. H"
4. "
5. "
6. +l
7. +H
8. H
9. H
10. +
11.
12.
13. l+
14. l+
15. l+
16. lH
17. "
18. H
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
15
HINDI
Lesson Seven
Lesson Seven
1.
2. +
3. "
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. _
9.
10. "
11. "
12. {
13. {
14. +{
15. H{
16. +{
17. l{
18. {
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
16
HINDI
Lesson Eight
Lesson Eight
1.
2.
3.
4. "_
5.
6. "
7. "
8. "
9. "_
10.
11. "
12. ""
13. +
14. "{
15. {
16. +
17. "
18. +"
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
17
HINDI
Lesson Nine
1.
2. "
3. +
4. "
5. H
6. H
7.
8.
9. "
10. +
11. ^
12. l^
13. "^
14. ^+
15. / ^
16. ^
17. ^{
18.
Lesson Nine
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
18
HINDI
Lesson Ten
Lesson Ten
1.
2. H
3. ]H
4. "
5.
6. "
7. H
8.
9.
10. "
11. U
12. UH
13. U"
14. U
15. UU
16. +U
17. "U
18. "U
19. "U
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
19
HINDI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Lesson Eleven
Lesson Eleven
1. -
2. H-
3. +-
4. U
5. U-
6. -
7. -
8. H-
9. -"-
10. -
11. ]H-
12. --
13. +-
14. -
15. --
16. "-
17. -
18. -
19. -+
20. "-
20
HINDI
Lesson Twelve
1.
2. "
3.
4. ++
5.
6.
7. -
8. -
9. +
10. +
11. +
12. ++-
13. +
14. +"-
15. ++
16. +
17. ++-
18. ++
Lesson Twelve
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
21
HINDI
Lesson Thirteen
1.
2. *
3. *
4. *
5.
6. { *
7. { *
8. {
9. -
10.
11. "-
12. + l
13. "{
14.
15. + +
16.
17. "-
18. {
19. {+-
Lesson Thirteen
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
22
HINDI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Lesson Fourteen
1. H
2. H+-
3. HH + l -
4. H
5. H l +
6. H^-
7. H
8. H
9. H
10. H
11. H
12. UH UH
13. H+
14. UH+
15. H
16. H
17. H
18. H+
19. HU
20. H"
Lesson Fourteen
23
HINDI
Lesson Fifteen
1. "
2. * l "
3. l "
4. ""
5. +"
6. ""+
7. "-
8. + l "
9. -"+
10.
11. + l "
12. + l "
13. "
14. "
15. U H
16. ]
17. l
18. VH
19. H
Lesson Fifteen
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
24
HINDI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Lesson Sixteen
1. V
2. + l "
3. H"
4. H l
5.
6.
7. - l H
8. [l
9. {+
10. {+
11. {+
12. { + l "
13. "
14. l
15. + H-
16.
17.
18. "
19. "
20. " ^
Lesson Sixteen
25
HINDI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Lesson Seventeen
1. z
2. j
3. z
4. z
5. _
6. " z
7. z
8. " -z
9. H j
10. H j
11. H " j.
12. H " -z j.
13. " z.
14. H+
15. zH H+ z.
16. z j
17. + "
18. H + " z j.
19. H + " z j.
20. zH ++ " z z.
Lesson Seventeen
26
HINDI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Lesson Eighteen
1.
2.
3. z
4. lz
5. U"
6.
7. H " l "
8. "
9. H " " l ".
10. U z.
11. "
12. H"
13. "Hl
14. "Hl
15. "H
16. "H
17. l "
18. l ""
19. H l ""
20. H " l "".
Lesson Eighteen
27
HINDI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Lesson Nineteen
1.
2.
3. "
4. U-
5. H" _
6.
7. ?
8. ?"
9. - "
10. U
11. U
12. U
13. H U z
14. H U @+ "{ z.
15. U - l "
16. + U^
17. U - l " z".
18. UH
19. +U z?
20. U H l + H" _.
Lesson Nineteen
28
HINDI
Lesson Twenty
1.
2. +
3. l
4. H
5. " l +
6.
7.
8. l +
9.
10. -
11. -
12. l -
13. H
14. H + - z.
15. "
16. 7
17. " ++ z.
Lesson Twenty
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.