Nepali letters guide

Vowels and their signs

A vowel at the start of a word uses its full letter (अ, आ, इ…). After a consonant it becomes a sign attached to that consonant (का, कि, की…).

Consonants

Capital letters choose the “hard” retroflex sounds: T ट, Th ठ, D ड, Dh ढ, N ण and Sh ष. Lowercase gives त, थ, द, ध, न and श.

Joined letters (conjuncts)

When two consonants meet with no vowel between them, the first one loses its vertical line (it becomes a “half letter”) and joins the next. In the typing tool this happens on its own: type the two letters one after the other.

Rules that trip people up

र on top (reph) and र underneath (rakar)

When र comes before another consonant with no vowel, it’s written as a little hook on top of that consonant: कर्म (karma). When र comes after a consonant, it’s a slanted stroke underneath: प्रेम (prem). The order you type is the order you say it.

ि is written before its letter

The short i sign (ि) appears to the left of its consonant, but you type it after: ki gives कि. In Preeti it’s the other way round, which is why Preeti text often looks scrambled when converted by hand.

Short and long vowels

Double the vowel for the long form: i ि and ii ी, u ु and uu ू. Many spelling mistakes come from using the wrong one.

Halant (्) at the end of a word

A word normally ends with a full letter (नेपाल). When it ends with a cut-off letter, add a backslash: garchhan\ gives गर्छन्.

ं and ँ

The dot (anusvara, M) marks an n or m sound: संसार. The moon with a dot (chandrabindu, ^) makes the vowel nasal: कहाँ.

Want a specific word? Search the word guide, or type it in the typing tool.

Questions