SIMON & SCHUSTERS

PIMSLEUR

hindi

reading booklet

For more information, call

1-800-837-5497 or visit us at
www.Pimsleur.com

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

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 .........................................................
Lesson Two .........................................................
Lesson Three .......................................................
Lesson Four . .......................................................
Lesson Five .........................................................
Lesson Six . .........................................................
Lesson Seven ......................................................
Lesson Eight .......................................................
Lesson Nine ........................................................
Lesson Ten ..........................................................
Lesson Eleven .....................................................
Lesson Twelve . ...................................................
Lesson Thirteen . .................................................
Lesson Fourteen ..................................................
Lesson Fifteen . ...................................................
Lesson Sixteen ....................................................
Lesson Seventeen . ..............................................
Lesson Eighteen ..................................................
Lesson Nineteen . ................................................
Lesson Twenty ....................................................

iv

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

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

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 colloqquial 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 AD.) That said, the marked cultural differeences 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

HINDI
Introduction (continued)
The written system of Hindi, known as
Devanagari, dates back to approximately the 11th
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 pronuncciation. 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

HINDI
Introduction (continued)
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

HINDI
Devanagari Alphabet Vowels
Transliteration

None

None

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Sound

*Maatraa Letter

a as in about

a as in father

aa
i

i as in sit
ee as in seem

ee

u as in put

oo as in pool

oo

a as in late

ei

a as in glad

ae

o as in go

ou

aw as in saw

au

ri as in grip
This vowel occurs only in
words that are borrowed
from Sanskrit and is rarely
.used in Hindi
Diacritical Marks

chandrabindu nasalizes vowels

bindu nasalizes vowels

ri

o

o

The circle represents a consonant and shows the *

.relative position of the maatraa to the consonant


HINDI
Devanagari Alphabet Consonants
Transliteration
Sound
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
breathy-k as in look-here

Letter
k
kh

g as in gate

breathy-g as in dog-house

gh

ng as in swing

ch as in check

ch

breathy-ch as in catch-him

Chch

j as in June

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

breathy-t as in ant-hill

Th

d as in date

This sound does not exist in

English; most like an r followed by
a quick d
breathy-d with a very noticable
breath at the end


Ra
Dh

HINDI
Devanagari Alphabet Consonants (continued)
Transliteration

Sound

Letter
Rha

breathy-Ra
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

HINDI
Devanagari Alphabet Consonants (continued)
Transliteration
s as in sun

Sound

etter
L
Sa
Ha

h as in head

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

)f as in fin (English

HINDI
LessonOne
One
Lesson
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.
19.
19.
20.
20.


























HINDI
Lesson
Lesson
Two Two
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.
19.
19.








/


 


 
 










 

10

HINDI
Lesson
Three
Lesson
Three
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.
19.
19.
20.
20.

 









 
 












11

HINDI
Lesson Four
Lesson Four
1.1. 
2.2.

3.3.

4.4.

5.5. 
6.6.  
7.7. 
8.8. 
9.9. 
10.

10.
11. 
11.
12. 
12.
13. 
13.
14. 
14.
15. 
15.
16. 
16.
17. 

17.
18. 
18.

12

HINDI
Lesson
Lesson
Five Five
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.





















 


13

HINDI
Lesson
Lesson
Six Six
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
6. 6.
7. 7.
8. 8.
9. 9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.







 


 


 

 


 




14

HINDI
Lesson
Lesson
SevenSeven
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.


























 

15

HINDI
Lesson
Lesson
EightEight
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.



























16

HINDI
Lesson
Lesson
NineNine
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.



















 / 





17

HINDI
Lesson
Lesson
Ten Ten
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.
19.
19.






 

 


 



 







 

18

HINDI
Lesson
Eleven
Lesson
Eleven
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.
18.
18.
19.
19.


 
 


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 


20.
20.

 
19

HINDI
Lesson Twelve
Lesson Twelve
1.1. 
2.2. 
3.3. 
4.4. 

5.5.  
6.6. 
7.7. 

8.8. 

9.9.  

10. 
10.
11. 
11.
12. 


12.
13. 
13.
14.  

14.
15.  

15.
16.  

16.
17.  


17.
18. 

18.

20

HINDI
Lesson Thirteen
Lesson Thirteen
1.1. 
2.2. 
3.3. 
4.4. 
5.5. 
6.6.  
7.7.  
8.8. 
9.9. 

10. 
10.
11. 

11.
12. 
 
12.
13.  
13.
14.  
14.
15.


15.
16.  
16.
17. 

17.
18. 
18.
19. 


19.

21

HINDI
Lesson Fourteen
Lesson Fourteen
1.1. 
2.2. 
3.3. 
4.4.

5.5. 
6.6. 
7.7. 
8.8. 
9.9.  
10. 

10.
11. 
11.
12.  
12.
13. 
13.
14. 
14.
15. 
15.
16. 
16.
17. 
17.
18. 
18.
19. 
19.
20. 
20.
22

HINDI
Lesson Fifteen
Lesson Fifteen
1.1. 
2.2. 
3.3. 
4.4. 
5.5. 
6.6. 
7.7. 

8.8. 
9.9.

10. 
10.
11. 
11.
12. 
12.
13. 
13.
14. 
14.
15. 
15.
16.

16.
17. 
17.
18. 
18.
19. 
19.

23

HINDI
Lesson Sixteen
Lesson Sixteen
1.1.

2.2. 
3.3. 
4.4. !
5.5.  
6.6. 
7.7. 


8.8. 
9.9. 
10. 
10.
11. 
11.
12. 
12.
13.  
13.
14. 
14.
15.   

15.
16. 
16.
17. 
17.
18.   
18.
19.   
19.
20.  
20.
24

HINDI
Lesson Seventeen
Lesson Seventeen
1.1. 
2.2. 
3.3. 
4.4. 
5.5. 
6.6.  
7.7. 
8.8. 

9.9.  
10.   
10.
11.     .
11.
12.   
  .
12.
13.     .
13.
14.

14.
15. 
 .
15.
16.  
16.
17. " 
17.
18.  "   .
18.
19.  "   .
19.
20.     .
20.
25

HINDI
Lesson Eighteen
Lesson Eighteen
1.1. 
2.2. 
3.3. !
4.4. 
5.5. 
6.6. 
7.7. # 
8.8.  
9.9. #   .
10. 
 .
10.
11. 
11.
12. #
12.
13. 
13.
14. 
14.
15. 
15.
16. 
16.
17.
 
17.
18.  $!
18.
19.   $!
19.
20.    $!.
20.
26

HINDI
Lesson Nineteen
Lesson Nineteen
1.1. 
2.2. 
3.3. 
4.4. 1
5.5. 1 *
6.6. 1&
7.7. (2
8.8. (2
9.9.  %/
10. 
10.
11. #
11.
12. 
12.
13. $'  +
13.
14. $'   ! +.
14.
15. 1%
15.
16.
 
16.
17. 1%  %.
17.
18.  1
18.
19. 3) " ,?
19.
20.
) - 1 *.
20.
27

HINDI
Lesson
Twenty
Lesson
Twenty
1.1.
2.2.
3.3.
4.4.
5.5.
6.6.
7.7.
8.8.
9.9.
10.
10.
11.
11.
12.
12.
13.
13.
14.
14.
15.
15.
16.
16.
17.
17.

$

$
 $
$
$

&
&

&

%
%
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28