Devanagari/Lesson 2

For Table of contents and other quick links, see Devanagari/Quick jump

Now we introduce our first vowel.

We will also learn about using this vowel with the consonant क we learned in the last chapter.

स्टार्ट

So here is your first vowel:

आ

This symbol represents the sound of "a" in father.

That was easy! Now let us learn how to draw this character. What are the important features here?

1. There is a "3" like character.
2. Two vertical lines after that.
3. A small horizontal line connecting the "3" to the first vertical line, perpendicularly.
4. Like all Devanagari characters, there is a horizontal line on top. But it is not touching the "3". Why so? For your ease, because it is easy to adjust the size of vertical lines to compensate the top horizontal line, but not so easy to adjust the "3".

So, it is easy, isn't it? Write "311" and then add a horizontal line between 3 and 1, so that it looks like "3-11". And then put a cap on top of 11. :)

Addition rule

Unlike Latin script, when we add vowels to a consonant, the form of vowel changes. Actually, it is more like the vowel "leaving" some of its trait in the consonant it is being added to. It may sound strange but it is a lot easier. Let us see how:

क + आ = का

Heh, that was easy! The trait of आ is the last vertical line.

So what did we learn? When you want to add the sound of "a" as in father, add a vertical line after the consonant.

And here is your first word: काका (kākā) (father's elder brother in Hindi)

Exercise

1. Mark the occurrence of sound of आ in the following sentence and replace them with equivalent letter of Devanagari:

Cart. Kampf. Father. Kafka.

Anyone who can think of anymore English words?

Answer to this exercise

काrt. काmpf. fआther. काfका.

Lesson to be learned

1. What is आ.
2. How to add आ in a consonant.

Armed with one vowel, you can now tackle some more consonants.

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Go to Lesson 3

References

Devanagari/Quick jump