Alphabet & Pronunciation
वर्णमाला और उच्चारण
Spanish is written with the Latin alphabet plus one extra letter, ñ, that Devanagari doesn't have — but Spanish spelling is far more consistent than English's, so once you learn the rules, reading aloud becomes predictable, much closer to how Devanagari's phonetic script behaves.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Spanish is phonetic, close to Hindi
Como se escribe, así (casi siempre) se pronuncia.
देवनागरी में जो लिखा जाता है, वही बोला जाता है।
Devanagari is close to fully phonetic — what's written is what's said, every time. Spanish works the same way for the same underlying reason: a vowel always makes the same sound, with none of English's silent-letter surprises. Once you've learned a handful of rules, you can read almost any Spanish word aloud correctly on first sight, much the same confidence Devanagari gives you.
Sounds neither language has
j (breathy 'h'), the rolled rr — no exact Hindi equivalent
ट, ड, ण (retroflex consonants) — no Spanish equivalent
Spanish j is a breathy sound made at the back of the throat (Juan sounds like 'hwahn'), and its rolled rr is a rapid multiple-tap of the tongue tip — neither has a precise Hindi match, though the rr is closer to a strongly rolled Hindi र than to any English sound. Going the other direction, Hindi's retroflex consonants — ट, ड, ण, formed by curling the tongue back — don't exist in Spanish either. Both directions require training your mouth into genuinely new positions, not approximating with the closest sound you already know.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| Spanish | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ñ | 'ny' as in canyon | ny जैसी ध्वनिny jaisī dhvani | as in mañana ('tomorrow') |
| j | breathy 'h' | —— | as in Juan |
| ll | like English 'y' | य जैसी ध्वनिya jaisī dhvani | as in llamar ('to call') |
| rr | strongly rolled 'r' | बलपूर्वक लुढ़का हुआ रbalpūrvak luṛhkā huā ra | as in perro ('dog') |
| h | always silent | —— | as in hola ('hello') |
| c (before e, i) | soft 's' sound | स्s | as in cinco ('five') |
| c (before a, o, u) | hard 'k' sound | क्k | as in casa ('house') |
| g (before e, i) | breathy 'h', like j | —— | as in gente ('people') |
| z | soft 's' sound | स्s | as in zapato ('shoe') |
| v | same as 'b' in most dialects | ब्/व्b/v | as in vaca ('cow') |