How is the inherent schwa handled?

Every bare consonant in Devanagari carries an inherent /ə/. The tool adds /ə/ after each consonant unless a vowel sign (matra), a virama (्), or word-final schwa-deletion context overrides it.

What is schwa deletion?

Hindi deletes the final inherent schwa of most words, so कमल is /kəməl/ not /kəmələ/. The tool applies a word-final schwa-deletion heuristic; medial schwa deletion is more complex and left intact.

How are retroflex consonants shown?

ट ठ ड ढ ण are retroflex and surface as /ʈ ʈʰ ɖ ɖʰ ɳ/ with the retroflex hook, distinct from the dental /t̪ t̪ʰ d̪ d̪ʰ n/ of त थ द ध न.

Does it handle the nukta letters?

Yes. Nukta consonants क़ ख़ ग़ ज़ फ़ ड़ ढ़ map to /q χ ɣ z f ɽ ɽʰ/, the Perso-Arabic and flap sounds used in loanwords and many native words.

Hindi IPA Transcription Tool

Email me this result

Get this tool's output sent to your inbox, plus one useful tool a week. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Hindi IPA transcription maps Devanagari to International Phonetic Alphabet symbols. Devanagari is an abugida: consonants carry an inherent vowel that vowel signs and the virama modify. Hindi’s phonology hinges on a four-way stop contrast (voiced/voiceless × aspirated/unaspirated) and a dental/retroflex split, all of which must be marked in IPA.

How it works

The transcriber walks the string, emitting a consonant’s IPA plus the inherent schwa /ə/ by default. Vowel signs replace the schwa, the virama suppresses it, and modifiers add nasalisation:

क kə   ख kʰə   ग ɡə   घ ɡʱə     (velar 4-way)
त t̪ə   थ t̪ʰə  द d̪ə   ध d̪ʰə     (dental)
ट ʈə   ठ ʈʰə   ड ɖə   ढ ɖʰə     (retroflex)
matra: ि → i, ी → iː, ु → u, े → e, ो → o …
virama ् → delete inherent schwa
ं anusvara → nasalise (ŋ/n/m by place); ँ candrabindu → vowel nasalisation ̃
final schwa deletion: कमल → kəməl

Nukta letters (क़ ज़ ड़ …) map to their Perso-Arabic and flap IPA values.

Example and notes

कमल (lotus) transcribes as /kəməl/ — two inherent schwas, with the final one deleted. ठंडा (cold) gives /ʈʰəɳɖaː/, showing the aspirated retroflex /ʈʰ/, the anusvara nasal assimilated to /ɳ/ before the retroflex /ɖ/, and the long /aː/ matra. This is a broad phonemic transcription; only word-final schwa deletion is applied, since medial deletion depends on morphology.