The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Sanskrit pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
Sanskrit has many complex phonological processes, called sandhi , that alter sounds due to the presence of neighboring sounds at morpheme or word boundaries. See Shiksha for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Sanskrit.
Consonants
IPA
Nagari
IAST
English equivalent
b
ब
b
ab ash
bʱ
भ
bh
abh or
c
च
c
catch
cʰ
छ
ch
ch oose
d̪
द
d
ad o
d̪ʱ
ध
dh
adh ere
ɖ
ड
ḍ
guard
ɖʱ
ढ
ḍh
guardh ouse
ɡ
ग
g
ag ate
ɡʱ
घ
gh
pigh eaded
h
ः
ḥ
h ead
ɦ
ह
h
ah ead
j
य
y
y ak
ɟ
ज
j
hedg e
ɟʱ
झ
jh
hedgeh og
k
क
k
sc an
kʰ
ख
kh
c an
l̪
ल
l
l eaf
m
म
m
m uch [1]
n̪
न
n
n ot [1]
ɳ
ण
ṇ
burn er [1]
ɲ
ञ
ñ
cany on [1]
ŋ
ङ
ṅ
ban k [1]
p
प
p
sp an
pʰ
फ
ph
p an
r
र
r
s̪
स
s
s ue
ʂ
ष
ṣ
worsh ip
ɕ
श
ś
sh oe
t̪
त
t
st able
t̪ʰ
थ
th
t able
ʈ
ट
ṭ
art
ʈʰ
ठ
ṭh
art-h istorian
ʋ
व
v
between ‹w› and ‹v›
Vowels [1] [2]
IPA
Nagari
IAST
English equivalent
ə
अ, प
a
to morrow
ɑː
आ, पा
ā
bra
eː
ए, पे
e
between ye ll and Ya le
i
इ, पि
i
happy
iː
ई, पी
ī
fee t
l̩
ऌ, पॢ
ḷ
Syllabic ‹l›: bottle
l̩ː
ॡ, पॣ
ḹ
Long syllabic ‹l›
oː
ओ, पो
o
o ld
r̩
ऋ, पृ
ṛ
Syllabic ‹r›: better
r̩ː
ॠ, पॄ
ṝ
Long syllabic ‹r›: bir d
u
उ, पु
u
loo k
uː
ऊ, पू
ū
loo t
əi
ऐ, पै
ai
eye
əu
औ, पौ
au
ow l
Other symbols
IPA
Nagari
IAST
English equivalent
̃
ँ
ṃ
nasal vowel ([ãː], [õː], etc.) [1]
ˈ
stress (placed before stressed syllable)
↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Vowels may occur nasalized as an allophone of the nasal consonants in certain positions. See anusvara , chandrabindu .
↑ Sanskrit distinguishes between long and short vowels . Each monophthong has a long and short phoneme. The diphthongs , historically /ai, aːi, au, aːu/ , also have a difference in quality : /e, əi, o, əu/ . Vowels may rarely occur extra-long .