ASPIRATED SOUNDS

As we’ve seen earlier with the other letter groups such as ‘be’, ‘jiim’ etc., the ‘do chashmii he’ combines with ‘kaaf’ and ‘gaaf’ to create two more aspirated sounds - ‘kh’ (  ख | IPA:  /kʰ/ |  ) and ‘gh’ ( घ | IPA:  /ɡʱ/ |  ) respectively. Let’s take a look:

Above: Aspirated sounds ‘kh’ and ‘gh’ formed by joining ‘kaaf’ and ‘gaaf’ with the ‘do chashmi he’

This can be broken down as shown below:

Above: ‘kaaf’ + ‘do chashmii he’ = "kh"

And with ‘gaaf’:

Above: ‘gaaf’ + ‘do chashmi he’ = "gh"

NOTE

Similar to how we’ve represented aspirated letters in the past (for example, ‘bh’, ‘jh’ etc.), we’ll treat ‘kh’ and ‘gh’ as individual letters in the following examples.

19.3.1: With ‘alif’

To see these new aspirated letters in action, let’s look at the simple word “khaa” (खा), meaning “eat/to eat”:

Above: ‘kh’ + ‘alif’ = “khaa”

Let’s take it a step further and look at the word “khaanaa” (खाना), meaning “food/to eat”:

Above: ‘kh’ + ‘alif’ + ‘nuun’ + ‘alif’ = “khaanaa”

Here’s one with the ‘gh’ in there - the word “ghaaT” (घाट), meaning “river-bank/quay”:

Above: ‘gh’ + ‘alif’ +  ‘te’ = “ghaaT”

19.3.2: With other consonants

And not let’s look at a few words where ‘kh’ and ‘gh’ connect with other consonants starting with the word “ghar” (घर), meaning “house/home”:

Above: ‘gh’ + ‘re’ = “ghar”

Here’s another word - “sukh” (सुख), meaning “happiness/tranquility”:

Above: ‘seen’ + ‘kh’ = “sukh”

Let’s take this a step further with the word “suukhaa” (सूखा), meaning “dried/parched/drought”:

Above: ‘siin’ + ‘vaao’ + ‘kh’ + ‘alif’ = “suukhaa”

19.3.3: Some more words

And here are a few more words that you can now add to your vocabulary. Have fun!

Fantastic! We’re making good progress and fast. Next up - ‘laam’ and ‘miim’. Let’s go!