So far we’ve seen ‘vaao’ create long-vowel sounds because of the ‘alif’ preceding it in the initial position. We’ll now learn how the ‘vaao’ acts as a consonant in different positions in a word.

10.4.1: ‘vaao’ in the Initial position

When ‘vaao’ appears in the beginning of a word, i.e; in the initial position without the ‘alif’ preceding it, it is always read as the consonant ‘v’ as in the word “vaar” (वार) as shown below:

Above: ‘vaao’ is read as the consonant ‘v’ in the word “vaar”

Here’s a simple break-down:

Above: ‘vaao’ + ‘alif’ + ‘re’ = “vaar”

Here’s another example, the word - “vaajib” (वाजिब):

Above: ‘vaao’ + ‘alif’ + ‘jiim’ + ‘be’ = “vaajib”

10.4.2: ‘vaao’ in the Medial position

‘vaao’ , when it appears in the medial position, may be read as the consonant ‘v’ or the vowel ‘o’ depending upon the word’s context. Let’s first look at an example where it acts as a consonant - the word “aavaaz” (आवाज़):

Above: The word “aavaaz”. Notice the ‘vaao’ creating a consonant sound in its medial position.

Let’s break this down:

Above: ‘alif’ + ‘madd’ + ‘vaao’ + ‘alif’ + ‘ze’ = “aavaaz”

Here’s another example where ‘vaao’ acts as a consonant in the medial position, the word - “javaab” (जवाब):

Above: ‘jeem’ + ‘vaao’ + ‘alif’ + ‘be’ = “javaab”

IMPORTANT

Now, let’s take this a step further and see how the word “javaabo.n” (जवाबों) is written:

Above: ‘jiim’ + ‘vaao’ + ‘alif’ + ‘be’ + ‘vaao’ + ‘nuun Gunna’ = “javaabo.n”

We started off this unit by learning that the letter ‘vaao’ can act as a consonant as well as a long-vowel depending upon its position in a word and the context of the word itself. This is exactly what is happening here.

In the word “javaabo.n”:

The first ‘vaao’ connected with the ‘jiim’ , is in the medial position and acts as the consonant ‘v’.

The second ‘vaao’ connected with the ‘be’ , is also in the medial position but acts as the long-vowel ‘o’ .

This is purely because its the way the word “javaabo.n” is written. There are no specific rules at work here. It’s one of those patterns that one needs to understand and remember for a set of certain words in a language. Here’s another example - “aavaazo.n” (आवाज़ों):

Above: ‘alif  madd’ + ‘vaao’ + 'alif' + ‘ze’ + ‘vaao’ + ‘nuun Gunna’ = “aavaazo.n”

Do you see a pattern emerging there? Here’s another example where ‘vaao’, in the medial position, acts as ‘o’ - “buto.n” (बुतों):

Above: ‘be’ + ‘te’ + ‘vaao’ + ‘nuun Gunna’ = “buto.n”

INTERESTING

Let’s take another example to showcase the contextual dominance of a word over the letter ‘vaao’. The word - “buuTo.n” (बूटों):

Above: ‘be’ + ‘vaao’ + ‘Te’ + ‘vaao’ + ‘nuun Gunna’ = “buuTo.n”

In the word “buuTo.n” here, both the ‘vaao’s are in the medial position and act as long-vowels. The first ‘vaao’ creating the sound ‘oo’ and the second one creating the sound ‘o’ respectively. This is in slight contrast to the word “javaabo.n” we saw earlier.

Here again, we can clearly see that ‘vaao’, being in the final position, takes upon the sound of the long-vowel ‘o’.

Now an example of 'vaao' as a consonant at the final position of the word:

Above: 'jiim' + 'ze' + 'vaao' = "juzv"

10.4.3: Some more words

Having wrapped that up, here are a few more words for you to observe and learn.

And now, let’s move on to a quiz to test all that we’ve learnt so far. This should be fun!