Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "अलग" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce अलग in Hindi?

अलग is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ə.lək/. It means “different.” uh-LUG — two schwas, a bright l, and a final g that stays voiced right through.

uh-LUG — two schwas, a bright l, and a final g that stays voiced right through.

अलग /ə.lək/

alag

Neither vowel is long, so the word is compact and unemphatic — heavy only by position in the closed final syllable. It should pass quickly, which is exactly what English speakers resist doing with a two-syllable content word.

Listen: अलग

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Sound it out

a A bare initial schwa, begun without a glottal catch.

la Clear front l with another schwa; the tongue tip is on the ridge and the tongue body stays low.

g Unaspirated ग closing the word. English devoices final stops; here the voicing should continue through the closure until you release.

Hear it in a sentence

हर शहर अलग होता है।

Har sheher alag hotaa hai.

Every city is different.

Listen: हर शहर अलग होता है।

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"Har sheher alag hotaa hai" uses hotaa hai for a general truth rather than plain hai, and sheher shows the same ह-colouring you saw in pehlaa. The adjective is invariant, so the masculine agreement shows only on hotaa.

Where English speakers slip

Both vowels tend to get upgraded from schwas to full vowels, producing "AH-lahg," and the final g tends to devoice toward k. Keep the vowels neutral and the g buzzing. A dark l would also colour the second vowel and pull the word backwards.