Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "भी" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce भी in Hindi?

भी is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /bʱiː/. It means “also / too.” A breathy-voiced b followed by long ee — one sound with a warm sigh in it, not b plus a separate h.

A breathy-voiced b followed by long ee — one sound with a warm sigh in it, not b plus a separate h.

भी /bʱiː/

bhee

A single heavy syllable, but as a focus particle bhee usually attaches to the word it follows and stays unaccented itself — maiṁ bhee is one unit. Its length survives even unstressed.

Listen: भी

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Sound it out

bh भ is voiced and aspirated at once: the vocal folds vibrate through the lip closure and a puff of voiced breath follows the release. English has nothing like it.

ee Long tense ई. The breathiness spills into the beginning of this vowel, which is part of what makes the sound recognisable.

Hear it in a sentence

मैं भी आ रहा हूँ।

Maiṁ bhee aa rahaa hooṁ.

I am coming too.

Listen: मैं भी आ रहा हूँ।

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Maiṁ bhee aa rahaa hooṁ" places bhee directly after the pronoun it scopes over, which is why it means "I too" rather than "also coming." Moving it would change the meaning, so its position is as informative as its sound.

Where English speakers slip

Nearly everyone produces a plain English b, giving "bee." The missing element is breathy voice — a murmured, sighed release that carries into the vowel. Try whispering and voicing simultaneously: say "abhor" slowly and notice the warm h between the vowels, then move that quality onto the b itself.