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Hindi · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "बिल्ली" in Hindi?
BIL-lee — a genuinely doubled l, held long, with the tongue tip staying on the ridge throughout.
billee
The extended l gives the first syllable weight by position, and the long ee gives the second weight by length. Hearing the l as long rather than as a single consonant is the entire rhythmic task here.
Listen: बिल्ली
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
बिल्ली दिन भर सोती है।
Billee din bhar sotee hai.
The cat sleeps all day.
Listen: बिल्ली दिन भर सोती है।
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"Billee din bhar sotee hai" uses din bhar for "all day" and makes sotee feminine to agree with billee. Bhar opens with a breathy-voiced भ, so the sentence has one geminate and one breathy stop in quick succession.
Where English speakers slip
Two habits: shortening the double l to a single one, and darkening it as English does before a consonant or at the end of a syllable. Hindi wants a long, clear, front l — think of "tall lily" said as one word, with the tongue tip never leaving the ridge.