Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "छुट्टी" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce छुट्टी in Hindi?

छुट्टी is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tʃʰʊʈ.ʈiː/. It means “holiday / vacation.” CHHUṬ-ṭee — a puff after the ch, then a doubled retroflex t held long before the final ee.

CHHUṬ-ṭee — a puff after the ch, then a doubled retroflex t held long before the final ee.

छुट्टी /tʃʰʊʈ.ʈiː/

chhuṭṭee

Aspiration at the front and a held consonant in the middle give this word two separate sources of length before its long final vowel even arrives. It is one of the slower two-beat words in the course.

Listen: छुट्टी

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Sound it out

chhu छ releases with a distinct burst of breath, followed by a short lax उ.

ṭṭ A geminate retroflex stop: curl the tongue tip up and back and hold that closure for roughly twice the normal duration.

ee A long tense ई released after that extended closure — the feminine ending.

Hear it in a sentence

हम अगस्त में छुट्टी पर जा रहे हैं।

Ham agast meṁ chhuṭṭee par jaa rahe haiṁ.

We are going on vacation in August.

Listen: हम अगस्त में छुट्टी पर जा रहे हैं।

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"Ham agast meṁ chhuṭṭee par jaa rahe haiṁ" uses par to mark being on holiday, and agast is a borrowed month name with two schwas. Chhuṭṭee is therefore the only phonetically demanding word in the sentence.

Where English speakers slip

Three features tend to go at once: the puff on chh, the retroflexion, and the gemination. English gives you an unaspirated-ish ch, an alveolar t and a single consonant. Blow, curl, and hold — in that order.