Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "दस" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce दस in Hindi?

दस is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /d̪əs/. It means “ten.” duss, with a short schwa — and the d is dental, made against the teeth rather than the ridge.

duss, with a short schwa — and the d is dental, made against the teeth rather than the ridge.

दस /d̪əs/

das

A light-vowelled monosyllable closed by a consonant, so it is heavy by position but short in actual duration; among the numerals it is one of the briefest words, which is exactly why learners tend to over-lengthen it to match the surrounding long-vowel numbers.

Listen: दस

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Sound it out

d Voiced dental द. Tongue tip forward against the upper teeth, no aspiration, voicing on from the start of the closure.

as A short schwa closed by s — quick and unstressed-sounding even though it is the only syllable. Do not open it into the vowel of "das" as in German.

Hear it in a sentence

दस मिनट इंतज़ार कीजिए।

Das minaṭ intazaar keejiye.

Wait ten minutes.

Listen: दस मिनट इंतज़ार कीजिए।

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"Das minaṭ intazaar keejiye" keeps minaṭ singular after the numeral, which is standard for measure nouns, and minaṭ ends with a retroflex ट even though it is an English loan. Intazaar has a nuqta ज़, so that consonant is z, not j.

Where English speakers slip

Two substitutions creep in: an English alveolar d, and a full "ah" vowel giving "dahs." The Hindi word is dental and schwa-based, closer to the unstressed second syllable of English "Thomas" with a d in front. Get the tongue on the teeth and keep the vowel colourless.