How to Pronounce 'धन्यवाद': Hindi Pronunciation Guide

Q: How do you pronounce धन्यवाद in Hindi?

धन्यवाद is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /d̪ʱən.jə.ʋaːd̪/. It means “thank you.” dhun-yuh-VAAD, and both d sounds are dental — the opening dh is voiced and breathy at the same time, which is the hard part.

How do you pronounce "धन्यवाद" in Hindi?

dhun-yuh-VAAD, and both d sounds are dental — the opening dh is voiced and breathy at the same time, which is the hard part.

धन्यवाद /d̪ʱən.jə.ʋaːd̪/

dhanyavaad

The final syllable is the heavy one, a long aa closed by a consonant, and it takes the mild prominence; the two schwa syllables before it are compressed. Note also that the word does not end in a vowel even though the last letter द carries an inherent a — that is word-final schwa deletion, and it applies here without exception.

Listen: धन्यवाद

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Sound it out

dh A breathy-voiced dental stop: tongue on the upper teeth, vocal folds buzzing, and the release accompanied by a sigh of air from the chest. It is one sound, not d followed by h.

an Short schwa plus a dental n; keep it fast and unstressed so the word does not turn into three equally loud beats.

ya The य glides straight into a reduced schwa. In fluent speech this middle syllable is barely there — dhany'-vaad.

vaad व here sits between English v and w — light lip contact, no strong friction — followed by a long aa and a final dental d with no puff.

Hear it in a sentence

मदद के लिए बहुत धन्यवाद।

Madad ke liye bahut dhanyavaad.

Thanks a lot for the help.

Listen: मदद के लिए बहुत धन्यवाद।

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In "Madad ke liye bahut dhanyavaad" the postposition phrase ke liye comes before the thanks, so you get madad with two dental d's, then bahut with its very reduced middle vowel, and only then the dh. Running madad ke together without a break is what makes the phrase sound natural.

Where English speakers slip

Almost every English speaker turns dh into a plain English d, because English simply lacks breathy voice. The result sounds like "danyavaad," which to a Hindi ear is a different consonant, not a mild accent. Practise by sighing while voicing: start a d with the tongue on your teeth and let a puff of warm, voiced breath escape at the moment of release.