LingoDrop
Hindi · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "गाय" in Hindi?
gaay — a plain g, a long open aa, and a य glide to close; shorter than English "guy" and with no diphthong.
gaay
The glide at the end adds almost nothing, so everything belongs to the vowel. English speakers hear "guy" and produce a real diphthong with tongue movement, which changes both the quality and the timing.
Listen: गाय
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
गाय घास खाती है।
Gaay ghaas khaatee hai.
The cow eats grass.
Listen: गाय घास खाती है।
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"Gaay ghaas khaatee hai" puts a plain ग and a breathy घ in consecutive words — gaay and ghaas — which makes the sentence an ideal minimal comparison for that contrast. Khaatee is feminine to agree with gaay.
Where English speakers slip
The vowel gets a glide it does not have, and the g sometimes acquires breathiness through over-correction. Hold the aa steady, let the य ride off the end of it briefly, and keep the g completely plain — the breathy version is a different letter.