Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "हरा" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce हरा in Hindi?

हरा is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɦə.ɾaː/. It means “green.” huh-RAA — voiced h, a throwaway schwa, one tapped r, and a long aa carrying all the weight.

huh-RAA — voiced h, a throwaway schwa, one tapped r, and a long aa carrying all the weight.

हरा /ɦə.ɾaː/

haraa

The weight sits at the back of the word: a throwaway schwa syllable, then a long open vowel that takes whatever prominence Hindi gives. In fast speech the opening compresses almost to nothing before the tap, which is normal rather than sloppy.

Listen: हरा

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Sound it out

ha ह is voiced in Hindi, so the vocal folds hum through it; combine that with a bare schwa and the syllable almost disappears.

raa A single alveolar tap into a long aa. Because the tap is so brief, this syllable is heard mostly as its vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

घास हरी है।

Ghaas haree hai.

The grass is green.

Listen: घास हरी है।

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"Ghaas haree hai" surfaces the feminine haree, not haraa, because ghaas is a feminine noun — and that ee ending is the only signal of gender in the whole sentence. The word also gives you gh, a breathy-voiced velar, immediately before the long aa of ghaas.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers make the h too strong and voiceless, which puts an unwanted stress on the first syllable, and then curl the tongue for the r. Both undo the word's shape: the h should be a soft voiced breath and the r a single flick, leaving the long aa as the only thing a listener really hears.