Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "कल" in Hindi?

kul — a dry k, a bare schwa, and a clear front l. It means both yesterday and tomorrow.

कल /kəl/

kal

One short syllable closed by a consonant: heavy by position, negligible in duration. It should be one of the fastest words in any sentence, which is at odds with how much semantic weight it carries.

Listen: कल

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Sound it out

k Unaspirated क with no burst of air on release.

al A colourless schwa closed by a bright l, tongue tip on the ridge and tongue body low — not the dark English l of "call."

Hear it in a sentence

कल मिलते हैं।

Kal milte haiṁ.

See you tomorrow.

Listen: कल मिलते हैं।

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"Kal milte haiṁ" uses the habitual present as a future — "we'll meet tomorrow" — which is why nothing marks tense. Only context tells you kal means tomorrow here rather than yesterday, since the word itself is genuinely ambiguous.

Where English speakers slip

The dark l is the main tell: English speakers say something like "kahl" with the tongue body humped and the vowel pulled backward. Keep the l bright and the vowel neutral. The k also needs to be dry, which English resists at the start of a stressed syllable.