Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "कौन" in Hindi?

kawn — a dry k, the steady rounded vowel of "caught," and a dental n.

कौन /kɔːn/

kaun

There is no accent decision in a monosyllable; what keeps this one from stretching is the vowel's steadiness. A diphthong would add both movement and time the word does not want.

Listen: कौन

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Sound it out

k No air escapes on release. Hold a hand in front of your mouth and you should feel nothing at all.

au औ is one long open-mid rounded vowel in standard Hindi, not the diphthong of "cow." The lips and jaw stay still throughout.

n The nasal closes on the teeth rather than the ridge, giving a brighter finish than the English alveolar n.

Hear it in a sentence

वह कौन है?

Voh kaun hai?

Who is that?

Listen: वह कौन है?

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"Voh kaun hai?" is three short words with no interrogative particle at all; the question is carried by kaun and by intonation. Voh at the front has its own long o, so the sentence sets a rounded vowel against another rounded vowel with different quality.

Where English speakers slip

The roman au invites the English diphthong of "now," which involves a big jaw movement Hindi does not use. Freeze the mouth in a rounded, fairly open position and hold it. The final n also needs to move forward onto the teeth.