Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "के लिए" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce के लिए in Hindi?

के लिए is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /keː lɪ.jeː/. It means “for.” kay LI-yay — three light beats, with a short i in the middle and long e's at both ends.

kay LI-yay — three light beats, with a short i in the middle and long e's at both ends.

के लिए /keː lɪ.jeː/

ke liye

The two long-e syllables are heavy and the short-i syllable between them is light, giving a dip in the middle. As a compound postposition the phrase is unaccented overall, riding on whatever noun precedes it.

Listen: के लिए

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Sound it out

ke Unaspirated k plus a long steady e; this is the oblique form of kaa, so it is grammar as much as sound.

li A clear front l and a short lax इ. Do not lengthen it to "lee" — the two Hindi i vowels are separate phonemes.

ye य as a glide into another long e. The whole phrase ends flat, without a rising "ay" glide.

Hear it in a sentence

यह तोहफ़ा आपके लिए है।

Yeh tohfaa aapke liye hai.

This gift is for you.

Listen: यह तोहफ़ा आपके लिए है।

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"Yeh tohfaa aapke liye hai" turns aapkaa into aapke because a postposition follows — the same oblique shift you see with mere and apne. Tohfaa is a Persian loan written with a nuqta, so its middle consonant is a true f preceded by a voiced h, giving toh-faa rather than any kind of p.

Where English speakers slip

Learners commonly fuse the phrase into two syllables, "kay-LEE-yay" or even "kelye," losing the short i. Hindi keeps three distinct beats with a genuinely short middle vowel. The other slip is a dark English l; keep the tongue tip on the ridge and the tongue body low.