Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "कोई" in Hindi?

KOH-ee in two beats — a long o and a long ee side by side with no consonant between them.

कोई /koː.iː/

koee

The syllable boundary between the two vowels is what carries the rhythm, and losing it turns two beats into one. Since both syllables are built purely from vowels, the word is unusually open and slow.

Listen: कोई

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Sound it out

ko A dry k opening into a long ओ, with the lips fixed in one position throughout the vowel.

ee A long ई in hiatus. There is a genuine syllable break between the two vowels, so this is not a diphthong even though it looks like one in transliteration.

Hear it in a sentence

दरवाज़े पर कोई है।

Darvaaze par koee hai.

There is someone at the door.

Listen: दरवाज़े पर कोई है।

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"Darvaaze par koee hai" uses the oblique darvaaze before par, and darvaazaa itself contains a nuqta ज़. The sentence then closes on koee's vowel hiatus followed by hai's own long vowel, so the last three syllables are almost all vowel.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers fuse the two vowels into the diphthong of "coy," losing a syllable. Say ko, pause almost imperceptibly, then ee. Aspirating the k is the other reflex, and it would move the consonant into a different series.