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Hindi · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "पानी" in Hindi?
PAA-nee with two long vowels and a completely unaspirated p — no puff at the start.
paanee
Both syllables are heavy with long vowels, so the word runs level; English speakers tend to impose a strong first-syllable beat and shorten the second, which turns paanee into "PAH-nih." Keep the second vowel as long as the first.
Listen: पानी
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Hear it in a sentence
मुझे एक गिलास पानी चाहिए।
Mujhe ek gilaas paanee chaahiye.
I would like a glass of water.
Listen: मुझे एक गिलास पानी चाहिए।
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"Mujhe ek gilaas paanee chaahiye" needs paanee to stay uncounted and unmarked — no plural, no postposition — because it is a mass noun serving as the object of chaahiye. Say gilaas with a long aa too, so you get three long-vowelled words in a row before the verb.
Where English speakers slip
The aspiration on p is the giveaway: an English speaker's "paanee" sounds like फानी to a Hindi ear because English voiceless stops puff automatically at the start of a stressed syllable. Suppress that by starting the vowel almost simultaneously with the lip release, the way you would in English "spa."