Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "पर" in Hindi?

puhr — an unaspirated p, a bare schwa, and a single tap. It should be over almost instantly.

पर /pəɾ/

par

A short-vowelled syllable closed by a tap: light in substance, and as a postposition it also carries no phrasal accent. Say mez-par as one unit, with the noun holding the beat.

Listen: पर

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Sound it out

p प with no puff. Even in an unstressed word, English speakers often release with breath; hold it back.

ar A short schwa followed by a flicked r. Do not let the vowel take on the r-colouring English gives to "per."

Hear it in a sentence

किताब मेज़ पर है।

Kitaab mez par hai.

The book is on the table.

Listen: किताब मेज़ पर है।

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"Kitaab mez par hai" places par after mez, and note that mez is a Persian loan spelled with a nuqta ज़, so it ends in z, not j. The word order — noun, then postposition, then verb — is exactly the mirror of English "on the table."

Where English speakers slip

American speakers produce "per" with an r-coloured vowel that lasts the whole syllable. Hindi keeps the vowel and the tap as separate events: a colourless schwa first, then a single quick contact. Aspirating the p is the other reflex to suppress.