Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "परिवार" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce परिवार in Hindi?

परिवार is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /pə.ɾɪ.ʋaːɾ/. It means “family.” pu-ri-VAAR — three beats, two short vowels, and a long aa only at the end.

pu-ri-VAAR — three beats, two short vowels, and a long aa only at the end.

परिवार /pə.ɾɪ.ʋaːɾ/

parivaar

Two light syllables run into one heavy one, so the word climbs steadily. Two taps appear in three syllables, and if either becomes a sustained English r the light syllables balloon and the climb disappears.

Listen: परिवार

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Sound it out

pa The lips part with no puff at all, and the vowel after them is a bare schwa.

ri A single tap of the tongue tip with a short lax इ. This middle syllable must stay short and quick.

vaar व as a loose approximant between v and w, a long open aa, and a closing tap that leaves the vowel uncoloured.

Hear it in a sentence

मैं अपने परिवार से बहुत प्यार करता हूँ।

Maiṁ apne parivaar se bahut pyaar kartaa hooṁ.

I love my family very much.

Listen: मैं अपने परिवार से बहुत प्यार करता हूँ।

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"Maiṁ apne parivaar se bahut pyaar kartaa hooṁ" forces apne into the oblique before se, and pyaar karnaa takes se rather than ko for the thing loved. Pyaar's py- cluster right after the noun makes the sentence a good test of cluster control.

Where English speakers slip

American speakers rhoticise both r's, giving "pah-ree-VAHR" with r-coloured vowels throughout. Each is a single flick. The p also picks up English aspiration, and the middle vowel tends to be lengthened toward "ree" when it should be brief and lax.