Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "सस्ता" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce सस्ता in Hindi?

सस्ता is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /səs.t̪aː/. It means “cheap / inexpensive.” SUS-taa — a schwa, a doubled-feeling s-cluster, and a dental t before the long ending.

SUS-taa — a schwa, a doubled-feeling s-cluster, and a dental t before the long ending.

सस्ता /səs.t̪aː/

sastaa

The opening syllable has a short vowel but a fricative coda, and the closing one has a long vowel, so weight tips backwards. The extended s in the middle stretches the word without adding a beat, which can make learners hear three syllables where there are two.

Listen: सस्ता

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Sound it out

sas s, a bare schwa, then a second s closing the syllable — the two s sounds run together into what feels like one long fricative.

taa Put the tongue where you would begin the th of "this," but make a full stop and release it silently; then open into a long aa that marks masculine agreement.

Hear it in a sentence

यह होटल बहुत सस्ता है।

Yeh hoṭal bahut sastaa hai.

This hotel is very cheap.

Listen: यह होटल बहुत सस्ता है।

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"Yeh hoṭal bahut sastaa hai" uses hoṭal with a retroflex ट, so the tongue curls back for the hotel and comes forward to the teeth for the adjective's त. Sastaa is masculine here; with a feminine noun the ending becomes -ee.

Where English speakers slip

The t is the main casualty: English speakers make it alveolar and add a small puff, which drags it toward ठ. It should be squarely on the teeth and completely dry. The schwa also tends to open into "sahs," when it should be as neutral as the vowel of "sus-" in "suspend."