Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "स्टेशन" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce स्टेशन in Hindi?

स्टेशन is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sʈeː.ʃən/. It means “station.” sṬAY-shun — the t in the cluster is retroflex, with the tongue curled back, and the first vowel is flat and long.

sṬAY-shun — the t in the cluster is retroflex, with the tongue curled back, and the first vowel is flat and long.

स्टेशन /sʈeː.ʃən/

sṭeshan

English stress survives inside a nativised sound system: a long first syllable, then a schwa. The retroflex stop at the front takes real time to set up despite carrying no vowel of its own.

Listen: स्टेशन

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Sound it out

sṭ Hindi maps English st- onto s plus a retroflex ट, because the English cluster sounds retroflex to Hindi ears. Curl the tongue tip up and back for the stop.

e A long ए held motionless, without the closing glide English gives "stay."

shan श as in English "shun," a bare schwa, and a nasal made on the teeth.

Hear it in a sentence

रेलवे स्टेशन पास में है।

Relve sṭeshan paas meṁ hai.

The railway station is nearby.

Listen: रेलवे स्टेशन पास में है।

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"Relve sṭeshan paas meṁ hai" uses paas meṁ for "nearby," a different sense from mere paas for possession. Relve at the front has a tap and a व, so the sentence starts with two sounds English speakers routinely mishandle.

Where English speakers slip

Import the English word and you get an alveolar t and a diphthongised first vowel, where Hindi has retroflexed the stop and flattened the vowel. The final n also needs pushing forward onto the teeth rather than sitting on the alveolar ridge.