Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "तुम" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce तुम in Hindi?

तुम is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /t̪ʊm/. It means “you (informal).” Rhymes roughly with "room" shortened — but the t is dental, made on the teeth, not on the ridge behind them.

Rhymes roughly with "room" shortened — but the t is dental, made on the teeth, not on the ridge behind them.

तुम /t̪ʊm/

tum

One syllable, heavy because a consonant closes it, so there is no accent decision to make — but keep the vowel short. Lengthening it toward "toom" would push it toward a shape Hindi reserves for other words.

Listen: तुम

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Sound it out

t Dental त: put the tip of your tongue against the back of your upper front teeth, almost where you would start a th in "this," then make a clean stop with no air puff.

um Short उ, a lax rounded vowel like the oo of "book" but briefer, closed by a bilabial m.

Hear it in a sentence

तुम बहुत अच्छे हो।

Tum bahut achchhe ho.

You are very nice.

Listen: तुम बहुत अच्छे हो।

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Tum bahut achchhe ho" pairs tum with the verb form ho, and that agreement is the whole point of choosing tum rather than aap: change the pronoun and ho must change too. Notice achchhe rather than achchhaa — the adjective takes the -e form for this addressee.

Where English speakers slip

English t is alveolar and aspirated, so "toom" comes out sounding halfway to Hindi ट and with an audible puff. Both errors matter: the puff is what separates त from थ, and the tongue position is what separates त from ट. Aim the tongue tip forward onto the teeth and hold the breath back.