Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "उदास" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce उदास in Hindi?

उदास is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʊ.d̪aːs/. It means “sad.” oo-DAAS with a short lax u to start and a dental d — tongue tip on the teeth.

oo-DAAS with a short lax u to start and a dental d — tongue tip on the teeth.

उदास /ʊ.d̪aːs/

udaas

The second syllable dominates — long vowel plus coda against a short initial u — and the risk is over-lengthening that opening vowel until the contrast disappears. Keep it brief and the rhythm takes care of itself.

Listen: उदास

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Sound it out

u A word-initial short उ, lax like the oo of "book." Begin the voice smoothly rather than with a glottal catch.

daa Voiced dental द against the upper teeth, opening into a long आ. This is the syllable that carries the word.

s A plain voiceless s closing it; no adjustment needed.

Hear it in a sentence

वह आज बहुत उदास है।

Voh aaj bahut udaas hai.

He is very sad today.

Listen: वह आज बहुत उदास है।

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

"Voh aaj bahut udaas hai" leaves udaas unchanged for gender, since it is an invariant adjective borrowed from Persian — so this sentence works identically for a male or female subject. Only context tells you which voh means.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers place the d on the alveolar ridge, which to a Hindi ear leans toward retroflex ड and makes the word sound harsher. Move the tongue tip forward until it touches the teeth. The initial vowel also tends to get a hard glottal onset that Hindi does not use.