Hindi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "टैक्सी" in Hindi?

Q: How do you pronounce टैक्सी in Hindi?

टैक्सी is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʈɛːk.siː/. It means “taxi.” ṬAIK-see — the t is retroflex with the tongue curled back, and the first vowel is the long one of "bed."

ṬAIK-see — the t is retroflex with the tongue curled back, and the first vowel is the long one of "bed."

टैक्सी /ʈɛːk.siː/

ṭaiksee

Hindi has nativised the loan by making its initial stop retroflex, so the word's rhythm is Hindi even where its vocabulary is not. The -ks- cluster in the middle adds weight without adding a beat.

Listen: टैक्सी

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Sound it out

ṭai ट is retroflex — tongue tip curled up and back — followed by ऐ, a single long open-mid vowel rather than a diphthong.

ksee An unaspirated क closing the first syllable, then s and a long tense ई.

Hear it in a sentence

मुझे टैक्सी चाहिए।

Mujhe ṭaiksee chaahiye.

I need a taxi.

Listen: मुझे टैक्सी चाहिए।

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"Mujhe ṭaiksee chaahiye" uses the dative mujhe with the invariant chaahiye, so nothing in the sentence agrees with ṭaiksee at all. Mujhe's breathy झ right before the retroflex ट makes the opening two words unusually demanding.

Where English speakers slip

Saying the English word gives an alveolar aspirated t and a diphthongised first vowel. Hindi asks for a curled-back tongue and a steady open-mid vowel. Curl the tongue before you begin the word — the retroflexion is the audible difference.