How to read Sanskrit in Latin letters

Pronouncing IAST transliteration: how every letter sounds, what the bars and dots mean, where length and stress fall and the most common mistakes.

Sanskrit on this site is written in Latin letters using IAST (the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration). It is not a simplified “English” spelling but an exact one: every Devanāgarī letter has exactly one Latin letter or pair of letters, so from the spelling you can read a word the way it was pronounced.

The one difficulty is that many letters look familiar but sound different. c is “ch”, an h after a consonant is a breath rather than a separate sound, and a bar over a vowel means length, not stress. Below is the whole alphabet with the sound of every letter, followed by the rules of length and stress and the most common mistakes.

Vowels

A bar over a vowel marks length, not stress: a long vowel is held twice as long as a short one. e, o, ai and au are always long, though they carry no bar.

aअ
Short and neutral, like the u in “but”. Never the a of “cat”.
example: nanda
āआ
Long open a, as in “father”, held longer.
example: rādhā
iइ
Short i, as in “sit”.
example: hari
īई
Long i, as in “machine”, held longer.
example: gītā
uउ
Short u, as in “put”.
example: guru
ūऊ
Long u, as in “rule”, held longer.
example: rūpa
ṛऋ
A vowel r. Say it as “ri” with a very short i: kṛṣṇa ≈ “krishna”. Never “er”.
example: kṛṣṇa
ṝॠ
The same vowel r, held long. Rare.
example: pitṝn
ḷऌ
A vowel l, said “lri”. Very rare.
example: kḷpta
eए
Long e, as in “they” but without the y glide.
example: deva
aiऐ
“ai” as in “aisle”, one syllable.
example: caitanya
oओ
Long o, as in “go” but without the w glide.
example: govinda
auऔ
“au” as in “now”, one syllable.
example: gaura

Nasal and breath

ṁं
Anusvāra, a nasal. At the end of a word say m; before a consonant it takes that consonant's nasal: saṁkalpa ≈ “sankalpa”; before ś, ṣ, s, h it is usually said as m: saṁsāra ≈ “samsara”. Also printed ṃ.
example: saṁsāra
ḥः
Visarga, an audible breath h after a vowel. Before a pause it echoes the vowel faintly: namaḥ ≈ “namaha”, hariḥ ≈ “harihi”.
example: namaḥ
'ऽ
Avagraha, a sign for an elided a. It is not pronounced.
example: so 'ham

Velars (throat)

An h after a consonant is not a separate sound but a puff of breath: kh is k with a strong breath — one letter, one sound.

kक
k, as in “skip”, without a puff.
example: karma
khख
k with a strong breath, as in “kite” said forcefully.
example: sukha
gग
g, as in “go”.
example: gopa
ghघ
g with breath, as in “log-house” run together.
example: megha
ṅङ
ng, as in “sing”.
example: aṅga

Palatals

cच
ch, as in “church”. Never k or s.
example: caitanya
chछ
ch with a strong breath, as in “church-hill”.
example: chandas
jज
j, as in “joy”.
example: jaya
jhझ
j with breath, as in “hedgehog”.
example: jhaṣa
ñञ
ny, as in “canyon”.
example: añjana

Retroflexes (tongue curled back)

A dot below: the tongue tip is curled back to the roof of the mouth, behind the ridge above the teeth. The sound is duller and harder.

ṭट
t with the tongue curled back.
example: aṭavī
ṭhठ
The same t, with breath.
example: pāṭha
ḍड
d with the tongue curled back.
example: daṇḍa
ḍhढ
The same d, with breath.
example: mūḍha
ṇण
n with the tongue curled back.
example: kṛṣṇa

Dentals

The tongue tip touches the upper teeth, as in Spanish or Italian t, d, n — further forward than English.

tत
t with the tongue on the teeth.
example: tattva
thथ
t with breath. Never the th of “think”.
example: tīrtha
dद
d with the tongue on the teeth.
example: deva
dhध
d with breath, as in “red-hot”.
example: dharma
nन
n.
example: nanda

Labials

pप
p, as in “spin”.
example: prema
phफ
p with breath. Never f.
example: phala
bब
b.
example: bala
bhभ
b with breath, as in “club-house”.
example: bhakti
mम
m.
example: mādhava

Semivowels

yय
y, as in “yes”.
example: yoga
rर
A single tap of the tongue, as in Spanish “pero”.
example: rāma
lल
l, light, as in “leaf”.
example: līlā
vव
Between v and w; after a consonant closer to w: svāmī, dvāra.
example: vṛndāvana

Sibilants and h

śश
sh, as in “shine”, soft.
example: śiva
ṣष
sh with the tongue curled back — harder.
example: viṣṇu
sस
s.
example: sevā
hह
h, voiced and full, as in “ahead”.
example: hari

Special clusters

kṣक्ष
“ksh”: kṣetra ≈ “kshetra”.
example: kṣetra
jñज्ञ
Traditionally “gy”: jñāna ≈ “gyana”. Strictly, “jny”.
example: jñāna

Length matters more than stress

In Sanskrit, meaning rests on vowel length. A short vowel lasts one mora, a long one two. This is not stress or loudness: a long syllable is simply held twice as long. Words can differ by length alone: kala “a part”, kāla “time”; mata “opinion”, mātā “mother”.

ā, ī, ū, ṝ, e, ai, o, au are always long. Note that e and o are long too: deva is “dey-va”, govinda is “goh-vinda”, both with a held vowel.

Double consonants are held longer, as in Italian: uttama, sattva, buddhi.

Heavy and light syllables

Vowel length decides the “weight” of a syllable, and all Sanskrit metres are built on it. A syllable is heavy if it has a long vowel, if ṁ or ḥ follows the vowel, or if two consonants follow it (aspirates such as kh and bh count as one consonant). Otherwise it is light.

In kṛṣṇa the first syllable is heavy: ṛ is followed by ṣ and ṇ. In hari both syllables are light. More on syllable weight and how verse is made of it is in Verse metre.

Stress

Stress in classical Sanskrit is light and depends on syllable weight (the same rule as in Latin):

If the second-to-last syllable is heavy, it takes the stress: go-vin-da (two consonants follow the i).
If it is light and the third-from-last is heavy, stress falls there: vaiṣ-ṇa-va, rā-mā-ya-ṇa.
If both are light, stress falls on the fourth-from-last: ka-ma-la-ke. It goes no further back.

Do not hit the stressed syllable hard, as English does. What matters is not to shorten long vowels and not to draw out short ones. Unstressed vowels are never reduced: a is always the vowel of “but”, never a schwa that disappears; o is always a full o.

Common mistakes

th read as in “think”, ph as f. In Sanskrit they are aspirated stops: artha is t followed by a breath, phala is p followed by a breath. The same goes for kh, gh, ch, jh, dh, bh.
c read as k or s. It is always “ch”: caitanya is “chaitanya”, cakra is “chakra”.
ṛ read as “er” or “ar”. It is a vowel, close to “ri”: kṛṣṇa is “krishna”, ṛṣi is “rishi”.
a read as in “cat”. It is always the neutral vowel of “but”: dharma is “dhur-ma”, not “dhar-ma” with a flat a.
ś and ṣ read as s. Both are “sh” sounds: śiva is “shiva”, viṣṇu is “vishnu”.
Visarga ḥ dropped. It is heard: namaḥ is “namah(a)”.
Long vowels shortened: rādhā is “raa-dhaa”, both held.
v after a consonant read as a hard v. In svāmī and dvāra it is closer to w.

Bengali songs

The songs of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura are in Bengali, not Sanskrit, and are sung the Bengali way. The Latin text on this site follows how they are sung, so their own rules apply:

short a often sounds close to “o”: gorā instead of Sanskrit gaura, bolo is “bo-lo”;
v at the start of a word and after a consonant is read as “b”: vṛndāvana is “brindaban”;
y at the start of a word is read as “j”: yaśodā is “jashoda”;
ś, ṣ, s almost always sound the same, as “sh”;
a final short a is often silent: gorācāṅd, nitāicāṅd.

The Sanskrit prayers (the praṇāmas, Gurv-aṣṭaka, Śikṣāṣṭaka, the verses of the Brahma-saṁhitā) are read by the Sanskrit rules described above.