Bengali Alphabets

Introduction

 

Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian Subcontinent. It is the national and official language of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, and the official language of some eastern and north-eastern states of the Republic of India, including West Bengal, Tripura, Assam (Barak Valley) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. With over 250 million speakers, Bengali is the seventh most spoken native language in the world due to their population. It has been influenced by other language families prevalent in South Asia, notably the Dravidian, the Austroasiatic, and the Tibeto-Burman families, all of which contributed to Bengali vocabulary and provided the language with some structural forms. 

 

Dictionaries from the early 20th century attributed slightly more than half of the Bengali vocabulary to native words (i.e., naturally modified Sanskrit words, corrupted forms of Sanskrit words, and loanwords from non-Indo-European languages), about 30 percent of unmodified Sanskrit words, and the remainder to foreign words. Dominant in the last group was Persian, which was also the source of some grammatical forms. More recent studies suggest that the use of native and foreign words has been increasing, mainly because of the preference of Bengali speakers for the colloquial style. 

 

Today, Bengali is the primary language spoken in Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken language in India. The Bengali script has a total of 11 vowels each of which is called a  shorborno “vowel letter”. The shorbornos represent six of the seven main vowel sounds of Bengali, along with two vowel diphthongs.

 

History

In the distant past Oriya, Assamese, and Bengali formed a single branch, from which Oriya split off first and Assamese later. This is one reason that the earliest specimens of Bengali language and literature, the Charyapadas (Buddhist mystic songs), are also claimed by speakers of Oriya and Assamese as their own.

The Bengali scholar Muhammad Shahidullah and his followers offered a competing theory, suggesting that the language began in the 7th century ce and developed from spoken and written Gauda (also, respectively, a Prakrit and an Apabhramsha).

The Bengali linguists Suniti Kumar Chatterji and Sukumar Sen suggested that Bengali had its origin in the 10th century CE, deriving from Magahi Prakrit (a spoken language) through Magahi Apabrahmsha (its written counterpart

Although Bengali is an Indo-European language, it has been influenced by other language families prevalent in South Asia, notably the Dravidian, the Austroasiatic , and the Tibeto-Burman families, all of which contributed to Bengali vocabulary and provided the language with some structural forms. In the 1960s and ’70s, Chatterji examined dictionaries from the early 20th century and attributed slightly more than half of the Bengali vocabulary to native words (i.e., naturally modified Sanskrit words, corrupted forms of Sanskrit words, and loanwords from non-Indo-European languages), about 45 percent to unmodified Sanskrit words, and the remainder to foreign words. Dominant in the last group was Persian, which was also the source of some grammatical forms. More recent studies suggest that the use of native and foreign words has been increasing, mainly because of the preference of Bengali speakers for the colloquial style.

 

Varieties

There are two standard styles in Bengali: the Sadhubhasha (elegant or genteel speech) and the Chaltibhasha (current or colloquial speech). The former was largely shaped by the language of early Bengali poetical works. In the 19th century, it became standardized as the literary language and also as the appropriate vehicle for business and personal exchanges. Although it was at times used for oration, Sadhubhasa was not the language of daily Communication.

Bangla	Bangla Examples	English To Bangla	Phonetic Examples
অ	অজগর	oo	organic
আ	আম	aa	upliftment
ই	ইঁদুর	e	ent
ঈ	ঈগল	dhirgoi i	eagle
উ	উঠ	ou	unacademy
ঊ	ঊষ	dīrghô ū	show
ঋ	ঋতু	re	resign
এ	একতারা	aa	ectasy
ঐ	ঐক্য	oǐ-kar	anderson
ও	ওজন	o	oops
ঔ	ঔষধ	au	oakwood
ক	কলা	ko	carnivorous
খ	খরগোশ	kho
গ	গোলাপ	go	gone
ঘ	ঘোড়া	gho	ghost
ঙ	বেঙ	inyo	inyoung
চ	চরকা	cho	charming
ছ	ছাতা	so	size
জ	বিজ্ঞান	jo	japan
ঝ	ঝরণা	inyo	germany
ঞ	গাঞি	niyô / iyô
ট	টমেটো	tho	tinder
ঠ	ঠাণ্ডা	to	thunder
ড	ডাক্তার	dho	dog
ঢ	ঢোল	do	dont
ণ	মূর্ধন্য ণ	no	know
ত	তাবুক	toh	tamil
থ	থালা	tho	thermodynamics
দ	দড়ি	doh	diary
ধ	ধনুক	dho	dont u dare
ন	নৌকা	kno	none
প	পা	po	post
ফ	ফল	fo	fine
ব	বানর	bo	bun
ভ	ভালুক	vho	vodka
ম	ময়ুর	mo	monkey
য	যখন	jo	jockey
র	রেল	ro	rally
ল	লাটম	lo	light
শ	শূকর	talibyosho	showroom
ষ	ষ|ড়	murdhnyo sho	sand
স	সাপ	dontyo sho	scientist
হ	হাত	ho	handy
ড়	পাহাড়	ro	rakhi
ঢ়	আষাঢ়	ro	romance
য়	য়াংজে নদী	Yo	thermal
ৎ	উৎস	khôndô tô	math
ং	এবং	onushshar	song
ঃ	দুঃখ	bishorgo
৺	হাঁপান	Chandra bindu

Vowels

 Out of the total 50 letters in the Bangla Alphabet or Bornomala, there are a total number of 11 Vowels which is called ‘Shorborno’. Below are the listed vowels–

Bangla	Bangla Examples	English To Bangla	Phonetic Examples
অ	অজগর	oo	organic
আ	আম	aa	upliftment
ই	ইঁদুর	e	ent
ঈ	ঈগল	dhirgoi i	eagle
উ	উঠ	ou	unacademy
ঊ	ঊষ	dīrghô ū	show
ঋ	ঋতু	re	resign
এ	একতারা	aa	ectasy
ঐ	ঐক্য	oǐ-kar	anderson
ও	ওজন	o	oops
ঔ	ঔষধ	au	oakwood

Consonants 

Bangla

Bangla Examples

English To Bangla

Phonetic Examples

ক	কলা	ko	carnivorous
খ	খরগোশ	kho
গ	গোলাপ	go	gone
ঘ	ঘোড়া	gho	ghost
ঙ	বেঙ	inyo	inyoung
চ	চরকা	cho	charming
ছ	ছাতা	so	size
জ	বিজ্ঞান	jo	japan
ঝ	ঝরণা	inyo	germany
ঞ	গাঞি	niyô / iyô	Neon
ট	টমেটো	tho	tinder
ঠ	ঠাণ্ডা	to	thunder
ড	ডাক্তার	dho	dog
ঢ	ঢোল	do	dont
ণ	মূর্ধন্য ণ	no	know
ত	তাবুক	toh	tamil
থ	থালা	tho	thermodynamics
দ	দড়ি	doh	diary
ধ	ধনুক	dho	dont u dare
ন	নৌকা	kno	none
প	পা	po	post
ফ	ফল	fo	fine
ব	বানর	bo	bun
ভ	ভালুক	vho	vodka
ম	ময়ুর	mo	monkey
য	যখন	jo	jockey
র	রেল	ro	rally
ল	লাটম	lo	light
শ	শূকর	talibyosho	showroom
ষ	ষ|ড়	murdhnyo sho	sand
স	সাপ	dontyo sho	scientist
হ	হাত	ho	handy
ড়	পাহাড়	ro	rakhi
ঢ়	আষাঢ়	ro	romance
য়	য়াংজে নদী	Yo	thermal

 

Diacritics

Bangla

Bangla Examples

English To Bangla

Phonetic Examples

ৎ	উৎস	khôndô tô	math
ং	এবং	onushshar	song
ঃ	দুঃখ	bishorgo
৺	হাঁপান	Chandra bindu

 

Word Formation

Bangla

Bangla Examples

English To Bangla

Phonetic Examples

ক	কবিতা	ko	Color
কি	কিরণ	ki	cancer
কা	কারকানা	kaa	candy
কু	কুকুর	ku	cushion
কৌ	কৌশল	kou	courtesy
কী	কীসের	ki	kiss
কৃ	কৃপন	kri	creepy
কো	কোথায়	ko	question
কে	কেন	ke	can
কূ	কূটটা	ku	quick

 

Sample Text

                                                                                                            – Walden, Henry David Thoreau

 

You can use our free learning app which helps you to come across a lot of Bengali phrases and other basic Bengali Grammar lessons to improve your Bengali alphabet and basics.