It has very many common letters with Hindi and shares similar vowel marks. You might find it easier to do the Learn Hindi lessons first. Please write to ukindia@innotts.co.uk if you find these lessons useful and with suggestions.
Letters S , N , R and G.
These are written as in the first line below . Note as in Hindi most words are joined at the top with a line. So what is your first word of Punjabi at the end of the first line ?
Letters S ; N ; R; G.
Yes it is sun ( as in our nearest star) .
The second line above has the common vowel marks . The first one is just to give the letter it is over a slightly longer sound . Here the first word is Sir as in 'This is yours sir'. Next one is Saan . Note the Aa vowel has a shorter line than in Hindi. Whats the next word?
Yes it is Sin (short i) . Next is Seen (long i) . This completes the second line.
The first is o as in sOnar -here the word is Sona ( gold) , next is au as in AUtumn -here it is sawn . What is the next word on this line-hint it has three letters and two vowel marks.
The word is Sansar ( Punjabi for world) . There is a short nasal n marked by a dot over the letter s another letter s and then a long aa followd by a r Snsar . The final word has a long nasal n and is the English word Sung (a song). We will come back to more vowel marks later.
Using the four words learnt at the beginning S , N . R and G ; the vowel marks and the additional letters K , Kh , Gh can you read the words below the first line in this figure ? There is one more letter introduced somewhere to make the word Ghandi - try and spot it.
The words are Cake , Khakhi , Roar . Wrong , Ghandi and Song.
The second line below is t as in turkey ; tt -tongue rolled back a bit more as in thanda (cold) ; d as in dog ; dd as dholak ( drum) and n again.
Were you able to read the words ?
Answers are Choke ; Chhika -a six in cricket and Jag as in Jaguar on the third line above.
The fourth line has Date ; Jhandha -flag and Thandha -cold.
Try and read the words below . The first two lines are English words.
. The words are Thank ; Your; Tahat , Lough , had ; Move ; Ship Been and Crook. Dont worry if you cant get them the first time.
The final line has the Punjabi words Bungh - a g from the chest (marijuana) ; Tota (parrot), Gadha (donkey) and last of all Smundhar (Ocean).
Go over the lesson again and again to get these letters imprinted in the mind. Note the Punjabi S and M are different only in S having a line on top. Similarly for P and THHE with P missing the line. TE , D and Bh look simialr . R and G differ only in G having an extra line..