Ukindia

Learn to Read Punjabi



Lesson 1

Lesson 2..Home


Punjabi is a language of the Indian Subcontinent spoken by Muslims in Pakistan who write it in the Arabic script , Hindus in Punjab who write in Devanagri (Hindi) script and the Sikhs of Punjab who write it in the Gurumukhi (language of the Gurus) script . Punjabis also probably constitute the largest group amongst subcontinent immigrants to Britain and Canada. When we say Punjabi here we take it to mean the Gurumukhi script.

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.


For downloading all lessons 1-5 pun.zip file or go online

You may also obtain all the current lessons for non commercial uses and images on a floppy disk together with a Balaji book -Learn to Read Punjabi for $15 plus $10 postage and packing and a license to copy the lessons . Send a cheque for $25 to ukindia Box 346 Nottingham UK Add $10 if you want a pocket English to Punjabi dictionary.
In your browser window above you will notice the web page address ending with zpun01.htm . To get to lesson 6 or any other change this to zpun06.htm etc.


This is the Punjabi letter for N as in No and the vowel mark aa

Can you read your first word in Punjabi ?

The answer is

Nana ! - Mother's father.


Lets look at another Punjabi letter - R . See how it is modified by the common vowel marks as in the figure below ? The closest English word with that vowel marked letter is written in brackets. The best way to learn anything is to sit back and visualize it and then get up and vocalize while walking around. Study each figure slowly and carefully and you should get through all the lessons in one or two goes.

Notice that for littel i as in wrist above the mark comes before the letter while for big ee it is after the letter.

Next lets look at 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 ?

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.


In the next figure the first word is Sun ( as in Soot -short u) , next is Soon (long U ) . Then is Sane (short ae as mAy) , next is Sag ( as in sAnd long ae) . This completes the third line. Guess what the words on the fourth line sound like ?

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 Snsar ( Punjabi for world) . Note the short nasal n marked by a dot over the letter S , followed by S again and then a long aa followd by a R - Snsar . The final word has a long nasal n after the S and is the English word Sung (a song). We will come back to more vowel marks later.


Lets look at the first line in the Punjabi Alphabet. Like Hindi it has the letters K ; Kh as in Khan ; G as in goat ; A chesty Gh as in Ghandi and the last letter is N . As in Hindi N has many forms. These letters are called gutturals because they are sounded from the back of the throat and are pronounced as in the word below each letter.

These letters are in the first line of the figure below.

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 the above figure ? There is one more letter introduced somewhere to make the word Ghandi - try and spot it.

Here are the answers

The words are Cake , Khakhi , Roar . Wrong , Ghandi and Song.


Next we come to the palatals because the tongue touches the palate.

The next line is the cerebrals , the tongue is folded a little behind the palate.

The figure below has the next two lines in the Punjabi alphabet and a further two lines made of words. See if you can read the words. On the first line are the letters ch as in china ; chh as in chatri (umbrella) -the tongue is rolled back a little more than in ch ; j as in jane ; jh as in jhanda -flag and n .

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.


Next come the Dentals where the tongue touches the back of the upper teeth .

. In the figure below the first line has the letters soft T (tota-parrot) ; then th as in thanks ; d as in the ; dh -a d sounded from the chest as in dhan (mone) and N.
Next follow the Labials formed by the the lips coming together.

.

Next come the semi vowels.

The figure below forms the sibliants -or S sounds .

The second like has the remaining consonants - P , F , B , Bh -B sounded from the chest as in Bhai (brother) , M .
The third line has Y as in yes ; R ; L ; Sh as is shucks , S and finally H as in hand.

Try and read the words below . The first two lines are English words.

. The answers are

The words are Thank ; Your; That , Laugh , Had , Move , Ship , Been and Crook. Dont worry if you cant get them the first time.
The final line has the Punjabi words without equivalent English sounds - Bungh - a B and G from the chest (marijuana) ; Tota (parrot), Gadha (donkey) and last of all Smundhar (Ocean).

The following letters complete the Punjabi alphabet. We will look at them in a later lesson.

. 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..

Lesson 2