Sanskrit Pronunciation Guide
331
d – as in  dove  but with tongue against teeth 
 l – as in  light  
 
 
 dh – as in  red-hot  but with tongue against teeth 
 v – as in  vine  
 
 
 n – as in  nut  but with tongue between teeth 
 ś (palatal) – as in the  s  in the German 
 
 
 p – as in  pine  
  
 
 
 ph – as in  uphill  (not  f ) 
 word  sprechen  
 
 
 b – as in  bird  
 s (cerebral) – as the  sh  in  shine  
 
 
 bh – as in  rub-hard  
 s – as in  sun  
 
 
 m – as in  mother  
 h – as in  home  
 
 
 y – as in  yes  
  
 
 
 r – as in  run
Generally two or more consonants in conjunction are written together in a special form, as for example:  श  kṣa  त्र  tra
There is no strong accentuation of syllables in Sanskrit, or pausing between words in a line, only a flowing of short and long (twice as long as the short) syllables. A long syllable is one whose vowel is long (ā, ī, ū, e, ai, o, au), or whose short vowel is followed by more than one consonant (including anusvāra and visarga). Aspirated consonants (such as kha and gha) count as only single consonants.