The Letter औ (au)

The letter औ, au, is similar to the letter ओ (o) both in appearance and sound. As with ओ (o) this letter is first written exactly as आ (ā), but with the addition of two marks above the rightmost vertical bar.

Before you get too confused with the four vowels we have covered so far, which all look quite similar, let's first establish the sound made by the letter औ (au). The sound au is similar to the first vowel sound in the English word, crocodile . In contrast, remember that the letter आ (ā) represents a sound with the mouth wide open, as if you were having your tonsils checked by a doctor—the ā sound found in part . ओ (o), the letter you just learned, makes a sound with the lips rounded as in the English word hotel . औ (au), the letter we are currently studying, represents a sound somewhere between the two—not an ā sound, not an o sound, but something in between, similar to the vowel sound in off.

Don't be concerned if all of these different vowels are starting to confuse you; we'll review them shortly.

The Mātrā ौ (au)

You should expect by now that, to form the mātrā of औ (au) you simply remove the अ part of the letter, leaving ौ (au). (Remember that the dotted circle your browser may place in front of the letter is not part of the letter itself; it is merely a placeholder indicating where a consonant would stand if the letter were part of word.

When you learned the first two Devanagari vowels, you probably found them similar in appearance but easy to remember. With the addition of two more vowels, which look quite similar to the first two, you may feeling somewhat bewildered. In case all these shapes and sounds are starting to run together in your mind, let's lay them out in a table so that we can examine them in a straightforward way:

At this point, you should go over the drills found in the review section several times. This will ensure that you not only can tell the difference between these vowels after a close examination, but that your mind recognizes them at first glance.