Practicing the Letter ए (e)

Practice saying the words below, noting the difference between the vowel े and the letter ओ.

Always be aware of the similarities between े and ओ and note their differences. For example, parts of the letter ले look very similar to parts of the letter ओ, and it is tempting to assume that they have the same vowel sound. However, the letter ले is a consonant ल with the vowel े added, making the sound le, while ओ is just a vowel by itself which represents the sound o.

Now that you've learned several tricks used in Devanagari, such as conjunct letters and the letter ए and its mātrā े, the latter of which is placed above consonants, you're going to start seeing some of these items combined. For example, the letter स्ते uses both concepts: first, the letter स is combined with the letter त, forming a conjunct स्त which would normally make the sound sta. Secondly, the vowel mātrā े is added to the conjunct, producing स्ते and changing the vowel sound so that ste is produced.

I resorted to bird calls to illustrate the combination of three items: the consonant क normally makes the sound ka, but adding the letter े changes its sound to ke. Lastly, when anusvār (the ं dot of ँ candrabindu) is added to make कें, this nasalizes the letter which changes the sound to kẽ.