In Devanagari, the script used for Hindi, vowels have two shapes: an independent form used at the start of a syllable, and a dependent form — the matra (मात्रा) — used when the vowel follows a consonant. This reference lists every Hindi vowel in both forms and shows the matra applied to the consonant क (ka) as a concrete worked example, so you can see exactly how each vowel sign attaches.
How it works
Each Devanagari consonant carries an inherent short a vowel. So क on its own already reads ka. To write any other vowel after the consonant you add that vowel’s matra:
- आ → ा gives का (kā)
- इ → ि gives कि (ki) — note the sign sits before the consonant
- ई → ी gives की (kī)
- उ → ु gives कु (ku)
- ए → े gives के (ke)
The matra ि for short i is unique: even though the sound is pronounced after the consonant, the sign is drawn to the left of it. To strip the inherent vowel entirely you use the halant/virama: क् is a bare k.
Example and tips
The word किताब (kitāb, “book”) shows the left-placed i-matra in action: क + ि → कि, then त + ा → ता, then ब. Reading order and visual order differ only for that one matra, which is the classic stumbling block for beginners. Use the chart to drill the mapping between independent vowels and their matra signs, and click any cell to copy the glyph or its Unicode code point.
The full vowel chart on क
Here is how each standard Hindi vowel looks in its independent form, as a matra, and combined with the consonant क:
| Vowel name | Independent | Matra | On क | Approximate sound |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A (short) | अ | (inherent) | क | as in “but” |
| Aa (long) | आ | ा | का | as in “father” |
| I (short) | इ | ि | कि | as in “bit” |
| Ii (long) | ई | ी | की | as in “feet” |
| U (short) | उ | ु | कु | as in “put” |
| Uu (long) | ऊ | ू | कू | as in “moon” |
| Ri | ऋ | ृ | कृ | retroflex r+i (Sanskrit loanwords) |
| E | ए | े | के | as in “café” |
| Ai | ऐ | ै | कै | as in “cat” |
| O | ओ | ो | को | as in “go” |
| Au | औ | ौ | कौ | as in “out” |
Note that ऋ (ri) appears mainly in tatsama (Sanskrit-derived) vocabulary in modern Hindi, words like कृपा (grace) or ऋतु (season).
Placement of matras around the consonant
Matras attach in four different positions relative to their host consonant, which can surprise learners used to purely left-to-right scripts:
- Right of the consonant: ा (ā), ु (u), ू (ū), ृ (ṛ), े (e), ो (o) — most matras
- Left of the consonant: ि (i) — the only matra that precedes the consonant visually despite following it phonetically
- Above the consonant: ि is placed above in some analyses; also the small loop of ी sits partly above
- Below the consonant: ु and ू hang below the baseline
Understanding these placement rules is essential for learners because attempting to type or handwrite Devanagari while thinking purely left-to-right leads to errors, especially for the reversed i-matra.