Nepali Alphabet (Barnamala): Vowels, Consonants, Matras & Barakhari

The Nepali alphabet, called varnamala (वर्णमाला) or barnamala (बर्णमाला), is most commonly taught as 12 vowels (swar / स्वर) and 36 consonants (vyanjan / व्यञ्जन) written in the Devanagari script. That gives 48 letters in the standard school chart, though the exact total depends on how a few borderline characters are counted, so you will also see figures such as 47, 49 or 52 in different books.

The main reason the count varies is the vowel ऋ (ri) and the three conjunct letters. Classical Sanskrit-style charts include ऋ among the vowels and sometimes add अँ (the nasalised vowel), which pushes the vowel count to 13 or 14. Modern Nepali usage, and the barakhari taught to children, drops ऋ as an independent vowel column, leaving 12 vowel forms. On the consonant side, 33 are simple letters and 3 (क्ष, त्र, ज्ञ) are conjunct clusters that are traditionally recited as part of the alphabet, making 36.

For practical purposes it is safest to remember the widely used figure: 12 vowels and 36 consonants. When you see a slightly different number, it almost always reflects whether ऋ, अँ and the three conjuncts are being counted, not a disagreement about the actual letters.

Vowels are called swar (स्वर) in Nepali. They are written as full independent letters when they begin a syllable, and as attached marks (matras) when they follow a consonant. The order below is the standard dictionary and barakhari order used across Nepali textbooks and by the Nepal Academy's Pragya Nepali Brihat Shabdakosh.

Because of sound changes in modern Nepali, the historical short/long distinction between इ (i) and ई (ee), and between उ (u) and ऊ (oo), is no longer heard in speech even though both letters are still written. The last two entries, अं (am) and अः (ah), are strictly the anusvara (nasal) and visarga (aspirate) signs rather than pure vowels, but they occupy the final two columns of the barakhari and are learned alongside the vowels.

The romanization shown here is the common practical spelling used in Nepal; the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) value gives the approximate modern Nepali pronunciation.

Consonants are called vyanjan (व्यञ्जन). Every consonant letter carries a built-in (inherent) vowel 'a', so क on its own reads as 'ka', not just 'k'. To silence that inherent vowel you add the halant (halanta / ्), also called virama, below the letter: क् is a bare 'k'. This is what makes Devanagari an abugida (alphasyllabary) rather than a pure alphabet.

The first 25 consonants are arranged in five rows called varga, ordered scientifically by where in the mouth the sound is made — from the throat forward to the lips. Each varga has an unaspirated stop, its aspirated pair, a voiced stop, its aspirated pair, and a nasal. After the vargas come the four semivowels (य र ल व), the three sibilants (श ष स), the letter ह, and finally the three conjunct letters क्ष, त्र and ज्ञ that are recited as part of the traditional alphabet.

The famous opening 'ka kha ga gha' (क ख ग घ) is simply the first varga — the velar or throat sounds. Learning the vargas in order is the key to reading a Nepali dictionary, because words are alphabetised in exactly this sequence.

A matra (मात्रा) is the mark a vowel becomes when it attaches to a consonant. Full vowel letters are used only at the start of a word or syllable; everywhere else the vowel is written as a matra hung above, below, before or after the consonant. Learning the twelve matras is therefore the single most important step in reading Nepali, because they turn each consonant into twelve different syllables.

The inherent vowel अ (a) has no visible matra — the plain consonant already contains it. The other vowels each have a fixed sign. For example, adding the आ-matra (ा) to क gives का (kaa); the इ-matra (ि) is written before the consonant even though it is read after it, so कि reads 'ki'. The nasal अं is written as anusvara ( ं ) and the visarga अः as ( ः ).

Note one useful contrast with Hindi: because Nepali no longer distinguishes short and long i and u in speech, the ि/ी and ु/ू matras are pronounced the same, though both spellings still appear in dictionaries and formal writing.

Barakhari (बाह्रखरी), literally 'the twelve letters', is the grid that combines one consonant with all twelve vowel forms in order. It is the first reading drill every Nepali child learns, chanted as 'ka, kaa, ki, kee, ku, koo, ke, kai, ko, kau, kam, kah'. Repeating this for each consonant teaches how the matras attach and how syllables are pronounced.

The chart has 12 columns (the 12 vowel forms) and as many rows as there are consonants. With the 33 simple consonants this produces 33 × 12 = 396 basic syllables; extending it to all 36 alphabet consonants gives 432. The example below shows the barakhari for the first consonant क (ka) so you can see the full pattern.

Because the columns are always in the same order, once you know the barakhari for क you can read the same twelve endings on any other consonant: ख gives kha, khaa, khi, khee...; ग gives ga, gaa, gi, gee..., and so on. This is why 'barakhari' is used in Nepal as a byword for the absolute basics of literacy.

Nepali uses its own set of Devanagari digits alongside the letters. They map one-to-one onto the Western (Arabic) numerals and are still common on number plates, calendars, official documents and rupee notes. Knowing them is part of basic literacy even though Western digits are increasingly used in everyday writing.

The halant or halanta ( ् ), technically the virama, is the small stroke placed under a consonant to remove its inherent 'a'. It lets consonants join into clusters (conjuncts) — for example क् + ष written together form क्ष (kshya), and त् + र form त्र (tra). Conjuncts are how Nepali writes consonant blends that occur in the middle of words.

Two more signs complete the everyday system: chandrabindu (ँ), a moon-with-dot that nasalises a vowel (as in हाँस, haans, 'goose'), and the anusvara (ं) already seen in the barakhari. Together with the matras and the halant, these marks let the 48 core letters spell every sound in the Nepali language.