How to Say Common Words in Bengali

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Bengali means people/Bengali ( Ben-gp /Ben-gpi ). Learning a new language is challenging, especially when you have to learn a whole new alphabet. However, you can still start learning common phrases. Whether you’re traveling in Bangladesh and need to speak Bengali or you just want to learn for fun, with a little effort you can learn basic phrases in the language.

Table of Contents

Get acquainted with Bengali

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Make a list of common words or phrases that you want to learn. Common phrases are often helpful and are a good place to start if you want to become fluent in just one day. Let’s start by going through common Bengali words and their phonetic pronunciations in English, ^{[1] X Research Sources}

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Learn how to greet, say polite sentences and count. Learning these words is essential because you can speak the language politely. Learning to count is equally helpful so you don’t have to use your fingers to represent numbers.

Hello: Salaam (Muslim only) or “NawMoShkar” (Hindu only)
Goodbye: “aabar dekha hobe” (a way of saying goodbye but meaning we’ll see you later)
Please…: “doya kore or onugroho”
Thanks: “dhon-no-baad”
Yes/Yes: “jee” – used only in Bangladesh, “hañ” – used everywhere
No: “naa”
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9, 10: “ek, dui, teen, chaar, pañch, choy, saat, aat, noy, dos”

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Learn vocabulary about food. Food is a basic human need and of course you will have to talk about this topic at some point. Therefore, you need to know the right words when you want to talk about food, even just the basics.

Food: “khaabaar”
Country: “paani” – used in Bangladesh or “jp” – used in India
Eat: “khao” (casual context) “khaan” (formal context)
Delicious: “moja” – used in Bangladesh or “Shu-shadu” – used in India
Good: “bhaalo”

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Learn some basic questions. If you want to ask for a restroom or check with someone, you can learn some basic words to help you in a situation of need.

Where?: “kothay?”
What?: “ki?”
How should I do it?: “ki bhabey korbo”, “ami ki bhabhey korbo”
I want to go to the bathroom: “Ami Toilet e Jabo”
What are you doing?: “Tumi ki korcho?”, “tui ki korchis”, “apni ki korchen”
Where are you going?: “Apne kun jagay jajchen?”
I don’t know: “Ami jani na”
Did you know?: “Apne ki janen?”
How are you?: “kemon acho”, “kemon achis” (casual context), “kemon achen” (formal context)

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Learn to talk about yourself and others.

Me: “aami”
You: “tumi” (casual context), “aapni” (formal context), “tui”তুই” (usually used in casual context when close friends talk to each other)
He/She: “shey/o”
To: “esho,ay” (casual context) “aashun” (formal context)
Don’t go: “tumi jeo naa”, “tui jabi na” (casual context) “aapni jaben naa” (formal context)
Who is that?: “ke?”
Beautiful: “Shundor”
I Love You: “Ami Tomake Bhalobashi”
Girl: “Meye”
Boy: “Chele”

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Review how to read the alphabet if you have difficulty. Do you remember how your teachers taught you to pronounce when you were little? In Bengali this is much more important. Since the alphabet is syllabic, it makes it easy to pronounce whole words.

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Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you don’t know how to pronounce a word or read it incorrectly, find the correct pronunciation online. There are many short videos that can help you test your pronunciation.

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Continue! Learning any language is difficult, but starting to learn common phrases is a good start to getting to that language. In addition, this will also assist you in finding your way around where Bengali is spoken. Let’s start with the fundamentals of that language. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Learn fundamentals in Bengali

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Learn the alphabet. The Bengali alphabet has a syllabic form and the consonants all have the same vowel with two different pronunciations. If you want to recognize and say common words correctly, learning the alphabet is very important. ^{[3] X Research Resources} Learn how to write the alphabet in addition to learning how to pronounce each letter. This will make character recognition easier. Try learning the alphabet the way you learned the English alphabet as a child. Write each character and try to pronounce it as you write. You will gradually remember the characters of the alphabet.

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Learn basic pronunciation. You should learn the pronunciation of each character in addition to learning how to concatenate characters. Unlike English, some characters in Bengali have multiple readings. Try to read the sounds correctly. For example, you can watch the alphabet and practice how to pronounce two letters into short words. That way, you’ll know how to concatenate characters. You will also recognize some pronunciations that are different from English. For example, the T sound will have a slight T pronunciation – similar to that in Spanish.

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Learn basic grammar. You don’t have to become a grammar expert, just recognize the difference between Bengali and your own language. Understanding the grammar rules in that language will help you better understand what you’re saying. Once you understand, you can get better at using common words to fit the context. Bengali with grammar has the order of subject, object, and verb similar to the order of subject, verb, and object in English. Bengali often uses a preposition after instead of a preposition. As in English, Bengali has no gender grammar, but verbs are divided by person, tense, and status. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

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Learn to read. Find a Bengali book and skim the pages. You don’t need to understand the content or the words, just try to recognize the characters and find common words that you know. This will help you get used to the words that are used a lot. If possible, find children’s books that involve numbers and food. You’ll probably want to master these words if you’re going on a trip.

Practice using Bengali

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Self-practice. ^{[5] X Research Source} Write down the words and read them aloud to yourself. You can buy the book if you want more instruction or find the lesson online. In addition, you will also find many videos online to help you pronounce words correctly. Try to pronounce exactly what you want to say. However, if you understand the meaning of a word but other people don’t understand what you mean, that’s okay too.

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Practice Bengali online. If you don’t have a friend to practice speaking Bengali with, you can always find others online! Type in “Talk to Bengali” online and you will find lots of websites that allow you to chat with someone who speaks Bengali. Even if it’s just a casual polite exchange, it’s a good place to start. ^{[6] X Research Source}

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Watch a movie. Find a movie that only speaks Bengali. Even if you don’t understand what’s going on in the movie, this will help you learn the intonation in that language and how the words are pronounced. You will be surprised at the benefits that come from watching movies.

Advice

Question Do you speak Bengali/English? by saying “Apni ki Bangla/Ingreji janen?”
It is better if you have Bengali friends. If you have Bengali friends, you should try chatting with them.
In order not to upset others, you should use formal language when talking to older people or strangers or people you have just met for the first time. If you don’t know the other person well, it’s best to use formal language.
You should be able to distinguish between the heavy/light pronunciations of the ‘d’ and ‘t’ sounds.
The wind sound (or the consonant with an ‘h’ in the back, in Latin spelling) makes a lot of difference. Don’t skip that pronunciation.
When written in Latin characters, the ‘aw’ in ‘awesome’ and a ‘a’ in ‘smart’ are both spelled as ‘a’. You need to know which sound it is before you pronounce it.

Steps

Get acquainted with Bengali

Learn fundamentals in Bengali

Practice using Bengali

Advice

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