INTRODUCTION

In this unit, we’ll get to know about the ‘re’ group ( Devanagari: रे | IPA: /reː/ | Pronunciation:    ) . This group consists of four consonants - ‘re’, ‘.De’, ‘ze’ and ‘zhe’.

ژ
  • zhe
  • झ़ॆ
ز
  • ze
  • ज़े
ڑ
  • .De
  • ड़े
ر
  • re
  • रे

Above: Letters in the ‘re’ group

8.1.1: ‘re’

This is the letter - ‘re’ (Devanagari: रे | IPA:  /re:/ | Pronunciation: ).

It creates the sound of ‘r’ (र |  ) as in “ran”, “frog”, “other” or as in the Hindi/Urdu words - “रास्ता”, “भरम”, “अंदर” etc.

re

रे

8.1.2: ‘.De’

This is the letter - ‘.De’ (Devanagari: ड़े | IPA:  /ɽe:/ | Pronunciation: ).

It creates the sound of ‘ड़’ (  ) as in the Hindi/Urdu words - “लड़ना”, “रगड़” etc.

It has no equivalent sound in English.

Ḍe

ड़े

8.1.3: ‘ze’

This is the letter - ‘ze’ (Devanagari: ज़े | IPA:  /zeː/ | Pronunciation:   ).

It creates the sound of ‘z’ (ज़ | ) as in “zebra”, “maze” or as in the Hindi/Urdu words - “ज़मीन”, “मिज़ाज”, “राज़” etc.

ze

ज़े

8.1.4: ‘zhe’

This is the letter - ‘zhe’ (Devanagari: झ़ॆ | IPA:  /ʒeː/ | Pronunciation:  ).

It creates a sound equivalent of the ‘g’ in the word “rouge” or the ‘s’ in the words “measure” , “treasure” etc.

It has no equivalent sound in Hindi.

ẓhe

झ़ॆ


Now, before we start looking at words that can be created with these new letters, let’s take a moment to learn about the letters ‘ze’ and ‘zhe’ and their sounds in a bit more detail.