Punjabi/Shahmukhi/Lesson 2

Lesson 2
Welcome to Lesson 2. In this lesson, you will be taught the next row:

ج چ ح خ د ڈ ذ

Jīm, chē, baṛī hē, and xē all change form in the same way, only differing with dot diacritics.

Likewise, dāl, ḍāl, and zāl all also change form in the same way with differing diacritics.

A Note on Non-Connectors
Dāl, ḍāl, and zāl are also what are called non-connectors. This means that when one of these letters occur in the beginning or the middle a word, the letter coming after the non-connector will be in its initial form. If the non-connector is the second last letter in the word, the letter coming after it will be in its independent form.

An example of the first instance:

ریڈیٔو  - rēḍīō - radio

Here, rē and ḍāl are the non-connectors.

An example of the second instance:

رباج  - rabāj - fashion

Here, alef is the non-connector.

If a non-connector comes after another non-connector, it simply takes its independent form:

درد  - dard - pain

Here, dāl and rē are the non-connectors.

Now on to the lesson:

jīm - ج
Jīm is pronounced like the English "j". It will be represented by "j" in romanization.

Initial
جوکر  - jōkar - joker

جیل  - jēl - jail

Medial
پجاما  - pajāmā - pajama

پنجاب  - panjāb - Punjab

Final
سج  - saj - decoration

ججّ  - jajj - judge

chē - چ
Chē is pronounced like the English "ch". It will be represented by "ch" in romanization.

Initial
چین  - chīn - China

چیتا  - chīṭā - cheetah (animal)

Medial
سچل  - sachal - Sachal (a name)

چیچہ وطنی  - chīchahwatnī - Chichawatni (a town in Punjab, Pakistan)

Final
نیمچ  - nīmach - Nimach (a town in Madhya Pradesh, India)

پنج  - panj - five

baṛī hē - ح
Baṛī hē is pronounced like the English "h". It will be represented by "h" in romanization.

Initial
حیدرآباد  - haidarābād - Hyderabad (a city in Sindh, Pakistan)

حلايب  - halāīb - Hala'ib (a town in Egypt)

Medial/Final
By looking at jīm and chē, it shouldn't be difficult to determine the medial and final forms of baṛī hē.

xē - خ
Xē is pronounced a little like the Scottish "ch" or the Russian "x". It will be represented by "x" in romanization.

Initial
خضدار  - xuzdār - Khuzdar (a town in Balochistan, Pakistan)

خرگوش  - xargōsh - rabbit

Medial
سخت  - saxat - strict

مخّں  - maxxaṇ - butter

Final
رخ  - raxx - keep

کخّ  - kaxx - straw

dāl - د
Dāl is pronounced a little like the English "d" however, just like the dental t, this is a dental d. Therefore, you need to place the tip of your tongue behind your upper teeth instead of on the roof of your mouth to produce this sound. It will be represented by "d" in romanization.

Initial
دوات  - davāt - ink pot

دادا  - dādā - grandfather

Medial
سدا  - sadā - always

ندان  - nadān - innocent

Final
لدّ  - ladd - load

سدّ  - sadd - call

ḍāl - ڈ
Ḍāl is pronounced like the English "d". It will be represented by "ḍ" in romanization.

Initial
ڈیسک  - ḍaisk - desk

ڈالر  - ḍālar - dollar

Medial
اکیڈمی  - akaiḍamī - academy

ریڈیٔو  - rēḍīō - radio

Final
پونڈ  - paunḍ - pound

چیڈ  - chaiḍ - Chad (an African country)

zāl - ذ
Zāl is pronounced like the English "z". It will be represented by "z" in romanization.

Initial/Medial/Final
By looking at dāl, it shouldn't be difficult to determine zāl's forms. Just add a dot on top of the letter.

Summary
You have now completed Lesson 2. You have now learned jīm, chē, baṛī hē, xē, dāl, ḍāl, and zāl. That's 7 letters, but only 2 positional methods.

Thus far you have been taught the following:

ب پ ت ٹ ث

ج چ ح خ د ڈ ذ

Remember these well, and feel free to go through Lesson 1 or 2 again if you feel you need to do so to help you remember the letters.

When you are ready, proceed to Lesson 3.