Vowels are divided into two parts.
- Short vowel and
- Long vowel
Short vowel
Sanskrit has five principle vowels that make the basis of the other sounds. However, one of them is rarely used. Hence we will try to learn only four of them and the remaining one later.
Following are the four basic vowels:
| 1 | a | as in | “u in but | “UH” |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | i | as in | “ I in bit” | “EE” |
| 3 | u | as in | “ u in put” | "OOH” |
| 4 | r | as in | “ ruh” |
Long vowel
Long vowels are basically short vowels pronounced for a longer time. Let us take a look at the examples.
Hence these eight vowels together make “simple vowels.” Both of the vowels shown are similar to each other. Hence we can say that they are similar vowels. In any other case when the vowels are not similar, we say that the vowels are dissimilar.
| 1 | a | as in | “star” | “AA” |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | i | as in | “teeth” | “EE” |
| 3 | u | as in | “mood” | “OO” |
| 4 | r | a little | longer |
These eight vowels are the Sanskrit alphabets including the consonants which we will learn further.
