DĀL

د ڈ ذ

Urdu Letter	Letter Name	Hindi Equivalent	Teacher
د	DĀL	द	Teacher Icon

Sounds

DĀL is a “dental D”. It is somewhat different from the English “D” sound. Pronounce “D” with your tongue forward, touching your teeth. It is very close to a hard “th” sound, as in the English word “that”. Look in the mirror when you pronounce DĀL. You should be able to see the tip of your tongue under your teeth.

Forms

	Final	Medial	Initial	Detached
Basic Forms	مسجد	Use Final	Use Detached	د
In Context	مسجد	Use Final	Use Detached	دوکان
Write in Context	fill-in			fill-in

Note that final DĀL looks a lot like detached RAY, but you won’t confuse the two because final DĀL is always connected to the preceding letter and detached RAY is never connected to the preceding letter.

Connections

DĀL is a breaker: no letter can be connected after it. Thus DĀL has only two forms: a detached and a final form:

When DĀL appears at the beginning of a word, it will be in its detached form.	دور	dūr
When DĀL appears after another breaker, it will be in its detached form.	اُردو	Urdū
When DĀL appears after a non-breaker, it will be in its final form.	مندر	mandir

Note that final DĀL looks like a lot like detached Ray. But you won’t confuse the two because final DĀL is always connected to the preceding letter, and detached Ray is never connected to the preceding letter. Also, final RAY looks quite different from detached RAY. This is true for all members of the DĀL and RAY families.

Aspiration

DAL can be aspirated by the addition of the letter DO CHASHMI HAY (ھ).
In this combination, the DĀL sound includes a distinct puff of air. Put your palm in front of your mouth when you pronounce it: you should feel a puff of air.

دھ

ध

Examples

دھنیَواد		dhanyavād	धन्यवाद
بندھن		bandhan	बंधन
اُدھر		udhar	उधर

Additional Examples of د

Final	Medial	Initial	Detached
بندر			دام
ہندی			دروازہ
بعد			دِل
خر یدنا			دو
جلدی			دیکھنا
عید			دس