How it works
The Gujarati alphabet to copy, letter by letter: 13 vowels and the two marks અં and અઃ, the 36 consonants from ક ka to જ્ઞ jña, the vowel signs shown on ક, and the digits.
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No line along the top
Gujarati is a variant of Devanagari, and every one of its consonants has a Devanagari counterpart. What sets it apart is the missing top line: Devanagari hangs its letters from a horizontal stroke, and Gujarati lost it. Some letters changed shape as well, and the digits are different.
A consonant carries its vowel
Each consonant is read with the vowel a until a sign says otherwise: ક is ka, કા is kā, કિ is ki. The sign of i is drawn to the left of its consonant and read after it. Two of the 36, ક્ષ kṣa and જ્ઞ jña, are compounds of two consonants that are traditionally counted with the single letters.
- ઍ and ઑ write two vowel sounds of English words, æ and ɔ.
- The stroke under ક્ strikes out the vowel and leaves a bare k; it is seldom written.
Questions and answers
How many letters are in the Gujarati alphabet?
13 vowel letters and 36 consonants, when the compounds ક્ષ and જ્ઞ are counted. Counts differ with what is included: the marks અં and અઃ stand in the vowel row here as well.
Is there a Gujarati alphabet chart with English letters?
This one. Under every letter is its spelling in Latin letters by ISO 15919, so ક reads ka, ખ reads kha and જ્ઞ reads jña.
Is Gujarati written left to right?
Yes. Gujarati is written from left to right, like the other Indic scripts, and makes no difference between capital and small letters.