'''Marathi''' is the main language of Maharashtra, India. Marathi is written in the Devanagari script, like Hindi and some other Indian languages. It is the 4th most widely-spoken language in India, after Hindi, Bengali and Telugu. Regional literature in Marathi dates back to around 1000 AD.
Marathi grammar is largely based on Sanskrit and Pali. Unlike Hindi and similar to Sanskrit, Marathi has not 2, but 3 genders, masculine, feminine and neutral. Figuring out the gender of a word is very easy as it can be distinguished by the word's last vowel. This is not the case in many other Indian languages, such as Hindi or Urdu, where gender is probably the most difficult aspect of grammar.
Goa was a Portuguese colony from the 16th to the 18th century, as a result of which Marathi has had influence from the Portuguese language. ????? (''ba-tA-tA'', potato) is a common example used in everyday speech.
See Learning Devanagari for detailed information on the subject. Marathi is '''nearly 100% phonetic''', so pronunciation is not as much of a problem as it may seem at first glance. Anglophones tend to pronounce ? as in c'''a'''t or b'''a'''t. This sound is non-existent in Marathi, and you will not be easily understood if you pronounce it this way. Vowels are added to consonants, similar to other Devanagari languages, but picking up the Devanagari script is not that essential. You will manage fine with the romanization used in this phrasebook.
In Marathi, vowels are added to consonants. Most of them are easy to pronounce, ? and ? are slightly challenging. Marathi vowels retain much of their original Sanskrit pronunciation making some of them different from their Hindi counterparts. A notable example is ? (au), pronounced as '''o'''wl in Marathi but as '''O'''xford in Hindi. ? (Ao) is a special vowel used for loan English words, and is pronounced as in d'''o'''ctor.
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" !bgcolor=#EEEEEE|Devanagari !bgcolor=#EEEEEE|Tranileration used here !bgcolor=#EEEEEE|Examples
Aspiration means '''with a puff of air''', and is the difference between the sound of the letter '''p''' in English '''''p'''in'' (aspirated) and ''s'''p'''it'' (unaspirated). Retroflex consonants, on the other hand, are not really found in English. They should be pronounced with the tongue tip curled back. Practice with a native speaker, or just pronounce as usual — you'll usually still get the message across.
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" !bgcolor=#EEEEEE|Devanagari !bgcolor=#EEEEEE|Transliteration !bgcolor=#EEEEEE|Equivalent/Comments
'''1''' Ek ??
'''2''' don ???
'''3''' tIn ???
'''4''' ch-ar ???
'''5''' pa-ch ???
'''6''' sa-ha ???
'''7''' saa-th ???
'''8''' aa-th ??
'''9''' nau ??
'''10''' da-ha ???
'''11''' aka-raa '''12''' baa-raa '''13''' te-raa '''14''' chav-daa '''15''' pan-dha-raa '''16''' so-laa '''17''' sa-ta-raa '''18''' atha-raa '''19''' ako-nis '''20''' vees '''21''' ek-vees '''22''' ba-vees
; How much time? : ???? ???? ( ''ki-thI ve-La'' )
; Hour : ??? ( ''thA-sa'' )
; Half an hour : ????? ??? ( ''A-DhA thA-sa'' )
; 15 minutes : ??? ??? ( ''pA-va thA-sa'' )
; 45 minutes : ???? ??? ( ''pA-u-Na thA-sa'' )
;Tuesday : ??????? ( ''ma-Gga-La-vA-ra'' )
;Wednesday : ?????? ( ''bu-Dha-vA-ra'' )
;Thursday : ??????? ( ''gu-ru-vA-ra'' )
;Friday : ???????? ( ''shu-kra-vA-ra'' )
;Saturday : ?????? ( ''sha-ni-vA-ra'' )
;Sunday : ?????? ( ''ra-vi-vA-ra'' )
; Red : ??? ( ''lA-la'' ) ; Green : ????? ( ''hi-ra-vA'' ) ; Blue : ???? ( ''ni-LA'' ) ; Black : ???? ( ''kA-lA'' ) ; White : ?????? ( ''pAn-Dha-rA'' ) ; Yellow : ????? ( ''pi-va-LA'' ) ; Orange : ?????? ( ''nA-ra-GgI'' )
Right: ????; Ujwa
UP: ??; var
Down: ???? Khali
Left Side: ???? ??? Dawikade
Right side: ???? ??? Ujwikade
upside: ???? Varti
downside: ????? Khalti
'''Breakfast''' :?????? ( ''nA-shthA'' )
'''Food''' :???? ( ''je-va-na'' )
'''Water''' :???? ( ''pA-nI'' )
'''Ice''' :???? ( ''ba-rphA'' )
'''Tea''' :??? ( ''cha-hA'' )
'''Sugar''' :???? ( ''sA-kha-ra'' )
'''Milk''' :??? ( ''dhU-Dha'' )
'''Fruit''' :?? ( ''pha-la'' )
'''Vegetable''' :???? ( ''bhA-jI'' )
'''Rice''' :??? ( ''bhA-tha'' )