• '''Official language of : Maharashtra & Goa, India'''
  • '''Speakers : 90 million'''
  • *'''Native : 70 million'''
  • *'''Non-native : 20 million'''
  • '''Family : Indo Aryan'''
  • '''Script : Devanagari'''
  • '''ISO 639-1 Code : mr'''
  • '''ISO 639-2/3 Code: mar'''
  • '''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.

    Pronunciation guide

    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.

    Vowels

    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

    Consonants

    Many Marathi consonants come in three different forms: '''aspirated''', '''unaspirated''' and '''retroflex'''.

    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

    Phrase list

    Basics

    ; Hello. : ??????? ( ''na-ma-skA-r'' ) ; How are you? (''to a male'') : ?? ??? ????? ( ''thU ka-sA A-he-s'' ) ; How are you? (''to a female'') : ?? ??? ????? ( ''thU ka-shI A-he-s'' ) ; How are you? (''formal'') : ??? ??? ????? ( ''A-pa-N ka-she A-hA-th'' ) ; Fine, thank you. : ?? ??? ??? ( ''mI TI-k A-he'' ) ; What is your name? : ???? ??? ??? ???? ( ''thu-jha nA-v kA-y A-he'' ) ; What is your name? (''formal'') : ???? ??? ??? ???? ( ''A-pa-le nA-v kA-y A-he'' ) ; My name is XYZ. : ???? ??? XYZ ??? ( ''mA-zha nA-v XYZ A-he'' ) ; Nice to meet you. : ???????? ????? ???? ???? ( ''thu-mhA-lA bhe-tU-n A-na-ndha jhA-lA'' ) ; Please. : ????? ( ''ktR-pa-yA'' ) ; Thank you. : ??????? ( ''Dha-nya-vA-dh'' ) ; You're welcome. : ???? ?????? ??? ( ''A-pa-le svA-ga-tha A-he'' )--it is a literal welcome and not something you would say in response to "thank you" ; Yes. : ?? ( ''ho'' ) ; No. : ???? ( ''nA-hI'' ) ; Excuse me. : ; Excuse me. (''begging pardon'') : . ('' '') ; I'm sorry. : ??? ??? ??? ( ''ma-lA mA-f ka-rA'' ) ; Goodbye : ("we'll meet again") ?????? ???? ( ''pU-nhA bhe-tU'' ) ; I can't speak Marathi : ??? ????? ????? ??? ???? ( ''ma-lA ma-rA-TI bo-la-thA ye-th nA-hI'' ) ; Do you speak English? : ???????? ??????? ???? ??? ( ''thu-mhA-lA I-ngra-jI ye-the kA?'' ) ; Is there someone here who speaks English? : ??? ?????? ??????? ???? ??? ( ''i-The ku-NA-lA I-ngra-jI ye-the kA'' ) ; Help : ??? ( ''ma-dha-th'' ) ; Look out! : ("careful!") ! (''sA-va-kA-sh'') ; Good night. : ??? ?????? ( ''shu-bha rA-thrI'' ) ; I don't understand. : ??? ???? ???? ( ''ma-lA sa-ma-ja-tha nA-hI'' ) ; Say it again. : ?????? ?????! (''pu-nhA sA-nGA'')

    Numbers

    '''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

    Time

    Clock time

    Duration

    ; 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'' )

    Days

    ;Monday : ?????? ( ''so-mavA-ra'' )

    ;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'' )

    Months

    Months for marathi calendar are different than English calendar. Chaitra,Vaishak,Jeshtha,Ashad,Shravan,Bhadrapad,Ashwin,Kartik,Margashish,Paush,Magh,Falgun.

    Writing time and date

    Colors

    ; 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'' )

    Transportation

    Bus and train

    Directions

    Left: ???? ; Dawa

    Right: ????; Ujwa

    UP: ??; var

    Down: ???? Khali

    Left Side: ???? ??? Dawikade

    Right side: ???? ??? Ujwikade

    upside: ???? Varti

    downside: ????? Khalti

    Taxi

    Lodging

    Money

    Eating

    '''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'' )

    Bars

    Shopping

    Driving

    Authority