LANGUAGE
From written signs to everyday conversation.
Mandarin Chinese / Taiwan
Bopomofo / Zhuyin
注音符號A set of phonetic symbols used to show Mandarin pronunciation. Syllables are assembled from an initial, a medial or final, and a tone.
The first version was created in 1913 and released in 1918. It remains a practical reading, dictionary, and keyboard tool in Taiwan.
- SYMBOLS
- 37
- TONES
- 5
- ALSO CALLED
- Zhuyin / Zhuyin Fuhao
Initials
21Medials
3Finals
13Tones
5BENGALI / FOUNDATIONS
বাংলা
Start with the words you need.
Build your own sentences.
The words for everyday life.
Find a situation, read the phrase, or show the native text. Learn common replies as well as questions.
Pronunciation & how to use these phrases
Start with the writing charts, then listen to complete words. Device speech depends on installed voices and may use a different regional accent. Spelling and sound do not match one-to-one.
আপনি is respectful you, তুমি is familiar. Bengali verbs encode respect; these requests use respectful forms. কাল can mean yesterday or tomorrow. Learning path: recognise words and phrases → build simple sentences → practise questions and replies → expand tense and connected speech → read and discuss longer texts. These foundation lessons are available now; later stages will grow with the collection.
24 phrases
Basics
Communication
Bathrooms
Food & ordering
Shops & payment
Taxi & transport
Airport
Help
Listen for
Reply
Hotels
BENGALI / GRAMMAR REFERENCE
8 chaptersForms, rules & structure
Contemporary standard colloquial Bengali. Formal/literary সাধু forms constitute a different register.
Grammar terminology
- Noun
- A word used to name or classify an entity: person, place, object, substance, idea.
- Adjective
- A word that describes a property; its form and position depend on the language.
- Pronoun
- A form used to refer to a participant or entity without repeating a full noun phrase.
- Determiner
- A word such as an article, demonstrative or possessive that helps specify a noun phrase.
- Verb
- A word heading a predicate, often describing an action, event or state.
- Conjugation
- A pattern of verb forms expressing grammatical distinctions such as person, tense or mood.
- Declension
- A pattern of noun, pronoun or adjective forms, often marking case, number and gender.
- Case
- A distinction marking a noun phrase’s grammatical role or its relationship to a governing word.
- Gender
- A grammatical classification of nouns; it need not match sex or have a transparent meaning.
- Agreement
- A form changes to match features of another expression, such as person, number, gender or case.
- Tense
- A grammatical way of locating a situation relative to a time of reference.
- Aspect
- How a situation is viewed: for example ongoing, habitual, completed or prior to a reference point.
- Mood
- A grammatical distinction associated with assertion, possibility, commands, wishes or other clause functions.
- Finite form
- A verb form that can serve as a clause’s main inflected verb, contrasting with infinitives and participles. The precise criteria vary by language.
- Participle
- A verb-derived form used in constructions such as modifiers, compound tenses or passives; its roles vary by language.
- Infinitive
- A nonfinite verb form in languages that have one; it is not automatically equivalent to English “to + verb”.
- Subject / object
- Grammatical relations in a clause, not universal synonyms for “doer” and “receiver”.
- Clitic
- A short grammatical form that depends phonologically on a neighboring word.
- Transitive
- Describes a verb construction that takes a direct object.
- Register
- A variety of expression associated with context, relationship or level of formality.
Nouns, classifiers & case markers
- Bengali does not have grammatical gender agreement. Nouns take case markers and can combine with classifiers or plural markers.
- -রা is associated with human/animate plurals in appropriate constructions; -গুলো/-গুলি form another common plural pattern. Classifiers such as -টা/-টি help count and identify entities.
| Construction | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| noun | বই | book / books |
| classifier | বইটা | the book |
| count | দুটি বই | two books |
| human plural | ছেলেরা | the boys |
| object/dative | ছেলেকে | the boy as object/recipient |
| genitive | ছেলের | the boy’s |
| locative | বাড়িতে | at home |
Worked examples
বইটা টেবিলে আছে।
The book is on the table.
How it works: -টা identifies the book; -এ marks the locative relation on টেবিল.
Negation
না commonly follows the verb phrase.
আমি বুঝতে পারছি না।I do not understand.
Read the model, complete the gap, then change one word and explain what changes.
Try it yourself
1 / 1 · 0 correctComplete the model using the rule.
আমি বুঝতে পারছি ___.
All words · vocabulary quiz
1 / 20 · 0 correctChoose the English meaning.
পানি / জল
পানি / জলwater
পানি / জলwater
খাবারfood
খাবারfood
দুধmilk
দুধmilk
রুটিbread
রুটিbread
কফিcoffee
কফিcoffee
চাtea
চাtea
ভাতrice
ভাতrice
টয়লেটbathroom
টয়লেটbathroom
বিমানবন্দরairport
বিমানবন্দরairport
স্টেশনstation
স্টেশনstation
টিকিটticket
টিকিটticket
বের হওয়ার পথexit
বের হওয়ার পথexit
বাঁleft
বাঁleft
ডানright
ডানright
আজtoday
আজtoday
কালtomorrow
কালtomorrow
একone
একone
দুইtwo
দুইtwo
তিনthree
তিনthree
সাহায্যhelp
সাহায্যhelp
Between the words
পানি is common for water in Bangladesh; জল is common in West Bengal. নমস্কার is a greeting; আসসালামু আলাইকুম is also widely used in Muslim settings.
নমস্কার।
Bangladesh and West Bengalপানি is common for water in Bangladesh; জল is common in West Bengal. নমস্কার is a greeting; আসসালামু আলাইকুম is also widely used in Muslim settings.
নমস্কার।
আপনি is respectful you, তুমি is familiar. Bengali verbs encode respect; these requests use respectful forms. কাল can mean yesterday or tomorrow.
Read the situation
1 / 1 · 0 correctRecall the opening greeting from this collection.
Practice scores last for this visit.Bengali audio is unavailable on this device. All exercises work without audio.