Hindi/Urdu IAST Transliteration in LaTeX
A cheatsheet for linguists working with Hindi interlinear glosses in pdfLaTeX and XeLaTeX
§ Required Packages
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
1. Vowels
| Hindi | IAST | LaTeX command | Example | LaTeX code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| अ | a | a (plain) | ab (now) | ab |
| आ | ā | \=a | āb (come!) | \=ab |
| इ | i | i (plain) | is (this) | is |
| ई | ī | \=\i or \={\i} | kī (of) | k\=\i |
| उ | u | u (plain) | un (those) | un |
| ऊ | ū | \=u | kūn (who?) | k\=un |
| ए | e | e (plain) | ek (one) | ek |
| ऐ | ai | ai (plain) | aisā (such) | ais\=a |
| ओ | o | o (plain) | or (and) | or |
| औ | au | au (plain) | aur (and) | aur |
2. Retroflex Consonants (underdot)
| Hindi | IAST | LaTeX command | Example | LaTeX code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ट | ṭ | \d{t} | ṭopī (cap) | \d{t}op\=\i |
| ठ | ṭh | \d{t}h | ṭhīk (fine) | \d{t}h\=\ik |
| ड | ḍ | \d{d} | laḍkā (boy) | la\d{d}k\=a |
| ढ | ḍh | \d{d}h | ḍher (heap) | \d{d}her |
| ण | ṇ | \d{n} | bāṇ (arrow) | b\=a\d{n} |
| ड़ | ṛ | \d{r} | paṛh (read) | pa\d{r}h |
3. Nasalized Vowels & Nasal Consonants
| Type | IAST | LaTeX command | Example | LaTeX code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasalized vowel | ā̃ (tilde) | \~{\=a} | hā̃ (yes) | h\~{\=a} |
| Chandrabindu on ī | ī̃ | \~{\=\i} | nahī̃ (no) | nah\~{\=\i} |
| Anusvara (dot) | ṃ | \d{m} | haṃs (swan) | ha\d{m}s |
| Anunasika (overdot) | ṅ | \.{n} | aṅg (limb) | a\.{n}g |
| Retroflex nasal | ṇ | \d{n} | laḍkiyāṇ (girls) | la\d{d}kiy\=a\d{n} |
4. Sibilants & Special Consonants
| Hindi | IAST | LaTeX command | Example | LaTeX code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| श | ś (s + acute) | \'s or \'{s} | śor (noise) | \'sor |
| ष | ṣ (s + underdot) | \d{s} | doṣ (fault) | do\d{s} |
| स | s | s (plain) | sab (all) | sab |
| ह | h | h (plain) | hai (is) | hai |
5. Complete LaTeX Accent Command Reference
| Accent name | Command | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Macron (long vowel) | \={} | \=a, \=\i, \=u | ā, ī, ū |
| Underdot (retroflex) | \d{} | \d{d}, \d{t}, \d{n} | ḍ, ṭ, ṇ |
| Overdot | \.{} | \.{n}, \.{m} | ṅ, ṁ |
| Acute accent | \'{} | \'s, \'c | ś, ć |
| Tilde (nasalization) | \~{} | \~a, \~{\=a} | ã, ā̃ |
| Caron / háček | \v{} | \v{s}, \v{c} | š, č |
| Breve | \u{} | \u{a} | ă |
| Cedilla | \c{} | \c{c}, \c{s} | ç, ş |
| Ring above | \r{} | \r{a} | å |
| Combining accents | nest {} | \~{\=a} | ā̃ (tilde on macron) |
6. Standard Glossing Abbreviations
| Abbr | Meaning | LaTeX | Abbr | Meaning | LaTeX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOM | nominative | \textsc{nom} | ACC | accusative | \textsc{acc} |
| ERG | ergative | \textsc{erg} | DAT | dative | \textsc{dat} |
| GEN | genitive | \textsc{gen} | INS | instrumental | \textsc{ins} |
| M | masculine | \textsc{m} | F | feminine | \textsc{f} |
| SG | singular | \textsc{sg} | PL | plural | \textsc{pl} |
| PROG | progressive | \textsc{prog} | PERF | perfective | \textsc{perf} |
| PAST | past | \textsc{past} | PRES | present | \textsc{pres} |
| FUT | future | \textsc{fut} | IMPF | imperfective | \textsc{impf} |
| HAB | habitual | \textsc{hab} | CAUS | causative | \textsc{caus} |
| NEG | negative | \textsc{neg} | COP | copula | \textsc{cop} |