English vs. Hindi: Similarities And Differences

Similarities between English and Hindi

Both English and Hindi are written from left to right. Both languages have the same kinds of punctuation marks except for full stops. Both are well-developed languages having vast literary forms. However, the list of similarities gets exhausted very soon.

Differences between English and Hindi

• In English, there is only one set of the alphabet, having twenty-six letters in total, including five vowels. Whereas in Hindi, there are two sets of letters—twelve vowels and thirty-six consonants. There are ten consonants in Hindi that are not possible to write in English. This is why some names of Indian places are written as per English perspective. For example, there is a place on the coastline of Gujarat known as “The Gulf of Cambay.” The real name of this place can’t be written in English as it’s all three consonants are not found in written as well as spoken English. In Hindi, the sounds of consonants always remain the same. The signs for vowels added to consonants follow the fixed pattern and create the same sound every time.
• English vowels and a few consonants are not so. Their sound varies from word to word. There is no fixed pattern for adding a vowel sound in English. Words in Hindi are written as they are spoken.
• There are no silent letters in written Hindi. Because of the fixed pattern of adding vowel signs and their sounds, it is easier to learn to read and write Hindi in a couple of weeks.

• Unlike English, Hindi is written, touching the above line. Some vowel signs are written above the letters, some below, and a few beside them. One should be careful while adding vowel signs to consonants. They should not touch the other letters above or below the line.
• One has to be careful about upper and lower case while writing in English. The first letter of each sentence and a proper noun is always capitalized in English. But if you are writing in Hindi, you don’t need to worry about it at all, as Hindi letters are written in a uniform size throughout the sentence. There is no upper or lower case in Hindi letters.
• The verb in an English sentence is written before the object, but in Hindi, it’s placed after the object. In other words, the verb is the heart in an English sentence, whereas it’s the tail in a Hindi sentence.
• In English, only nouns and pronouns are affected by gender. However, in Hindi, verbs are written and spoken as per the gender of the subject too. Their ending letters differ according to gender. Besides these differences, it’s easy to learn Hindi.