the Bengali script

the Bangladeshi flag

the Indian flag

Bengali, or Bangla, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken predominantly in Bangladesh and in the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura by approximately 200 million people. After Hindi, Bengali is the second most spoken language in the Indian subcontinent, and among the top 10 most spoken languages in the world. The language has a rich literary heritage and underwent a renaissance in the late 19th century.

Preliminaries

The examples of Bengali words, phrases, clauses and sentences used in this book are generally presented simultaneously in three written forms: one using the Bengali script, a transliterated version using Latin letters, and an English translation.

The Bengali-to-Latin transliteration scheme is the one followed in the English Wikipedia and can be seen here.

Contents

Introduction

• ০.০.১. A Short History of Bengali
• ০.০.২. Modern-day Bengali
• ০.০.৩. Dialects of Bengali and Their Differences
• ০.১. Overview of the Bengali Script
  • ০.১.১. Vowels
  • ০.১.২. Consonants, Part One
  • ০.১.৩. Consonants, Part Two
  • ০.১.৪. Diacritics in Bengali
  • ০.১.৫. Symbols of Note
  • ০.১.৬. Bengali Conjuncts, Part One
  • ০.১.৭. Bengali Conjuncts, Part Two
  • ০.১.৮. Other Symbols related to Bengali (in Unicode)
  • ০.১.৯. (introducing numerals isn't necessary, look at these contents)

• The Bengali abugida to be broken up
• Conjuncts to be broken up

Lessons, exercises (in two sets), and culture

Older pages (to be integrated eventually)

1. Greetings
2. Talking about oneself
3. Asking questions
4. Liking and disliking
5. Shopping
6. Staying at hotels
7. Letters
8. Traveling
9. Staying well
10. Emergencies
11. Animals
12. Birds
13. Body parts
14. Dressing
15. Flowers
16. Foods and drinks
17. Fruits
18. Housing
19. Household objects
20. Months
21. Music and dance
22. Numbers
23. Plants
24. Relations
25. School
26. Time and dates
27. Tools
28. Vegetables
29. Common phrases
30. Overview of grammar
31. Sentence patterns
32. Verbs
33. Nouns
34. Adjectives
35. Postpositions
36. Auxiliaries
37. External references