Punjabi Alphabet: Vowels
This is a companion post to a previous post that lists the consonants of the Punjabi alphabet. Or, in other words, now I can finally provide some closure to being able to read Punjabi. (Making sense of what I read, of course, is a totally different problem.)
The first three letters of the alphabet — ੳ, ਅ, and ੲ — are not used by themselves. Each serves as a foundation on which independent vowels are formed. Vowels take two forms: (1) independent vowels, which stand alone or can be used as the first letter in a word, are formed by adding a vowel sign to one of the three bases; and (2) dependent vowels, which are formed by adding a vowel sign to a consonant (in the second case, the vowel can not be the first letter of the word).
Dependent Vowels
| Vowel sign | Transliteration | Name | Joined with ਮ |
| (invisible) | a | ਮੁਕਤਾ muk-taa |
ਮ |
| ਾ | aa | ਕਾੱਨਾ kan-naa |
ਮਾ |
| ਿ | i | ਸਿਹਾਰੀ si-haa-rii |
ਮਿ |
| ੀ | ii | ਬਿਹਾਰੀ bi-haa-rii |
ਮੀ |
| ੁ | u | ਔਂਕੜ aun-karh |
ਮੁ |
| ੂ | uu | ਦੁਲੈਂਕੜੇ du-lain-ka-rhe |
ਮੂ |
| ੇ | e | ਲਾਂਵ laanv |
ਮੇ |
| ੈ | ai | ਦੁਲਾਂਵਾਂ du-laan-vaan |
ਮੈ |
| ੋ | o | ਹੋੜਾ ho-rhaa |
ਮੋ |
| ੌ | au | ਕਨੌੜਾ ka-nau-rhaa |
ਮੌ |
Independent Vowels
| Base + Vowel Sign | Independent Vowel | Transliteration |
| ੳ + ੁ | ਉ | u |
| ੳ + ੂ | ਊ | uu |
| ੳ + ੋ | ਓ | o |
| ਅ + (invisible) | ਅ | a |
| ਅ + ਾ | ਆ | aa |
| ਅ + ੈ | ਐ | ai |
| ਅ + ੌ | ਔ | au |
| ੲ + ਿ | ਇ | i |
| ੲ + ੀ | ਈ | ii |
| ੲ + ੇ | ਏ | e |
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