← All languages Indo-Aryan — the oldest of the modern Indo-Aryan languages, with writing from the 11th century6 lessons

🚩 Marathi मराठी

About 83 million, mainly in Maharashtra, Goa and the border districts of Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh

✍️ The script

Devanagari, with a few Marathi touches — the letter ळ, and च, ज, झ each having two pronunciations

🎯 Why learn it

Marathi is the language of Maharashtra: of Mumbai's markets and Pune's colleges, of Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram, of Shivaji's letters. For anyone living or studying in the state, a hundred Marathi words change every daily transaction; and its literature is among the richest in India.

🌱 How this course teaches

If you know Hindi, half of Marathi is already yours — the word order, many words, the same script. So this course points out what is shared and spends its time on what is genuinely different: the neuter gender, the ळ sound, and the soft ch and j that no Hindi speaker expects.

🔊 The sounds to get right first

ळ (वेळ, शाळा)	a retroflex l	The tongue curls back to the roof and flaps. It does not exist in Hindi and is the single giveaway of a Marathi speaker. Also found in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
च / ज — two ways	cha and tsa · ja and za	चार (four) is 'chaar', but चमचा (spoon) has a soft 'ts'. जा (go) is 'jaa', but जमीन (land) is closer to 'zameen'. Ear, not rule.
अं at the end	nasal	मी करतो/करते — the nasal endings are lighter than in Hindi.
ऋ (ऋषी)	ru	A vowel in its own right, inherited from Sanskrit.
Stress	usually first syllable	Marathi is flatter than Hindi. Keep the pitch even and it already sounds more natural.

The lessons

Lesson 16 phrases

The first exchange

Greet, ask how someone is, and thank them.

Open → Lesson 26 phrases

Saying who and where you are

Introduce yourself and say where you live and study.

Open → Lesson 36 phrases

Doing things today

Use the present tense for yourself and others, with the right gender.

Open → Lesson 46 phrases

Numbers, time and the market

Count, ask prices and bargain politely.

Open → Lesson 56 phrases

Yesterday, tomorrow and wanting

Move through time and express what you need.

Open → Lesson 66 phrases

Keeping Marathi

Turn this into daily practice, and find the exams.

Open →

🔁 Keeping it

Three genders, not two — नाव and घर are neuter. The endings glue onto the noun (घरात, टेबलावर). Master ळ and the soft च, and use ना to soften everything you ask.

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