The Apostrophe in Words

FoundationsSounds Like la’raā / ka’ta / ha’la

ক’ত “where” has the mark and is said kot. Without it, কত is said kôt and means “how much”.

How It Works

The mark ’ turns the hidden vowel ô into o, the vowel in “go”. It is written inside the word, between two letters.

With the markWithout it
ক’ত kot “where”কত kôt “how much”
ক’লা kola “black”কলা kôla “banana”

So the mark changes the word. Other common words with it are ল’ৰা “boy”, হ’ল “became” and ৰ’দ “sunshine”.

The mark is a curly ’, and it sits inside the word. It is never a space or a quotation mark.

Say o with rounded lips, as in “go”. Say ô with the mouth more open, as in “hot”.

Examples (5)

  1. ল’ৰা

    Boy.

    The mark shows the vowel o after ল.

  2. ক’ত

    Where.

    The mark shows o after ক.

  3. হ’ল

    Became, happened.

    The mark shows o after হ.

  4. ৰ’দ

    Sunshine.

    The mark shows o after ৰ.

  5. ক’লা

    Black.

    Without the mark, কলা means “banana”.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving the mark out of a word.

    কলা ছাতি
    ক’লা ছাতি

    The first phrase means “banana umbrella”. The mark makes ক’লা “black”.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

The Apostrophe in WordsFoundations

Learn This First

The mark ’ shows a different vowel, so learners need the bare vowel ô of কৰ first.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.