Consonants.
| ক ka | খ kha | গ ga | ঘ gha | ঙ ṅga (gnua). | Gutturals. |
| চ cha | ছ chha | জ ja | ঝ jha | ঞ nja (gnia). | Palatals. |
| ট ṭa | ঠ ṭha | ড ḍa | ঢ ḍha | ণ ṇa. | Cerebrals. |
| ত ta | থ tha | দ da | ধ dha | ন na | Dentals. |
| প pa | ফ pha | ব ba | ভ bha | ম ma | Labials. |
| য ya | র ra | ল la | ব va | Semivowels. | |
| শ śa | ষ sha | স sa | হ ha | Sibilants. |
Although for the sake of completeness the vowel signs ৠ ṛī, ৯ lṛi, and ৡ lṛī are included in the list of characters, they are not used at all in ordinary Bengali. They are, however, required in transcribing Sanskrit grammatical works into the Bengali character, and in Sanskrit grammars written for the use of Bengali students. The forms of the vowels given above are the initials, and are used only at the beginning of a word; when subjoined to a consonant they take the following forms:
| a | (not expressed) | ā | া | ||||
| i | ি | ī | ী | e | ে | ai | ৈ |
| u | ু | ū | ূ | o | ো | au | ৌ |
| ṛi | ৃ | ||||||
Thus ক ka, যা khā, গি gi, ঘ ghī, চু chu, ছূ chhū, ঘৃ jri, ঝে jhe, টৈ tai, ঠো tho, ডৌ dau.
In the following cases the combination of consonant and vowel gives rise to peculiar forms :
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র্ with ু is written রু. |
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(occa- sionally). When one consonant follows another with no vowel between, the two are, as in Devanagarl, combined into one compound letter. In most cases the elements of the compound are easily distinguishable,
