The dental row

Study ਤ ਥ ਦ ਧ ਨ. Locate ਤ first and ਦ third, keeping this row separate from the previous one.[1]

The Language Department describes ਤ through contact between the tongue-tip and the inside of the upper teeth. Dental refers to that tooth-related place of articulation. Use the place label to organise your notes, while comparing the actual written letters rather than assuming that identical English roman labels make Punjabi dental and retroflex consonants interchangeable.[2]

Associate a checked spelling with wire

The Mahan Kosh entry includes a metal-wire sense for ਤਾਰ. Look for ਤ at its beginning and retain the following vowel sign and final letter. Write this checked word beside the first member of the dental row. Then cover the English meaning and identify the starting letter again. The entry gives several other senses, so this lesson’s wire meaning is a selected vocabulary cue rather than a claim about every occurrence of the word.[3]

Use dal to check the contrast

The separate ਦਾਲ entry includes split grain and a cooked preparation. Use the familiar dal food sense here, then locate ਦ at the beginning of the checked spelling. Compare it with ਤ in the wire example and copy each word under its own initial letter. Both complete spellings include a vowel sign that has not yet been studied separately. Preserve that sign in practice; the exercise asks you to distinguish the consonants rather than delete unfamiliar parts of either word.[4]

Your learning objective

Recognise ਤ and ਦ in ਤਾਰ and ਦਾਲ, keeping dental and retroflex letters distinct.

Prerequisites: Complete Gurmukhi lesson 06 before this lesson. Level 7 · Gurmukhi.

Check your understanding

Which checked word begins with ਦ?

Answer: ਦਾਲ. ਦਾਲ begins with ਦ. The wire example ਤਾਰ begins with ਤ, another member of the dental row.

Interactive feedback and progress appear when the tools load. Answer evidence: PH-LAN-0037-S3 PH-LAN-0037-S4

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Gurdev Singh; Sahit Kosh Paribhashak Shabdavali, Punjabi University. Punjabi reference entry: ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ ਲਿਪੀ ↗institutional dictionary or authored reference entry · Source date: 2015-08-11 (online posting; print date not established) · Locator: Gurdev Singh entry: current alphabet-order table, row ਤ ਥ ਦ ਧ ਨ; web posting 11 August 2015. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual named entry inspected in the university-hosted page. Other entries and reader comments on the aggregated topic page are not automatically adopted. No history, religious origin, blanket sound correspondence or unsupported pronunciation rule is adopted. Chart/typeface not reproduced as an image.Return to Script form 1 ↑Return to The dental row, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Punjab Kosh, volume 2; Punjab Language Department. Punjabi reference entry: ਤ ↗institutional dictionary or authored reference entry · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Opening paragraph: dental articulation, tongue-tip against inside of upper teeth. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual named entry inspected in the university-hosted page. Other entries and reader comments on the aggregated topic page are not automatically adopted. Only dental articulation and letter identity used. Other symbolic senses and script-history speculation excluded.Return to The dental row, paragraph 2 ↑
  3. Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha; Language Department Punjab, Patiala, 1981 photo-offset publisher. Gurushabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh: ਤਾਰ (original text; 1981 photographic reproduction) ↗historical dictionary text in inspected photographic reproduction · Source date: 1981 · Locator: 1981 print587/leaf672, left column ਤਾਰ sense3; print630/leaf721, right column ਦਾਲ senses3–4; source PH-LAN-0037-S3; zero-based leaf 672, PDF page 673; physical imprint leaf5/PDF6 and reproduction declaration leaf7/PDF8. Accessed 2026-11-01.The exact main-text headword and selected lexical sense were visually inspected in the photographic reproduction. The edition identifies the main text as a reproduction of the first four-volume work; later appendix and prefatory commentary are not the vocabulary source. The lesson directions and exercises are original teaching material, not a quotation from the dictionary.Return to Practice exercise ↑Return to Script form 2 ↑Return to Associate a checked spelling with wire, paragraph 1 ↑
  4. Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha; Language Department Punjab, Patiala, 1981 photo-offset publisher. Gurushabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh: ਦਾਲ (original text; 1981 photographic reproduction) ↗historical dictionary text in inspected photographic reproduction · Source date: 1981 · Locator: 1981 print587/leaf672, left column ਤਾਰ sense3; print630/leaf721, right column ਦਾਲ senses3–4; source PH-LAN-0037-S4; zero-based leaf 721, PDF page 722; physical imprint leaf5/PDF6 and reproduction declaration leaf7/PDF8. Accessed 2026-11-01.The exact main-text headword and selected lexical sense were visually inspected in the photographic reproduction. The edition identifies the main text as a reproduction of the first four-volume work; later appendix and prefatory commentary are not the vocabulary source. The lesson directions and exercises are original teaching material, not a quotation from the dictionary.Return to Practice exercise ↑Return to Script form 3 ↑Return to Use dal to check the contrast, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-LAN-0037 · English edition · human review not performed