Product Support

Keyboard Support

Developer Support

Contact and Search

Keyman.com Homepage

Header bottom

Keyman.com

On this page

Devanagari Romanized (SIL) Keyboard Help

The Devanagari Romanized (SIL) keyboard maps the Devanagari characters to their respective keys on the US English keyboard. The keyboard layout can be viewed by clicking on the Keyman icon and selecting the On-Screen Keyboard menu item, or by opening the Help documentation. This layout matches the “Devanagari Romanized (SAG)” Windows keyboard layout.

Keyboard Layout

Desktop Keyboard Layout

Note:

You can use Left Ctrl + Left Alt in place of the Right Alt key.

How to type in Devanagari Romanized (SIL) Keyboard? How it is different than other Nepali keyboards?

Most of the alfabetical keys represents the Devnagari letters with similar sounds. For instance, k represents 'क', K (Shift+k) represents 'ख' and g represents 'ग'. Similarly, you can find the related letters with ease using this keyboard.

  • इकार (iikar)

    • k + i → कि (ह्रस्व)
k + Shift +  i → की (दीर्घ)

  • ह्रस्व उकार र दीर्घ ऊकार (rasso ukar and dhirga uukar)

    • k + u → कु (उकार)
k + Shift +  u → कू (ऊकार)

  • एकार र ऐकार (ikar and ekar)

    • k + e → के (एकार)
k + Shift +  e → कै (ऐकार)

  • ओकार र औकार (okar and aukar)

    • k + o → को (ओकार)
k + Shift +  o → कौ (औकार)

  • Dead Key

    • In the Nepali language there are many letters and symbols, and not all of them will fit on the QWERTY layout. To create more characters, we use a 'dead key'. A 'dead key' produces no output, instead it changes the output of the keys that are pressed immediately afterwards. In this keyboard, we are using the q as a dead key.

  • स्वर अक्षरहरू छुट्टै लेख्न परेमा (If you want to write vowels separately)

    • q + Shift + a → अ
q + a → आ
q + i → इ
q + Shift + i → ई
q + u → उ
q + Shift + u → ऊ
q + L-Ctrl + L-Alt + z → ऋ
q + R-Alt + z → ऋ
q + e → ए
q + Shift + e → ऐ
q + o → ओ
q + Shift + o → औ

  • The हलन्त (halanta)

    • The हलन्त (halanta) looks like this (्) and goes under the base of the consonant. When you add a हलन्त (halanta) to the consonant characters, you cancel their respective vowel sound, for example प्, क्, ट्. The हलन्त (halanta) can be used to join consnants in three different ways:

    • The consonants can joined together to make a conjunct
    • The first consonant becomes a half-character
    • The first consonant is followed by an explicit halanta

    संयुक्त/संयोजन (Conjuncts)

    In this keyboard we use ; (semicolon) to form Conjuncts.

    k + ; → क +  ्  → क्
K + ; → ख +  ्  → ख्

    Half-Characters using ZWJ (Zero Width Joiner)

    In this keyboard we use x to type a halanta followed by ZWJ character U+200D. The ZWJ is used when you want the first consonant to be displayed as a half-character, immediately followed by the next consonant.

    झ + र +  ्‍ + ZWJ + य ो → झर्‍यो
र् + ZWJ + य  +ा + ल → र्‍याल
ह + ा + न् + ZWJ + न + ु → हान्‍नु

    Forced Halanta using ZWNJ (Zero Width Non Joiner)

    In this keyboard we use Shift + x to type a halanta followed by the ZWNJ character U+200C. The ZWNJ is used when you want an explicit halant between the consonants

    श्री + मा + न्‌(Shift + x ) + को → श्रीमान्‌को

  • रेफ (reph)

    • It is the letter 'र' (ra) with the inherent short vowel dropped. The mark by which it is denoted is placed over the letter following it, such as- कर्म, हर्ष etc. Reph looks like a right-facing sickle.

    र + ् + क → र्क
र + ् + म → र्म

  • रकार (rakār)

    • Rakar is used to indicate a consonant conjunct ending in "Ra". Rakār looks like a left-facing diagonal dash (sometimes duplicated in some cases). Note that reph will go above the letter while rakār will go beneath. In this keyboard we input rakār by two ways as shown below.

    p + Shift + R → प्र
p + ; + r → प + ् + र → प्र

  • बारम्बार प्रयोग हुने संयुक्त अक्षरहरू (Common Conjuncts)

    • A conjunct consonant comprises two or more consonants with nothing separating them; in particular there is no vowel between them. In this case we use halanta/virama (्), which tries to combine two or more consonants together. Some of the frequently occuring arrangements are shown below.

    त +  ् + म → त्म
न +  ् + त +  ् + य → न्त्य
म +  ् + न → म्न
ब +  ् + व → ब्व
ष +  ् + ट → ष्ट
द +  ् + ग → द्ग
ट +  ् + ट → ट्ट
ङ +  ् + क → ङ्क
स +  ् + न +  ् + य → स्न्य
ष +  ् + ठ +  ् + य → ष्ठ्य
श +  ् + र → श्र
द +  ् + ध → द्ध (बुद्ध)
द +  ् + द → द्द (मद्दत)
त् + त → त्त
ह् + न → ह्न
द् + य → द्य
ट् + य → ट्य
ह् + म → ह्म
क +  ् + क → क्क
क +  ् + त → क्त
ह +  ् + र → ह्र (गाह्रो)
ह +  ् + य → ह्य (ह्याकुला)
ह +  ् + व → ह्व (विह्वोल)
त +  ् + र → त्र
* ह +  ृ → हृ (हृदय)

  • विशेष संयोजन अक्षरहरू (Special Conjuncts)

    • Normally the symbols for a conjunct consonants are constructed from their component symbols and are quite obvious to see, and their construction reflects their pronunciation. However, there are two which are quite different from their component parts. In Devanagari, such a sound is represented by concatenating two consonants to form what is known as a ligature.

    क + ् + ष → क्ष
ज + ् + ञ → ज्ञ

    Tablet Keyboard Layout

    The layout for tablet version remains same as the phone layout.

    Phone Keyboard Layout

    All Documentation Versions


    Keep me updated