Bengali Basic Keyboard Help
This keyboard lets you type in Bengali (Bangla). It is easy to use for people familiar with Bengali and the Inscript keyboard layout. It includes some characters which are not found on the Inscript keyboard. It uses a normal English (QWERTY) keyboard.
Keyboard Layout
Desktop Keyboard Layout
Mobile/Tablet Keyboard Layout
Due to the size and number of keys, some characters are hidden in the long press. Press and hold on the key with a little dot on the top right to reveal them.
Quickstart
This keyboard has separate keys for consonants and vowels. Most Bengali characters have both consonant and vowel parts, and each part should be typed separately. The consonant part is always typed before the vowel, no matter where the vowel part is written.
For example, typing F will produce the vowel ই. If this vowel is combined with a consonant, though, such as কি, the vowel part ি is typed with f after the consonant has been typed. If you press Backspace once, only the vowel part will be erased, and you can type a different vowel.
Examples
Keyboard Details
The On Screen Keyboard shows the 35 normal consonants ক খ গ ঘ ঙ চ ছ জ ঝ ঞ ট ঠ ড ঢ ণ ত থ দ ধ ন প ফ ব ভ ম য় র ল শ ষ স হ য ড় ঢ়, the vowels অ আ ই ঈ উ ঊ ঋ এ ঐ ও ঔ ্ া ি ী ু ূ ৃ ে ৈ ো ৌ, and the ্ ত্ ং ঃ ঁ marks. To type numbers and some other characters which are used less often, use [RA*], [RSA*] or [CS*].
Bengali vowels and consonants are usually combined, so when you type a consonant and a vowel part, they will be joined into one character. If you use the arrow keys to move through the text, you only need to press an arrow key once to move past each character. If you press Delete before (on the left of) a combined consonant and vowel, it will be erased completely, but if you press Backspace after a character, only the vowel part will be erased (even if the vowel part appears before the consonant).
Vowels and Consonants
When you type consonants and vowel parts, you should always type the consonant part first, even when the vowel part appears on the left of the consonant. If you type any of the independent vowels, they will not be combined with consonants.
All the consonants naturally include the vowel sound অ, so if you want to produce a consonant with no vowel, you need to add the ্ mark. You can do this by typing d right after typing a consonant. After you have typed the ্ mark, you cannot type a vowel to combine with that consonant.
Bengali includes many combined consonants, and these are not shown on the keyboard. To type a combined consonant, type the first consonant, then the ্ mark, then the second consonant. The computer will then combine the two consonants into a single combined character. For example, typing kdk produces the combined consonant ক্ক.
Keystroke Examples
In the following table you can see examples of how to type the different vowels with the consonant ক. For a table of all the normal Bengali characters and how to type them, click here.
| Consonant | Vowel | Combined | Keystrokes |
| ক | ্ | ক্ | kd |
| অ | ক | k | |
| আ | কা | ke | |
| ই | কি | kf | |
| ঈ | কী | kr | |
| উ | কু | kg | |
| ঊ | কূ | kt | |
| ঋ | কৃ | k= | |
| এ | কে | ks | |
| ঐ | কৈ | kw | |
| ও | কো | ka | |
| ঔ | কৌ | kq |
Troubleshooting
Fonts
If you see squares when you type, or the Bengali characters do not appear correctly, please read the KeymanWeb troubleshooting guide.
Problem Solving
If a vowel does not combine with a consonant, make sure you have typed the consonant first. Also check that you have not typed another vowel already, or a standalone vowel, or the ্ mark.
System Requirements
It is recommended that you use an English QWERTY hardware keyboard with this keyboard.
© 2009-2019 SIL International
