How to type Nepali with Roman letters
Start with a word you already know
You do not need to learn a new keyboard layout to use NepType. Open the free browser typing pad and type a Nepali word using Roman letters, such as namaste. The output appears in Devanagari as नमस्ते. You are writing the sound of a Nepali word, rather than translating an English word.
Type, choose, and copy
The browser pad has two boxes: Roman input on the left and Nepali output on the right. On a small screen, the output appears below the input.
- Type in Roman input. The output updates as you write.
- Choose Nepali + EN to keep recognized English words, or All Nepali to write those words in Nepali letters too.
- Select a word in either box to see spelling suggestions. Click the spelling you want.
- Use Copy text and paste the result into your message, document, or social post. Keep a copy before closing or reloading the page.
Examples you can try in NepType
These examples use Nepali + EN mode in the browser tool. The food example becomes Nepali, while class and phone stay in English in the other messages. A sentence-ending period becomes the Nepali punctuation mark ।.
| Roman input | Nepali output |
|---|---|
namaste | नमस्ते |
malai momo man parcha. | मलाई मोमो मन पर्छ। |
aaja class cha. | आज class छ। |
mero phone naya cha. | मेरो phone नयाँ छ। |
Choose between पानी and पनि
Roman spelling can be ambiguous. The input pani has both पानी and पनि among its suggestions. Click the word, then choose the spelling that fits your sentence. The choice applies to that occurrence, so you can use different spellings of pani in the same paragraph. You can also keep the original Roman word. Names and unfamiliar words may need correction.
Use spelling shortcuts
With either editor focused, use Option plus the displayed number on Mac, or Alt plus the number on Windows or Linux, to choose a suggestion. The numbers shown beside the suggestions tell you which key to press. The output box is read-only; edit the Roman input or pick another suggestion to change it.
English to Nepali typing versus translation
People sometimes call Roman-to-Nepali typing “English to Nepali typing” because they use an English keyboard. NepType transliterates Nepali words written with Roman letters. It does not turn the meaning of an English sentence into Nepali. All Nepali mode changes how English words are written; it does not translate them.
Copy Unicode text, rather than changing a font
The output contains Unicode Devanagari characters. Copying नमस्ते preserves the Nepali letters themselves. The receiving app still needs a font that can display Devanagari. Legacy Preeti text uses a different workflow; pasting a Preeti document into this pad is not a Preeti-to-Unicode conversion.
What happens to your text?
The website needs a connection to load the page and dictionary. After that, conversion runs on your device without sending your typing to a conversion server. Reloading requires a connection. The pad keeps your draft only in memory; it is lost when you close or reload the page. Website analytics does not collect your input, output, or chosen spellings.
Need an offline Mac typing pad?
The native NepType Mac app works offline and also uses Roman input, spelling suggestions, and copy-and-paste output. It currently requires building from source. The browser and native apps use the same shared engine and dictionary pack; their controls can differ. Native keyboards for other platforms are still in development.