Nepali is natively spoken by about 13.7 million people, primarily in Nepal, where it is the official language, and among Nepali communities in India and Bhutan. It is integral to Nepali cultural identity, known for its Hindu and Buddhist traditions, folk music, and festivals such as Dashain and Tihar. Written in the Devanagari script, Nepali grammar features a subject-object-verb (SOV) word order, extensive use of postpositions, and a system of verb conjugations that indicate tense, aspect, and mood.