Tamil Alphabets

The Tamil language has a rich and ancient grammatical tradition. At the heart of its script are the vowels, known as உயிரெழுத்துக்கள் (uyireḻuttukkaḷ), which translates to "life letters" or "soul letters." This poetic designation highlights their fundamental role in the language, as they can be pronounced independently and are essential for forming syllables by combining with consonants. There are 12 vowels in Tamil, which are categorized based on their duration of pronunciation.

Classification of Vowels

Tamil vowels are primarily classified into two groups:

• குறில் (kuṟil) - Short vowels
• நெடில் (neṭil) - Long vowels

This distinction is crucial as the length of a vowel sound can alter the meaning of a word.

Short Vowels (குறில்)

There are five short vowels, each with a single phonetic unit of length:

Long Vowels (நெடில்)

The remaining seven vowels are long vowels, which have approximately twice the phonetic length of the short vowels:

It's important to note that ஐ (ai) and ஔ (au) are diphthongs, meaning they are a combination of two vowel sounds within the same syllable.

உயிர் எழுத்துக்கள் (Vowels)

மெய் எழுத்துக்கள் (Pure Consonants)

உயிர்மெய் எழுத்துக்கள் (Compound Letters)

Compound letters (Uyirmei Ezhuthukkal) are formed by combining one of the 18 pure consonants (மெய் எழுத்துக்கள்) with one of the 12 vowels (உயிர் எழுத்துக்கள்). This results in 18 x 12 = 216 compound letters. Below are all 18 rows. Hover over a letter to see its Roman transliteration.

க series

ங series

ச series

ஞ series

ட series

ண series

த series

ந series

ப series

ம series

ய series

ர series

ல series

வ series

ழ series

ள series

ற series

ன series

Irregular Compound Letters (விதிவிலக்குகள்)

Several consonants have unique (irregular) forms when combined with the vowels உ (u) and ஊ (uu). Below are the most common exceptions.

Special Character (ஆய்த எழுத்து)

The Āytam (ஃ), known as ஆய்த எழுத்து, is a unique character in the Tamil script. While rare in everyday modern writing, it plays a crucial role in classical literature and linguistics. It's neither a vowel nor a consonant and functions as a sound modifier, often hardening the pronunciation of the following consonant. It is typically pronounced as a glottal fricative, similar to the 'h' sound in "ahem".

கிரந்த எழுத்துக்கள் (Grantha Letters)

Grantha letters are borrowed from the Grantha script and used to write non-native sounds, particularly from Sanskrit and English. They are commonly found in modern texts.

Pronunciation Changes Based on Position (Allophony)

A key concept in spoken Tamil is that the pronunciation of hard consonants (like க, ச, ட, த, ப) changes depending on their position. A single letter can represent multiple sounds. This is a fundamental rule for sounding natural.

Commonly Confused Alphabets

Some Tamil letters look or sound similar. Pay close attention to the differences.