Hello! Vannakum!
Welcome to the only (at this time) mnemonic Tamil alphabet on the Internet. I made this so I could read basic words and impress my Sri Lankan mother-in-law… and it totally worked! So now I’m typing it up both to share with others and also so I can find it again when I next go back to visit.
Though the meat of this article is the actual mnemonic pictures, I also give a little primer on how consonants, vowels, and the “chart” work. If you don’t like how I explain the rules there are other places on the Internet that also do a pretty good job like LINK (a super great reddit link where I learned a ton) and LINK (a great resource for charts).
Please note, I am not a Tamil speaker. I am learning from my wife, who is fluent. I also learned the Sri Lankan Tamil pronunciations, which sometimes differ slightly from Indian Tamil.
On that note… welcome and let’s go!
THE BASICS
The Tamil alphabet may look complicated — after all it is the language has one of the highest number of unique character sounds in the world — but once you break it down it’s not too bad. Drawing each character with a memonic device will help you remember both the shape and sound of the letter. I designed this over three days and was able to read Tamil phonetically by the end (albiet I was reading very slowly). Learning my memory techniques, or designing your own if you find mine difficult, will allow you to do learn it just as fast if not faster!
First, I’ll explain how the mnemonics work with a basic intro to consonants and vowels.
CONSONANTS
Consonants are any sounds that aren’t vowels. So in English, that’s all the sounds that AREN’T A E I O U. For example, K, D, V.
In Tamil, when a consonant is on its own it is pronounced with an “a” after it. You’ll also see the consonant with a dot over it, which is pronounced with an “i” before it.
This is the letter “K”:
The above letter, written like this, is pronounced “Ka”.
If you put a dot over it, like this:
It becomes “ik”. This is the same for every single consonant.
Okay, you’ve got that. I’ve made up little drawings for each consonant. You’ll figure it out.
VOWELS
In Tamil there are two sounds for each vowel, short and long. For example, the “a” can be:
The short “a” is more of a “u” sound, which is why I’ve written it as ugly fish. The long:
The long is more of an “aaa” sound. Like screaming. If you compare the two, you’ll see the longer “a” has the loop at the bottom, otherwise they look very similar. Thus for each vowel I’ve tried to draw the short and long sounds to be similar in style.
CONSONANTS PLUS VOWELS
Okay, one more thing to learn before you get to the fun stuff. Remember those “highest number of unique sounds”? That’s because each combination of consonant and vowel is written differently. Ka is different from Kaa, which is different from Ko, and Koo, and Ku, and so on. However, each vowel follows a pattern, so if you learn what the “a” vowels look like, you’ll be able to pair it up with each letter easily.
For example, here is the letter that makes the short “e” sound. The pure vowel is written like the top character, but when paired with a constanant it looks like the bottom character.
Thus, to make the sound “Ke”, you’d write it like this:
This pairing has the vowel going first, but some follow the consonant. All you need to do is learn it once and you’ll know how it goes with the rest (there is one exception to this, but it follows a few patterns so it’s not that complicated).
Luckily, there is a handy grid that allows you to see this. Vowels go across the top, consonants on the side, and you pair them up in the middle. Maybe write this out once or twice, then keep it handy for the first few days, and I guarantee you’ll have the whole thing memorized.
Here’s the chart. Take a look and see how it works, but don’t bother memorizing it yet. Can you find Ke on there? See how it works? I’ll put it again at the end. By then you’ll be surprised at how easy it seems.
I didn’t make the above chart. I got it off the Internet, but it is pretty dang good so I’m including it. Credit to mister arullawrence! Their email is there if you have any questions.
THE MNEMONICS
Now for the fun stuff! I’ve done my best to make these memorable and fun, but the important thing is that you resonate with them, so feel free to make your own or change mine. Remember, each vowel has its “paired form” underneath it’s pure form.
Though these are useful on their own, I recommend making your own version of the chart once or twice so you see how they all fit together. It’s the fastest way to make them clear.
Again, the symbol on the left is the actual letter, the drawing on the right is what I think it kind of looks like. The sound of the letter is underlined.
அ is pronounced like “u” in “ugly”. To remember it, try to see the ugly fish.
When அ is combined with a consonant, the consonant is written in its most basic form, without the dot. So அ + க் = க.
ஆ is pronounced like “aa” in “caught”. To remember it, picture a fish hook and line being caught onto the ugly fish’s fin.
When ஆ is combined with a consonant, it becomes the second symbol that I think looks like a cave. Try to picture the fish escaping the hook by going into its cave. For example, ஆ + க் = கா (kaa).
ஆ will only ever be written when expressing a pure “aa” sound. If combined, it’ll always look like the cave.
இ is pronounced like a very short “ee”. The Internet debates me on this, but my wife assures me this is how it’s said. You can remember it by picturing a super fun slide that abruptly ends when the rider smashes into the ground, cutting their scream of joy dead short. Ee—.
When combined, இ becomes solely the final tail of the shape. This usually connects on top, but it’s a little different for each consonant. For example: இ + க் = கி (ki)
ஈ is pronounced like “ee” in “screaming” or “creak”. To remember it, picture it as a pair of doors, with someone opening it very creakily.
When combined, it becomes a little curl on top of the consonant. I remember it as the next level of the slide… someone flying off and screaming their lungs out. For example: ஈ + க் = கீ
Whoa! Three potential combinations?! Don’t be alarmed, it’ll make sense.
உ is irregular, which means it has a few different ways of being combined. On its own, it is pronounced “u”, like in “luge”. If you’re unfamiliar with luging, it is the olympic bobsledding sport. It rhymes with “huge”. To remember it, picture someone sitting a sled/luge. Simple!
When combined it follows one of the above three options. Because this is the only irregular letter, it is usually the case that an unfamiliar letter will either be this one or the next. I’ve tried to make them all luge related. The best way to remember them is to write them out a few times: உ + க் = கு
ஊ is also irregular. Pronounced “oo” like in “woo”. To remember it, picture a little elephant riding a luge and screaming with joy. The little elephant shape on the back is a consonant that we will get to soon.
When combined, it also has three possibilities. They all look similar to the உ combos, but with a little something extra added to them: ஊ + க் = கூ
எ is pronounced like the short “e” in “elephant”. To remember it, picture an elephant’s trunk and ear.
When combined, it becomes the trunk of the elephant on its own. It is placed in front of the consonant: எ + க் = கெ
ஏ is pronounced “aye”, like the previous letter but elongated. To remember it, picture an elephant yelling angrily, which elongates its vowels.
When combined, it becomes a sort of fist, or brass knuckles shape, which can be wielded by the angry elephant. This also goes in front of the consonant: ஏ + க் = கே
ஐ can be pronounced “eye” and “aiee”, depending on the word. To remember it, picture a whole bunch of eyes stacked on top of each other.
When combined, it becomes this loopy letter that is placed in front of the consonant. To me it looks like two eyes: ஐ + க் = கை
ஒ is pronounced a short “o” like “ovaries”. To remember it, picture an outline of ovaries.
When combined the consonant goes in the middle of the trunk and the cave combos, on the __. ஒ + க் = கொ
To me, the combo mode looks like an elephant in profile. She’s a female elephant to pair her up with the ovaries. This letter and the next two are all similar, so I tried to tell a little story… I apologize that it’s very silly.
ஓ is pronounced a longer “oa” like “boat”. To remember it, picture those ovaries but with an opening at the bottom.
When combined the consonant goes in the middle again, on the __. ஓ + க் = கோ
To me, the combo mode looks like the profile elephant, but now she’s got nice curly hair, which looks soooo nice.
ஔ is pronounced “ow” like “wow”. To remember it, picture the ovaries next to a baby elephant. The miracle of childbirth — wow!
When combined the consonant goes in the middle again, on the __. ஔ + க் = கௌ
This combo looks like the mom elephant followed by the baby. Wow!
That’s the final vowel. Now it’s on to the consonants. I’m going to use the “a” combos for most of them, but I’m going to present it as a simple consonant sound (which isn’t really the case). I know people are going to message me about this, but I feel like this is simpler for learning purposes. You’ll also notice there are a few repeat sounds. These are so similar that it’s easiest to learn them as the same sounds right now and differentiate later. The big difference is that they appear in different spots when used in words — again, this is problem for more advanced you.
க – “k”; used for k and g sounds . To remember it, picture it as a tank, empathizing the last “k” sound.
ங – “ng”; used for ng sound like “ng” in tongue. To remember it, picture it as a mouth with a toNGue out, siNGing.
ச – “s/ch”; used for s and ch sounds like in “saddle”. To remember picture a saddle on a horse.
ஞ – “nj”; used for nj sound like “nj” in injury. To remember picture an elephant with their intestines pulled out — a horrible injury.
ட – “t”; used for t and d sounds like in “sit” or “sad”. To remember picture a chair with someone sitting on it.
ண – “n”; used for n sounds like in “in”. To remember picture someone going into a tunnel.
த – “th”; used for th sound like in “thread”. To remember picture a needle and thread.
ந – “n”; used for n sounds like “nose” and nth like “n th” in the phrase “in the”. To remember picture the bump on the side as someone’s nose. Yeah, it’s another n. There’s one more coming!
ப – “p”; used for p sound like in “package”. To remember picture a package with the lid open. This one is easy.
ம – “m”; used for m sound like in “mailbox”. To remember picture a mailbox.
ய – “y”; used for y sound like in “yak”. To remember picture the front is the yak’s head and the rear, his torso. However, his top is open, which is why he has no back.
ர – “r”; used for r sound like in “rhino”. To remember picture a charging rhino with its face down and hor forward.
ல – “l”; used for l sound like in “ill”. To remember picture a tapeworm promising to make you ill.
வ – “v”; used for v sound like in “vat”. To remember picture a flask filled with acid.
ழ – “l”; used for l sound (but it’s more of a rolling tongue “l” mixed with an “r”) like in “lazy”. To remember picture the letter making the shape of the word “lazy”.
ள – “l”; used for l sound like in “little”. To remember picture a little elephant.
ற – “r”; used for r sound like in “rat”. To remember picture a rat with two little ears.
ன – “n”; used for n sound like “in”. To remember picture another tunnel. Yeah, it’s basically exactly the same as the other one.
And there you go! That’s all of them. Do they make sense?
Again, I’d recommend writing out the entire chart to really get a feel for how they pair together. I gauarantee if you write it out yourself you’ll get a hold of it pretty quickly.
BONUS WORDS
Great work! You should be able to sound out Tamil words very slowly. Here are a few examples:
தவளை — Frog (thavalai)
வீடு — House (veetu)
பூ — Flower (poo)
முடி – Hair (muti)
வணக்கம் – Hello (vanakkam)
Hopefully that was fun and interesting. Thanks for reading and let me know if you have feedback. I probably won’t look at this again until I go back to my in-laws and need to refresh, but I’ll eventually see your comments I’m sure!
Until next time, keep on learning and நன்றி (thanks / Nanri) for reading 🙂