ދ — dhaalu
«dhaalu» is a consonant of Maldivian, the “the Thaana script” script, read as “dh”. A soft dental “d”: the tongue rests at the teeth, not at the ridge. For example, in the word “ދިހަ” — ten. The Maldivian alphabet has 35 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. Do not confuse with ޑ (d): ދ is dental, ޑ has the tongue curled back. It appears, for example, in the word “އާދެ” — yes (polite).
In short
| Character | ދ |
| Name | dhaalu |
| Sound | dh |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 20th of 35: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ވ and ޫ, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How it sounds
A soft dental “d”: the tongue rests at the teeth, not at the ridge
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- ދިހަdhihaten
The character in the “twenty-four consonants” group
The order is the canonical one — haa, shaviyani, nonu, raa… It is not an alphabet in the familiar sense: the first nine signs descend from Arabic numerals, and you can see it in their shapes.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «dhaalu» it is “dh”, as in the word “ދިހަ”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 35 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Maldivian character ދ read?
As “dh” — it is a consonant of the “the Thaana script” script. A soft dental “d”: the tongue rests at the teeth, not at the ridge. For example, in the word “ދިހަ” — ten.
What is the letter ދ called?
Dhaalu. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Maldivian script: it is called “dhaalu” and reads as “dh”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can ދ be confused with?
Do not confuse with ޑ (d): ދ is dental, ޑ has the tongue curled back. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.