ற — hard ra
«hard ra» is a consonant of Tamil, the “Tamil script” script, read as “rra”. A tapped 'r' with the tip of the tongue; in the cluster ன்ற it reads 'ndr'. For example, in the word “நன்றி” — thank you. The Tamil alphabet has 49 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. The pair to ர. In modern speech the difference has almost worn off, but the spelling keeps it: நன்றி is written through ற. It appears, for example, in the word “நன்றி” — thank you.
In short
| Character | ற |
| Name | hard ra |
| Sound | rra |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 18th of 49: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ப and ங, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How it sounds
A tapped 'r' with the tip of the tongue; in the cluster ன்ற it reads 'ndr'
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.
- நன்றிnaṉṟithank you
The character in the “vallinam — the six hard ones” group
The row for the sake of which the Tamil classification is worth memorizing: exactly these six letters change their sound by position in the word. At the start they are voiceless ('ka', 'pa'), between vowels voiced ('ga', 'ba'). There are no separate letters for the voiced ones in Tamil at all.
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 «hard ra» it is “rra”, as in the word “நன்றி”), 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 — 49 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 Tamil character ற read?
As “rra” — it is a consonant of the “Tamil script” script. A tapped 'r' with the tip of the tongue; in the cluster ன்ற it reads 'ndr'. For example, in the word “நன்றி” — thank you.
What is the letter ற called?
Hard ra. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Tamil script: it is called “hard ra” and reads as “rra”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can ற be confused with?
The pair to ர. In modern speech the difference has almost worn off, but the spelling keeps it: நன்றி is written through ற. 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.