LingoflyHow to read in Tamil
Tamil script: a letter is already a syllable, and voicing is not written but follows from position. The script names itself “தமிழ் (tamiḻ) எழுத்து” (eḻuttu). The alphabet has 31 letters. The writing course covers them all, plus 16 signs that do not count as letters: கா, க், கி, கீ, கு, கூ, கெ, கே, கை, கொ, கோ, கௌ, ஜ, ஸ, ஷ and ஹ. The characters come a few per session — in two or three weeks a shop sign stops being a picture.
A letter is already a syllable
A consonant already carries the vowel 'a': க — 'ka', ம — 'ma', ப — 'pa'.
So the first words are read almost without vowel signs. அம்மா (ammā) — 'amma', mom. அப்பா (appā) — 'appa', dad.
A separate vowel letter (அ, இ, உ) is needed only at the beginning of a word. Inside it the vowels turn into signs around the consonant.
The dot that removes the vowel
A dot above the letter is called the pulli (புள்ளி (puḷḷi)). It means 'there is no vowel here': க — 'ka', க் — just 'k'.
Every word ending in a consonant ends with it, and there are many: வணக்கம் (vaṇakkam) — 'vanakkam', not 'vanakkama'. Inside a word the pulli shows doubling and clusters of consonants: க்க — 'kk'.
Tamil grammar calls the letter with the pulli the mey ('body') and the vowel the uyir ('soul'). The syllable made of the two is the uyirmei, the 'animated body'.
One letter — several sounds
The main rule of Tamil reading, without which the letters do not turn into speech: voicing is not written; it follows from the place in the word.
The six hard letters are the vallinam. At the start of a word and after a similar consonant they are voiceless. Between vowels and after a nasal they are voiced:
- கடை (kaḍai) — 'kadei' (shop), and பகல் — 'pagal' (day);
- பால் (pāl) — 'pal' (milk), and அப்பா (appā) — 'appa';
- தண்ணி (taṇṇi) — 'thanni' (water), and உதவி (udavi) — 'udhavi' (help).
There are no separate letters for 'g', 'd', 'b' in Tamil at all — and none are needed. In native words the rule has no exceptions. Only borrowings break it: there a letter is read as in the language the word came from.
Vowel signs that stand where they do not sound
Three vowel signs — ெ ('e'), ே ('ee') and ை ('ai') — are written to the left of the letter but pronounced after it. கெ is 'ke', not 'ek'.
This is the only place where Tamil writing parts ways with the order of speech. It is also the one mistake everybody makes. The rule is simple: see a sign on the left, look to the right, find the letter, and only then read.
Three more vowel signs, ொ ('o'), ோ ('oo') and ௌ ('au'), take the letter into brackets on both sides. It is still one sign, not two.
Three rows of consonants
Tamil grammar divides the eighteen consonants into three rows of six, and has used that division for two thousand years. It is worth it: the difference between the rows is visible at once.
Vallinam — the hard ones. The six that change their sound by position in the word.
Mellinam — the nasals, one for each hard one. The nasal almost always stands in front of 'its' pair: ங before க, ண before ட, ன before ற.
Idaiyinam — the middles, semivowels and liquids. Here lives ழ — a rare sound (outside Tamil, practically only Malayalam has it) and the one the language names itself by: தமிழ் (tamiḻ).
| Row | Signs | What they are |
|---|---|---|
| வல்லினம் | க ச ட த ப ற | hard: voiceless at the start, voiced in the middle |
| மெல்லினம் | ங ஞ ண ந ம ன | nasals, one for each hard one |
| இடையினம் | ய ர ல வ ழ ள | middles: semivowels and liquids |
Letters for foreign sounds
Tamil itself has neither 'j', nor 'sh', nor 'h', nor 'f'. Words that need these sounds are written with the grantha letters: ஜ (j), ஷ (sh), ஸ (s), ஹ (h). They were taken from a neighboring script for Sanskrit, and now they write words from other languages: டாக்ஸி (ṭāksi) (taxi), பஸ் (bas) (bus).
Apart stands ஃ — the aytham, the only letter that is neither a vowel nor a consonant. The combination ஃப renders 'f'.
The Tamil count of letters knows no grantha: the alphabet is 12 vowels, 18 consonants and the aytham — exactly thirty-one signs. The rest are guests.
What order to take the characters in
The writing course is split into 7 steps: one step is one lesson, a few characters at a time. Nobody takes the whole script at once out of mercy: 47 signs in an evening stay in memory for exactly that, an evening.
- 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.
- 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.
Frequently asked
How many characters do you need to learn to read in Tamil?
47 signs. The writing course covers them all, plus 16 signs that do not count as letters: கா, க், கி, கீ, கு, கூ, கெ, கே, கை, கொ, கோ, கௌ, ஜ, ஸ, ஷ and ஹ. After that a word stops being a picture — even when its meaning is still unknown.
What to learn first: letters or words?
Letters. A word in an unfamiliar script cannot be read at all, and a “word — translation” card tells you no more than a picture does.
How long does it take to learn to read in Tamil?
One step a day — 7 days. That is about recognizing characters, not understanding: you will start reading aloud before you understand what you read.