The Tamil alphabet, one tap at a time.

Every Tamil letter with its romanization, a sound clip and an example word. Tap a letter to hear it; print the chart for the fridge.

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Tamil alphabet chart · learnbumi.com/tools/tamil-alphabet

Vowels 12

உயிர் எழுத்துகள் (uyir ezhuththugal): short and long pairs, plus ai and au.

Consonants 18

மெய் எழுத்துகள் (mei ezhuththugal): shown with the pulli dot; tap one to hear it with its vowel "a".

Hard consonants (stops) · வல்லினம் (vallinam)

Soft consonants (nasals) · மெல்லினம் (mellinam)

Medium consonants (approximants) · இடையினம் (idaiyinam)

Special letters

The aaytham ஃ and the grantha letters used for borrowed words.

Combined letters 216

உயிர்மெய் எழுத்துகள் (uyirmei ezhuththugal): every consonant with every vowel sign. Learn the 12 signs and you can read almost all 216 (the u and oo forms need extra practice).

Consonantஅaஆaaஇiஈeeஉuஊooஎeஏaeஐaiஒoஓoaஔau
க்k
ச்s
ட்t
த்th
ப்p
ற்r
ங்ng
ஞ்ny
ண்n
ந்n
ம்m
ன்n
ய்y
ர்r
ல்l
வ்v
ழ்zh
ள்l

How to use it

  1. Choose a setVowels, consonants, the 216 combined letters, or the special letter ஃ.
  2. Tap a letterHear it, see how to say it in English letters, and get an example word with its meaning.
  3. Print itThe Print button gives a clean one-page chart without the rest of the site.

How the Tamil alphabet is built

Tamil has 12 vowels (உயிர் எழுத்து (uyir ezhuththu) ‘"life letters"’), 18 consonants (மெய் எழுத்து (mei ezhuththu) ‘"body letters"’) and one special letter, the ஆய்தம் (aaytham) ‘aaytham’ (ஃ). Each consonant combines with each vowel to make the 216 உயிர்மெய் எழுத்து (uyirmei ezhuththu) ‘"life-body letters"’, for 247 in all.

That sounds like a lot, but the combined letters follow a pattern. A consonant on its own carries a dot, the pulli: க் (k) ‘k’. Without the dot it already includes "a": க (ka) ‘ka’. Every other vowel is a sign added before, after or around the consonant: கா (kaa) ‘kaa’, கி (ki) ‘ki’, கெ (ke) ‘ke’. Learn the 12 signs once and you can read almost all 216; only the u and oo forms need extra practice.

The consonants come in three groups

  • Hard (வல்லினம் (vallinam) ‘hard sounds’): க ச ட த ப ற. Crisp and unaspirated; they soften between vowels.
  • Soft (மெல்லினம் (mellinam) ‘soft sounds’): ங ஞ ண ந ம ன. The nasals.
  • Medium (இடையினம் (idaiyinam) ‘middle sounds’): ய ர ல வ ழ ள.

The sounds English speakers find hardest are ழ (zh), the two l's (ல / ள), the two r's (ர / ற) and the three n's (ந / ண / ன). Our pronunciation guide walks through each one.

Extra letters you'll see

Modern Tamil also uses a few Grantha letters for borrowed words: ஜ (ja), ஷ (sha), ஸ (sa), ஹ (ha) and the combination ஸ்ரீ (sri). They aren't part of the traditional 247, but you'll meet them in names and English loanwords.

Hear it in real TamilWatch a 20-second clip with tap-to-translate captions and see how Bumi will work.

Guides for this tool

Script & sounds · 9 min Tamil Alphabet Explained: Vowels, Consonants, 247 Letters The Tamil alphabet in plain English: 12 vowels (uyir), 18 consonants (mei), 216 combined letters (uyirmei) and how the vowel signs work. Script & sounds · 8 min Tamil Pronunciation Guide: 5 Sounds English Speakers Miss How to pronounce ழ (zh), ற vs ர, ள vs ல, the three n's (ண ந ன) and ட vs த, with minimal pairs so you can hear and feel the difference. Script & sounds · 7 min Do You Need to Learn Tamil Script to Speak Tamil? You can start speaking Tamil without the script. Here's when romanization is enough, when it starts to hold you back, and a plan that does both.

Questions, answered

How many letters are in the Tamil alphabet?

247: 12 vowels, 18 consonants, 216 vowel-consonant combinations and the aaytham (ஃ). A few Grantha letters (ஜ, ஷ, ஸ, ஹ) are used for borrowed words on top of that.

Do I have to memorise all 216 combined letters?

No. Learn the 18 consonants and the 12 vowel signs; the combined letters are predictable from those, with a handful of irregular shapes (for example the u and oo forms) that you pick up by reading.

Where does the audio come from?

Each clip is generated with ElevenLabs text-to-speech and checked by speech recognition against the written Tamil; clips that fail the check get no play button. Synthetic voices are a good start, but listen to real speakers too.

Can I print the chart?

Yes. The Print button opens your browser's print dialog with a clean chart layout (no menus or buttons). Choose "Save as PDF" to keep a copy.

More free tools

Free Tamil transliterator Paste Tamil script to read it in English letters, or type "vanakkam" to get வணக்கம். Most used Free Tamil numbers converter Any number in Tamil words, Tamil numerals and the everyday spoken form, plus a 1–100 table. Free What's your Tamil level? Five short real-Tamil clips, two minutes, and an honest read on where to start.

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