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Malayalam · Malayalam letters

Malayalam Alphabet

Malayalam is written in its own round script, read left to right. It is an abugida: every consonant letter carries a built-in short a, and vowel signs written before, after, above or below the consonant replace it (കാ kaa, കി ki, കു ku); the sign ് (chandrakkala) removes the vowel, and at the end of a word it is read as a very short u (ഇത് ith or ithu). Vowel letters on their own are used only at the start of a word or syllable. Two consonants with no vowel between them often join into one shape (a koottaksharam, such as ക്ക kka or ന്ന nna), and six chillu letters (ൺ ൻ ർ ൽ ൾ ൿ) are pure consonants that never take a vowel. Sounds use the lessons' plain spelling: aa, ee and oo for the long vowels ാ ീ ൂ, plain e and o for both the short and the long െ േ ൊ ോ (the hint tells them apart), zh for ഴ, nj for ഞ, ng for ങ, and no capital or dotted letters. The lessons spell several pairs alike (ത and ട both th/t, ന and ണ both na, ള and ല both la, ര and റ both ra, ശ and ഷ both sha), so the hint on each card says which is which. Malayalam has its own digits (൦ ൧ ൨ ൩ …), but they are almost never used today; signs, prices and phones use 1 2 3.

Practice Malayalam Letters Free

Flashcards for every letter, and Draw The Letter: trace and draw each one with your finger. Free, no account needed, no ads.

Vowels (swarangal)

Vowel signs on ക

Consonants · velar (ka row)

Consonants · palatal (cha row)

Consonants · retroflex (ta row)

Consonants · dental (tha row)

Consonants · labial (pa row)

Consonants · other consonants

Chillu letters

Common joined letters (koottaksharam)

Numbers (Malayalam digits)

Signs & menu words

Basic Malayalam phrases