Tamil alphabets consists of 12 vowels and 18 consonants.

Vowels

Apart from 12 vowels we have an additional character ஃ (ak).This character is not a vowel but we use for the sake of our convenience and so we use them among vowels. Vowels are further classified into Short Vowels ( Kuril ) and Long Vowels ( Nedil ).

அ	a	Short Vowel
ஆ	aa	Long Vowel
இ	i	Short Vowel
ஈ	ii	Long Vowel
உ	u	Short Vowel
ஊ	uu	Long Vowel
எ	e	Short Vowel
ஏ	ee	Long Vowel
ஐ	ai	Long Vowel
ஒ	o	Short Vowel
ஓ	oo	Long Vowel
ஔ	au	Long Vowel
ஃ	ak	Special Character

Consonants

There are 18 pure consonants in Tamil.

Tamil Consonants	Pronounciation	Example
க்	k	kite
ங்	ng	mango
ச்	ch	batch
ஞ்	eng	messenger
ட்	it	cat
ண்	inn	sandal
த்	th	strength
ந்	inth	Not found in English,but as in Tamil ‘Panthu’
ப்	ip	flap
ம்	im	time
ய்	iy	yolk
ர்	ir	roll
ல்	ll	bell
வ்	iv	van
ழ்	izh	Not found in English,but as in Tamil ‘Vazhga’
ள்	il	pull
ற்	iR	partner
ன்	in	sin

These 18 consonants are of three kinds. Every letters in pure consonants has a dot on top of it.If the dot is removed it is pronounced with ‘a’ sound

வல்லினம் – Vallinam / Hard

க	ka
ச	sa
ட	da
த	tha
ப	pa
ற	Ra

இடையினம் – Idaiyinam / Middle

ய	ya
ர	ra
ல	lla
வ	va
ழ	zha
ள	la

மெல்லினம் – Mellinam / Soft

ங	nga
ஞ	nya
ண	Na
ந	nna
ம	ma
ன	na

• A word will never begin with the letters like ங , ண , ழ , ள , ற and ன.
• ஸ்ரீ is a Symbolic character.
• There is no equivalent for consonant ழ in any other non Dravidian Languages.