Tamil Sinhala Alphabet May 2026

ஐ and ஔ are diphthongs. 2.2 Consonants (Mey Ezhuththu – "Body Letters") – 18 Tamil consonants are unaspirated and unvoiced (except for the 3 nasal sounds). Each consonant inherently contains the short vowel a (அ). To remove the vowel, use the pulli (dot) above the letter.

| Letter | IPA | Sound example | |--------|-----|----------------| | க் | /k/ | ey | | ங் | /ŋ/ | si ng | | ச் | /t͡ʃ/ | ch in | | ஞ் | /ɲ/ | ca ny on | | ட் | /ʈ/ | t op (retroflex) | | ண் | /ɳ/ | retroflex n | | த் | /t̪/ | dental t (like Spanish t ) | | ந் | /n̪/ | dental n | | ப் | /p/ | p in | | ம் | /m/ | m an | | ய் | /j/ | y es | | ர் | /ɾ/ | Spanish pe r o | | ல் | /l/ | l amp | | வ் | /ʋ/ | between v and w | | ழ் | /ɻ/ | retroflex approximant (unique to Tamil/Malayalam) | | ள் | /ɭ/ | retroflex l | | ற் | /r/ | trilled r (Italian r ) | | ன் | /n/ | alveolar n (English n ) | 2.3 Special Character – Āytam (ஃ) Represents a voiced fricative (like /h/ or /f/) used in borrowed words or poetic contexts. Rare. 2.4 Combined Forms (Uyirmey Ezhuththu – 216) Each of the 18 consonants combines with the 12 vowels (minus the inherent a ). Example with க் (k): tamil sinhala alphabet

| Consonant + vowel | Tamil | Sound | |------------------|-------|-------| | க் + அ | க | ka | | க் + ஆ | கா | kā | | க் + இ | கி | ki | | க் + ஈ | கீ | kī | | … and so on | | | Sinhala is more complex. It distinguishes voiced/unvoiced , aspirated/unaspirated , and has conjunct consonants (like Sanskrit). Sinhala uses two main sets: Shuddha Sinhala (pure Sinhala, ~54 letters) and Miśra Sinhala (additional letters for Sanskrit/Pali loans). 3.1 Vowels (Swara) – 14 basic (each with short/long) | Short | Long | IPA | |-------|------|-----| | අ (a) | ආ (ā) | /a/, /aː/ | | ඉ (i) | ඊ (ī) | /i/, /iː/ | | උ (u) | ඌ (ū) | /u/, /uː/ | | එ (e) | ඒ (ē) | /e/, /eː/ | | ඔ (o) | ඕ (ō) | /o/, /oː/ | | – | ඇ (æ) | /æ/ (like a in cat ) | | – | ඈ (ǣ) | /æː/ | ஐ and ஔ are diphthongs