Reading Tamil road signs

Tamil is written in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in India, and in Sri Lanka, where road signs carry it beside Sinhala and English. It has fewer letters than most Indian scripts, because one letter covers several related sounds.

Learn the letters and a few rules for how they sound, and மதுரை (Madurai) or சென்னை (Chennai) read themselves.

Tamil at a glance

Tamil is written in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in India, and in the north and east of Sri Lanka. It is read left to right; each letter is a consonant with an ‘a’ built in, and other vowels are signs around it.

Tamil has fewer letters than the other Indian scripts: one letter often stands for both k and g, t and d, p and b.

Consonants

One letter can make two sounds: க is k at the start of a word and g between vowels, ப is p or b. The reading after each sign shows which.

Each letter also has the ‘a’ built in. It is not written, so below it is shown in a lighter colour.

• கka, ga
• சsa, cha
• டta, da
• தtha, da
• பpa, ba
• மma
• யya
• ரra
• லla
• வva
• நna
• னna

The dot that stops the ‘a’

A dot on top (்) takes away the built-in ‘a’: க is ka, க் is just k. Tamil writes it every time, so there is nothing to guess.

• கka
• க்k
• மma
• ம்m
• ரra
• ர்r
• லla
• ல்l

Vowel signs

Every other vowel is a sign added to the consonant, replacing the built-in one. Even a long ‘a’ has its own sign: கா is kā (as in “father”), while க alone is the short ka. The line over a vowel just marks it as long; English names drop it.

Some signs go before the consonant (கெ, கை) or on both sides (கொ), but they are always read after it. The ‘u’ signs join their letter in different ways, so கு, டு and ரு each look a little different.

• காkā
• கிki
• கீkī
• குku
• கூkū
• கெke
• கேkē
• கைkai
• கொko
• கோkō

Letters only Tamil has

ழ is a soft, r-like sound written zh (Tamil itself is தமிழ், Tamizh). ள and ற are a heavier l and r, and ற்ற is read tt.

• ழzha
• ளla
• றra
• ணna
• ஞnya

Borrowed letters

A few letters were added for words from Sanskrit and other languages.

• ஜja
• ஷsha
• ஸsa
• ஹha

Name parts worth knowing

Some pieces come back again and again. Spot them and half the name is read.

Many English names date from colonial times and differ from the reading: கொழும்பு is Colombo, உதகமண்டலம் is Ooty. When you type, the reading counts too.

Try it

Which city is on the sign?

All the letters

Consonants

• கk, g
• ஙng
• சs, ch
• ஞny
• டt, d
• ணn
• தth, d
• நn
• பp, b
• மm
• யy
• ரr
• லl
• வv
• ழzh
• ளl
• றr
• னn
• ஜj
• ஷsh
• ஸs
• ஹh
• ஶsh

Vowels

• அa
• ஆa
• இi
• ஈi
• உu
• ஊu
• எe
• ஏe
• ஐai
• ஒo
• ஓo
• ஔau

Vowel signs, shown on க

• கka
• காka
• கிki
• கீki
• குku
• கூku
• கெke
• கேke
• கைkai
• கொko
• கோko
• கௌkau

Other signs

• க்k

One letter can stand for several sounds: க is k or g, ச is s, ch or j, ட is t or d, த is th or d, ப is p or b. The dot on top ( ் ) removes the vowel.

The 200 places in the quiz

The quiz has 200 towns: about 170 in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and 28 in Sri Lanka.