Learn Tamil

Tamil is spoken at your table. Bring it to the page as well.

COOLPHABETS teaches children to read and write the 30 Tamil letters by hand, with an on-device AI coach that checks every stroke.

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A language at home. A script left behind.

Tamil families have carried the language a long way, to Singapore, Malaysia, London, Toronto and beyond. At home the children speak it, with their parents and on calls with Paatti and Thaatha.

The script does not travel as easily. It needs someone to sit beside the child, letter after letter, and weekday evenings leave little room for that. So the speaking continues and the reading quietly stops.

Many parents tell us this is what troubles them. Tamil has one of the oldest written traditions in the world, and a child who cannot read it is shut out of all of it, starting with a letter from a grandparent. If one generation skips the script, the next has nobody at home to learn it from.

Most language apps

  • Teach speaking and listening
  • Tap the right answer
  • Made for someone starting from zero

COOLPHABETS

  • Teaches reading and writing
  • Write every letter by hand
  • Made for children who already speak it at home
The alphabet

The Tamil alphabet: 30 letters your child will learn

Tamil has 12 vowels, called உயிர் எழுத்துக்கள் (uyir ezhuthukkal), and 18 consonants, called மெய் எழுத்துக்கள் (mei ezhuthukkal). Every other written shape in Tamil is built from these 30.

Vowels உயிர் 12

  • அ a
  • ஆ ā
  • இ i
  • ஈ ī
  • உ u
  • ஊ ū
  • எ e
  • ஏ ē
  • ஐ ai
  • ஒ o
  • ஓ ō
  • ஔ au

Consonants மெய் 18

  • க ka
  • ங nga
  • ச cha
  • ஞ nya
  • ட Ta
  • ண Na
  • த tha
  • ந na
  • ப pa
  • ம ma
  • ய ya
  • ர ra
  • ல la
  • வ va
  • ழ zha
  • ள La
  • ற Ra
  • ன na

A capital letter marks a sound made with the tongue curled back, as in Ta and La. A line over a vowel means it is held longer. ந and ன sound almost alike; ந usually begins a word.

Tamil alphabet chart: 12 vowels, 18 consonants, each with how to say it The Tamil alphabet chart All 30 letters on one page. Open it to save or print for the fridge door.
The hard parts

What makes Tamil hard to write

Tamil has fewer letters than most Indian scripts. The difficulty is in how much each one has to do.

  1. One letter, more than one sound

    Tamil has no separate letters for ga, ja, da or ba. க is a k at the start of a word and closer to a g in தங்கம் (thangam, gold). Children who speak Tamil already know which sound to use; they have to learn to trust one letter for both.

  2. Three kinds of n, three kinds of l

    ந, ன and ண are all n sounds. ல, ள and ழ are all l sounds, and ழ is the one in தமிழ் itself. Choosing the right one is the most common spelling mistake.

  3. The dot on top

    A dot called the pulli (புள்ளி) sits above a consonant to show it has no vowel after it. அம்மா (amma, mother) has one on its first ம. Forget the dot and the word reads differently.

  4. Vowel signs that change shape

    Each consonant joins each vowel to make a combined letter, 216 in all. Most follow a pattern, but the sign for u does not: it looks different in கு, சு, டு and மு. Words and sentences in the app are where these come into practice.

First words

Five Tamil words to write first

Each of these uses one of the habits described above.

  • அம்மா amma mother

    The first ம carries a dot, the second a long ā sign.

  • அப்பா appa father

    The same pattern, with ப.

  • வீடு veedu house

    A long ī sign on வ, and the u form of ட.

  • பால் paal milk

    The dot on the last letter ends the word on l.

  • பூ poo flower

    A whole word in one combined letter.

"My kids hated going to language school. It felt like 'forced homework'. I'm glad we discovered COOLPHABETS."

Sowmya Ramanan, Parent of two. New York City.
How it works

One letter at a time, written by hand.

  1. 1

    Watch. The letter draws itself, stroke by stroke, in the right order.

  2. 2

    Write. Your child writes it with a finger. No tapping on answers, no typing.

  3. 3

    Get checked. CoolphaSense scores the strokes they actually made, on the device.

  4. 4

    Hear it. A native voice says the letter. Or yours, if you record it.

After the letters come words, sentences and games. See everything COOLPHABETS does.

Questions

What Tamil parents ask us

Other Indian languages have around 50 letters. Why does Tamil have 30?

Tamil uses one letter where other scripts use four. There are no separate letters for sounds like kha, ga and gha. The 12 vowels and 18 consonants then combine into 216 joined letters, which is where most of the practice goes.

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