Tamil Alphabet
The writing system
Modern Tamil script is historically a development from Brahmi script, which is the foundation for all native Indian scripts. It is linear, is written from left to right whether it is a word or a character and it is unitary (i.e. no upper and lower case differentiation). When more than one consonant occur in the middle of a word, they are written sequentially in Tamil (i.e. not combined with each other non-linearly to make a conjunct character, as it happens in other Brahmi derived orthographies). The consonants preceding the last of the sequence will be a pure consonants (which are written with a dot above them). There is no sequence of consonants (i.e. consonant clustesr) in the beginning or end of a native word. It occurs in the middle of a word, the maximum of consonants in a sequence being three, of which two are identical consonants
The characters combine a consonant and a vowel, in which the vowel is represented by a distinctive and, for the most part, recurring, mark called secondary vowel sign or matra in the traditional grammar. In other words, a vowel does not stand by itself in the middle or end of a word. Since there is no sequence of vowels (i.e. vowel clusters) in a word in modern Tamil, primary (i.e. pure) vowel signs are found only in the beginning of a word. The orthography fuses the features of the syllabic system and the alphabetic system of writing. A pure consonant (i.e. a consonant not combined with a vowel) stands by itself with a distinctive mark (a dot) over it. No native Tamil word begins with a pure consonant; a pure stop consonant does not end a native word either. These patterns are less restrictive in spoken Tamil. Non-native words and names as well as native onomatopoeic words introduce deviation from these patterns.
A vowel in its primary form does not occur after a pure consonant within a word (as it does across words). The vowel is always represented by its secondary symbol with a consonant. There are execptions to this in compound words in modern Tamil spelling where there is a tendency to write a compound breaking the words composing them. For example, தென் + இந்தியா is commonly spelled as தென்னிந்தியா, but is also spelled by some as தென்இந்தியா without space between the words to mark word boundary as in தென் இந்தியா 'South India'. An example of a name from another language is குர்ஆன், which alternates with the spelling குரான் 'Quran'
Tamil alphabet consists of 30 basic characters: 12 vowels (uyir ‘life’) and 18 consonants (mey ‘body’). In addition, there is a historic relic, called aaydam, put to new uses in the modern period and five grantha letters to represent contrastive sounds that are not historically part of the Tamil language and so of the traditional alphabet. The consonants and vowels combine to give 216 characters. The 216 consonant-vowel characters (uyir mey) are a combination of the full consonant sign and the secondary vowel sign. But some consonants do not combine with all vowels in simple words (i.e. words that are neither inflected nor compounded). The secondary signs of vowels are added to the consonant signs in three ways: standing separate from them, attached to them, and modifying them through extension.
The material presented here is to help you recognize the letters in isolation, in words and in sentences, and to read them aloud in isolation, in words and in sentences. The choice of words is not restricted to native words commonly used to illustrate the alphabet in school text books. Words include loan words, onomatopoeic words and echo words that you will encounter when reading modern Tamil outside the classroom, and even some names. They are included to give an idea of the versatility of the lexical context of occurrence of letters, onomatopoeic words, loan words and ‘non-Tamil’ names. The non-conventional pronunciation of some characters (e.g. voicing the stops in the initial position of a word) is indicated. This inclusive approach is followed to give you real experience of reading modern Tamil. The inflected words, phrases and sentences give you an idea about intonation patterns and structural facts of Tamil, which will be elaborated when you move to read connected texts or conversations.
The choice of words to illustrate characters and their pronunciation is made in such a way that they are found in writing as well as speech. They are written in a spelling that is acceptable in conventional writing and in the proposed spelling system for the standard spoken Tamil. This entails that the rules of pronunciation for reading and speaking Tamil need to be differentiated. There are, however, some words given to illustrate pronunciation that are used only in formal Tamil. They are underlined. Some words are marked with * to indicate that they are not common in the form given. Some words are spelled differently in the conversations that follow the Alphabet lessons to represent spoken pronunciation. Those spellings are not given for the words in this introduction to the Tamil alphabet. There are a few words that are very restricted in use, which are marked by an asterisk. A hyphen after a word indicates that the word is onomatopoeic
You must remember that reading aloud is an initial step soon to be passed up to go to real reading, which will be by the eyes and not the tongue. Your eyes at that stage of reading will catch sequences larger than letters and even words and they move faster than the tongue.
The Pronunciation System
The reading pronunciation of Tamil is pretty straightforward. You read words as they are written. The orthography does not over-represent pronunciation in that there are no silent letters or two characters for one pronunciation. There are, however, two cases (two /r/s ர, ற and two /n/s ந, ன) of merger of the pronunciation of two letters, which are written differently. This helps to keep the meaning of words unambiguous that are pronounced identically. Tamil orthography may be under-represented, particularly with reference to loan words, in that some distinctive sounds in their Tamil pronunciation do not have separate letters. One should know the word by its meaning to have the right pronunciation. There is, however, variation in the pronunciation of such letters between speakers. That is, some speakers may pronounce the distinctive sounds like voiced stops in the beginning of a word and some may not; some have ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ pronunciation for ச in the beginning of a word. Variation in letters in the spelling of words, which is minimal, is indicated to suggest the changes allowed in modern Tamil. This is not a difference in pronunciation, but in spelling.
There is contextual variation in the sounds of stops (consonants produced by stopping the air stream at some point, which is in Tamil by the tongue and lips in the mouth) depending on whether they occur in the initial, final and medial (between two vowels or between ‘soft’ consonants and a vowel), or between a nasal and a vowel. The condition that a vowel is followed means that rules of pronunciation apply to open syllables, which is the normal pattern of the syllabic structure of Tamil. The stop consonant is pronounced voiceless (i.e. without vibration in the vocal cord) in the beginning of a word or at the end of a word (borrowed or onomatopoeic) or in the middle of a word after another stop (one /r/ ற counts as a stop). An example is ப / pronounced as pa/. It is pronounced voiced after a nasal and before a vowel, for example, ப as /ba/. Its pronunciation is 'softened' between vowels or between 'soft' sounds (like ய்/y/, ர்/r/ and ல், ள், ழ் /ls/) and a vowel; it is pronounced as a flap or a fricative (voiced or voiceless). This variation is easy to predict and it does not cause any pronunciation ambiguity in native words. There may be ambiguity in some loan words, onomatopoeic words and foreign names. When a consonant is doubled in the middle of a word, the duration of its pronunciation is longer than the pronunciation of a single stop. Doubled stop consonants with ‘hard’ and slightly longer pronunciation contrast with the single stop consonant in the middle of a word, which has ‘soft’ pronunciation.
The speaking pronunciation (i.e. the pronunciation in standard informal speech) may be different from reading pronunciation (i.e. the pronunciation is reading and in formal speech). The information given under Rules of pronunciation is common to the pronunciation in both styles. The information given under Rules of speaking pronunciation is applicable to informal speech. The teacher should help the learner with both types of pronunciation, though specific attention needs to be paid to the pronunciation in informal speech.
Additional help for reading pronunciation can be obtained from the following open website. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/mkletter.html
Unit 1
The six consonants below in the first set have simple strokes and curves and their shapes have common features. The six vowels in this set have secondary signs that stand separate from the consonants with which they go.
Consonants ட, ப, ம, ர, ய, வ and Vowels அ, ஆ, எ, ஏ, ஐ, ஒ, ஓ and their combinatory signs with consonants
The two stop consonants in the above set ட and ப (like any stop consonant in Tamil) have contextual variation in their pronunciation, as described above. ட does not occur in the beginning of native words excepting onomatopoeic words (marked with an hyphen at the end). When it occurs in the beginning of a borrowed or an onomatopoeic word, it often has voiced pronunciation.
. ( dot) above a consonant = no vowel with the consonant
no mark on a consonant = short vowel அ /a/
பா= ப் + long vowel ஆ /aa/
The combinatory sign for this vowel follows the consonant on its right.
ப /pa/
பாப்பா 'baby'
*பாபா 'title of a godly person
ட /Ta/
டப்பா 'carton, box'
பட்டா 'land ownership document'
*டா டா 'bye bye'
படம் 'picture'
பட்டம் 'kite, diploma'
பாடம் 'lesson'
பப்படம் 'fried wafer'
படபட- 'flutter,throb'
படமா? 'is it a picture?'
பட்டமா? 'is it a kite?'
பட்பட்- 'flutter of a motor bike'
ம /ma/
மடம் 'Hindu monastery'
மட்டம் 'low quality, level'
மாடம் 'niche in the wall for lamp'
மடமட- 'quickly'
மடமா? 'is it a mutt?"
மட்டமா? 'is it low in quality?'
மாமா '(maternal) uncle'
மாமம்மா '(maternal grandmother'
அ /a/
அம்மா 'mother'
அப்பா 'father'
அப்பம் 'a rice cake'
அப்பாடா 'expression of relief'
ஆ /aa/
ஆமா 'yes'
ஆமாடா 'yes, to a boy'
ஆப்பம் 'a crepe'
ஆட்டம் 'game,dance'
ஆட 'to play, to dance'
ஆடா? 'is it a goat?'
மாமா படம் 'uncle's picture'
பாப்பா படம் ''baby's picture'
அப்பா பட்டம் 'father's kite'
அம்மா பப்படம் 'mother's wafer'
Rules of pronunciation
ப is pronounced by stopping the air stream by closing the upper and lower lips and releasing the closure without aspiration with the vowel அ. There is no voicing by the vibration of the vocal cords. This is similar to /pa/ in English. ட is pronounced in the same manner, but the stopping of the airstream is done at the middle of the upper palate by the tip of the tongue, which is curled back and raised. This is unlike /ta/ in English in words like top and the point of the upper palate that the tongue is farther back. ம is pronounced in the same manner as ப, but the airstream is released through the nasal cavity. This is similar to /ma/ in English. When they are double in the middle of a word (ப்ப,ட்ட,ம்ம) duration of the closure is longer than when they are single.
The vowel அ is pronounced with the tongue at the bottom of the mouth. It is closer to the pronunciation of the middle vowel in the English word 'but'. ஆ is longer in duration; that is, the tongue is in the same position for a longer time. It is closer to the pronunciation of /a/ in the English word 'part'.
ப and ட in the middle of a word between vowels or between soft consonants and vowels are pronounced as voiced flaps.
The questioned word has rising intonation both in speaking and reading. The combination of nouns making genitive phrases has running intonation reducing the pause between words.
Rules of speaking pronunciation
The rules of pronunciation in colloquial speech differ from that in formal speech and in reading. The word final ம் (after அ) is dropped in colloquial speech, but it leaves a nasal tinge on the preceding vowel அ and gives it a pronunciation with lips slightly rounded and the middle of the tongue slightly raised.
Rules of exception
These rules are specific to certain words and do not apply across the board. ட in the beginning of a word has an alternative pronunciation that is voiced /da/ as in day (e.g. டப்பா). பா in பாபா, which is a name, is pronounced voiced The English word டா டா is considered to be composed of two words and so ட in both places are pronounced voiceless.
In onomatopoeic words that have doubled segments (படபட), the stop consonant in the second segment is voiceless as if it is in the beginning of a word. It could alternatively have soft pronunciation, as if it is in the middle of a word.
Writing
The hand movement in writing the letters is from left to write and from top to bottom. As mentioned above, a sequence of consonants is written in linearly. The consonants other than the last one in a sequence are written with a dot over the consonant letter (ப், ட், ம்). A sequence of a consonant and a vowel is not permitted as separate letters and they are combined into one graphic sign by the use of a secondary sign (matra) for the vowel. When the vowel is அ no secondary vowel sign is added (ப, ட, ம). The vowel sign for ஆ is added to the right of the consonant and it stands unattached to the consonants (பா, டா, மா).
You can see the hand movement in writing the letters and the symmetry of letters at the websites http://sites.la.utexas.edu/tamilscript/files/2009/08/hw_lettersinstructions.pdf, http://sites.la.utexas.edu/tamilscript/files/2009/08/hw_copyletters1.pdf
The web site below on the alphabet including the hand movement in writing the letters is in German.
http://www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/tamil/pdf/tamschri.pdf
Practice writing using the copy book provided by the teacher.
Notes
When a word that ends in a pure consonant is followed by a vowel, the vowel is combined with the preceding consonant. A pure vowel does not stand alone after a pure consonant. Ex. மரம் + ஆ = மரமா. ஆ is a question marker.
When two nouns follow each other, the first noun modifies the second; the modifying noun could be genitive. Ex. மாமா படம் ‘picture of the uncle’.
A noun preceding a verb could be its object. Ex. படம் பார் ‘see the picture’ Or it could be a vocative and a verb with a pause between them. Ex. பாப்பா, பார் ‘Baby, see!’
Two nouns could be subject and predicate. Ex. படம் மட்டம்
ர /ra/
பார் 'see'
பார்ப்பார் '(he) will see'
பார்ப்பாரா? 'will (he) see?'
மார் 'chest'
மரம் 'tree'
மரமா? 'is (it) a tree?'
பாரம் 'heavy weight'
ரம்பம் 'saw'
பம்பரம் 'top'
படார்- 'sound of being slamming'
டமாரம் 'big drum'
டமார்- 'sound of sudden loud falling'
ராம் 'Rama' (man's name)
ராமர் 'Ramar' (man's name)
ராமா 'hey, Rama!' (calling by the name Raman)
ரமா 'Rama' (woman's name)
படம் பார். 'Look at the pictures'
பட்டம் பார். 'Look at the kites'
பாப்பா, பார். Baby, look’
மரம் பாரம். 'The log is heavy'
படம் மட்டம். 'The movie is bad'
அம்மா பாடமாட்டார். 'Mother will not sing'
அப்பா ஆட்டம் ஆடமாட்டார். 'Father will not play games'
Rules of pronunciation
ர் is pronounced by quickly flapping the tip of the tongue on the region of the upper palate. This is similar to /r/ in words like ram. It is fully pronounced as in the word initial position whether it occurs in the word final position or word medial position after a soft consonant.
Rules of speaking pronunciation
The word final ர் is pronounced with a releasing /u/ except in onomatopoeic words.
It is dropped when followed by double stop in the middle of an inflected word.
Writing
The more common writing and printing practice is to drop the bottom stroke in ர். (also in ரி, ரீ, ரு, ரூ introduced later)
Note
ர in any vowel combination does not occur in the beginning of a native word excepting onomatopoeic words. But it occurs initially in loan words. It does not occur double in the middle of a word except in inflected onomatopoeic words.
ய /ya/
யார் 'who'
ராயர் 'royal title'
மயம் 'full of'
மாயம் 'mystery'
பயம் 'fear'
பாய் 'mat'
பாயா? 'is it a mat?'
பெ = ப் + short vowel எ /e/
The combinatory vowel sign precedes the consonant on its left.
பெயர் 'name'
பெய் 'pour down'
மெய் 'body, truth'
எ /e/
எம் ‘our’
எம்மாம் 'how (big)'
பே = ப் + long vowel ஏ /ee/
The combinatory vowel sign precedes the consonant on its left. The length of the
vowel is indicated by the double loop of the sign.
பேர் 'name, person'
பேய் 'ghost'
மேய் 'graze'
ஏ /ee/
ஏப்பம் 'belch'
Rules of pronunciation
ய் is pronounced by raising the middle of the tongue close to the upper palate, but not touching it at the middle. It is similar to /y/ in yeast in English. The tongue stays longer in the raised position when this consonant is double (ய்ய).
எ is pronounced with the tongue raising upwards to the middle of the oral cavity. ஏ is pronounced in the same manner but holding the tongue in that position longer. The middle vowels in the English words 'met' and 'mate' come closer to their pronunciation respectively.
Rules of speaking pronunciation
ய் in the word final position is pronounced in colloquial speech with the releasing vowel /i/. When the word is a light monosyllable (i.e. one syllable word with a short vowel) ending in ய், ய் is doubled before the releasing vowel. ய் in the word final position in polysyllabic inflected words and in some simple words is not pronounced.
எ, ஏ in the word initial position is /y/ tinged. ஏப்பம் comes close in pronunciation to யேப்பம். No native word, however, begins with யெ or யே.
The initial stop consonant in a word, commonly a loan word, may have voiced pronunciation, as mentioned above, more so when speaking than reading. This cannot be predicted. Examples: பயம் bayam, பாய் baay as a term of friendly address to a Muslim.
Writing
Note that the stroke below the vowel எ makes it long (ஏ). The secondary vowel sign of these two vowels appear before the consonant (பெ, பே). The length of the vowel is indicated by the upper loop. Note that the second loop is at the top of the curved line, not at the bottom, where the curve in the short vowel ends.
Note that the bottom of the first segment of ய is curved and shorter unlike in the second part, which is straight and longer.
Note
எ and ஏ do not occur in non-initial syllables in uninflected native words. It means they do not end these words.
பை = ப் + vowel ஐ /ai/
The combinatory vowel sign precedes the consonant on its left.
பை 'bag'
பைய 'slowly'
மை 'ink'
அமை 'set up'
ஆமை 'turtle'
படை 'army'
பாடை 'funeral pyre
பட்டை 'broad stroke/cinnamon'
மட்டை 'bat'
மட்டையா? 'is (it) a bat?'
மடையா! 'hey, fool!'
பெட்டை 'female of a bird'
பேட்டை 'residential enclave''
எடை 'weight'
ஐ /ai/
ஐயா 'sir, father'
ஐயர் 'priest, Brahmin'
ஐயாப்பா '(paternal) grandfather'
அய்யா அய்யர் அய்யாப்பா
ஐயப்பா
'name of a god’
அய்யப்பா
Alternative way to write ஐ in the words in the first line, where following consonant is ய்.
Rules of pronunciation
ஐ is a diphthong, which means that the pronunciation of the vowel அ ends with a non-sonorous இ- like sound. It is similar to ய் in pronunciation, but is not quite a consonant like it. It is similar to the pronunciation of the vowel in the English word high, not guy.
Rules of speaking pronunciation
ஐ with a consonant in the word final position is pronounced as a simple vowel that is between அ and எ (படை as between பட and படெ). It tends to be pronounced that way in the middle of a word also (மடையா as மடயா). ஐ in the beginning of a word with or without a consonant is closer in pronunciation to அய் (ஐயர் as அய்யர், பை as பய்)
Writing
The secondary vowel sign, which is two horizontal loops ending with a curve, is placed before the consonant. The second loop is slightly bigger than the first.
Note that the lower part of the letter ஐ has two short lines going up (It does not loop around as another letter introduced later)
வ /va/
வா 'come'
வர 'to come'
வரவர 'as days pass'
வரவா? 'shall (I) come?'
பாடவா? 'shall (I) sing?'
வை 'place down'
வைவார் '(he) will scold'
வைப்பார் '(he) will place down'
வடை 'a lentil cake'
வாடை 'smell,cold'
வெப்பம் 'heat'
வேட்டை 'hunting'
பாவை 'figurine'
பார்வை 'sight'
அப்பாவே 'father himself'
அம்மாவே 'mother herself'
மாமாவே 'uncle himself'
அப்பாவை 'father (obj)'
அம்மாவை 'mother (obj)'
மாமாவை 'uncle (obj)'
மாமாவா? 'is it uncle?'
ஆட வா. 'Come to dance'
பாட வா. 'Come to sing'
ஆட வை. 'Make (one) dance'
பாட வை. 'Make (one) sing'
அப்பா பாட வரமாட்டார். 'Father won’t come to sing'
அம்மா பெயர் வைப்பாரா? 'Will mother give a name'
அம்மா பையைப் பார்ப்பார். 'Mother will see the bag'
ஐயர் மை வைப்பாரா?. 'Will he priest do black magic?'
Rules of Pronunciation
வ is pronounced by the upper teeth closing the airstream at the lower lip by touching it, but allowing the air to squeeze through the sides. It is similar to /v/ in the English word veal. The closure is longer when it is double (வ்வ)
The question, exclamation and emphatics are differentiated by intonation also in addition to their suffixes. So are the question of the infinitive (பாடவா) and the command (பாட வா), which use the same words.
No two pure vowels occur in a sequence; that is there are no vowel clusters. When a word ends in a vowel and the following word begins with a vowel, a linking consonant (called glide) is introduced between them. If the ending vowel is அ, ஆ, (ஒ), ஓ the linking consonant is வ்; if it is (எ), ஏ, ஐ (and front vowels to be introduced later), the linking consonant is ய்.
வர + ஆ = வரவா; ஆமை + ஏ = ஆமையே
Pure stop consonant at the end of a word within a sentence is a result of sandhi. It is not fully pronounced in reading and speech beyond keeping the following stop consonant voiceless. Ex. பையைப் பார்
Writing
Note that the left loop and the curve differentiate வ from ப.
Note
When a word that ends in ஐ combined with a consonant is followed by a pure vowel (which will be a suffix), a liaison consonant ய், called a glide, appears between them. Ex.மட்டை + ஆ = மட்டையா. When a word that ends in அ, ஆ with a consonant, the liaison consonant is வ். Ex. வர + ஆ = வரவா, மாமா + ஏ = மாமாவே. Remember that there is no sequence of two vowels in Tamil (*மட்டைஆ, *மாமாஏ).
பொ = ப் + short vowel ஒ /o/
The combinatory vowel sign for this vowel follows the consonant on its right and left.
பொய் 'lie'
மொய் 'return gift/ in cash'
மொட்டை 'shaved head'
மொடமொட- 'sound stiff (of textile)'
ரொம்ப 'much, many'
ஒ /o/
ஒட்ட 'to stick'
ஒப்பம் ‘consent’
போ = ப் + long vowel ஓ /oo/
The combinatory vowel sign for this long vowel follows the consonant on its
right and left. The length is indicated by the double loop of the left sign.
போ 'go'
போய் 'having gone'
போடா 'go, to a boy'
போட 'to put down'
மோட்டார் 'motor car'
மோப்பம் 'sniffing'
மோர் 'buttermilk'
ரோமம் 'hair'
ஐயோ 'alas'
ஐயாவோ? 'is it father?'
ஓ /00/
ஓட 'to run'
ஓடம் 'boat'
ஓட்டம் 'running/ a run'
ஓரம் 'edge/border'
ஓமம் 'ritual fire/ a spice'
ஓம் 'a mantra'
ஓட்டமா? 'is (it) a run'
ஓடவா? 'to run?'
ஆட்டம் ஆடப் போ. 'Go to play a game'
மோட்டார் ஓட்டப் போ. 'Go to drive a motor car'
அப்பா ஓடப் பார்ப்பார். 'Father will try to run'
அம்மா பாடப் பார்ப்பார். 'Mother will try to sing'
ஐரோப்பா பார்ப்போம் ‘Let us see Europe’
யாரை வைவோம்? ‘Who shall we scold?’
அவர் யார்? ‘Who is he?’
அவர் யாரோ. ‘He is someone’
Rules of Pronunciation
ஒ is pronounced with the tongue raising upwards to the middle of the oral cavity like எ, but the lips are rounded.ஓ is pronounced in the same manner but holding the tongue in that position longer. Their pronunciation is similar to that of the vowels in the English words won and own respectively.
Rules of speaking pronunciation
ஒ, ஓ in the beginning of a word have a /w/ tinge. No native word begins with வொ or வோ.
Writing
Note the length is indicated by the loop at the bottom. This and the loop on top are small in circumference.
Note
ஒ and ஓ do not occur in non-initial syllables in uninflected native words. It means they do not end these words.
Exercises
1. Fill in the letters in the words below. The meanings will suggest you the words.
ப---டம் 'kite'
---ப்பா 'father'
ஆப்ப--- 'a rice cake'
---மா 'yes'
ப---ம் 'fear'
ஆ--- 'turtle'
---யா 'sir'
மட்--- 'bat'
---டை 'weight'
---யர் 'name'
---ய் 'ghost'
---ப்பம் 'consent'
--- ம்ப 'very'
---மம் 'hair'
---ட்டம் 'run, running'
2. There is a spelling error in each word. Correct it.
அம்பா 'mother'
மர்ம் 'tree'
படம் 'kite'
மாம 'uncle'
பரம்பம் 'top'
பய் 'bag'
யாரே 'someone'
பெய் 'ghost'
பேயர் 'name'
வட 'a lentil cake'
ஏபம் 'belch'
மடயா 'hey, fool'
மொர் 'buttermilk'
ரெம்ப 'very'
ஒட்டம் 'running'
3. Make ten words choosing letters from the twenty letters given below. All letters in the words must be from these twenty letters. You can use the same letter more than once.
பா, ம், அ, ட, ர, ம, ப், ஓ, ட், ர், வ, ய, ஆ, ய், மை, ரோ, யா, வா, மா, பே
4. Make these words into questions by adding -ஆ at the end.
Ex, மரம் மரமா?
படம்
பாடம்
பாய்
பேய்
பெயர்
மோர்
அப்பா
அம்மா
ஆமை
பொம்மை
பை
மை
பாட
வர
5. Make the above words into the question of doubt by adding -ஓ at the end.
Ex. மரமோ?
6. Make the above words into emphatic by adding -ஏ at the end.
Ex. மரமே!
7. Circle the following letters in words wherever they occur on the first page of the attached text. The combined character of a consonant and a vowel (e.g. போ) counts as one letter. That is, it is not an instance of the occurrence of ப.
அ, எ, ட, ப, பா, ம், மே, வ, ர்
8. Practice writing the letters in right proportion in a copy book choosing the letters introduced in each Unit.
9. Memorize ten words with their meaning of your own choice that will be handy to use in daily life from this Unit and tell them in the next class, first the words in Tamil and their meaning and then the meaning and its equivalent word in Tamil.
In the classroom, write down the words dictated, each word three times, after carefully listening to the word spoken each time. Each word will be said three times. This exercise will be repeated in every lesson.