Uyir Ezhuthukkal

உயிர் எழுத்துக்கள்

Uyir Ezhuthukkal are the twelve independent Tamil vowel letters. This chart is a reference for recognising each written form and finding an example word. Open a letter to hear it and see how it is written.

Uyir letter chart with examples

The twelve Uyir letters

The standard sequence is அ, ஆ, இ, ஈ, உ, ஊ, எ, ஏ, ஐ, ஒ, ஓ, ஔ. Learn a small group, return to it in a different order, then add the next group. Recognising a letter outside the memorised sequence is a useful check of understanding.

Kuril and Nedil

The five short vowels, குறில் (Kuril), are அ, இ, உ, எ and ஒ. The seven long vowels, நெடில் (Nedil), are ஆ, ஈ, ஊ, ஏ, ஐ, ஓ and ஔ. In the traditional classification, ஐ and ஔ belong to Nedil; they are not simply elongated versions of another written letter.

Practise the pairs அ–ஆ, இ–ஈ, உ–ஊ, எ–ஏ and ஒ–ஓ. Listen as well as look: the difference is in the sound, not just the extra mark in the letter shape.

What comes after Uyir?

After the twelve vowels, meet ஃ in its own Ayutham lesson. It is not part of the Uyir list. Continue with Mei and then combine the two groups to read Uyirmei letters.

For a quick review, cover the example words below, choose a letter, and recall its sound. Then uncover an example and identify the same letter in context.

Put it into practice

Practise writing அTry writing அ

Try a letter on its own, or start the first learning-path goal.