Hey everyone, I built an app called Learn Tamil AI and wanted to share it with this community.

The backstory: my wife doesn't speak Tamil, and when I looked for apps, everything either taught "pure Tamil" / textbook Tamil that's not useful in everyday conversation, or jumped into teaching Tamil script, which is a huge barrier when you just want to speak.

So I built what I wished existed - a Duolingo-style app specifically for spoken, colloquial Tamil. Everything is in English letters (transliteration), so you don't need to learn to read Tamil script. The focus is listening and speaking, not reading and writing.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.learntamil.learn_tamil&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social

iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6761477142?pt=128634083&ct=reddit&mt=8

What's in the app right now: Around 400+ words (and 2000+ sentences) focused on practical usage, Audio (and 0.5x audio) for everything, "Speak" exercises to practice pronunciation, Spaced repetition technique for retention.

There's one section of content so far and I'm actively working on more (conversations coming soon!). But it's free and I'd genuinely love feedback from people in this community.

EDIT: There are now 4 sections of content (and growing). The app was free at launch when I originally posted this. I've since added a subscription as the content grew, though the first 3 units (19 lessons) are still free to try. Wanted to be upfront about that for anyone finding this post now. Leaving the rest of the post as originally written.

Happy to answer any questions. And if anything is broken or confusing, tell me. I'm a solo dev and this kind of feedback is gold.

Spoken Tamil is the hardest language I've ever learned. There aren't many resources specifically for learners, and what we do have mainly focuses on formal Tamil instead. These problems are worse in the West, where learners have even less access to Tamil communities.

Without good resources, learning stalls and motivation withers. And so, I've been trying to learn Tamil and bouncing off of it for more than twenty years.

With some persistence, and the loving encouragement of my Tamil-speaking wife, I've broken through the "early beginner" phase where I've been stuck for so long and have seen a huge jump in my speaking and listening ability. I don't want any other Tamil learners to go through what I did, and I'm thinking seriously about what I can do to help.

So, I've started making the resources I wish I had when I started learning. First is a simple vocabulary list, based on the words I've heard in conversation and spoken media:

https://akprasad.github.io/tamil/

This is a rough cut that I will polish and expand, but I think it's good enough to be helpful to somebody now, which is why I'm sharing it.

If there are enough people interested, I would love to continue making resources like this, ideally as a full-time job. If you're interested in seeing more from me, do subscribe to my mailing list and I'll let you know when I have something new to share.

Disclaimer: After reading this guide, you won't be able to read Tamil. You probably won't even remember a single letter. The point of this is to get you to understand how the Tamil script works and how it is structured. Once you've read this, I would suggest using some flashcards, Anki deck, or some other memorization technique to get the letters into your head. Then, come back and review the nuances in pronunciation that I've included here. I hope this helps.

The Tamil script is an abugida, a type of writing system commonly used for South and Southeast Asian languages like Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, Burmese, Thai, Tibetan, etc. Abugidas are more complex than alphabets (like the English or Russian alphabet). The good news is that Tamil has a relatively easy abugida, in that there are much fewer letters than Telugu or Thai, for example.

Okay, but I haven't actually explained what an abugida is. I will do that now. Essentially, there is a set of distinct vowel letters. In Tamil, we have 13 vowels called உயிர் எழுத்துக்கள் (uyir ezhuththukkal) or literally "life letters", as seen below:

Vowels

அ - a (like "u" in buck)

ஆ - aa (like "a" in bark)

இ - i (like "i" in sin)

ஈ - ee (like "ee" in teeth)

உ - u (like "u" in Tut)

ஊ - oo (like "oo" in tooth)

எ - e (like "eh" in meh)

ஏ - ay (like "ay" in may)

ஐ - ai (like "ie" in tie)

ஒ - o (like "oa" in oak, but a little shorter)

ஓ - O (like "oa" in boat, but a little longer)

ஔ - au (like "ow" in wow)

ஃ - uck (like "uck" in duck)

That last letter ஃ is mostly literary, and is not often used in contemporary Tamil writing. As you can see, there are 5 pairs of short/long vowels [அ/ஆ இ/ஈ உ/ஊ எ/ஏ ஒ/ஓ] and 2 diphthongs or combined vowel sounds [ஐ = a + i ஔ = a + u].

If you know how to write an Indian language, then you probably already see some similarities between Tamil and your own language's script. Let's keep going.

Jumping back to what an abugida is. We covered the vowel letters. As you may have guessed, abugidas also have consonant letters. Specifically in Tamil, we have 18 consonants called மெய் எழுத்துக்கள் (mey ezhuththukkal) or literally "body letters", as seen below:

Consonants

pron. = pronounced

க் - pron. "ik"; used for k and g sounds

ங் - pron. "ing"; used for ng sound like "ng" in going

ச் - pron. "ich"; used for ch and s sounds

ஞ் - pron. "inj"; used for nj sound like "nj" in injury

ட் - pron. "it"; used for t and d sounds

ண் - pron. "in"; used for n sounds

த் - pron. "ith"; used for th sound

ந் - pron. "indh"; used for n sounds and nth like "n th" in the phrase "in the"

ப் - pron. "ip"; used for p sound

ம் - pron. "im"; used for m sound

ய் - pron. "iy"; used for y sound

ர் - pron. "ir"; used for r sound

ல் - pron. "il"; used for l sound

வ் - pron. "iv"; used for v sound

ழ் - pron. "izh"; used for r sound

ள் - pron. "il"; used for l sound

ற் - pron. "ir"; used for r sound

ன் - pron. "in"; used for n sound

First of all, I want to mention that these are pure consonants. Any letter with a dot above it is a pure consonant. For example, க் is supposed to represent the "k" sound. Since pronouncing just the k sound without any vowels or aspirations is hard, Tamil consonants have a little "ih" sound before the consonant, so க் is pronounced "ik," even though it means "k." Keep that in the back of your mind because you will need it when you start reading.

Second thing to point out is that the first 10 consonants plus the last 2 are actually 6 pairs [க்/ங் ச்/ஞ் ட்/ண் த்/ந் ப்/ம் ற்/ன்]. When I mean pairs, I mean that these letters are commonly used together. To better understand what I am trying to say, I'm gonna include a quick lesson, which I will elaborate on later.

Remember how I said if a consonant has a dot above it, it is a "pure" consonant? Well, if you remove that dot, you are combining the pure consonant sound with the vowel அ [a (like "u" in buck)]. If you go back to the vowel section, அ is the first vowel. So, க (ka) is க் (ik) + அ (a). Ok, lesson over.

Back to the 6 consonant pairs I was talking about. The second consonant in each pair is the nasalized version of the first consonant in each pair. So, you will often find the pure version of that nasalized consonant followed by its respective pair. For example, க்/ங் are a pair, so you will often see pure consonant ங் followed by க to from ing + ka, creating the nga sound. This is used in words like சிங்கம் (singam which means lion). Likewise, the other pairs also come together often times in words. For example, பஞ்சதந்திரம் (panchatantram which is a set of ancient Indian children's stories), கண்டம் (kandam meaning continent), அந்த (antha meaning that), சம்பவம் (sambavam meaning incident), and என்ற (endra which roughly means of). I hope that made sense. That was definitely a lot to take in, so if you have any questions, feel free to comment.

(Disclaimer for native Tamil speakers: When Tamil kids learn these letters, they aren't taught about pairs in the way that I described. I am teaching it this way because it will hopefully make it easier to learn, for foreign language speakers.)

Third thing, which is probably also the biggest thing about Tamil consonants, that you probably already noticed is the fact that there are "repeat" consonants. Well, they actually aren't repeats. It's just quite difficult to explain the sound differences in English, so I used the same letters to keep it simple. I'm gonna go over these consonants and the differences between them as best as I can after this next and final part of what an abugida is.

Up until now, you've seen the vowels and consonants. That's exactly the same thing we have in the English alphabet or any other alphabet. What distinguishes an abugida from an alphabet is this next part. Abugidas create more unique letters by combining vowels and consonants. Think of a table with consonants on the first column and vowels on the first row. So, for Tamil, this table would be 18x12 (we don't include the last "vowel" ஃ), as seen below.

If you look closely, there should be 247 letters on the table (13 vowels (including ஃ), 18 consonants, 216 vowel-consonant combos). You will also see distinct patterns. We already covered one of these. Removing the dot from above a pure consonant means you combine that consonant with the vowel அ. So, க (ka) is க் (ik) + அ (a).

I'll go over the rest of the rules really briefly, using க் and its combos, as an example:

அ + க் = க

ஆ + க் = கா

இ + க் = கி

ஈ + க் = கீ

உ + க் = கு

ஊ + க் = கூ

எ + க் = கெ

ஏ + க் = கே

ஐ + க் = கை

ஒ + க் = கொ

ஓ + க் = கோ

ஔ + க் = கௌ

Of these, only the உ/ஊ combinations are irregular. That means these combinations will vary depending on the consonant. For example கூ, தூ, பூ are all combinations of ஊ and க், த், ப் respectively. As you can see there's no pattern. Whereas, for other columns of the table, the letters are pretty regular (they all have the same modification). Now, you know how abugidas and the Tamil script works. Let's go back and discuss the "repeat" letters I mentioned earlier.

There are three "in" consonants which are ண், ந், and ன். Of these, ந் and ன் are pronounced exactly the same, both in formal and informal speech. ண் technically has a subtly different pronunciation, where the tongue is curled back a little to give a "harder" n sound. This is mostly only when speaking slowly or formal speech though. When speaking fast, few people take the time to properly pronounce. And since it is so subtle, it is not that noticeable anyway. So, if you, as a Tamil learner, pronounce all these the same, no one would bat an eye. You'll understand the nuances of this as you continue learning Tamil. Also, ந் and its combinations are usually the letters at the beginning of words starting with "n." If a word ends in "n," it is most likely ன். If "n" appears in the middle of a word, it could be any three of the "n" letters.

The second "repeat" consonants are the "ir" consonants ர் and ற். This difference is much simpler, in my opinion. The latter consonant is just pronounced slightly rougher (almost like you're rolling the r but not quite). If you are American, neither of these are like R used in American English. In American English, the R is pronounced almost as a retroflex, which would mean it corresponds more with ழ். More on that later. Back to "ir." Words starting and ending with r are usually spelled with ர் and its combinations. ற் and its combinations are much more common in the middle of the word. Also, when ற் is adjacent to one of its combinations (ற றா றி etc.), the letter is pronounced "tr" or "dr." For example, குற்றம் (crime) is ku + ir + ra + im. When you combine these, you would think it would be kurram (remember the i's in ir and im are only for ease of pronunciation), but that is wrong. It is pronounced kuttram.

The last group is the "il" consonants ல், ழ், ள். The very first one is very easy. It is the L sound made when your tongue touches the back of your teeth, similar to English. The second one ழ் I already told you it is similar to the American "R" pronunciation. You have to curl your tongue back when saying this letter. This is often spelled phonetically "izh." The last letter ள் is somewhere between those two. That's really about as well as I can explain it. You'll definitely need to read up more as you keep learning, but you'll get this eventually. Also, any three of these can be used in the middle of end of a word, but only ல் and its combinations can start a word (most of the time).

That's it for now. There's definitely a lot of stuff in here, and it might take multiple reads to fully grasp it, but I hope you've gotten a better understanding of how the Tamil script is written. Also, I am posting this for two reasons. One, I want it to help anyone who wants to read Tamil. Two, I want your feedback on whether this was helpful or not. I plan on putting this (after making some modifications) in our subreddit's wiki. If any native speakers see any mistakes, please let me know. If any learners find this overly confusing, also let me know. Thanks!

வணக்கம் everyone!

I’m a first-generation immigrant living in Australia. While helping my son learn Tamil (he has some language learning difficulty), I found that many existing resources were difficult for children who primarily understand English.

So I created TamilTime, a free app that helps children learn Tamil through English using short, interactive lessons inspired by language-learning games.

It currently includes Tamil words, pronunciation, pictures, listening activities and alphabet lessons. It is completely free to use.

I’m still improving it and would genuinely appreciate feedback from Tamil learners, parents and teachers—especially about anything that feels unclear or could be taught better.

TamilTime: tamiltimeapp.com

நன்றி!

Namaste! I am a Gulf/British-Indian language enthusiast and I just launched a website for those people whishing to learn a South Asian language! Currently with a Hindi, Bengali and Tamil course with more coming soon! Please note it is a brand new website hence please remember there may be little tweaks needed

Edit: The owner of this sub u/DriedGrapes31 had personally helped out a lot to the Tamil course so this is a shout out to him also

Here's a chart I made with all the pronouns used in contemporary Tamil:

Some Notes:

• Each 3rd person Tamil pronoun has a distal (far) and a proximal (near) pair. The far variation starts with அ- and the near variation starts with இ- .

• The far variation is used for people/animals/things that are far from you or out of sight. When you want to refer to someone or something in general, you would also use the far variation. This is similar to "that one" in English.

• The near variation is used for people/animals/things that are near you. This is similar to "this one" in English.

• There are two versions of "we" in Tamil: one with the listener included and one without. This is an important distinction. (Note: there is a mistake in the chart in this area. Check the caption.)

• In order to make a noun plural in Tamil, you add -கள் to the end. There are no exceptions to this rule in modern Tamil that I know of (If I'm wrong please let me know in comments). With this knowledge you will notice that அவர்கள் is just the plural of அவர். Also, நாங்கள் is the plural of நான். Maybe this might help you memorize the words better.

• அவை is synonymous with அவைகள், and இவை is synonymous with இவைகள். The reason I didn't include them is because it is

• This chart doesn't include older pronouns used in medieval and ancient times. Maybe I'll make a chart with those included in the future.

Hello! I'm trying to learn Tamil from scratch so I can surprise my girlfriend by speaking a few sentences on her birthday. I came across this podcast, "Payilagam: Learn Tamil (English)", by one gentleman called Sandeep Sarah.

It's only about a year old (as of Oct. 2024) so it feels more conversational and interactive than just trying to rote-memorize a slide deck of vocabulary or read a textbook. It has a good pace for someone like me who knows English but has never learnt a Dravidian language. So far, I have learnt conjugations for common verbs and some nouns and prepositions to go with them. He asks questions like "So how would you say ____ in Tamil?" and leaves pauses so that I can try to construct sentences before he reveals the answer. There are two students on the podcast (from the US and France iirc) who repeat what he says, so when he corrects their pronunciations, I get feedback on your own as well. Sometimes, he does meta episodes about the Tamil language, people, and culture. The lessons build on top of each other and there are review episodes so I still get to revisit what I learnt the previous day while picking up new things.

The podcast is available for free on YouTube and Spotify, and he also has some paid quirks like community building and one-on-one sessions through Patreon tiers.

I'm not getting paid or anything to promote the podcast lol. Just wanted to give it a shoutout because it was exactly what I was looking for: a gentle, modern introduction to Tamil before I can bring in more resources into my daily study. :)

So quickly to explain - my whole family is from Tamil Nadu and my parents are first generation immigrants to the US. They had me here, and I basically have no experience speaking Tamil except when my grandfather would talk to me when I was little. However, it's been years since I've really spoke Tamil, and my parents are planning a trip to India soon to visit relatives who are aging. I can understand Tamil pretty naturally (since I grew up with my parents speaking it to me), however I just don't really understand proper grammar conventions and my lack of practice over the years has wore down my confidence to speak it well. I'm not looking to become a master of speaking, or to be able to write fluently, but I want to know if anyone has advice for someone who wants to learn or a place that I can learn?

Thiruttham is to "Write better Tamil wherever you type."

basically Grammarly for Tamil as a Chrome Extension + Web Editor; you can check எழுத்துப்பிழை and improve your writing!

I’m building this because I’m passionate about தமிழ் and software tools.
I believe Tamil deserves better tools. Period.

I need to know if people would actually use this product:

Yes -> Join Waitlist! thiruttham.com
No -> Upvote and support Tamil tools

You can also share this with someone who might use it:
Tamil teachers, writers, students, bloggers, journalists, content creators, and government officers.

Launch date: 19th Oct 2026 - Ayudha Poojai ✨

Thanks in advance!

வணக்கம் r/LearningTamil 🙏

I’ve been working on a small Tamil learning web app and I’d love to get feedback from learners here.

It’s beginner-focused, simple, and fully free (no login, no ads, no payment). I built it mainly for learners who want practice in a structured way.

Current sections:

🗣️ Speak
Learn to speak Tamil words (Word/Sentence practice mode)

✍️ Write
Learn to write Tamil alphabets (Letter Tracing / Canvas Writing)

⌨️ Type
Learn to type Tamil characters (Keyboard Layouts / Keyboard Methods)

Link: https://tamil.my

I’m sharing it here mainly to get feedback:

• Does it feel useful for beginners?

• What feels confusing or missing?

• What feature would you like added next?

Any honest suggestions are welcome. நன்றி 🙏

முகிலன் Muhelen
Creator TAMIL.MY

Hi everyone,

Growing up in the Tamil diaspora, I’ve always been a passive bilingual - great at understanding, but not so great at speaking Tamil.

I tried traditional apps, but they focused on reading and writing Tamil, not speaking! So, I built this app that improves your speaking skills in bite sized drills using real world scenarios (dinner with family, visiting relatives, going to the grocery store, etc)

I’d love to get some feedback from those in the same boat, to see if it helps them improve!

If you’re interested in giving it a shot, please DM me or drop a comment in this thread!

Hey everyone,

I’m offering personal Tamil lessons online for anyone who wants to start learning Tamil from the basics. I’m currently teaching a few learners and have space for a couple more. These are one-on-one sessions, focused on helping you understand and speak Tamil confidently — even if you're starting from zero or don’t know the script.

The classes are relaxed and beginner-friendly. We’ll go at your pace, using easy English transliterations to help with pronunciation and sentence building. You’ll receive useful resources like PDFs, grammar notes, and audio recordings — all designed to make Tamil feel approachable and natural.

Tamil, spoken in both India and Sri Lanka, has a rich and beautiful flow. In these sessions, you’ll not just learn the language, but also understand how it’s used in real life, casually and meaningfully.

I know what it feels like to learn something new — so there's no pressure. You can attend the sessions first and only pay once you feel you're gaining something from them or are attending regularly. It’s ₹500/month for learners in India and $20/month for international learners — a small amount just to keep things sustainable while I continue offering personal attention and quality resources.

If you're interested, feel free to drop a message or comment. I'd be happy to help you begin your Tamil learning journey.

Nandri !

Hi Languages Enthusiasts,

Do you want to learn Tamil but don’t know where to start? Then I’ve got the perfect resource list for you and you can find its links below. Let me know if you have any suggestions to improve it. I hope everyone can enjoy it and if anyone notices any mistakes or has any questions you are free to PM me. Here is what the resource list contains;

1. Resources on certain grammar concepts for easy understanding.

2. Resources on learning the script.

3. Websites to practice reading the script.

4. Documents to enhance your vocabulary.

5. Music playlists

6. List of podcasts/audiobooks And a compiled + organized list of websites you can use to get hold of grammar!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1whSrrsLFsC1C0rb6xhVMgxrTIzVvPT3CICz4DElMDXE/edit?usp=sharing

Because I'm still quite new to Tamil, I find it hard to tell when someone is speaking Malayalam, especially if they're talking fast. All I can say is "It sounds like Tamil, but it's not quite Tamil".

What are the common sounds that'll tell me someone is definitely speaking in Malayalam and not Tamil?

To give examples with other languages:

• If you keep hearing the word "the", the person is speaking English.

• If there are lots of guttaral, throaty sounds (eg, CH), the person is probably speaking German.

• If there are lots of "hai", the person is probably speaking HIndi or one of its relatives.

etc.

What's a similar sound / word in Malayalam that occurs very frequently and makes it stand apart from Tamil?

My boyfriend speaks Tamil and his parents speak pretty much only Tamil and I wanted to learn to communicate better with them but finding resources hasn’t been easy and my boyfriend isn’t the best teacher… any recommendations on ways to learn?

American Institute of Tamil language -AITL (www.americantamil.org) designed Tamil language books to help students learn the language quickly and effectively. We are offering a free set of these books to Tamil schools in the USA. There is no obligation for schools to use these books exclusively. It can be used in addition to the curriculums your school follows. Our hope is that these books will provide a valuable resource for schools that are interested in promoting Tamil language education.

If you are interested in receiving a free set of these books, please send me a DM. We have limited sets available.

Overheard this at the coffee shop today, and understood it instantly:

Lady: Chappati irukkaa?
Man: Chappati irukku.
Lady. Chappati kudunga. Oru chappati.

I know this is basic Tamil, but for a beginner like me, it's not easy to "hear"! I can normally only hear word fragments when people speak. E.g. I can hear the root verb ("iru"), but can't tell how it's being conjugated.

But I understood this exchange instantly.

Thanks to everyone here and also to Shri at LearnTamil.ai, whose wonderful app showed me "irukku" vs "irukkaa" and also "kudunga." I'm not affiliated with this app; it just has an effective method for teaching spoken Tamil -- the entire exchange above was basically taught in the app.

Really look forward to "overhearing" more at the coffee shop!

I do have one question though about something I often overhear. When a customer comes in and orders tea (say), the waiter will shout into the kitchen something like, "Oru tea, kudikraa!" or "Oru tea, kudikre" or "Oru tea, kudikaa."

I can hear the root verb "kudi" (drink), but can't tell how it's being conjugated.

Is he saying "kudikraa"? Is this a partial conjugation, where the "r" represents present tense, but there is no conjugation for gender? So "Oru tea, kudikraa" means, roughly, "One tea, drinking"?

Or is he saying "Oru tea, kudikka" (Roughly: One tea, to drink)?

I really can't tell what I'm hearing. It could be "kudikka" or "kudikraa" or "kudikre" -- or something else. It's practically impossible to pick out unless you already know what word to expect.

Thanks for any insight. I always hear this and can never figure out what it means! If it matters, I'm in Malaysia, and this is what I hear in Malaysian coffee shops.

Just going through some notes and thought it might be handy to post the link for Jeyapandian Kottalam's Learning Tamil By Yourself.

For me this is one of the best Tamil exercise books. It's not commercial like many of the others I've encounterd. The author shows his love for the language. And also makes it free for all to access.

I'm taking a course in Colloquial Tamil on UDEMY and they are teaching that the polite/respectful way of saying "she" is "avanga" (same as the word for "they"). So if I want to say that she (someone elder, like my mother) is singing, then I should say, "Avanga paadraanga." Is this correct?

Because I thought that "avar" (respectful form) could be used for either "he" or "she." But according to UDEMY, "avar" is used for "he" only and "avanga" is used for "she." Is this right?