Kannada alphabet
Meet the Kannada letters, hear their sounds, and see how vowels and consonants fit together. Choose a starting point and keep the charts beside your practice.
Try a practice lesson →Choose Listen beside an available recording. Audio plays only when you ask.
How Kannada letters work
Independent vowels have their own letters. Attached vowel signs combine with consonants: compare ಕ with ಕಾ (kaa). Read the whole form, including marks above, below, or beside it.
This beginner set covers 13 vowels and 34 consonants from the course. It is not a complete inventory of every written form.
Kannada vowel chart
| Letter | English sound guide | Reading hint | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಅ | a | Short open a; keep it brief. | Listen |
| ಆ | aa | Long aa, roughly the vowel in father. | Listen |
| ಇ | i | Short i, roughly the vowel in sit. | Listen |
| ಈ | ee | Long ee, roughly the vowel in see. | Listen |
| ಉ | u | Short rounded u; keep it shorter than oo. | Listen |
| ಊ | oo | Long rounded oo, roughly the vowel in moon. | Listen |
| ಋ | r̥ | Vocalic r, commonly read ru in Kannada; mostly in Sanskrit-derived words. | Listen |
| ಎ | e | Short e; keep the sound steady. | Listen |
| ಏ | ae | Long e: hold e without the English ay glide. | Listen |
| ಐ | ai | Glide from a toward i, roughly the vowel in eye. | Listen |
| ಒ | o | Short rounded o; keep the sound steady. | Listen |
| ಓ | oh | Long o: hold o without an English ow glide. | Listen |
| ಔ | au | Glide from a toward u, roughly the vowel in how. | Listen |
Kannada consonant chart
The k family
Five sounds made at the back of the mouth. Compare plain and breathy releases, then the nasal.
| Letter | English sound guide | Reading hint | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಕ | ka | k as in skip, without a strong puff. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಖ | kha | k followed by a noticeable puff of air. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಗ | ga | g as in go, with the voice vibrating. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಘ | gha | Voiced g with a breathy release. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಙ | nga | ng as in sing; uncommon as an independent letter. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
The ch family
Five related sounds near the hard palate. Compare plain and breathy releases, then the nasal.
| Letter | English sound guide | Reading hint | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಚ | cha | ch as in chair. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಛ | chha | ch followed by a noticeable puff of air. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಜ | ja | j as in jam. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಝ | jha | Voiced j with a breathy release. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಞ | nya | A palatal nasal, roughly ny in canyon; mostly seen in joined letters. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
The curled-tongue family
Curl the tongue tip back for these five sounds. A dot below the Latin letter marks this position.
| Letter | English sound guide | Reading hint | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಟ | ṭa | Curled-tongue ṭ, without a strong puff. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಠ | ṭha | Curled-tongue ṭ with a puff of air. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಡ | ḍa | Curled-tongue ḍ, with the voice vibrating. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಢ | ḍha | Curled-tongue ḍ with a breathy release. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಣ | ṇa | Curled-tongue nasal ṇ. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
The dental family
Touch the upper teeth with the tongue for these five sounds.
| Letter | English sound guide | Reading hint | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| ತ | ta | Dental t, without a strong puff. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಥ | tha | Dental t with a puff; not the English th of thin. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ದ | da | Dental d, with the voice vibrating. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಧ | dha | Dental d with a breathy release. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ನ | na | Dental nasal n. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
The lip family
Close both lips for these five sounds. Compare the plain, breathy and nasal sounds.
| Letter | English sound guide | Reading hint | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಪ | pa | p as in spin, without a strong puff. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಫ | pha | p with a puff; this letter can represent f in loanwords. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಬ | ba | b as in bat, with the voice vibrating. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಭ | bha | Voiced b with a breathy release. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಮ | ma | m with both lips closed. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
Gliding and flowing sounds
Four common consonants: y, r, l and v.
| Letter | English sound guide | Reading hint | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಯ | ya | y as in yes. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ರ | ra | A brief tongue-tip tap or trill. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಲ | la | l with the tongue near the upper teeth. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ವ | va | A sound between English v and w. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
More consonant sounds
Compare the two sh letters, s, h and the curled-tongue ḷ.
| Letter | English sound guide | Reading hint | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಶ | sha | A sh sound made near the hard palate. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಷ | ṣa | Curled-tongue sh, written ṣ to distinguish it from ಶ. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಸ | sa | s as in sun. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಹ | ha | h as in hat. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
| ಳ | ḷa | Curled-tongue ḷ; keep it distinct from ಲ. The unmarked letter includes a. | Listen |
A small daily reading routine
- Choose a few written forms and compare their English hints.
- Cover the hints and identify the letters in a different order.
- Practise with matching, mixing, flashcards, or a visual quiz.
Next try vowel combinations and beginner words.
Prepared by Learn Akshara from our beginner Kannada curriculum. English spellings are approximate learning aids. Writing-system reference: The Unicode Standard, South Asian Scripts. AI-generated pronunciation is a learning aid, not a guarantee of accuracy. See our audio sources and credits.