The notion of syllables

Much like Bengali or Hindi, Telugu reading is based on the concept of syllables. A telugu syllable is made of an initial consonnant and a vowel.

Basics of Syllables

The initial consonnant is the central part of the syllable, then the vowel is placed somewhere around the consonnant.

As an example we will use the letter క = k.

By default, if there is no vowel attached to the consonnant, the vowel will be "a", so క = ka.

To modify the consonant, the top of the letter can be modified, for example : కి = ki.

Another possibility is to add something on the right of the letter, for example : కు = ku.

Final consonnant

Sometimes, there is a final consonnant added to the syllable, it appears as an additional symbol on the right of the letter.

There are only 3 such symbols, the most commonly seen is the additional m noted as a circle. For example the syllable క = ka becomes కం = kam.

Single consonnants

Sometimes, there is a consonnant alone, often at the end of a word. For example the word హైదరాబాద్ = Hyderabad ends with a D which is not followed by a vowel.

In this case, the "no vowel" accent called pollu ్ is added on top of the letter, and the syllable ద = da becomes ద్ = d.

Single vowels

Sometimes, there is a vowel alone, it happens often at the beginning of a word. In this case, the sign for the vowel is different, this is why you have 2 different tabs, one for vowels inside a syllable, one for vowels alone.

double consonants

Sometimes, a syllable is made of 2 consonnants before the vowel. In this case, the second consonnant is usually placed underneath the first consonnant.

For example, the village of ఉగ్గినాపాలెం = Ugginapalem is written with a double g. If you look at the second syllable, గ్గి = ggi, it is composed of the letter G in the center and the same letter G smaller underneath it.

There are however exceptions for some consonnants, they might have a different shape or not be underneath the other consonnant when they're in such a syllable.

In the double consonnant tab, there is a non-exhaustive list of some of the more common double consonnant syllables.