Tamil is a Dravidian language [1] spoken primarily in South India and Sri Lanka. In 2004, Tamil became the first Indian language to be declared a classical language [2] by the Government of India, recognising its rich literary heritage spanning over 2,000 years.
The Tamil script is an abugida writing system [3] where each character represents a consonant with an inherent vowel. The 2011 Census of India recorded 69 million (69,026,881) Tamil mother tongue speakers [4], making it the fifth most spoken language in India.
Tamil has 12 independent vowels (உயிர் எழுத்துக்கள்), also known as uyir or soul letters:
அ, ஆ, இ, ஈ, உ, ஊ, எ, ஏ, ஐ, ஒ, ஓ, ஔ
The script contains 18 pure consonants (மெய் எழுத்துக்கள்) or mei letters:
க், ங், ச், ஞ், ட், ண், த், ந், ப், ம், ய், ர், ல், வ், ழ், ள், ற், ன்
Tamil also includes Grantha letters borrowed from Sanskrit to represent sounds not native to Tamil phonology:
ஜ், ஶ், ஷ், ஸ், ஹ், க்ஷ்
Tamil numerals have their own unique symbols:
௦ (0), ௧ (1), ௨ (2), ௩ (3), ௪ (4), ௫ (5), ௬ (6), ௭ (7), ௮ (8), ௯ (9), ௰ (10), ௱ (100), ௲ (1000)
Our online Tamil phonetic keyboard lets you type Tamil naturally using English letters. You don't need to memorise complex keyboard layouts or spend hours practising traditional typing methods.
For offline use, you can download and install our free software. Visit our installation page for detailed instructions. Once installed, you can type Tamil on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Word documents and emails with ease.