How Telugu is written

Telugu is written from left to right, with no capital letters. Words are separated by spaces, and the punctuation is the same as in English. The script writes syllables: each written unit is a consonant, or a cluster of consonants, together with the vowel that follows it.

Every consonant carries a

A consonant letter on its own is said with a short a: క ka, మ ma, ల la. To give it another vowel, a vowel sign is added to the letter, so one shape stands for the whole syllable: కా kā, కి ki, కు ku. Vowel signs shows them all.

A cluster is written as one unit with the vowel after it, so పుస్తకం is written pu-sta-kaṁ, though it is said pus-ta-kaṁ.

Vowel letters and vowel signs

Each vowel also has a full letter: అ a, ఆ ā, ఇ i and so on. The full letters are used at the start of a word, as in అమ్మ amma, ఇల్లు illu "house" and ఊరు ūru "town". After a consonant, the vowel is written as a sign instead: ఆమె āme "she" starts with the letter ఆ, and its second unit is మ with the sign for e.

The tick on top

Many consonants have a small tick on top, the తలకట్టు talakaṭṭu. It stands for the vowel a, and most vowel signs take its place: క ka, కి ki. Some letters, such as ప, మ, య and వ, have no tick.

Pollu: a consonant with no vowel

The mark ్, called pollu (the virama), removes a consonant's vowel: క్ k. It is seen at the end of English words such as ఫోన్ phōn "phone" and డాక్టర్ ḍākṭar "doctor". Inside a word, a consonant with pollu joins the next consonant into a conjunct.

Conjuncts

When two consonants meet with no vowel between them, the first is written in full and the second as a small form, its వత్తు vattu, below or beside it. In అమ్మ amma, the మ్మ is మ with a small మ under it. Conjuncts shows the common ones.

Sunna and visarga

The small circle ం, called sunna (the anusvāra), is an m at the end of a word: పుస్తకం pustakaṁ. Before a consonant it is the nasal said in that consonant's place: అందరు aṁdaru "all (people)", said andaru, and పంపు paṁpu "send", said pampu. The visarga ః is a breathy h, found in a few words from Sanskrit such as దుఃఖం duḥkhaṁ "sorrow".

The order of the chart

The Letters chart lists the vowels (అచ్చులు) first, then the consonants (హల్లులు). Most consonants come in rows of five, ordered from the back of the mouth to the lips. Across a row: plain, aspirated (with a puff of air), voiced, voiced and aspirated, and nasal.

The letters are rounded, a shape often traced to writing with a stylus on palm leaves, where long straight strokes would split the leaf.

Telugu has its own digits (౧, ౨, ౩), but everyday writing uses 1, 2, 3.