Telugu Vowels & Consonants — All Letters with Audio

The Telugu Vowels (స్వరాలు)

The Telugu vowel set is similar to other South Indian scripts. Each vowel has a short and long form, distinguished by length of pronunciation:

• అ (A, as in "up") — అరటి (Banana)
• ఆ (Ā, as in "father") — ఆవు (Cow)
• ఇ (I, as in "it") — ఇల్లు (House)
• ఈ (Ī, as in "eel") — ఈగ (Fly)
• ఉ (U, as in "put") — ఉప్పు (Salt)
• ఊ (Ū, as in "ooze") — ఊయల (Swing)
• ఋ (Ru) — ఋతువు (Season)
• ఎ (E, as in "egg") — ఎలుక (Mouse)
• ఏ (Ē, as in "angel") — ఏనుగు (Elephant)
• ఐ (Ai, as in "ice") — ఐదు (Five)
• ఒ (O, as in "omit") — ఒంటె (Camel)
• ఓ (Ō, as in "open") — ఓడ (Ship)
• ఔ (Au, as in "out") — ఔషధం (Medicine)

The Telugu Consonants (హల్లులు)

Consonants are organized into phonetic groups called vargas. The ka-varga (క ఖ గ ఘ ఙ), cha-varga (చ ఛ జ ఝ ఞ), ta-varga, tha-varga, pa-varga and the semi-vowels (య ర ల వ శ ష స హ ళ). Telugu also has the unique letter ఱ (rolled r) found in no other South Indian language. The Vowels category is free; Consonants is part of the premium set. Both use the same format: the letter, its picture word, English phonetic pronunciation and native audio.