z for zasamu

z for zasamu.
zasamu means fish.

There are two ja's in Telugu, one is aspirated ja and unaspirated jha.
ఝషము = zaShamu/JhaShamu
ఝ=jha/za
ష=Sha
ము=mu

Y for yantramu

Y for yantramu

yantramu means machine.
యంత్రము
యం=yam/yan
త్ర=tra
ము=mu
Remember, in telugu when two consonants come together as in tra=t+r+a or tri=t+r+i, the second consonant becomes a sign and the vowel sign corresponding to the second consonant is written on the first consonant.
త్రి  = త్ + ర్ + ఇ
tri  = t  +  r + i
Look the i sign is written on t rather than on the r which appears as a sign. The elongated u written below త(ta) is the sign/voththu for r.
So kri is written as క్రి

So mri is written as మ్రి
So pri is written as ప్రి
So for i is the comma like sign written on the top of the letter.
In cases where the tala kattu is written joined up to the letter, the sign is also joined up as in the case of vi(వి) and in case of pi(పి as in pin) the sign is written disjointed.

x for kshatriyudu

x for kShatriyudu

I have selected this alphabet because this is the one that is closely related to x but it is written as ksha(iksha)

క్షత్రియుడు - kShatriyudu 
kshatriyudu means a person belonging to the military caste. Sometimes warriors are also called kShatriyudu.


క్ + ష = క్ష
k + Sha = kSha
త్+ర + ఇ = త్రి
t + r + i = tri
యు = yu
డు = du
Remember, the u sign is similar to English u.


క + ఉ = కు
ka+u=ku
గ + ఉ = గు
ga+u=gu
య + ఉ = యు
ya+u = yu

W for wala

W for Wala
V and w are the same in Telugu.

The Telugu Vowels in order
అ అ ఇ ఈ ఉ ఊ ఋ ౠ ఎ ఏ ఐ ఒ ఓ  ఔ  అం   ఆః
a aa i  ee u u Ru  RU e E ai o O au aM aH 

V for Vala

V for vala
vala means net

వల=vala

వ=va

ల=la

u for uduta

u for uduta
uduta means squirrel

ఉడుత
ఉ=u
డు=du
త=tha

T for Tamaata

T for Tamaata

టమాట is Tomato
ట=Ta
మా=maa
ట=Ta

s for sabbu

s for sabbu
sabbu means soap

సబ్బు

స=sa

బ్బు=bbu

R for Ravi

R for Ravi
Ravi means sun. It is also a common name in India. Boys are named Ravi, Ravi kiran etc.

రవి
ర=ra
వి=vi

q for kyu

q for kyu

I can't think of a word starting with kyu but in telugu it is possible to write kyu. And I think it is used to write the English word Queue.

క్యు for kyu which is actually ka(క) + y(య) + u(ఉ) = kyu

vaakyam = వాక్యం


vaakyam means sentence
వా=vaa
క్యం
=kyam

p for palaka

P for palaka
Palaka means slate(small black board that kids use to practise their writing. It is erasable and can be reused.)

పలక
ప=pa
ల=la
క=ka


I think I can introduce few telugu vowels today.


అ(a) ఆ(aa)
ఇ(i) ఈ(ee) 
ఉ(u) ఊ(oo)
The vowel signs for these are as follows.
క + అ=క(inherent vowel sound)
క + ఆ=కా

క +  ఇ =కి
క +  ఈ =కీ

క +   ఉ  =కు
క +   ఊ  =కూ



When to use vowel signs and when to use vowels?
When a word starts with a vowel, then vowel takes the independent form. While if it comes along with a consonant the vowel sign is used.

o for onte

o for onte
onte means camel

ఒంటె
ఒం=on
టె=te
ఒ is o while the long vowel O is ఓ 
క+ఒ=కొ
ka +  o     = ko
క+ఓ=కో
ka+O = kO

M for mukku

M for mukku
mukku means nose

ముక్కు


ము-mu
క్కు-kku


As said earlier doubling of consonants is denoted by a vaththu written slightly below the consonant. In the following video you can see the various vaththulu in Telugu.

N for naga

N for Naga
Naga  means jewel/ornament

నగ
న=na
గ=ga
In telugu to form plurals you just need to add lu to the word.
So naga is jewel, to make it jewels, you say nagalu(నగలు)
book                    books
బుక్కు(bukku) - బుక్కులు(bukkulu) 
vegetable - vegetables
కూర(koora) - కూరలు(kooralu)
ఆవు(aavu) - ఆవులు(aavulu) - cows
పసువు(pasuvu) - పసువులు(pasuvulu) - animals
కాకి(kaaki) - కాకిలు(kaakilu) - crows

l for latha

l for latha

లత means creeper.
ల=la
త=tha

k for kalamu

k for kalamu
kalamu means pen

కలము
క=ka
ల=la
ము=mu
The telugu consonants start with ka.
The order the telugu consonants are
ka   kha  ga  gha
క ఖ గ ఘ
Although there are more consonants in Indian languages compared to English, Telugu being a phonetic languages once you learn all the consonants you can read the script easily as the consonants sound always sound the same.
For example, ka(క) is always ka and kha(ఖ) is always kha.

j for jada

j for jada

జడ is plait
జ=ja
డ=da
The cha(ch as in chair) series in Telugu has
చ      ఛ   జ   ఝ
cha  Cha ja  jha
చ+ఉ=చు
cha+u=chu
--------------
చ   + ఊ =చూ
cha+ u =chu
ఉ=u and ఊ=oo

I for illu

I for illu (i as in pin)

ఇల్లు
ఇ=i
ల్లు=llu
ల+ఉ=లు
la+u=lu
The doubling of consonant l is denoted by the side wise 3 like symbol under the consonant.
Always remember in Telugu, when you add the vowel sign to a double cobsonant then the vowel sign belongs to the cosonant written as vaththu as shown below.

గ్రుడ్లగూబ
Consider the above word, gruDlagooba(owl)
ga+ru=gru
గ+రు=గ్రు
Although the vowel sign is written for ga(గ) it actually belongs to ర rather than గ.
Similarly,
డ్+ల=డ్ల

Although it looks complicated it is a simple rule, if two consonants come one after other without a consonant in between the second consonant is written as a vaththu below the first consonant and the second consonant's vowel sign is written to the the first consonant.

h for hamsa

h for hamsa

హంస
హం=ham
స=sa
The round o like sign is for am(అం).
హ+అం=హం
క కా కి కీ కు కూ కృ కౄ కె కే కై కొ కో కౌ కం కః
ka  kaa     ki  kee ku      koo   kRu  kRU     ke  kE kai   ko   kO  kau    kam kaha
The above are the vowel signs for the vowels.

g for gada

g for gada
గద is mace

గ=ga
ద=da

Historical heroes like Bheema, Hanuman,Ravana(villain) etc are known to carry a gada.
The telugu consonants are written in the following order
ka   kha    ga     gha
క ఖ  గ ఘ
and all other sounds like
ka   kaa    ki  kee  ku     koo   kRu    kRU   ke  kE kai      ko   kO  kau   kam kaha
క కా కి కీ కు కూ కృ కౄ కె కే కై  కొ కో కౌ కం కః
So for other consonants follow the same vowel sign to get all consonant+vowel combinations.
For more telugu vocabulary and lessons and learn other Indian languages visit www.languagereef.com

H

F for falamu/phalamu

F for falamu

ఫలము
ఫ=pha
ల=la
ము=mu
Note: The similarity between pa and pha. While pa is written like ప , pha is written as ఫ
It is just a little dot written below pa makes it pha.

An important thing to note. You may wonder how will you differentiate between ma and vu.


మ +ఉ=ము
వ + ఉ=వు
If we write in the usual way vu will look like ma. So to differentiate between them in vu the u sign starts near the head of the alphabet unlike gu(గు) or su(సు).

e for Enugu

e for Enugu
ఏనుగు

ఏ - e as in Everest

ను - nu 

గు - gu

Remember, u vowel sign is add a u to the consonant.

so, 

గ + ఉ = గు (gu)

ga+u = gu

న + ఉ = ను (nu)

na+u = nu

The long vowel ఊ has the vowel sign as show below.

న + ఊ =  నూ  (nU/noo)

na+U = noo/nU

There are some consonants(hallulu) in telugu which are so similar except for few minor changes.

For example, look at the following consonants,

వ,ప,న,స,

va ,   pa,   na,   sa

difference between va and pa is just whether the thala kattu(tick mark on top of letters) are joined are not. In va it is joined while in pa it is not.(I try to remember like this pa is separate)

difference between sa and na is just whether the thala kattu(tick mark on top of letters) are joined are not. It na is joined while for sa it is not. (I try to remember like this sa is separate)

d for damaru

d for damaru
డమరు

డ=da
మ=ma
రు=ru
Note the difference between ma and ru. While ma has a tail in the letter itself while it a vowel sign in case of ru.
ra is ర 
ru is రు(ర + ఉ)
ma is మ
mu is ము(మ + ఉ)
Also note the similarity between da and u. It is just a horizonal line in u which is absent in da. So remember, u(a vowel) has a horizontal line while da(a consonant) does not have it.

C for cimhamu/simhamu

c for simhamu

సింహము

సిం - sim/cim

హ-ha

ము-mu

c has the c sound like in nice rather than in car.

The comma like sign on the consonant is the vowel sign for i(i as in pin)

So, sa -> se/si

స ->సి

To represent the long vowel see as in seen

స ->సీ

----------

ha -> hi/he (hi as in him)

హ -> హి

హ ->హీ

ha -> hee 

hee as in heal

B for Bassu

బ for bassu

బస్సు

ba-s-su
(బ-ba, స-sa, u like curve attached to స is vowel sign for ఉ(the vowel u) and doubling of consonant is denoted by the letter written to the bottom right of స-sa)

As you see, many English words are used in everyday language in India. And one such word is bassu. Most of the English words spoken by Telugu speaking people, has a "u" sound attached to it. For example, car is caaru, bus is bassu, government is governmentu, politics is politicsu etc.
We can draw similarity to Japanese language (katakana is used to write words got from foreign languages) esp. English where English words undergo a modification. Smith is Sumisu, Beer is Biiru etc.

A for Amma

అ for Amma

Amma is mother in Telugu

అమ్మ

a-m-ma 

(అ-a, మ-ma)

The doubling of consonants is indicated by the sign next to ma.It is called ma-vaththu)

All consonants have inherent a sound to it. Absense of vowel sound is denoted by a sign as shown below. It is "m" మ్ (absense of a as opposed to మ)

A quick introduction to Telugu

Telugu is my mother tongue and it is a language spoken by nearly 74 million native speakers in India. It is a South Indian language. 

Some key features of Telugu

1. It is written from left to right(like English)
2. It follows Abudiga system of writing(It is segmental writing system where consonant and vowels are written as a unit)
3. It does not have capital letters
4. Vowels take two forms independent form and as sign with they occur with consonants
5. It is a phonetic language(once you know the syllabary you know to read almost everything in Telugu)
6. It has 16 vowels(achchulu) and 36 consonants(hallulu)
7. It is a language highly influenced by sanskrit and prakrit.

For more vocabulary visit www.languagereef.com