Tamil keyboard

Tap Tamil letters and vowel signs on screen, or type with your keyboard.

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Tap the keys below, or type English letters on your keyboard (vanakkam).
0 words · 0 characters · 0 Tamil letters
Tamil on-screen keyboard

Vowels (உயிர்)

Tap a consonant first and these keys show the joined letters.

Consonants (மெய்)

Grantha (கிரந்தம்)

Numbers and symbols (எண்கள், குறியீடுகள்)

How Tamil letters are built

Tamil has 12 vowels (உயிர், uyir, “life”) and 18 consonants (மெய், mei, “body”). Put a consonant and a vowel together and you get a joined letter (உயிர்மெய், uyirmei): 18 × 12 = 216 of them. Add the special letter ஃ (aytham) and that is the 247 letters children learn at school.

க்+அ=க

k + a = ka

க்+ஆ=கா

k + aa = kaa

ம்+இ=மி

m + i = mi

One consonant with every vowel: the vowel becomes a small sign around the consonant.
அaஆaaஇiஈiiஉuஊuuஎeஏEஐaiஒoஓOஔau
ககாகிகீகுகூகெகேகைகொகோகௌ

Signs for e, ee and ai (ெ ே ை) are written before the consonant, and o, oo and au wrap around it (கொ கோ கௌ), yet in Unicode text the consonant always comes first. Old fonts stored them in the order they are drawn, which is why old documents turn into a jumble when the font is missing.

How to use the Tamil on-screen keyboard

  1. Tap a consonant

    Tap a consonant such as க. The vowel keys change to show the joined letters: கா, கி, கு and so on.

  2. Tap a vowel

    Tap a vowel key to finish the letter, or the pulli key for க். Tap vowels on their own to write அ, ஆ, இ at the start of a word.

  3. Copy your text

    Copy all puts the text on your clipboard. You can also type with your computer keyboard, in English letters or the Tamil99 layout.

Good to know

  • Backspace removes one sign at a time, so கா goes back to க, and then to nothing.
  • On a phone the phone's own keyboard stays hidden so the keys below have room. Tick Use phone keyboard too to bring it back.
  • Tamil99 is the standard Tamil layout: h is க, j is ப, k is ம, a is அ, q is ஆ, and f adds the pulli. The same consonant twice adds the pulli by itself.
  • Tamil numerals ௧ ௨ ௩ and symbols such as ௹ (rupee) and ௳ (day) are in the last row, for dates, accounts and old style writing.
  • The draft is saved in this browser only, and Clear saved draft removes it.

Questions people ask

How do I make கொ, கோ or கௌ?

Tap க, then the ஒ, ஓ or ஔ key. The keyboard puts the signs on both sides of the letter for you.

What is the pulli?

The dot above a consonant, as in க். It removes the vowel sound, so k alone instead of ka. Tap a consonant and then the pulli key.

What are grantha letters?

ஜ, ஷ, ஸ, ஹ, க்ஷ and ஸ்ரீ were added to write Sanskrit and English sounds, as in ஜன்னல் (window) or ஸ்ரீ.

What is Tamil99?

The standard Tamil keyboard layout approved by the Tamil Nadu government in 1999. Vowels are on the left of the keyboard and consonants on the right, so typing alternates between hands.

Is my text uploaded?

No. Everything runs in your browser on this device. Nothing you type or paste is sent to a server, and the saved draft stays in this browser only.

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