There are 12 vowels in tamil namely
அ, ஆ, இ, ஈ, உ, ஊ, எ, ஏ, ஐ, ஒ, ஓ, ஔ
as against 5 of English namely
a, e, i, o, u
and 18 consonants namely
க், ங், ச், ஞ், ட், ண், த், ந், ப், ம், ய், ர், ல், வ், ழ், ள், ற், ன்
as against 21 of English namely b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z.
These twelve vowels combine with each of the consonants and yield 12*18=216 hybrid letters
known as uyirmei ezuththukkaL (உயிர்மெய் எழுத்துக்கள்)
A unique alphabet called aayutha ezuththu ஆயுத எழுத்து namely
ஃ
used in special occasions exists in tamil. The usage of this aayutha ezuththu will be explained in detail at later chapters of this tutorial.
Given below are screenshots of azhagi's children's keypad. Click each letter with your mouse and see the respective letters appearing in the azhagi screen below. If you do not have azhagi software download freely at
azhagi.com
In the tutor's keypad, its not only clicking but drag and drop is also possible. First of all with clicking itself, one can click on 'ik' and then on 'a' and get 'ka'. With drag and drop, one can click on 'k' and then drag and keep the mouse on 'a' and leave it. one will get 'ka'. for more details, see help documents of azhagi. so, its learning both Tamil and mouse movements for small children.
