1.2 Telugu Consonants తెలుగు హల్లులు

Bright pink flowers with white centers. The flowers are in focus while the gray background is out of focus.
పూలు (flowers). Image: Dandamudi Seetaram, licensed under CC BY-NC

In this part, we learn how to say and write consonants. In Telugu, we have 23 consonant symbols.

Consonants Set 1

Consonants Example Words in Transliteration Telugu Script
“ka” kalam కలం
“ga” ganta గంట
“cha” chaduvu చదువు
“ja” jada జడ

Speaking Activity 1

Please record yourself reading the above letters and words.

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Consonants Set 2

Consonants Example Words in Transliteration Telugu Script
“Ta” paaTa పాట
“Da” vaDa వడ
“Na” aruNa అరుణ
“ta” paata పాత
“da” danDa దండ
“na” naDaka నడక

Speaking Activity 2

Please record yourself reading the above letters and words.

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Writing Activity 1

Please write these consonant sounds four times, writing one letter in each box. Focus on shape of the each letter.

Letter

Consonants Set 3

Consonants Example Words in Transliteration Telugu Script
“pa” panTA పంట
“ba” banDa బండ
“ma” maraka మరక
“ya” yama యమ
“ra” raNam రణం
“la” palaka పలక
“va” vala వల

Speaking Activity 3

Please record yourself reading the above letters and words.

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Writing Activity 2

Please write these consonant sounds four times, writing one letter in each box. Focus on shape of the each letter.

Letter
మంట

Flame

యమ

The God of Death

మర

Machine

Consonants Set 4

Consonants Example Words in Transliteration Telugu Script
“Sa” Saram (arrow) శరం
“sha” usha (dawn/person’s name) ఉష
“sa” saram (garland) సరం
“ha” halam (yoke) హలం
“La” kaLa (art) కళ
o half m/nkalam vanda (hundred) వంద
vanda (half m or n sound if it’s in the middle of a word) kalam (pen) కలం

Speaking Activity 4

Please record yourself reading the above letters and words.

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Writing Activity 3

Please write these consonant sounds four times, writing one letter in each box. Focus on shape of the each letter.

Letter
అందం

andam

Beauty

శరం

Saram

Arrow

సరం

saram

Garland

ఉష

usha

Dawn

హలం

halam

Yoke

Reading and Writing Practice

Please read and write these letters and words in Telugu twice.

Set 1

Word Practice 1 Practice 2
కల “kala”
వడ “vaDa”
పదం “padam”
కణం “kaNam”
వనం “vanam”
దండ “danDa”
నరం “naram”

Set 2

Word Practice 1 Practice 2
శరం “Saram”
సరం “saram”
హలం “halam”
హారం “haaram”
కల “kala”
కళ “kaLa”
కలకలం “kalakalam”

Set 3

Word Practice 1 Practice 2
ఇక “ika”
ఈక “eeka”
ఎడమ “eDama”
“ai”
ఏకం “Ekam”
గంట “ganTa”
గంట “ganta”

Set 4

Word Practice 1 Practice 2
మడత “maData”
పదం “padam”
జనం “janam”
రణం “raNam”
దళం “daLam”
కలం “kalam”
బలం “balam”

Sanskrit Loan Letters

  • క్ష
  • క్షమ
  • అక్షరం
  • అక్షయ్
  • కళ

More Practice with Consonants

  • నడత
  • కలహం
  • మంట
  • శరత్
  • తరం
  • తరంగం
  • రంగం
  • శంకర్
  • వంకర
  • కవనం
  • వనం
  • పరంపర
  • దండ
  • వడ
  • పద
  • సంపద
  • నరం
  • ఆనందం
  • అహం
  • సగం

A Few Tricky Letters

Some letters are really tricky in their shape and sound. We need more practice to learn them properly.

  • ల (కల)
  • ళ (కళ)
  • త (వంత)
  • ట (వంట)
  • ద (గద)
  • డ (గడ)
  • య (యమ)
  • మ (మంట)

 

License

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Basic Telugu Copyright © 2026 by Afsar Mohammad and Rajiv Ranjan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.