How to type in Telugu with an English keyboard

Step by step: long vowels, ట/త and ళ/ల, aspirated letters, conjuncts, sunna and rare letters, with typed examples. For phone and computer.

Open the typing tool

The idea: type the sound, get the letter

This is phonetic transliteration: you type a Telugu word the way it sounds, in English letters, and get the matching Telugu letters. Type telugu and you get తెలుగు. You do not need to learn key positions; there are only a handful of rules, all below. Try each one in the Telugu typing tool.

Telugu writes syllables: each letter is a consonant plus a vowel sign (gunintham). Type k and then a for క, A for కా, i for కి. A consonant with no vowel after it is shown with the pollu (virama) sign: k alone gives క్.

1. Short and long vowels

A small letter is a short vowel; the same letter as a capital is the long one. For ఆ, ఈ and ఊ you can also type aa, ee and oo.

2. ట or త, డ or ద, ణ or న, ళ or ల: capital or small

The retroflex letters, said with the tongue curled back, are capitals: T = ట, D = డ, N = ణ, L = ళ. The dental ones, with the tongue on the teeth, are small: t = త, d = ద, n = న, l = ల. One letter changes the word:

If a phone keyboard capitalises the first letter (Nenu gives ణెను), the word comes out wrong; our tool switches auto-capitals off, and elsewhere you can turn them off in the keyboard settings.

3. Aspirated letters: add h

For ఖ, ఘ, ఛ, ఝ, ఠ, ఢ, థ, ధ, ఫ, భ type h after the consonant: kh, gh, Ch, jh, Th, Dh, th, dh, ph, bh. శ is S or sh, ష is Sh.

Watch out: in chat many people write th for త (chavithi, thithi). Here th means థ, so type chaviti for చవితి and tithi for తిథి. If you forget, the suggestions offer the right word.

4. Conjuncts (ottulu) form by themselves

When two consonants meet with no vowel between them, the second becomes an ottu (subscript). No conjunct needs a key of its own.

5. Sunna (ం)

Type a capital M for sunna. With Smart spelling on in the tool, n before a consonant (nd, nT, nch …), m before p, b, s, h or v, and a word-final -am turn into sunna by themselves. Words like జన్మ and అన్నం keep their n and m.

6. Rare letters

Keys that start with ~ (tilde) give the rare letters. క్ష is ksh or x, జ్ఞ is jn.

7. Keeping letters apart, and English words

An underscore _ keeps two keys from joining and is not shown: k_h gives క్హ (not ఖ) and a_i gives అఇ (not ఐ). An m_ at the end of a word stops the sunna. Anything in curly brackets { } stays in English.

8. Everyday words

Telugu keyboards on phones and computers

Nothing needs installing for this page. To type Telugu straight into any app: on Android and iPhone, add Telugu to Gboard and choose its layout that takes English letters (abc → తెలుగు). Windows and macOS let you add Telugu in the language or keyboard settings; their standard Telugu keyboard is InScript, where you learn key positions rather than sounds. Until you know it, typing here and copying is quicker.

Fixing common mistakes

• Got ఎ instead of ఏ? Small e is ఎ, capital E is ఏ; o is ఒ, O is ఓ.
• Got త instead of ట, or ద instead of డ? Use a capital T or D.
• An unwanted pollu (్)? A vowel is missing after the consonant – usually an a.
• Two letters merged (ai gave ఐ)? Put _ between them.
• Not sure which key gives a letter? Look it up in the alphabet chart.

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