ရ + ◌ေ
ရေ
Alphabets
The Burmese alphabet ဗျည်း
Meet every letter of Burmese, hear how it sounds, and learn how letters join to make words.
About Burmese
Burmese is written in the Myanmar script (မြန်မာအက္ခရာ) from left to right. Each consonant carries a built-in "a"; vowel signs change it, and the asat (်) removes it at the end of a syllable. Four medials – ျ ြ ွ ှ – add y, r, w or h to a consonant. Tone is shown with the signs ့ and း.
- 33
- consonants ဗျည်း
- 4
- medials
- 3
- tones
- L → R
- writing direction
Vowels သရ
Vowel signs on က. They are typed after the consonant, even when drawn before it. Tap a letter to hear it.
Extra signs
Anusvara – a nasal ending.
Aukmyit – the short, creaky tone.
Visarga – the long, high tone.
Consonants ဗျည်း
The consonants are arranged by where in the mouth the sound is made. Tap a letter to hear it.
Ka group က ဝဂ်
velar
Sa group စ ဝဂ်
palatal
Retroflex ဋ ဝဂ်
used in Pali words
Ta group တ ဝဂ်
dental
Pa group ပ ဝဂ်
labial
Others အဝဂ်
y, r, l, w, th, h, l and the vowel carrier
Medials ဗျည်းတွဲ
y, r, w and h joined to a consonant
How letters join to make words
Burmese words are built syllable by syllable. Three simple rules cover almost everything.
-
1
Consonant + vowel sign
Vowel signs attach to the consonant.
က +◌ာ =ကာ -
2
Typed after, drawn before
ေ is drawn on the left but typed after the consonant.
က +◌ေ =ကေ -
3
Asat ends a syllable
The asat ် removes the vowel: န်.
န +◌် =န်
Build real words
အ + ◌ိ
အိ
+
မ + ◌်
မ်
မ + ◌ြ
မြ
+
န + ◌်
န်
+
မ + ◌ာ
မာ
Ready to type in Burmese?
Use the on-screen keyboard to write these letters, or translate your first sentence.