Kannada words for beginners
Turn familiar Kannada letters into 10 useful words. Read the script, hear the whole word, and use the English meaning to check what you understood.
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Your first 10 Kannada words
| Word | English sound guide | Meaning and reading hint | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಅಮ್ಮ | amma | mother am-ma: hold the doubled m. | Listen |
| ಅಣ್ಣ | aṇṇa | elder brother aṇ-ṇa: hold the doubled curled-tongue nasal ṇ. | Listen |
| ಮರ | mara | tree ma-ra: two short a sounds and a quick r. | Listen |
| ಹಾಲು | haalu | milk haa-lu: long aa, then short u. | Listen |
| ನದಿ | nadi | river na-di: short vowels with a dental d. | Listen |
| ತಲೆ | tale | head ta-le: dental t, ending with short e. | Listen |
| ಕಣ್ಣು | kaṇṇu | eye kaṇ-ṇu: hold the doubled curled-tongue nasal ṇ. | Listen |
| ಉಪ್ಪು | uppu | salt up-pu: hold the doubled p closure; both vowels are short. | Listen |
| ಊರು | ooru | village oo-ru: long oo, then short u. | Listen |
| ಆಟ | aaṭa | play aa-ṭa: long aa, followed by a curled-tongue ṭ. | Listen |
Find familiar forms inside each word
Read each word with its own English meaning and hint. Use those examples to check attached signs and joined forms; isolated-letter labels alone do not determine a whole word’s pronunciation.
Compare the doubled consonants and vowel lengths in these Kannada words.
- ಅಮ್ಮ — amma, mother. am-ma: hold the doubled m.
- ಅಣ್ಣ — aṇṇa, elder brother. aṇ-ṇa: hold the doubled curled-tongue nasal ṇ.
- ಉಪ್ಪು — uppu, salt. up-pu: hold the doubled p closure; both vowels are short.
- ಊರು — ooru, village. oo-ru: long oo, then short u.
Read, remember, and check
- Choose a few written forms and compare their English hints.
- Cover the hints and identify the letters in a different order.
- Practise with matching, mixing, flashcards, or a visual quiz.
Cover a word’s English meaning, recall it, then check the table. This is a small reading vocabulary, not a phrasebook or a complete language course.
Prepared by Learn Akshara from our beginner Kannada curriculum. English spellings are approximate learning aids. Writing-system reference: The Unicode Standard, South Asian Scripts. AI-generated pronunciation is a learning aid, not a guarantee of accuracy. See our audio sources and credits.