Writing Malayalam.

Here are a few of the most common mistakes made by people learning to read and write Malayalam.

1. Be careful with the dependent versions of ഇ and ഈ below when handwriting. Unless they are clearly written higher than the top of the consonant, they can be confused with the dependent ആ marker. Example: പി vs. പാ.
2. The letters പ and വ can be confused. Make sure the initial stroke in പ is small, less than halfway up the final vertical stroke. The top of the initial curved stroke in വ should be even with the top of the final vertical stroke.
3. The letters സ and ഡ can be confused, because they are mirrored inversions of each other.
4. The dependent vowel  ൃ (from initial ഋ) can easily be confused with the dependent semivowel marker for യ. Remember to close the final curve on the bottom of dependent ഋ. Example: തൃ vs. ത്യ.
5. The core of all letters should be the same height (between two imaginary parallel lines as shown above), but some elements must extend above or below the line as follows:
   • the lower elements of the initial vowels ā, i, ī, u, ū, e, ē, and ai should extend below the line; examples: ഇ ആ ഉ ഏ.
   • the dependent u, ū and ṛ vowel markers ( ു  ൂ and ൃ) and all the dependent semivowels (യ ര ല and വ from the previous section) should extend below the line; examples: വു സൂ കൃ വ്യോ ഗ്രു ശ്ലോ and ശ്വ.
   • the dependent i, ī, and echo vowel markers should be clearly written above the line:  ി  ീ and  ്; examples: പ്രി ടീ ത്.
   • the cillǔ marker should extend above the line. examples: ൻ ൾ.

   • ---

     To put all these syllables together, you simply write each letter/syllable one after the other to form words, left to right.

     മ + ക + ൻ = മകൻ “son”
     പ + ട്ടി = പട്ടി “dog”
     പോ + കാ +  ം  = പോകാം “let’s go”

     ---

     In general, to write a Malayalam sentence you just put words together with a space in between each word. However, you will quickly see that Malayalam, like many Indic languages, often makes use of sandhi, joining words together in a composite written form and even sometimes modifying a word’s spelling to make it easier to say—something like the contraction from “cannot” to “can’t” or from “what do you” to “whadya” / “whaccha.” These contractions or joinings occur much more frequently than in English. Unfortunately, they are also not applied consistently in all written Malayalam. For now, we give some simple sentences with each word spaced and some very simple examples of sandhi.

     With spaces

     ഞാൻ വീട്ടിൽ പോകുന്നു. “I am going home.”
     വെള്ളം തരൂ. “Please give me some water.”
     എനിക്ക് പഠിക്കാൻ വയ്യ. “I don’t feel like studying.”
     ചെച്ചി എവിടെ പോയി? “Where did elder sister go?”

     With simple sandhi

     അത് ആണ്. → അതാണ്. “That’s it.” (consonant-vowel)
     നിങ്ങൾക്ക് ഉണ്ടോ? → നിങ്ങൾക്കുണ്ടോ? “Do you have it/any?” (consonant-vowel)
     അനിയത്തി എടുത്തു? → അനിയത്തിയെടുത്തു. “Younger sister took it.” (vowel-vowel)