Alphabet & Pronunciation
അക്ഷരമാലയും ഉച്ചാരണവും
Malayalam script is read exactly as it's written. French adds two things Malayalam has neither of: letters that go silent at the end of a word, and vowels pronounced through the nose.
Grammar Comparison
വ്യാകരണ താരതമ്യം
Silent final consonants
petit (small) → puh-TEE — the final 't' is never pronounced
every Malayalam letter you write is a letter you say — no silent endings
French frequently drops the final consonant of a word in speech, even though it stays on the page — petit, grand, and beaucoup all end in a letter you don't say. Malayalam script has no equivalent gap between spelling and sound: what's written at the end of a word is pronounced at the end of a word.
Nasal vowels: a genuinely new sound
un, bon, vin — vowels pushed through the nose, with no consonant actually sounding afterward
no equivalent nasal-vowel sound exists in Malayalam
French has a set of vowel sounds pronounced with air routed through the nose instead of the mouth — the 'n' you see written isn't pronounced as a normal 'n', it just signals which nasal vowel to use. This sound category doesn't exist in Malayalam at all, so it has to be learned by ear rather than mapped onto anything familiar.
Vocabulary
വാക്കുകൾ
- Malayalam
- ചെറിയcheriya
- English
- small
- Malayalam
- വലിയvaliya
- English
- big
- Malayalam
- നല്ലnalla
- English
- good
- Malayalam
- വൈൻwine
- English
- wine
- Malayalam
- വെള്ളvella
- English
- white
- Malayalam
- ധാരാളംdhaaraalam
- English
- a lot
- Malayalam
- സമയംsamayam
- English
- time
- Malayalam
- മൂക്ക്mookku
- English
- nose
- Malayalam
- രണ്ട്randu
- English
- two
- Malayalam
- പൂച്ചpoocha
- English
- cat