Telugu/Alphabet and Pronunciation/అ ఆ - ఇ ఈ - ఉ ఊ

అ, ఆ, ఇ, ఈ, ఉ, ఊ

The letters written above are called a, aa, i, ee, u, oo.

'a' (అ) makes the short /a/ sound, as in the word approval, similar to the Spanish vowel 'A'.
'aa' (ఆ) makes the long /ɑː/ sound, as in armor or water, similar to the Spanish vowel 'Á' (with the diacritic).
'i' (ఇ) makes the short /ɪ/ sound, as in India or tin, similar to the Spanish vowel 'I'.
'ee' (ఈ) makes the long /iː/ sound, as in eat or sleep, similar to the Spanish vowel 'Í'.
'u' (ఉ) makes the short /u/ sound, as in bull or book, similar to the Spanish vowel 'U'.
'oo' (ఊ) makes the long /uː/ sound, as in tool or fool, similar to the Spanish vowel 'Ú'.

Exercises

Read out the following combinations of the letters as practice.