When reading Tamil, a single letter changes sound based on position. A word starting with க is pronounced "Ka". If க is in the middle of a word, it is usually pronounced "Ga".
Learners use mnemonic charts:
Tamil collapses multiple phonetic sounds into single letters. For example, the Tamil letter represents the Sinhala sounds ක ( ), and ඝ ( Ka-Varga (Velar Consonants) Sinhala Letter Tamil Letter Primary Pronunciation ක / ග / ඛ / ඝ Nga (as in sing ) Ca-Varga (Palatal Consonants) Sinhala Letter Tamil Letter Primary Pronunciation ච / ජ / ඡ / ඣ Cha / Ja / Sa Nya (as in onion ) Ta-Varga (Retroflex Consonants) Sinhala Letter Tamil Letter Primary Pronunciation ට / ඩ / ඨ / ඪ Ta / Da (tongue curled back) Na (retroflex) Tha-Varga (Dental Consonants) Sinhala Letter Tamil Letter Primary Pronunciation ත / ද / ථ / ධ Tha / Dha (tongue on teeth) Na (dental) Pa-Varga (Labial Consonants) Sinhala Letter Tamil Letter Primary Pronunciation ප / බ / ඵ / භ Approximants and Liquids Sinhala Letter Tamil Letter Primary Pronunciation La (retroflex) Zha (unique Tamil retroflex rhotic) ශ / ෂ / ස Sa / Sha (Tamil uses Grantha characters for these) Ha (Grantha character in Tamil) sinhala to tamil letters