The Sgaw Karen letters

All the Sgaw Karen letters, in the order they are most often taught: consonants, then vowels, then medials, then tone marks. Each one shows the Karen letter and a rough name in English letters. The Karen letters are what matter. The English-letter sounds are only a help to get you started.

These letters and their rough English-letter sounds are still being checked with a Karen speaker.

Consonants

Tap a letter to see a word that uses it.

Vowels

A vowel joins onto a consonant. Each one is shown here on the letter ka (က).

ကါ-a

ကံ-i

ကု-ü

ကူ-u

က့-e

ကဲ-è

ကိ-o

ကီ-ò

ကၢ-ö

Medials

A medial is an extra sound that fits inside a consonant. Shown here on ka (က).

ကျ-l-

ကြ-r-

ကွ-w-

ကှ-gh-

ကၠ-y-

Tone marks

These marks show that a sound has a tone. They are here so you can spot them when you read. Knyaw can't teach you how a tone sounds. That needs a speaker.

ကၢ်tone mark

ကာ်tone mark

ကးvisarga

ကၣ်Hathi

ကၤKe Pho

Sgaw Karen is a tone language. These letters show the Karen letter and a rough sound. To say words the right way you need a Karen speaker and sound. That is why Knyaw helps you read and understand for now.

Learn to read Sgaw Karen, free