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
Each Sgaw Karen consonant, with a word from the dictionary that uses it.
A vowel joins onto a consonant. Each one is shown here on the letter ka (က).
Letter
Rough name
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).
Letter
Rough name
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.
Letter
Rough name
ကၢ်
tone mark
ကာ်
tone mark
ကး
visarga
ကၣ်
Hathi
ကၤ
Ke 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.