Consonant Modification Symbols
Although there are 33 characters, only about 25 have distinct consonant sounds. Burmese can have additional consonants such as "Sha1" and "Cha1" using Consonant Modification Symbols known as
- ျ | ya1 pin1 | ယပင့် which is "j" shaped and appended at the lower right side of the character,
- ြ | ya1 yit | ရရစ် which looks like a 3/4 of the rectangle with open end at the right side that surrounds the character,
- ွ | wa1 hsweare3 | ဝဆွဲ which has "o" or triangle shape depending on the font type that goes below the character, and
- ှ | ha1 hto3 | ဟထိုး which looks like a mirror image of "L" facing to the left side that goes under the character. When used in combination with wa1 hsweare3, it will only appear as a small dash or a tiny back slash to the left of wa1 hsweare3 like this: ဝွှ
Consonant Modification Symbols neither change the tone nor the vowel ending. Characters remain in the first tone with the vowel "a". Both ya1 yit and ya1 pin1 have the same consonant modification effects, and in combination with several characters which can have the same sound, several spelling variations are possible. However, it will be encouraging to know that reading Burmese will be much easier than writing with the correct spelling.
Note: Yellow background indicates consonants that are completely modified. Usage examples are given in the right column.
| Combinations | Spell | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| Ka1 Ji3 + ya1 pin1 | ကျ | Kja1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ယောက်ျားပီသ | yout-kja3 pe2-tha1 : manly. |
| Ka1 Ji3 + ya1 yit | ကြ | Kja1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ကြိုးစားအားထုတ် | kjo3-za3 ah3-htoat : diligent. |
| Ka1 Ji3 + ya1 yit | ကြ | ja1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> (spoken variation) ကလေးတို့ရေ လာကြ | kha1-lay3-doh1 yay2 la2 ja1 : come children! |
| Ka1 Ji3 + ya1 yit | ကြ | kra1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> (Pali variation) ကြိယာ | ka1-ri1-ya2 : verb. |
| Ka1 Ji3 + wa1 hsweare3 | ကွ | Kwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ကွင်းဆင်းလေ့လာ | kwin3-hsin3 lay1-la2 : field trip study. |
| Ka1 Ji3 + ya1 pin1 + wa1 hsweare3 | ကျွ | Kjwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ကျင်လည်ကျွမ်းကျင် | kjin2-leare2 kjoon3-kjin2 : expertise. |
| Ka1 Ji3 + ya yit + wa1 hsweare3 | ကြွ | Kjwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> တက်တက်ကြွကြွ | tet-tet kjwa1-jwa1 : energetically. |
| Kha1 Gway3 + ya1 pin1 | ချ | Cha1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> တုန်လှုပ်ချောက်ချား | tone2-hloat chout-cha3 : frightened. |
| Kha1 Gway3 + ya1 yit | ခြ | Cha1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဆင်ခြင်သုံးသပ် | hsin2-chin2 thone3-thut : contemplate. |
| Kha1 Gway3 + wa1 hsweare3 | ခွ | Khwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ခွင့်လွှတ်စာနာ | khwin1-hloot sa2-na2 : forgive out of compassion. |
| Kha1 Gway3 + ya1 pin1 + wa1 hsweare3 | ချွ | Chwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ချွေတာခြိုးခြံ | chway2-ta2 cho3-chan2 : sparingly. |
| Kha1 Gway3 + ya1 yit + wa1 hsweare3 | ခြွ | Chwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ခြွင်းချက်မရှိ | chwin3-jet ma1-shi1 : without exception. |
| Ga1 Ngeare2 + ya1 yit | ဂြ | Ja1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> နက္ခတ် ၊ ဂြိုဟ် ၊ ကြယ် | net-khut jo2 kjeare2 : stars & planets. |
| Ga1 Ngeare2 + ya1 pin1 | ဂျ | Ja1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဂျပန်လူမျိုး | ja1-pan2 lu2-myo3 : Japanese ethnic. |
| Ga1 Ngeare2 + wa1 hsweare3 | ဂွ | Gwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဝါဂွမ်းချည်မျှင် | wa2-goon3 chi2-hmyin2 : cotton thread. |
| Nga1 + ya1 yit | ငြ | Nya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ငြီးငွေ့ပျင်းရိ | nyi3-ngway1 pyin3-yi1 : boredom & sloth. |
| Nga1 + ya1 yit + ha1 hto3 | ငြှ | Hnya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ငြှိမ်း | hnyain3 : to extinguish; variant = ငြိမ်း |
| Nga1 + wa1 hsweare3 | ငွ | Ngwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ငွေကုန်လူပန်း | ngway2-kone2 lu2-pan3 : wasted efforts. |
| Nga1 + ha1 hto3 | ငှ | Hnga1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ငှက်ကြီးဝန်ပို | hnget-ji3 woon2-bo2 : pelican. |
| Sa1 Lone3 + wa1 hsweare3 | စွ | Swa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> တွယ်တာစွဲမက် | tweare2-ta2 sweare3-met : cling & craze. |
| Hsa1 Lain2 + wa1 hsweare3 | ဆွ | Hswa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> လှည့်ဖြားဆွဲဆောင် | hleare1-pfya3 hsweare3-hsoun2 : beguile. |
| Za1 Gweare3 + wa1 hsweare3 | ဇွ | Zwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဇွတ်တရွတ်နှင့် | zoot-ta1-yoot hnin1 : imprudent action. |
| Nya1 + wa1 hsweare3 | ညွ | Nywa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> မဆွတ်ခင်ညွတ် | ma1-hsoot khin2 nyoot : willingly taken. |
| Nya1 + ha1 hto3 | ညှ | Hnya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ညှို့ဆွယ်ပြုစား | hnyo1-hsweare2 pyu1-za3 : entice & bewitch. |
| Nya1 + wa1 hsweare3 + ha1 hto3 | ညွှ | Hnya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ညွှန်ကြားရေးမှုး | hnyoon2-kja3-yay3 hmu3 : director. |
| Na1 Ji3 + ha1 hto3 | ဏှ | Hna1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> တဏှာရာဂ | ta1-hna2 ya2-ga1 : sexual thoughts. |
| Ta1 Win3 Bu2 + ya1 pin1 | တျ | Tra1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ထံတျာတေတျော | htan2-ta1-ra2 tay2-ta1-ra2 : do-re-mi-fa. |
| Ta1 Win3 Bu2 + ya1 yit | တြ | Tra1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> တြိဂံပုံသဏ္ဌာန် | tri1-gun2 pone2-dtha1-dun2 : triangular shape. |
| Ta1 Win3 Bu2 + wa1 hsweare3 | တွ | Twa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ထိုင်းမှိုင်းတွေဝေ | htine3-hmine3 tway2-way2 : dull. |
| Hta1 Hsin2 du3 + wa1 hsweare3 | ထွ | Htwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ယုတ်မာထွားကျိုင်း | yoat-ma2 htwa3-kjine3 : despicable. |
| Da1 Dway3 + ya1 yit | ဒြ | Dra1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဓာတုဒြပ်ဖို | da2-tu1 drut pfo2 : crucible. |
| Da1 Dway3 + wa1 hsweare3 | ဒွ | Dwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဒွိစုံသင်္ကန်း | dwe1-zone2 thin2-gun3 : full set of monk's robes. |
| Na1 Ngeare2 + ya1 pin1 | နျ | Naya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> နျူကလိယ | nyu2-ka1-li1-ya1 : nuclear energy. |
| Na1 Ngeare2 + wa1 hsweare3 | နွ | Nwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> နွားကွဲကျားကိုက် | nwa3 kweare3 kja3 kite : weaken by disharmony. |
| Na1 Ngeare2 + ha1 hto3 | နှ | Hna1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> နှစ်သက်တပ်မက် | hnit-thet tut-met : to desire. |
| Na1 Ngeare2 + wa1 hsweare3 + ha1 hto3 | နွှ | Hnwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> နွေးအောင်နွှေးပါ | nway3 oun2 hnway3 ba2 : heat to warm. |
| Pa1 Zout + ya1 pin1 | ပျ | Pya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ပျူပျူငှာငှာ | pyu2 pyu2 hnga2 hnga2 : amiable & pleasant. |
| Pa1 Zout + ya1 yit | ပြ | Pya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ပြောထုံးဆိုထုံး | pyau3 htone3 hso2 htone3 : adage; maxim. |
| Pa1 Zout + wa1 hsweare3 | ပွ | Pwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ပွတ်သီးပွတ်သပ် | poot thi3 poot thut : mingle & touch. |
| Pa1 Zout + ya1 yit + wa1 hsweare3 | ပြွ | Pywa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ပြွတ်သိပ်ရှုပ်ထွေး | pyoot-thate shoat-htway3 : dense & complex. |
| Pfa1 Oat Htoat + ya1 pin1 | ဖျ | Pfya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> နိုးကြားဖျတ်လတ် | no3-kja3 pfyut-lut : vigilant. |
| Pfa1 Oat Htoat + ya1 yit | ဖြ | Pfya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ခဏတစ်ဖြုတ် | kha1-na1 ta1-pfyoat : momentarily. |
| Pfa1 Oat Htoat + wa1 hsweare3 | ဖွ | Pfwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဖွံ့ဖြိုးတိုးတက် | pfoon1-pfyo3 toe3-tet : developed. |
| Ba1 Det Chite + ya1 pin1 | ဗျ | bya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ကဗျာဆန်ဆန် | ga1-bya2 hsun2 zun2 : poetic. |
| Ba1 Det Chite + ya1 yit | ဗြ | bya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဗြောက်အိုးမီးပန်း | byout-o3 mi3-bun3 : firecrackers. |
| Ba1 Det Chite + wa1 hsweare3 | ဗွ | Bwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> လက်ဗွေလက်ရာ | let-bway2 let-ya2 : fingerprints. |
| Ba1 Gome3 + wa1 hsweare3 | ဘွ | Bwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဘွဲ့နှင်းသဘင် | bweare1 hnin3 dtha1-bin2 : graduation ceremony. |
| Ma1 + ya1 pin1 | မျ | Mya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> မျက်ရိပ်မျက်ခြည် | myet-yate myet-chi2 : facial expressions. |
| Ma1 + ya1 yit | မြ | Mya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> မြင်ယောင်ထင်မှား | myin2 youn2 htin2 hma3 : illusion. |
| Ma1 + wa1 hsweare3 | မွ | Mwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> မွမ်းမံပြင်ဆင် | moon3-mun2 pyin2-hsin2 : enhance. |
| Ma1 + ha1 hto3 | မှ | Hma1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> မျက်မှောက်ကာလ | myet-hmout ka2-la1 : present day era. |
| Ma1 + ya1 yit + wa1 hsweare3 | မြွ | Mwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> မြွေလိမ်မြွေကောက် | mway2-lain2 mway2-gout : long & winding. |
| Ma1 + ya1 pin1 + ha1 hto3 | မျှ | Hmya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> မျှစ်ချဉ်ဟင်းခါး | hmyit-chin2 hin3-ga3 : sour bamboo shoots. |
| Ma1 + ya1 yit + ha1 hto3 | မြှ | Hmya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> အမြှောက်ဂဏန်း | a-hmyout ga1-nun3 : multiplication. |
| Ma1 + wa1 hsweare3 + ha1 hto3 | မွှ | Hmwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ရောဂါပိုးမွှား | yau3-ga2 po3-hmwa3 : germs. |
| Ma1 + ya1 yit + wa1 hsweare3 + ha1 hto3 | မြွှ | Hmwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> အမြွှာမွေးဖွား | a-hmwa2 mway3 pfwa3 : give birth to twins. |
| Ya1 Pet Let + wa1 hsweare3 | ယွ | Ywa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> မှားယွင်းချက်များ | hma3 ywin3 jet mya3 : errors. |
| Ya1 Pet Let + ya1 pin1 | ယျ | Ya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ပန်းခြံဥယျာဉ် | pan3-chan2 u1-yin2 : garden. |
| Ya1 Pet Let + ha1 hto3 | ယှ | Sha1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ယှဉ်ပြိုင်ဆင်နွှဲ | shin2-pyine2 hsin2-hnweare3 : compete. |
| Ya1 Gout + wa1 hsweare3 | ရွ | Ywa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ငယ်ရွယ်နုနယ် | ngeare2-yweare2 nu1-neare2 : youthful & tender. |
| Ya1 Gout + ha1 hto3 | ရှ | Sha1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ရုပ်ရှင်လောက | yoat-shin2 lau3-ka1 : movie industry. |
| Ya1 Gout + wa1 hsweare3 + ha1 hto3 | ရွှ | Shwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ပျော်ရွှင်မြူးကြွ | pyau2-shwin2 myu3-kjwa1 : happy & excited. |
| La1 + ya1 pin1 | လျ | lya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဟင်းလျာချက်ပြုတ် | hin3-lya2 chet-pyoat : cuisine; culinary. |
| La1 + wa1 hsweare3 | လွ | Lwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> လွတ်ငြိမ်းချမ်းသာ | loot-nyain3 chan3-dtha2 : amnesty. |
| La1 + ha1 hto3 | လှ | Hla1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> လှိုက်လှိုက်လှဲလှဲ | hlite-hlite hleare3-hleare3 : whole-heartedly. |
| La1 + ya1 pin1 + ha1 hto3 | လျှ | Hlya1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> or Sha1 လျှို့ဝှက်သူလျှို | hlyo1-hwet da1-sho2 : espionage. |
| La1 + wa1 hsweare3 + ha1 hto3 | လွှ | Hlwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ခုန်ပျံကျော်လွှား | khone2-pyan2 kjau2-hlwa3 : overcome obstacles. |
| Wa1 + ha1 hto3 | ဝှ | Wha1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> လက်ဝှေ့ထိုးကြိတ် | let-hway1 hto3-kjate : boxing. |
| Tha1 + ya1 pin1 + ha1 hto3 | သျှ | Sha1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> ဥသျှစ်သီးစား | oat-shit-thi3 sa3 : to eat bael fruit. |
| Tha1 + wa1 hsweare3 | သွ | Thwa1 <<MP3 AUDIO>> သွေးစည်းညီညွတ် thway3-si3 nyi2-nyoot : unity & harmony. |
NOTE: The example words and phrases on the right column of the above table make use of consonant modified words in their base form, i.e., Vowel 'A1', from which they are further modified and shifted into different vowels and tones. The middle column shows all possible consonant variations in the base "A1" form before tone change and before shifting into different vowels. See Myanmar English Dictionary under Vowel 'A' for list of words with tone variations before shifting into other vowels.
