In English, vowel length rarely changes a word. Say "cat" quickly or slowly and it is still a cat. So English speakers squeeze every Malayalam vowel to the same short length, and words flip meaning. In this episode: • What "long" means • A and aa • I and ee, u and oo • E and o: short and long • Ai and au • Language bridge • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: ചായ (chaaya) = tea പാൽ (paal) = milk നീ (nee) = you, to a close friend or a child ഈ (ee) = this, as in "this one here" പൂച്ച (poocha) = cat മൂന്ന് (moonnu) = three വാ (vaa) = come, casual താ (thaa) = give it to me, casual പോകാം (pokaam) = let's go നാളെ (naale) = tomorrow ആര്? (aaru?) = who? ഇവിടെ വാ (ivide vaa) = come here ചേച്ചി (chechi) = older sister ചോറ് (choru) = cooked rice പടം (padam) = picture, photo പാടം (paadam) = paddy field മല (mala) = hill മാല (maala) = necklace, garland കട്ടി (katti) = thick കാട്ടി (kaatti) = showed വിട് (vidu) = let go വീട് (veedu) = house കുട (kuda) = umbrella കൂട (kooda) = basket അരി (ari) = rice, uncooked മുടി (mudi) = hair ഈച്ച (eecha) = a fly, the insect കൂടി (koodi) = together, also കൊടി (kodi) = flag, short o കോടി (kodi) = ten million, long o കെട്ട് (kettu) = bundle, knot, short e കേട്ടു (kettu) = heard, long e ഞാൻ കേട്ടു (njaan kettu) = I heard കൈ (kai) = hand പൈസ (paisa) = money, coins വൈകി (vaiki) = late അവൻ വൈകി (avan vaiki) = he was late ഔഷധം (aushadham) = medicine, a formal word Learn Spoken Malayalam at Home: a complete course in everyday spoken Malayalam for English speakers. Native Malayalam pronunciation, every phrase in Malayalam script, Manglish and English, plus a language bridge comparing Malayalam with other world languages. Listen, repeat out loud, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.