“always” in braille

⠁⠇⠺⠁⠽⠎6 lettersUncontracted

Written letter by letter, always in braille is a-l-w-a-y-s, one cell for each letter: ⠁⠇⠺⠁⠽⠎.

Now read one yourself

⠇⠑⠋⠞

Which word is this? music, left, stop.

Cell by cell

  1. 1. Adot 1
  2. 2. Ldots 1-2-3
  3. 3. Wdots 2-4-5-6
  4. 4. Adot 1
  5. 5. Ydots 1-3-4-5-6
  6. 6. Sdots 2-3-4

Capitals

Braille letters are lower case unless marked. To start with a capital, as at the start of a sentence, put the capital sign, dot 6, before the first letter: ⠠⠁⠇⠺⠁⠽⠎. For the whole word in capitals, ALWAYS, use two capital signs: ⠠⠠⠁⠇⠺⠁⠽⠎.

Grade 1 and Grade 2

This is uncontracted (Grade 1) braille, every letter written out, which is where learners start. Books, signs and labels mostly use Grade 2, where common letter groups and words take a single cell, so some words come out shorter there. See the Grade 2 contractions.

Remember it, don't just look it up

Every word in uncontracted braille is its letters, so short words are where reading starts. Braille a Day brings it back tomorrow to answer from memory, then again just before you'd forget. Five minutes a day.

More words in braille