Tamil grammar
Tamil grammar explained in plain words. No gender for things, strict word order, pronunciation with no surprises. What is harder: a syllabic script and a noticeable gap between written and spoken language.
Notes
- 📐The verb always comes lastTamil builds a sentence as subject → object → verb. The English 'I drink water' becomes 'I water drink': நான் தண்ணி…
- 📐The verb knows who is speakingHere Tamil takes the opposite road to English: the verb changes for person, and the ending names the speaker by itself.
- 📐There are no prepositions — there are endingsTamil is agglutinative: what an English preposition does is done here by a suffix glued to the end of the word, and the…
- 📐A question: a word or the particle -ஆThere are two ways to ask, and both are simple.
- 📐Two Tamils: spoken and bookishThe gap between spoken and written Tamil is bigger than between any pair of varieties in this app — bigger even than…
- 📐Bigger than: the particle விடA Tamil adjective does not inflect. There is no pair 'dear — dearer', no 'big — bigger': பெரிய stays பெரிய however much…
- 📐Rational and irrationalThe main division of Tamil grammar runs where an English speaker never looks for it. Gender has nothing to do with it…
- 📐Where exactly: the ending -இலThe familiar -க்கு answers 'to where': கடைக்கு போறேன் — 'I am going to the shop'. To say 'where', another ending is…
- 📐Yesterday: the past tenseThe personal endings in the past are the same as in the present: -ஏன் 'I', -ஓம் 'we', -ஈங்க 'you', -ஆர் 'he, she'. Only…
- 📐You, you and they: three steps of politenessTamil does not have two pronouns of address but three, and the third is the one English has no slot for at all.
- 📐Tomorrow: the future tenseThe past in Tamil is capricious — three markers and a stem that often changes. The future is simpler: one marker, -வ…
- 📐To me and me: எனக்கு and என்னைEnglish says 'me' for both 'to me' and 'me', and Tamil keeps them strictly apart: two different endings on the pronoun.…
- 📐No articles: ஒரு and the bare wordTamil has no articles, and 'a shop', 'one shop' and 'the shop' have to be told apart by other means. There are three…
- 📐One and many: number for the rational and the irrationalThe division into rational and irrational is familiar from wave 1: people on one side, things and animals on the other.…
- 📐Must, can, must not: வேணும், முடியும், கூடாதுModality in Tamil does not conjugate for person — these are separate words placed after the verb stem in -அ. Learning…
- 📐This and that: இந்த, அந்த, இது, அதுIn Tamil 'this' and 'that' share one telltale sign: i- means 'nearer to me', a- means 'farther away'. It runs through…
- 📐My and your: என், உன், அவர் and the possessivePossession in Tamil is not a separate word but a special form of the pronoun, placed right before the thing: என் வீடு…
- 📐Very, a little, too much: ரொம்ப, கொஞ்சம், அதிகம்Degree in Tamil is placed before the word it refers to, and almost always by one short adverb. The two main ones: ரொம்ப…
- 📐He didn't come, I won't come, don't go: four negationsTamil has no little word for 'not' to slip in front of the verb. Negation is a form of its own for every case, and it…
- 📐There is, there is not, need: impersonal turnsMost everyday phrases in Tamil get by without a subject in the English sense. One does not say 'I have' but 'to me…
- 📐Because, if, when: the first complex sentenceAn English complex sentence rests on conjunctions at the start of the subordinate clause. Tamil hangs almost everything…
- 📐How much exactly: எல்லாம், சில, நிறைய, ஒவ்வொருQuantity in Tamil is shown by a separate word before the noun, and the noun's own number most often does not change.…
- 📐The person who works: a participle instead of 'who'Tamil does not build an English-style relative clause with 'who/which' at all. Instead it puts the verb in a special…
- 📐A group of modifiers: -ஆன, -ஆ and the word orderThere is almost no adjective as a separate part of speech in Tamil. There is a noun plus an ending: அழகு 'beauty' gives…
- 📐If: the ending -னா and the bookish -ஆல்There is no separate word for 'if' in Tamil. The condition is shown by an ending on the verb of the subordinate part…
- 📐The most: எல்லாத்தையும் விட and மிகYou already build the comparative through -ஐ விட: இது அதை விட பெரிசு — 'this is bigger than that'. The superlative is…
- 📐Already done and still doing: -இட்டேன் and -கிட்டு இருTamil has three tenses, but an action has more shades than that. Whether the deed is finished, whether it still drags…
- 📐He said that…: the quotative -ன்னு and the Jaffna எண்டுTamil has no 'that'-clause — just as it has no 'who/which'-clause. Others' words are placed exactly as they were said…
- 📐By whom it was done: the passive nobody speaksThe passive exists in Tamil and is built simply: -படு is added to the verb stem. செய்யப்படுகிறது 'is being done', தடை…
- 📐Probably, hardly, will have to: a guess at the end of the verbYou already build permission and ability — வேணும், முடியும், கூடாது, -லாம். This note is about something else: the same…
- 📐A complex sentence in full: the link hangs on the verbHere everything comes together that the wave was written for. An English complex sentence rests on a linking word in…
- 📐He is good: a modifier turned predicateTamil cannot say 'the house is big' or 'he is good' with the same words it uses for 'a big house'. The modifier பெரிய…
- 📐I am afraid: a feeling without a subjectEnglish says 'I am afraid'; Tamil says 'to me there is fear'. In this language a feeling is not an action but a state…
- 📐Put it, do not put it: command and prohibitionThe imperative is the shortest form in the whole Tamil verb: it is the bare stem. வா 'come', சொல் 'say', போடு 'put'.…
- 📐In order to: -அ, -றதுக்கு and the word for purposeEnglish 'in order to' is shown by Tamil not with a conjunction but with an ending on the first verb, and the whole…
- 📐It broke by itself and I broke it: verb pairsThe unit about breakdowns rests on one distinction English almost lacks. A Tamil verb usually has two twins: one says…
- 📐The rain pours, the thunder rolls: the weather has its own subjectEnglish speaks of 'it' raining; Tamil almost always names the one who acts, and that actor turns out to be the…
- 📐Opposite, behind, along: Tamil has no prepositionsAn English preposition stands before the word: 'opposite the school', 'behind the house'. In Tamil there is no such…
- 📐I can and I know how: a verb turned nounTo say 'reading is useful' or 'it is hard for me to speak', English reaches for an infinitive or a verbal noun. Tamil…
- 📐In childhood I ran: a future that tells about the pastThe form in -வேன் (after consonants -ப்பேன்) is called the future tense in textbooks, and that is true: நாளைக்கு…
- 📐To soften: கொஞ்சம், the tail -ஆ and other particles of toneA bare command in Tamil is ruder than the textbook suggests. சொல்லு 'say' on its own sounds like a shout, and in live…
- 📐Baker, guard, gardener: how Tamil makes the name of a doerThe fortieth unit introduces twenty professions, and almost all of them are assembled, not memorized: Tamil takes the…
- 📐பண்ணு and போடு: how any word becomes a verbIn the forty-first unit half of the actions look alike: ரத்து பண்ணுறேன், முதலீடு பண்ணுறேன், ஓடர் பண்ணினேன், கையெழுத்து…
- 📐Two 'we's: நாங்க and நாம, and why confusing them is awkwardThe unit about society rests on a pronoun English lacks. Tamil 'we' is double, and choosing between the two forms is…
- 📐And, or, too: Tamil has no conjunctions — it has tailsTo talk about a book or a film is to list: the author and the hero, a comedy or a drama, and the music too. English…
- 📐Twice a week: how Tamil counts repeats and timeA training schedule, the score of matches, 'once in four years' — the forty-fourth unit is all about repeats. Tamil…
- 📐Two meters long: number, measure and 'about'English measures in two ways at once: 'two meters' but 'two meters long', 'a kilo in weight'. Tamil gets by with one…
- 📐Smoking is harmful: how a verb becomes a nounFor an English speaker, saying 'smoking is harmful' takes only the -ing form. Tamil has no such form at all: only a…
- 📐Let it be so: the wish and the form -அட்டும்You already build commands: வாங்க 'come', செய்யாதேங்க 'do not do it'. A festival demands a third form the course has…
- 📐They say he will come: the tail -ஆம and referring to a sourceWave 5 gave you the quotative எண்டு: அவர் வாறார் எண்டு சொன்னார் — 'he said that he will come'. Here is what stands…
- 📐This, that and all said before: அது as a link backWave 3 taught to point with a finger: இந்த 'this', அந்த 'that', இது 'this one', அது 'that one'. At B1 the same words…
- 📐Rough, rusty, faded: where Tamil takes its adjectives fromThe fiftieth unit introduces three dozen features, and almost none of them is an adjective in the sense the English…
- 📐Across, through, past: not prepositions but postpositionsThe fifty-first unit is the first place in the course where an English preposition and the Tamil word part not in…
- 📐Double, a third, even: how Tamil counts fractions and multiplesWave 5 taught to put a number with a measure: ரெண்டு மீற்றர் துணி. The fifty-second unit goes further — to fractions…
- 📐To start, to finish, to drag on: phase through a service verbThe fifty-third unit is where the English verb and the Tamil one part most of all. 'To stop', 'to complete', 'to set…
- 📐Therefore it means: how Tamil ties an argument to a conclusionWave 4 gave 'because', wave 7 gave 'if'. The fifty-fourth unit demands a third: to say what FOLLOWS from what. English…
- 📐A century, the day before, every other time: cases with a stretch of timeThe fifty-fifth unit introduces three dozen expressions of time, and almost all of them are a noun in a case.…
- 📐Greening, lag, measurement: how a verb becomes a nounWave 5 showed the action noun in -றது — 'smoking is harmful'. The fifty-sixth unit demands something else: not an…
- 📐Waybill, carbon footprint, service life: noun plus noun with no caseThe fifty-seventh unit consists almost entirely of terms of two or three words: சரக்குப் பட்டியல், உத்தரவாதக் காலம்…
- 📐He explained, as I understand, supposedly: others' speech and the measure of commitmentWave 5 gave the quotative எண்டு and the hearsay -ஆம். The fifty-eighth unit finishes the job: Tamil can not only pass…
- 📐Laziness, stubbornness, carelessness: how a person becomes a propertyThe fifty-ninth unit begins with ten abstract nouns — 'kindness', 'endurance', 'egoism', 'laziness'. In English these…
- 📐வா, வாங்க, வாருங்கள்: the command names the relationshipEnglish 'come here' is one form for everyone: politeness is hung on with intonation and the word 'please'. In Tamil…
- 📐எப்படி இருக்க? and எப்படி இருக்கீங்க?: plain and politeBoth questions mean 'how are you keeping', and the whole difference sits in the ending — the polite -ங்க. In the…
- 📐மன்னிக்கவும் and தயவுசெய்து: the apology and the requestமன்னிக்கவும் covers both jobs English splits between 'forgive me' and 'excuse me': asking pardon, and hailing a…
What is hard about Tamil and what comes for free
Hard: a syllabic script and a noticeable gap between written and spoken language.
Easy: no gender for things, strict word order, pronunciation with no surprises.
This is not a verdict on the language but a hint on where to spend effort. The hard parts are best taken a little at a time and often; the easy parts — left alone while they work by themselves.
Frequently asked
Is the grammar of Tamil complicated?
A syllabic script and a noticeable gap between written and spoken language is the main difficulty. In return, no gender for things, strict word order, pronunciation with no surprises.
Should grammar be learned separately?
Not as a separate course. A rule learned before you need it is forgotten before you meet it. It is more useful to work it out at the moment you stumble over it.