நான் அப்படி நினைக்கலை
“நான் அப்படி நினைக்கலை” (nāṉ appaḍi niṉaikkalai) — I don't think so in Tamil. Phrase, level A2. The spoken negation of a verb is the ending -lai: 'I think' turns into 'I think-not'. In a live sentence: “மன்னிக்கவும், நான் அப்படி நினைக்கலை” — Excuse me, I don't think so. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ந, ா, ன, ், அ, ப, ், ப, ட, ி, ந, ி. A word from the everyday Tamil course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Tamil | நான் அப்படி நினைக்கலை |
| Read in Latin letters | nāṉ appaḍi niṉaikkalai |
| Translation | I don't think so |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
- நான் அப்படி நினைக்கலைnāṉ appaḍi niṉaikkalaiI don't think so
Why it looks that way
The spoken negation of a verb is the ending -lai: 'I think' turns into 'I think-not'
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- மன்னிக்கவும், நான் அப்படி நினைக்கலைmaṉṉikkavum, nāṉ appaḍi niṉaikkalaiExcuse me, I don't think so
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “I don't think so” in Tamil?
«நான் அப்படி நினைக்கலை», read “nāṉ appaḍi niṉaikkalai”. In a live sentence: “மன்னிக்கவும், நான் அப்படி நினைக்கலை” — Excuse me, I don't think so. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level A2; written with the characters ந, ா, ன, ், அ, ப, ், ப, ட, ி, ந, ி.
How is “நான் அப்படி நினைக்கலை” written in Latin letters?
nāṉ appaḍi niṉaikkalai. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The spoken negation of a verb is the ending -lai: 'I think' turns into 'I think-not'. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.