பள்ளத்தாக்கு
“பள்ளத்தாக்கு” (paḷḷattākku) — valley in Tamil. Noun, level B1. pal-lat-tak-ku; the ll is a long retroflex l, the tt a long tt. In a live sentence: “மலைக்கிடையில ஒரு பள்ளத்தாக்கு இருக்கு” — Between the mountains there is a valley. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ப, ள, ், ள, த, ், த, ா, க, ், க, ு. A word from the everyday Tamil course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Tamil | பள்ளத்தாக்கு |
| Read in Latin letters | paḷḷattākku |
| Translation | valley |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
- பள்ளத்தாக்குpaḷḷattākkuvalley
How to pronounce it
pal-lat-tak-ku; the ll is a long retroflex l, the tt a long tt
Why it looks that way
'Lowland' plus 'hollow'. On the flat north of the island there are no valleys at all — the word is learnt for other places
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.
- மலைக்கிடையில ஒரு பள்ளத்தாக்கு இருக்குmalaikkiḍaiyila oru paḷḷattākku irukkuBetween the mountains there is a valley
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 “valley” in Tamil?
«பள்ளத்தாக்கு», read “paḷḷattākku”. pal-lat-tak-ku; the ll is a long retroflex l, the tt a long tt. In a live sentence: “மலைக்கிடையில ஒரு பள்ளத்தாக்கு இருக்கு” — Between the mountains there is a valley. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1; written with the characters ப, ள, ், ள, த, ், த, ா, க, ், க, ு.
How is “பள்ளத்தாக்கு” written in Latin letters?
paḷḷattākku. 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?
'Lowland' plus 'hollow'. On the flat north of the island there are no valleys at all — the word is learnt for other places. 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.