தேசிய கீதம்
“தேசிய கீதம்” (tēsiya gītam) — national anthem in Tamil. Noun, level B1. The anthem of Sri Lanka is sung in Sinhala and in Tamil. Geedham is the bookish word; a song in general is paattu. In a live sentence: “விழாவில தேசிய கீதம் பாடினம்” — At the feast they sang the national anthem. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters த, ே, ச, ி, ய, க, ீ, த, ம, ். A word from the everyday Tamil course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Tamil | தேசிய கீதம் |
| Read in Latin letters | tēsiya gītam |
| Translation | national anthem |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
- தேசிய கீதம்tēsiya gītamnational anthem
Why it looks that way
The anthem of Sri Lanka is sung in Sinhala and in Tamil. Geedham is the bookish word; a song in general is paattu
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.
- விழாவில தேசிய கீதம் பாடினம்viḻāvila tēsiya gītam pāḍiṉamAt the feast they sang the national anthem
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 “national anthem” in Tamil?
«தேசிய கீதம்», read “tēsiya gītam”. In a live sentence: “விழாவில தேசிய கீதம் பாடினம்” — At the feast they sang the national anthem. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1; written with the characters த, ே, ச, ி, ய, க, ீ, த, ம, ்.
How is “தேசிய கீதம்” written in Latin letters?
tēsiya gītam. 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 anthem of Sri Lanka is sung in Sinhala and in Tamil. Geedham is the bookish word; a song in general is paattu. 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.