Lingoflyநீ என்ன நினைக்கிறாய்?
- நீ என்ன நினைக்கிறாய்?nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy?what do you think?
“நீ என்ன நினைக்கிறாய்?” (nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy?) — what do you think? in Tamil. Phrase, level B1. The -ṟāy ending is informal 'you', set against the polite -ṟiyaḷ. With an elder or a stranger it is not said: there is a polite form for that. In a live sentence: “இதைப் பற்றி நீ என்ன நினைக்கிறாய்?” (idaip paṟṟi nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy) — And what do you think about it? You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ந, ீ, எ, ன, ், ன, ந, ி, ன, ை, க, ்…
In short
| Written in Tamil | நீ என்ன நினைக்கிறாய்? (nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy) |
| Read in Latin letters | nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy? |
| Translation | what do you think? |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
The -ṟāy ending is informal 'you', set against the polite -ṟiyaḷ. With an elder or a stranger it is not said: there is a polite form for that
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.
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 “what do you think?” in Tamil?
«நீ என்ன நினைக்கிறாய்?» (nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy), read “nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy?” In a live sentence: “இதைப் பற்றி நீ என்ன நினைக்கிறாய்?” (idaip paṟṟi nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy) — And what do you think about it? You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ந, ீ, எ, ன, ், ன, ந, ி, ன, ை, க, ்…
How is “நீ என்ன நினைக்கிறாய்?” (nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy) written in Latin letters?
nī eṉṉa niṉaikkiṟāy? 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 -ṟāy ending is informal 'you', set against the polite -ṟiyaḷ. With an elder or a stranger it is not said: there is a polite form for that. 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 this 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.