Medium–Hard: new script and diglossia; phonology is regular once retroflex/dental contrasts click.
Retroflex ṭ/ḍ/ṇ/ḷ/ṟGemination matters
Quick Overview
Tamil is an agglutinative Dravidian language with a 2,000+ year written record. It’s famously diglossic:
formal/literary Tamil appears in news, song lyrics, and literature, while everyday speech is colloquial and streamlined.
Nouns take stacked case suffixes; verbs carry tense, polarity, and person/number (and politeness). Once you tame the script and
the long/short vowel contrast, grammar becomes a satisfying, Lego-like build.
Sound & Spelling Tips
Length contrasts: short vs long vowels change meaning (paṭam “picture” vs pāṭam “lesson”).
Retroflex vs dental: Tamil distinguishes dental t (த்) and retroflex ṭ (ட்), likewise for n/ṇ, l/ḷ, r/ṟ.
No aspiration contrast: stops aren’t /pʰ tʰ kʰ/; voicing is context-dependent.
Gemination: double consonants are meaningful (pati vs patti).
Pulli (virama): dot cancels the inherent vowel; crucial for reading clusters.
Verbs: present/progressive with -kiṟ- + endings; past and future have distinct stems and person suffixes.
Negation: analytic patterns (illai) and synthetic negatives in formal styles.
Complementizer: quotative ennu / colloq. nu behaves like “that”.
Dialects & Variation
Chennai/Madurai/Kongu subvarieties in India; Jaffna (Sri Lanka) preserves conservative features; Singapore/Malaysia Tamil shows Malay/English influence.
Colloquial grammar differs from the textbook literary standard—both are useful depending on your goals.
History (Very Short)
Sangam poetry (early centuries CE) → medieval bhakti and grammar (Tolkāppiyam) → modern prose and cinema-driven colloquial styles.
Heavy classical lexicon; continuous contact with Sanskrit, Persian/Urdu (via trade), and English.
Sample & Breakdown
நான் இன்று பள்ளிக்குச் செல்கிறேன். nāṉ iṉṟu paḷḷi-kku-cc cel-kiṟ-ēṉ I today school-DAT go-PROG-1SG — “I’m going to school today.” (colloquial sandhi shown lightly)
அவர்கள் தமிழ் பேசுகிறார்கள். “They speak Tamil.” (honorific/plural verb ending)
Common Phrases
வணக்கம் (vaṇakkam) — Helloநன்றி (naṉri) — Thank youஎப்படி இருக்கீங்க? (eppaṭi irukkīṅga?) — How are you? (polite)தயவு செய்து (tayavu ceytu) — Pleaseபார்ப்போம் (pārppōm) — See you
Inclusive vs exclusive “we”:nām (incl.) vs nāṅkaḷ (excl.).
Suffix Wizard (Common Cases)
Type a noun (Tamil script or plain Latin). The wizard outputs a light, SEO-friendly form of frequent case markers:
Accusative -ai (ஐ), Dative -kku/-ukku (க்கு), Locative -il (இல்), Instrumental -āl (ஆல்),
Sociative -ōṭu (ஓடு), Ablative -iliruntu (இலிருந்து), Genitive -uṭaiya (உடைய; colloq. -ōḍa). Note: This demo doesn’t implement all sandhi. It shows the right suffix and a “safe” hyphenated form.
Heuristic hints: after a vowel, many speakers prefer -kku; after certain consonants, sandhi can add a buffer (e.g., maram → maraththukku).
Keep the hyphenated form for clarity when teaching or doing SEO text.
Plural & Honorific Helper
Quick pluralization for SEO examples and UI labels. Choose the noun type and get a common suffix strategy.
Inanimate plural: -gaḷ (கள்). Human/honorific plurals often use -ar/-arkaḷ (ர்/ர்கள்).
Polite 2nd person pronoun: நீங்கள் (nīṅgaḷ).
Learning Tips
Master the 12 vowels + long forms first; then add consonant rows systematically.
Shadow 30s of colloquial speech daily to internalize -kiṟ- endings and rhythm.
Collect case “mini-phrases” you reuse: veett-il (at home), paḷḷi-kku (to school), kai-āl (by hand).
Keep a split notebook: one page literary forms, the other colloquial equivalents.
Numbers (1–10)
ஒன்று, இரண்டு, மூன்று, நான்கு, ஐந்து, ஆறு, ஏழு, எட்டு, ஒன்பது, பத்து
Common Borrowings
Sanskrit: vidyā → வித்யா • English: பஸ் (bus), டிக்கெட் (ticket), ஆபிஸ் (office) • Malay: கொப்பி (kopi, coffee) in some SEA varieties.