Lesson 3: Tamil Sentence Structure
1. Basic Tamil Sentence Structure
Tamil follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, which is different from English (SVO). This means that in a typical Tamil sentence, the verb comes at the end. Let's look at the basic structure:
நான் புத்தகம் படிக்கிறேன்
nāṉ puttakam paṭikkiṟēṉ
Word-by-word: I (நான்) book (புத்தகம்) read (படிக்கிறேன்)
Meaning: I read a book
2. Subject-Verb Agreement
In Tamil, verbs change their form to agree with the subject in person, number, and gender. This is called subject-verb agreement. For example:
நான் போகிறேன்
nāṉ pōkiṟēṉ
Meaning: I go
அவன் போகிறான்
avaṉ pōkiṟāṉ
Meaning: He goes
3. Adjectives and Adverbs
In Tamil, adjectives come before the nouns they modify, and adverbs typically come before the verbs. For example:
அழகான பெண் வேகமாக ஓடுகிறாள்
aḻakāṉa peṇ vēkamāka ōṭukiṟāḷ
Word-by-word: Beautiful (அழகான) girl (பெண்) quickly (வேகமாக) runs (ஓடுகிறாள்)
Meaning: The beautiful girl runs quickly
4. Postpositions
Tamil uses postpositions instead of prepositions. These come after the noun they relate to. For example:
நான் வீட்டிற்கு போகிறேன்
nāṉ vīṭṭiṟku pōkiṟēṉ
Word-by-word: I (நான்) house-to (வீட்டிற்கு) go (போகிறேன்)
Meaning: I go to the house
5. Question Formation
In Tamil, questions are often formed by adding question words or particles to statements. The word order usually remains the same. For example:
நீ எங்கே போகிறாய்?
nī eṅkē pōkiṟāy?
Meaning: Where are you going?
இது என்ன?
itu eṉṉa?
Meaning: What is this?
6. Negative Sentences
In Tamil, negation is often incorporated into the verb itself. For example:
நான் போகவில்லை
nāṉ pōkavillai
Meaning: I do not go / I am not going
Summary
In this lesson, we learned about:
- The basic Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) structure of Tamil sentences
- Subject-verb agreement in Tamil
- The placement of adjectives and adverbs
- The use of postpositions instead of prepositions
- How to form questions and negative sentences in Tamil
Keep practicing these sentence structures, and you'll soon be able to construct more complex sentences in Tamil!