Lesson 3: Complex Sentence Structures

Welcome to Lesson 3 of Module 3! In this lesson, we'll explore complex sentence structures in Tamil. These structures allow you to express more sophisticated ideas and relationships between different parts of a sentence. We'll focus on subordinate clauses, relative clauses, and reported speech.

Subordinate clauses in Tamil are dependent clauses that cannot stand alone as complete sentences. They are often introduced by conjunctions or particles.

Common subordinating conjunctions:

• என்றால் (eṉṟāl) - if:

  மழை பெய்தால், நான் வரமாட்டேன்.

  (maḻai peytāl, nāṉ varamāṭṭēṉ.)

  If it rains, I won't come.

• ஏனென்றால் (ēṉeṉṟāl) - because:

  நான் வரவில்லை, ஏனென்றால் எனக்கு நேரமில்லை.

  (nāṉ varavillai, ēṉeṉṟāl eṉakku nēramillai.)

  I didn't come because I didn't have time.

• -உம்போது (-umpōtu) - when:

  நான் படிக்கும்போது, இசை கேட்பேன்.

  (nāṉ paṭikkumpōtu, icai kēṭpēṉ.)

  When I study, I listen to music.

Relative clauses in Tamil modify nouns and are formed using adjectival participles that we learned in the previous lesson.

• Past relative clause:

  நேற்று வந்த மனிதன் என் நண்பன்.

  (nēṟṟu vanta maṉitaṉ eṉ naṇpaṉ.)

  The man who came yesterday is my friend.

• Present relative clause:

  அங்கே நிற்கும் பெண் என் சகோதரி.

  (aṅkē niṟkum peṇ eṉ cakōtari.)

  The woman who is standing there is my sister.

• Future relative clause:

  நாளை வரும் டாக்டர் என் மாமா.

  (nāḷai varum ṭākṭar eṉ māmā.)

  The doctor who will come tomorrow is my uncle.

Reported speech in Tamil involves changes in pronouns and verb forms. The reporting verb is often followed by என்று (eṉṟu) or என (eṉa).

Examples:

• Direct speech:

  "நான் நாளை வருவேன்," என்று ராமன் சொன்னான்.

  ("nāṉ nāḷai varuvēṉ," eṉṟu rāmaṉ coṉṉāṉ.)

  "I will come tomorrow," Raman said.

• Indirect speech:

  ராமன் நாளை வருவதாகச் சொன்னான்.

  (rāmaṉ nāḷai varuvatākac coṉṉāṉ.)

  Raman said that he would come tomorrow.