Tamil grammar
Tamil sentence structure — building a basic sentence
Tamil follows Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order. Descriptive words come before the noun, and case suffixes attach after it.
I eat rice
நான் சாதம் சாப்பிடுகிறேன்
nāṉ sātam sāppiṭukiṟēṉ
Literally "I rice eat" — the verb always comes last.
The big house
பெரிய வீடு
periya vīṭu
Adjectives precede the noun, same order as English.
to the market
சந்தைக்கு
cantaikku
Case suffixes attach after the noun, the reverse of an English preposition.
She is reading a book
அவள் புத்தகம் படிக்கிறாள்
avaḷ puttakam paṭikkiṟāḷ
Subject → object → verb, in that fixed order.
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More Tamil grammar lessons
Tamil personal pronouns
Tamil pronouns vary by formality and inclusivity. Master these and you can structure most basic sentences.
Tamil present tense verbs
Tamil present tense inserts the marker -கிற- (-kiṟ-) between the verb stem and the person-and-number ending. Here it is conjugated for "செய்" (sey, "to do").
Tamil negation with இல்லை
இல்லை (illai) is Tamil's all-purpose negator — it denies existence, possession, and identity, and is also the everyday word for "no."
Tamil case suffixes
Tamil is agglutinative — case suffixes attach directly to the end of a noun instead of using separate preposition words.
Tamil question words & yes/no questions
Tamil wh-questions use a fixed set of question words; yes/no questions are formed by adding -ஆ (-ā) to the end of the verb or word being questioned.
Tamil numbers 1–10
The Tamil numerals 1 through 10.