Learn Tamil – Basics

Verb Forms

Some fundamentals:
(Don’t bother to memorize the technical terms used!)

Like most other language Tamil has three places (First [thanmai], Second [munnilai] and Third
[padarkai]) and two numbers (Singular [orumai] and Plural [panmai])

In the first and second person only the two numbers exists.

However, unlike most other language, in the third person genders are also marked and Tamil’s gender
and number are coalesced with each other. That is, we cannot list them separately.

However, it is conventional for grammarians to classify Tamil genders in to two broad groups: Uyarthinai
and Aghrinai

(Uyarthinai = uyar + thinai; uyar – high, thinai – class; this includes singular-male, singular-female and
plural [common to both genders] – used to refer to all intellectual and sentient beings)

(Aghrinai = al + thinai; al – not (that); refers to all that is not ‘uyarthinai’. This class covers all non-
sentient and non-living things as well!)

Thus there are five gender+number types in Tamil (known technically as ‘paal’) and are listed below:

i. Aan-paal – Male singular

ii. Pen-paal – Female singular
iii. Palar-paal – Plural (male, female and mixture)
iv. Onran-paal – Aghrinai singular (all beings below humans and non-living things) and
v. Palavin-paal – Aghrinai plural

Tamil verbs indicate the paal (noun / gender+number) and place as well as the tense.

Thus a given verb root/stem will have two forms each for of the first and second place and five for the
third place for a given tense. (Nine forms per tense and 27 in total – for past, present and future)

These are marked with a suffix (known and vinaimutru vigudhi)

These suffixes are tabulated as below:

Place / Number Singular Plural

First -ean - -om -
Second -aai - -eer -
 Third Person
Gender Suffix
Male Singular -aan -
Female Singular -aal -
Plural -aar -
Aghrinai Singular -athu -
Aghrinai Plural -ana - ன

Tense markers:

Tense markers in Tamil are infixes (they add between the verb root/stem and the suffixes mentioned
above; known as ‘kaalam kaattum idainilai’)

Like in any language, tenses and their nuances are multi-fold in Tamil. A learner should be aware of the
fact and should be ready to constantly encounter exceptions to grammar rules or patterns he/she
learns. (Don’t be frightened, just be warned!)

Let us start with the basic tenses. Past, Present and Future.

The following table summarizes some most common tense infixes of Tamil:

Tense Infix / Marker

Past -th- - - -t- - - -R- - - -in- - -
Present -kinru- - - -kiru- - -
--
Future -p- - - -v- - -

(Why are there so many markers for a single tense? How will I know which one to use?
Don’t worry. You will learn it in due course. It basically depends on the end letter of the verb root or
stem!)

Time for some fun...

Let us try our hands at some verbs: How about we start with the verb for read?
The verbal root is ‘padi’ ( ).

Here’s one example:

Past tense male singular form of ‘padi’ = padiththaan
> padiththaan = padi+(th)th+aan [ +( ) + ]

( )
padi (th) th aan
Consonant doubled Gender+number
Verb root Tense infix
due to joining rules* suffix
*Don’t bother about these for now!
 Below tabulations show all the 27 forms of this verb (in three tenses, three places and five ‘paal’s)
following a similar pattern as above:

Past tense:
Singular Plural
First padiththean padi+(th)+th+ean padiththom padi+(th)+th+om
Second padiththaai padi+(th)+th+aai padiththeer padi+(th)+th+eer
Third
Male padiththaan padi+(th)+th+aan
padiththaar padi+(th)+th+aar
Female padiththaal padi+(th)+th+aal
Aghrinai padiththathu padi+(th)+th+athu padiththana padi+(th)+th+ana ன

Present Tense:
Singular Plural
First padikkinrean padi+(k)+kinru+ean padikkinrom padi+(k)+kinru+om
Second padikkinraai padi+(k)+kinru+aai padikkinreer padi+(k)+kinru+eer
Third
Male padikkinraan padi+(k)+kinru+aan
padikkinraar padi+(k)+kinru+aar ன
Female padikkinraal padi+(k)+kinru+aal
Aghrinai padikkinrathu padi+(k)+kinru+athu padikkinrana padi+(k)+kinru+ana ன

Future Tense:
Singular Plural
First padippean padi+(p)+p+ean padippom padi+(p)+p+om
Second padippaai padi+(p)+p+aai padippeer padi+(p)+p+eer
Third
Male padippaan padi+(p)+p+aan
padippaar padi+(p)+p+aar ன
Female padippaal padi+(p)+p+aal
Aghrinai padippathu* padi+(p)+p+athu padippana* padi+(p)+p+ana ன

*Since this gender is non-sentient and non-living, this particular form refers to them being acted upon. Like, “I will
read that book”, if you have to mean something like ‘the book will read’ then you have to use the form ‘padikkum’
(exceptions! You have been warned!)

Note: the last ‘u’ in ‘kinru’ infix is dropped, because what follows is a vowel, and this particular ‘u’ is known as a
short u (kutriyalukaram). Don’t bother too much about it for now!
 Below are few more verb roots listed in all 27 forms
(without explicit mention of what is what,
but in the above order, running across and then below as in those tables):

Root: ‘kudi’ (drink) [Similar to ‘padi’]

Past: kudiththean, kudiththom, kudiththaai, kudiththeer, kudiththaan, kudiththaal, kudiththaar,
kudiththathu, kudiththana
Present: kudikkinrean, kudikkinrom, kudikkinraai, kudikkinreer, kudikkinraan, kudikkinraal, kudikkinraar,
kudikkinrathu, kudikkinrana
Future: kudippean, kudippom, kudippaai, kudippeer, kudippaan, kudippaal, kudippaar, kudippathu
(kudikkum), kudippana

Root: ‘sey’ (do) (‘sey’ as in ‘sai’nt)

Past: seythean, seythom, seythaai, seytheer, seythaan, seythaal, seythaar, seythathu, seythana
Present: seykinrean, seykinrom, seykinraai, seykinreer, seykinraan, seykinraal, seykinraar, seykinrathu,
seykinrana
Future: seyvean, seyvom, seyvaai, seyveer, seyvaan, seyvaal, seyvaar, seyvathu (seyyum), seyvana
(Note, the future tense infix is ‘v’ and not ‘p’)

Root: ‘un’ (eat) (‘u’ as in c‘oo’k, short vowel)

Past: undean, undom, undaai, undeer, undaan, undaal, undaar, undathu, undana
Present: unkinrean, unkinrom, unkinraai, unkinreer, unkinraan, unkinraal, unkinraar, unkinrathu,
unkinrana
Future: unbean, unbom, unbaai, unbeer, unbaan, unbaal, unbar, unbathu (unnum), unbana
(Note, the past tense infix is ‘t’ [voiced as ‘d’]; future tense infix ‘p’ is voiced too (‘b’))

Root: ‘nada’ (walk) (both short vowels)

Past: nadanthean, nadanthom, nadanthaai, nadantheer, nadanthaan, nadanthaal, nadanthaar,
nadanthathu, nadanthana
Present: nadakkinrean, nadakkinrom, nadakkinraai, nadakkinreer, nadakkinraan, nadakkinraal,
nadakkinraar, nadakkinrathu, nadakkinrana
Future: nadappean, nadappom, nadappaai, nadappeer, nadappaan, nadappaal, nadappaar, nadappathu
(nadakkum), nadappana
(Note, the past infix ‘th’ creates ‘n’ before it while adding to the verb root, instead of doubling!)
Try your hands at the following verb roots:

Utkaar (sit down)

[Notes: Past tense like ‘nada’: utkaarnthean, etc.; for present tense use ‘utkaaru’ as the stem:
utkaarukinrean, etc.; future infix is ‘v’]

Ezhuthu (write) [‘zh’ is a special character in Tamil, learn its pronunciation from a native]

[Notes: past tense marker is ‘in’ (the last ‘u’ in the root will drop as the following infix starts with a
vowel!): ezhuthinean, etc; present tense as it is; future infix is ‘v’]

Odu (run)

[Notes: same as above: Odinean (past), Odukinrean (present), Oduvean (future), etc.]

Vaa (come)

[Notes: the root morphs to ‘van’ (‘a’ short vowel) for past tense: vanthean, vanthaan, vanthathu, etc.;
the root morphs to ‘varu’ for present and future. Future infix is ‘v’. Present: varukinrean, etc. Futrue:
varuvean, etc]

Po (go) (‘o’ as in ‘so’, long vowel)

[Notes: the past tense infix is ‘in’, but it drops its initial vowel (and becomes ‘n’) to avoid a hiatus:
po-n-ean, etc.; present and future tense forms naturally: pokinrean, etc (present), povean (future) –
future infix is ‘v’, of course!)]

A very important note:

As mentioned earlier, there are many exceptions and peculiarities (the above bunch should give you a
good idea!)

Much of these are not explicitly known even to many native speakers (however they form these verbs
correctly by intuition)
So,
1. Don’t worry if you cannot grasp these in the first few go’s
2. Keep learning to develop your intuition for the language and its patterns

A much better approach is to use the above as a handbook while you are in the process of learning Tamil
by conversation and interaction with the natives (as well as reading!)

Happy learning...
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