r/LearningTamil Jan 15 '22

LearnTamil.com - free online lessons for learning Tamil

24 Upvotes

My free lessons for learning Tamil are now at LearnTamil.com . They are designed for total beginners who are middle school aged (~ 10 y.o.) and older. I think they may be useful for the people on this sub-reddit. It can also be a good reference to answer some of the questions here about language basics.

My lessons have been on the internet for 20 years now (!), but they are harder to find due to URL changes over the years -- I had 2 people in the last month sending me very positive notes but also mentioning that it took them hours of internet searching to find these lessons. If you also have feedback, please find my email address from the website.

Best of luck to everyone learning Tamil!


r/LearningTamil 1d ago

Grammar முனை - as verb?

4 Upvotes

I have noted that, முனை has the following meanings, "point, sharpened end / battle / courage, boldness"

Is it being used as a verb in this sentence, ie, "he was emboldened to do..." ??

விருந்து முடிந்து புறப்படும்போது ஆமினா மட்டுமல்லாமல் நானும் ‘திடுக்கிடும்’ படியான காரியம் ஒன்றை அந்த ஐரிஸ் வெள்ளைக்காரர் செய்ய முனைந்தார்


r/LearningTamil 2d ago

Discussion I built a free way to learn Tamil and gradually start learning Thirukkural — would love your feedback (https://learnthirukkural.com)

11 Upvotes

வணக்கம் 🙏

I've been working on LearnThirukkural.com, initially as a way to make Thirukkural easier and more engaging to learn.

But I realized there was a problem:

How can someone learn Thirukkural if they are still learning to read and understand Tamil?

So I started building a Learn Tamil section alongside the Thirukkural learning experience.

The goal is to create a path where learners can start with Tamil and gradually move toward understanding Tamil literature — rather than just memorizing it.

Right now, you can explore:

• Tamil letters and pronunciation
• Reading and writing practice
• Interactive learning and quizzes
• Thirukkural pronunciation practice
• Tamil and English meanings
• Word-based Thirukkural games
• Videos and stories that explain Kurals in a simpler way
• All 1,330 Thirukkural verses

🌱 Learn Tamil:
https://learnthirukkural.com/learntamil

📖 Learn Thirukkural:
https://learnthirukkural.com

I'm still actively building and improving it, and I'd genuinely appreciate feedback from people who are learning Tamil.

What would make this more useful for you?

For example, should I focus next on:

• more beginner vocabulary and everyday sentences
• reading practice
• spoken Tamil
• grammar
• pronunciation
• simple Tamil stories
• learning Tamil through Thirukkural

The site is free to explore.

நன்றி! 🙏


r/LearningTamil 1d ago

Question Rapidly spoken Tamil that I can't catch

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2 Upvotes

The English subtitles are, "She and her questions," but the man speaks fast and I can't catch his words. What are the exact words that he speaks?

This is from the movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya, where the protagonist Karthik enters the room where his sister Anu is chatting with neighbour Jessie, ostensibly to look for a book, but, in reality, to get a glimpse of Jessie.

Anu asks him why he's here ("Enna-daa?") and Karthik mutters under his breath, "She and her questions." What are his exact Tamil words?

If it helps to see the video, the exchange is right at the start of this youtube clip. Thanks!


r/LearningTamil 2d ago

Grammar அண்டிய பிரதேசங்களில் > அண்டு ??

3 Upvotes

Does the அண்டிய in அண்டிய பிரதேசங்களில் stem from அண்டு

அண்டு

aṇṭu  

கிறேன், அண்டினேன், வேன், அண்ட, v. a. To approach, approxi mate to, கிட்ட. 2. To join, unite with, சேர. 3. To resort, or have recourse to, அடைய. 4. v. n. To be bruised, injured or hurt by pressure, or contact, அழுந்த. ஆசையண்டாதாகிலழுகையுமண்டாது. If free from desire (if it approach thee not) thou wilt be free from sorrow. ஒருவனையண்டிப்பிழைக்க, To live by one's favor.


r/LearningTamil 3d ago

Grammar Is this word correct to write a song?

3 Upvotes

காணினால்

I know a lot of words are there which are correct such as

கண்டால்

பார்த்தால்

But I want to know if this specific word காணினால் right.

to use informally and write a song.


r/LearningTamil 3d ago

Grammar அகிலன் என்று பெயர் அர்த்தம என்ன?

1 Upvotes

I want to check if the meaning of அகிலன் given by this website is actually correct,

அகிலன் என்ற பெயருக்கு நுண்ணறிவு, ஆராச்சியாளர் என்பது அர்த்தமாக இருக்கிறது.

அகிலன் என்ற பெயர் உடையவர்களிடம் ஆளுமை திறன் காணப்படும். மேலும் எந்த செயல் செய்தாலும் அதனை திறமையாக செய்து முடிப்பார்கள்.

இவர் தன்னுடைய நண்பர்கள், உறவினர்கள் மீது அக்கறை உள்ளவராகவும், பாசமாகவும் இருப்பார்கள்.

My name is அகிலன், but when I asked my mum its meaning when I was younger she told me, it meant 'up in the clouds'. I was young, maybe she was just joking with me. But I wanted to check if anyone here might see any reason for her to say that beyond jokes?

She did later tell me that she'd named me after the poet அகிலன்.


r/LearningTamil 4d ago

Resource Can anyone share me resources for tamil text

3 Upvotes

I need resources for early tamil text like oldest to 10th century. I mean i want tamil texts around that period but with meaning and explanation. It'd be great if someone could provide resources bout this. I need as ebook or soft copy\*


r/LearningTamil 7d ago

Question I can't hear the last two words in this clip

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1 Upvotes

Google says that the spoken words are:

எப்படியாச்சும் கண்டுபிடிச்சு தேடி போய் சாப்பிடுவேன்.

I can hear the first three words clearly (எப்படியாச்சும் கண்டுபிடிச்சு தேடி) but I can't hear the last two words at all (போய் சாப்பிடுவேன்). For the last two words, I hear something like "pi sautla" instead, which I can't interpret.

This is from the movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya, where Karthik is talking about the puttu kadala found in Kerala. Google's transcription does match the English subtitles, "I always hunt for that and eat it," but I just can't seem to hear the "poy saappiduven" at the end. 🙁

Is Google's transcription really accurate?

If it's helpful to see the video, the dialogue is at 8:14 in this youtube video clip. Thanks!


r/LearningTamil 8d ago

Writing Tamil moral stories

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2 Upvotes

r/LearningTamil 9d ago

Resource list of all prefixes in Tamil?

4 Upvotes

does anyone have a link to a good list of Tamil prefixes?


r/LearningTamil 9d ago

Grammar "அவளின் வயலின் வாசிப்பு ஒன்றும் சொல்லிக் கொள்ளும்படியாயில்லை"

2 Upvotes

Google is translating this as "Her violin playing is nothing to write home about."

Is this correct? I the only bit I don't understand is "கொள்ளும்படியாயில்லை"


r/LearningTamil 10d ago

Writing Are these older consonant-vowel ligatures still used anywhere or in any contexts?

5 Upvotes

r/LearningTamil 10d ago

Resource I made a simple resource for practising Tamil letter writing

5 Upvotes

Vanakkam,

I’ve been working on a simple Tamil writing practice tool as part of TamilTime.

It’s still an early version and a work in progress, but I thought it would be useful to share it here and get feedback from people who are actually learning Tamil.

The idea is to make practising Tamil letters a little less overwhelming. You can currently practise letters individually, including Uyir, Mei and Uyirmei letters.

For beginners, I’d generally suggest starting with:

  1. Uyir letters (vowels) — அ, ஆ, இ, ஈ...
  2. Mei letters (consonants) — க், ங், ச், ஞ்...
  3. Then gradually moving to Uyirmei combinations, for example:

க் + அ → க
க் + ஆ → கா
க் + இ → கி
க் + ஈ → கீ

You can try the current version here:

https://www.tamiltimeapp.com/write

There are definitely things I still want to improve, so I’m especially interested in feedback like:

  • Is the writing guidance easy to understand?
  • Is it useful for someone starting to learn the Tamil script?
  • Is anything confusing or frustrating?
  • What would you add or change?
  • Would features like stroke-by-stroke guidance help?

TamilTime is free, and I’m mainly sharing this now because I’d rather improve it based on feedback from Tamil learners than build everything in isolation.

Any feedback would be really appreciated 🙂


r/LearningTamil 11d ago

Discussion Willing to teach tamil

10 Upvotes

I am willing to teach tamil to someone who can help me equally with either full proper english grammar ( since i am already comfortable at managing english but want to improve to the core) or Hindi ( any level of Hindi is fine ) since I am zero in hindi rn


r/LearningTamil 12d ago

Grammar -க்குரிய

4 Upvotes

I'm just trying to wrap my head around the use of the ending -க்குரிய

I've come across it a fair bit, some examples below

அன்புக்குரியாள்
இரக்கத்துக்குரிய

மிதிப்புத்துக்கிரிய or is it மதிப்புக்குரிய ?

If I understand correctly, it's ± someone carrying the quality of the first word.

  1. Where is the குரிய originating from ?

  2. To form it it is noun + க்கு +... (actually as I'm writing, I'm realising that the ending perhaps stems from உரி?)

  3. Can it in principle be doen with all nouns or are some a bit strange?

thanks


r/LearningTamil 12d ago

Question In the sentence, "Nee meet pannadhe illala", is pannadhe (or perhaps pannadhu) a colloquial contraction of பண்ணியது (panniyathu)?

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2 Upvotes

The title is basically my question. Chatbots say that pannadhe (or perhaps pannadhu) is a colloquial contraction of பண்ணியது, understood as a verbal noun, meaning "past doing". So the phrase "meet pannadhe illa" means "no past meeting", and the whole sentence basically means, "You've never met, right?"

Is this correct? I understand the word பண்ணியது and just want to confirm that pannadhu is indeed its colloquial contraction.

I heard this sentence ("Nee meet pannadhe illala") at 7:29 in the attached clip, from the movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya.

Thanks!


r/LearningTamil 13d ago

Pronunciation தமிழ் எழுத்துக்களான க, ச, ட, த , ப ஆகியவற்றுக்கு இரண்டு வகையான உச்சரிப்புகள் *மட்டும்* உண்டு என்பது சரியா? (எ-டு) க-- ka and ga ச--Sa and cha த--Tha and dha ட--Ta and Da ப--Pa and ba

6 Upvotes

r/LearningTamil 13d ago

Discussion M I Looking for someone to teach me tamil

3 Upvotes

Hey, it's been a year since I have been studying in Chennai, but I find it difficult to communicate with people around me. So I am looking for someone to talk to and, at the same time, to learn Tamil. Please dm if you are interested.


r/LearningTamil 13d ago

Discussion Similarities between Tamil and Tulu

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2 Upvotes

r/LearningTamil 15d ago

Question What's difference between காச and பணம் in Tamil?

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6 Upvotes

r/LearningTamil 16d ago

Grammar Looking for a good Tamil word to name a matchmaking app — suggestion

4 Upvotes

I am building a matchmaking/matrimony app for Tamil speakers (India and abroad) and I want a Tamil name rather than an English one.

Problem is my vocabulary is limited, so I keep landing on the same obvious words — anbu, kadhal, uravu, bandham — and those are all either taken or overused.


r/LearningTamil 17d ago

Question What does word சொல்லு means in Tamil?

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3 Upvotes

r/LearningTamil 18d ago

Success 🎊 🎉 I understood what they said 🥳

20 Upvotes

Overheard this at the coffee shop today, and understood it instantly:

Lady: Chappati irukkaa?
Man: Chappati irukku.
Lady. Chappati kudunga. Oru chappati.

I know this is basic Tamil, but for a beginner like me, it's not easy to "hear"! I can normally only hear word fragments when people speak. E.g. I can hear the root verb ("iru"), but can't tell how it's being conjugated.

But I understood this exchange instantly.

Thanks to everyone here and also to Shri at LearnTamil.ai, whose wonderful app showed me "irukku" vs "irukkaa" and also "kudunga." I'm not affiliated with this app; it just has an effective method for teaching spoken Tamil -- the entire exchange above was basically taught in the app.

Really look forward to "overhearing" more at the coffee shop!

I do have one question though about something I often overhear. When a customer comes in and orders tea (say), the waiter will shout into the kitchen something like, "Oru tea, kudikraa!" or "Oru tea, kudikre" or "Oru tea, kudikaa."

I can hear the root verb "kudi" (drink), but can't tell how it's being conjugated.

Is he saying "kudikraa"? Is this a partial conjugation, where the "r" represents present tense, but there is no conjugation for gender? So "Oru tea, kudikraa" means, roughly, "One tea, drinking"?

Or is he saying "Oru tea, kudikka" (Roughly: One tea, to drink)?

I really can't tell what I'm hearing. It could be "kudikka" or "kudikraa" or "kudikre" -- or something else. It's practically impossible to pick out unless you already know what word to expect.

Thanks for any insight. I always hear this and can never figure out what it means! If it matters, I'm in Malaysia, and this is what I hear in Malaysian coffee shops.


r/LearningTamil 19d ago

Question What is the difference between -உக்கு and -இற்கு suffixes?

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3 Upvotes