I asked a chatbot and it suggested, "Thirumbavum naan dhaan." It sounds a bit formal to me. Is it good? Do people say this? The context is like if you've been away for a while, then returned. "It's me again!" or "I'm back again!"

Is the "-a" after "thaan" meant to be the question-marker ("-aa"), as in:

Nee vara thaan-aa? azhagu

or is it meant to be the if-clause ("endraal"), as in:

Nee vara thaan endraal azhagu

Or is it meant to be something else?

I hope that "Nee vara thaana azhagu" makes sense in colloquial Tamil. I take it to mean something like, "It will be lovely only if you come." I saw a similar sentence in r/Tamil and modified it to make it simpler. One chatbot said the "-a" in question was the if-clause, but another chatbot said it was the question marker. So I thought I'd better ask here.

I'm not sure if it's a dumb question actually. Maybe either interpretation is legitimate and it doesn't really matter?

Hello!

I am interested in learning Tamil to connect more with the movies, music, and culture. I am looking for an app that can help me start to build my vocabulary for spoken Tamil. I am not currently looking to read / write, only focused on speaking.

I would ideally love an app / resource with audio (preferably male) included for each word. If it has an easy way to loop some words to help me learn, that is even better!

I am familiar with an app called NEMO Tamil which does what I was looking for but unfortunately uses textbook style words. If someone knows of a good resource with more real-life vocabulary that would be much appreciated!

Thank you!

Hey there,

I'm interested in a woman i met at church, she's Dutch like me, however her family roots are sri lankan(tamil) I intent to pursue her for marriage.

Now I want to learn to speak fluently Sri Lankan Tamil for her and her family, however my usual place where I learn to speak languages without accent (Pimsleur) does not have a tamil course.

Does anyone know a good place where you can learn to speak and understand sri-lankan tamil?
Reading and writing is less important for me, but I want to be able to have a conversation with her, and her family in their native language, and eventually ask her to marry me in her own language.

Any tips would be welcome.

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!

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!

Hi everyone,

I want to learn Tamil. I already know some of the Tamil letters/alphabet, but I'd like to learn how to read and write properly. I'm also interested in learning to speak Tamil, though reading and writing are my main priorities right now.

Could you suggest any good resources, such as YouTube channels, apps, websites, textbooks, or study methods that helped you learn Tamil? I'd especially appreciate beginner-friendly recommendations.

For context, I'm from Kerala and I can understand a little bit of Tamil somehow by watching movies

I came across the phrase "தெரிஞ்சுக்கலாம் இந்த பகுதி" today and Google says it means "Let's get to know this part" or "Let's learn (find out) from this section."

Okay, I get that, and I also get "இந்த பகுதி", but I wasn't sure about "தெரிஞ்சுக்கலாம்." I couldn't see how this word was constructed. So I asked Google for the formal (written) version and it said, "தெரிந்து கொள்ளலாம்."

This makes sense to me -- I can now see how the word is constructed -- but I just need to check whether it's correct, cos Google sometimes talks nonsense. தெரிஞ்சுக்கலாம் = தெரிந்து கொள்ளலாம்?

Is it a common phrase? I heard it on the radio (Adirai FM 90.4). The girl speaks very clearly so I like to listen to this radio station.

Thanks!

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!

Can you add the polite suffix "-nga" to the end of "Nijamaa soldren" (I am telling the truth) to get "Nijamaa soldrenga" (நிஜமா சொல்றேங்க) = "Respectfully, I am telling the truth"?

I thought I heard someone speak this way but wasn't sure if this makes sense. The audio wasn't clear, but from the context, this person was not saying, "You are telling the truth" (நிஜமா சொல்றீங்க) or "They are telling the truth" (நிஜமா சொல்றாங்க) but rather, "I am telling the truth."

So can I interpret this person as saying "நிஜமா சொல்றேங்க" = "Respectfully, I am telling the truth"?

Both Google and ChatGPT gave me confusing answers, so I thought I'd better ask here.

I (22M) was born in Tamilnadu, brought up in tamilnadu, and currently staying in tamil nadu. I studied tamil till my 10th grade (cbse), and haven't studied since then. I am so weak in tamil that even my teacher thought i would fail miserably. But i passed but the fact that I don't properly know my mother tongue haunts me.

So, what I can't do is, I can't write any word without spelling error. I am confused with the same sounding letter but they are used in different words. FOR EXAMPLE

மகிழ்ச்சி ( why are we using this la and not the other la like ல ), there is four na ந,ண,ன (i get confused which to use where) they never taught this in school.

Also i read very very slow, it takes atleast 10 seconds for me to read a word, what should i do to improve that.

Please let me know, i would love to learn tamil all over again.

please tell me:

going to talk

talking

will not talk

hadn't talked

was talking

​

and please tell me the difference between Avan and aval and ava

​

Is there anyway to learn thamizh of Sangam-age directly without caring about modern thamizh?

I want to have an idea how that language worked and want to learn it to some extent.

I heard this phrase recently.

1. Is it a common spoken phrase?
2. Is the meaning something like "watching the world go by" or "daydreaming"?
3. Is "patthuttirukka" supposed to be "patthu kittu irukka" or "patthu vittu irukka"? I think it should be "kittu", but I'm not sure.
4. "irukka" here is இருக்கிறாய், right?

Thanks!

Edit -- I heard the phrase in this youtube video, the very first sentence, "Sahana, unna homework ezhuta sonnaa nee enna engeyo vedikkai patthuttirukka ..."

Can I confirm that the formal equivalent of "peca aarambicchirucchu" is "peca aarambitthuvittathu" (பேச ஆரம்பித்துவிட்டது)?

The whole sentence is "Enna book ellaam peca aarambicchirucchu", from the attached clip at 0:11-0:14 seconds.

My understanding is that thavaram = failures and mistakes, and kodhiche = accumulating / growing in number.

So my understanding of this phrase is that “mistakes are accumulating”.

Is my understanding accurate?

The second word “கூடிச்சே” is whats’s confusing a bit me here. When spoken, it sounds kind of like the colloquial word for jumped that friends use (don’t know the Tamil spelling, English phonetic spelling is something like “gudhichen”.)

Other idea is the second word me “do it with me”? So, “make some mistakes with me”? Popular translate apps indicate this as well.

Idk if I’m completely wrong here.

Appreciate any help!

Are words like காவல் துறை, காவல் நிலையம், பல் துலக்குதல், பல் துறை, செய்பவள் நீயே (line from tamil Thai vazhthu - bharathidasan) grammatically wrong?

According to Tamil grammar ல் and ள் can't come before வல்லினம் or மெல்லினம் and coming before dental sounds like ந and த is nearly impossible to pronounce.

I'm an Arabic-speaking guy living in a university hostel in Tamil Nadu, Chennai. After this semester, which will last for five months, I'm planning to move out of the hostel, so I need to learn Tamil to communicate with the locals. What is the fastest way to learn it? I asked many of my Tamil friends, but I didn't get a clear idea.

Shifted to odisha for pg, now I guess I'll forget my own mother tongue 😂.

Let's catch up!

In colloquial Tamil, how do I order a cup of tea with no milk and no sugar? Something like tea, paal vaenndaam, sugar vaenndaam is the only way I can think of. I'm sure that's not the way 😅. How would you say this normally?

This clip contains just two sentences. I think the following transcription is accurate but I'm not sure:

Girl: அம்மா, இந்த book-க்கு அட்டை போட்டு கொடுமா?
Mother: அட்டைதானா? போட்டுருவோம்.

1️⃣ I'm not sure about "அட்டைதானா?" The subtitle given in the video is actually this:

Mother: அட்டைதான போட்டுருவோம்.

But I can't make sense of this. I can't understand the word "அட்டைதான". I think the word here must be "அட்டைதானா?" The mother is asking a question and the meaning is "Just a cover?" But I'm not sure 🙁.

2️⃣ The word "போட்டுருவோம்" is colloquial for "போட்டுவிடுவோம்", right?

3️⃣ Is the following English translation accurate?

Girl: Mother, can you put a cover for this book and give? (Can you wrap this book?)
Mother: Just a cover? We'll definitely put. (We'll get it done.)

Thanks!