Adjective Agreement
பெயரடை ஒத்திசைவு
Dutch adjectives add a single -e ending in most positions, but stay bare in one specific spot — a much lighter agreement system than Spanish's four-way gender-and-number split, though still a habit Tamil doesn't have at all, since Tamil adjectives never change form.
Grammar Comparison
இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு
Add -e before the noun in most cases
een grote hond (a big dog) / de grote hond (the big dog)
தமிழில் பெயரடை மாறாது: பெரிய நாய்
Most Dutch adjectives placed directly before a noun take an extra -e, regardless of de/het, once the noun has any article at all — grote, not groot. Tamil never touches the adjective itself no matter what it describes (பெரிய stays பெரிய for every noun), so remembering to actually add the ending is the new habit to build here.
The one exception: het + singular + een (indefinite)
een groot huis (a big house) — no -e, because huis is het and indefinite
தமிழில் இப்படி ஒரு விதிவிலக்கு இல்லை
There's exactly one situation where the adjective stays bare (no -e): a het-word, singular, with the indefinite article een (or no article at all) in front of it — een groot huis, not een grote huis. Switch to the definite article and the -e comes right back: het grote huis. This single carve-out is the whole exception to memorize; every other combination of de/het, singular/plural, and definite/indefinite takes -e.
Predicate adjectives (after a form of zijn) stay bare
De hond is groot. (The dog is big — groot, no -e, since it's not directly in front of the noun)
நாய் பெரியது. (Tamil's predicate adjective also takes its own separate ending, not the plain attributive form)
When the adjective comes after the noun, linked by a form of zijn ('to be') rather than sitting directly in front of the noun, it drops the -e entirely: de hond is groot, not de hond is grote. Tamil marks this predicate position differently too — பெரியது (with a neuter-agreement ending) rather than the plain attributive பெரிய — so both languages distinguish 'the big dog' from 'the dog is big' with a form change, just not the same one.
Vocabulary
சொற்கள்
| Dutch | Pronunciation | Tamil | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| groot / grote | khroht / KHROH-teh | பெரியperiya | big |
| klein / kleine | klayn / KLAY-neh | சிறியsiṟiya | small |
| mooi / mooie | moy / MOY-eh | அழகானaḻagāṉa | pretty / nice |
| lang / lange | lahng / LAHNG-eh | உயரமான / நீளமானuyaramāṉa / nīḷamāṉa | tall / long |
| interessant / interessante | in-teh-reh-SAHNT / in-teh-reh-SAHN-teh | சுவாரஸ்யமானsuvārasyamāṉa | interesting |