Greetings & Formality
അഭിവാദനങ്ങളും മര്യാദയും
Malayalam marks respect with a formal/informal 'you' split — നീ vs. നിങ്ങൾ. English removes that distinction entirely, which is itself the thing to learn.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
One 'you' for everyone
you (used for a child, a friend, a stranger, or the Prime Minister — identically)
നീ (informal) / നിങ്ങൾ (formal) — two separate words
Malayalam gives you a dedicated pronoun (നിങ്ങൾ) that signals respect automatically. English took that word away, so you have to rebuild formality through other means: titles (Sir, Madam), phrasing ('Would you mind...' instead of 'Give me...'), and tone. The common mistake is translating the formal Malayalam pronoun literally into an overly stiff English sentence — English marks respect through word choice, not through a different pronoun.
Spelling doesn't match pronunciation
though, through, tough, thorough — four different vowel sounds for the same four letters
Malayalam script — each letter is read almost the same way, essentially every time
Malayalam script is close to fully phonetic: what's written is what's said. English spelling is not — it preserves centuries of historical spelling without updating to match how words are actually pronounced today. Expect to learn the pronunciation of each new word separately from its spelling, rather than sounding it out reliably the way you would in Malayalam.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- Malayalam (previous course)
- നമസ്കാരംnamaskaaram
- Malayalam (previous course)
- സുപ്രഭാതംsuprabhaatham
- Malayalam (previous course)
- ശുഭ സന്ധ്യshubha sandhya
- Malayalam (previous course)
- വീണ്ടും കാണാംveendum kaanam
- Malayalam (previous course)
- പോയിട്ട് വരാംpoyittu varaam
- Malayalam (previous course)
- നന്ദിnandi
- Malayalam (previous course)
- ദയവായിdayavaayi
- Malayalam (previous course)
- അതെathe
- Malayalam (previous course)
- ഇല്ലilla
- Malayalam (previous course)
- സുഖമാണോ?sukhamaano?
- Malayalam (previous course)
- എനിക്ക് സുഖമാണ്enikku sukhamaanu