Family
കുടുംബം
English dropped grammatical gender entirely — no der/die/das, no le/la, nothing on the noun itself. Malayalam agrees with English here in one interesting way: its verbs don't mark gender either.
Grammar Comparison
വ്യാകരണ താരതമ്യം
Neither language marks gender on the verb
the mother, the father — same 'the' either way; she comes, he comes — same 'comes' either way
അവൾ വരുന്നു (she comes) / അവൻ വരുന്നു (he comes) — the verb itself never changes
English never marks gender on the verb — 'comes' stays 'comes' no matter who's doing it — and Malayalam agrees, in its own way: Malayalam verbs don't change for gender or person at all, so the verb form for 'comes' is identical whether the subject is he or she. Both languages put the entire burden of showing gender on the pronoun alone, so this instinct should feel familiar even though English and Malayalam arrive at it differently.
Vocabulary
വാക്കുകൾ
| English | Pronunciation | Malayalam |
|---|---|---|
| mother | MUH-ther | അമ്മamma |
| father | FAH-ther | അച്ഛൻachan |
| brother | BRUH-ther | സഹോദരൻsahodaran |
| sister | SIS-ter | സഹോദരിsahodari |
| grandmother | GRAND-muh-ther | മുത്തശ്ശിmuthashi |
| grandfather | GRAND-fah-ther | മുത്തച്ഛൻmuthachan |
| son | suhn | മകൻmakan |
| daughter | DAW-ter | മകൾmakal |