Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
சுட்டுப்பெயர்கள்: இது, அது
English demonstratives split along two dimensions at once — near versus far, and singular versus plural — where Tamil only marks one of those distinctions on the word itself.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
English adds a plural form Tamil doesn't need
this book / these books (near, singular vs. plural) — a different word for each
இந்தப் புத்தகம் / இந்தப் புத்தகங்கள் — இந்த itself never changes; only the noun's plural suffix does
Tamil's இந்த ('this') and அந்த ('that') stay completely fixed regardless of whether the noun is singular or plural — புத்தகம்/புத்தகங்கள் carries all the plural information on its own. English instead changes the demonstrative word itself: this becomes these, that becomes those. Since Tamil gives you no instinct to double-mark plurality on the pointing-word as well as the noun, treat this/these and that/those as pairs to memorize together with English's regular plural -s.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- Tamil (English explanations)
- இந்தப் புத்தகம்indhap puthagam
- Tamil (English explanations)
- இந்தப் புத்தகங்கள்indhap puthagangaḷ
- Tamil (English explanations)
- அந்த வீடுandha vīḍu
- Tamil (English explanations)
- அந்த வீடுகள்andha vīḍugaḷ