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Lesson 16A2

Object Pronouns

செயப்படுபொருள் பிரதிபெயர்கள்

English swaps in a completely different-looking word for the object form of a pronoun — me, him, her — rather than adding a suffix the way Tamil does.

Grammar Comparison

Grammar Comparison

A different word, not a suffix

English

I see him. (he → him, an entirely different word)

Tamil (English explanations)

நான் அவனைப் பார்க்கிறேன். (அவன் → அவனை, the same word plus the -ஐ suffix)

Tamil builds its object pronoun by adding the familiar -ஐ suffix onto the subject pronoun — அவன் becomes அவனை, recognizably related. English object pronouns (him, her, them, us) often look nothing like their subject counterparts (he, she, they, we), a holdover from an older, more complex pronoun system English mostly abandoned elsewhere. Since there's no visible suffix to spot, these pairs (I/me, he/him, she/her, we/us, they/them) just have to be memorized as vocabulary.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

memee
Tamil (English explanations)
என்னைeṉṉai
himhim
Tamil (English explanations)
அவனைavaṉai
herhur
Tamil (English explanations)
அவளைavaḷai
usus
Tamil (English explanations)
எங்களைengaḷai
themthem
Tamil (English explanations)
அவர்களைavargaḷai
I love her.eye luv hur
Tamil (English explanations)
நான் அவளை நேசிக்கிறேன்.nān avaḷai nēsikkiṟēn.