Family
குடும்பம்
English dropped grammatical gender entirely — no der/die/das, no le/la, nothing on the noun itself. But it also flattens distinctions Tamil keeps, like which side of the family a relative is on.
Grammar Comparison
இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு
No grammatical gender on nouns or verbs
the mother, the father — same 'the' either way; she comes, he comes — same 'comes' either way
அவள் வருகிறாள் (she comes) / அவன் வருகிறான் (he comes) — the verb ending itself changes with gender
Tamil verbs change their ending depending on the subject's gender — அவள் வருகிறாள் vs. அவன் வருகிறான். English is the odd one out here: 'comes' stays 'comes' no matter who's doing it. This makes English easier in one specific way — you never have to remember a gendered verb form — but it also means gender only shows up in the pronoun (he/she), nowhere else in the sentence.
Maternal and paternal relatives get the same word
grandmother (used for both your mother's mother and your father's mother)
தாய் வழி பாட்டி vs. தந்தை வழி பாட்டி — distinguishable by adding which side
Tamil can specify which side of the family a grandparent or uncle is from. English collapses this: 'grandmother', 'uncle', and 'cousin' cover both sides with no built-in way to distinguish, short of adding a full explanatory phrase ('my mother's mother'). Don't go looking for a single English word that captures the distinction — it isn't there.
Vocabulary
சொற்கள்
| English | Pronunciation | Tamil |
|---|---|---|
| mother | MUH-ther | அம்மாammā |
| father | FAH-ther | அப்பாappā |
| brother | BRUH-ther | சகோதரன்sagōdharan |
| sister | SIS-ter | சகோதரிsagōdhari |
| grandmother | GRAND-muh-ther | பாட்டிpāṭṭi |
| grandfather | GRAND-fah-ther | தாத்தாthāththā |
| son | suhn | மகன்magan |
| daughter | DAW-ter | மகள்magaḷ |