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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

இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு

A different word, not a suffix

English

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

Tamil

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

சொற்கள்

EnglishPronunciationTamil
memeeஎன்னைeṉṉai
himhimஅவனைavaṉai
herhurஅவளைavaḷai
ususஎங்களைengaḷai
themthemஅவர்களைavargaḷai
I love her.eye luv hurநான் அவளை நேசிக்கிறேன்.nān avaḷai nēsikkiṟēn.