Plural Nouns
பன்மைச் சொற்கள்
English pluralizes with a single suffix most of the time, much like Tamil — but a short list of very common nouns breaks the rule in ways that have to be memorized individually.
Grammar Comparison
இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு
-s is the default, matching Tamil's own single-suffix habit
book → books, dog → dogs, chair → chairs
புத்தகம் → புத்தகங்கள், நாய் → நாய்கள் — the -கள் suffix works for almost every noun
Both languages default to one predictable suffix for plurals — Tamil's -கள் and English's -s — so this part of English should already feel intuitive. Where English gets harder is its handful of irregular plurals inherited from Old English: man → men, child → children, foot → feet, mouse → mice. These don't follow the -s rule at all and must be memorized as a short, closed list, the same way you'd memorize any exception.
Vocabulary
சொற்கள்
| English | Pronunciation | Tamil |
|---|---|---|
| book → books | book / books | புத்தகம் → புத்தகங்கள்puthagam → puthagangaḷ |
| child → children | chyld / CHIL-dren | குழந்தை → குழந்தைகள்kuḻandhai → kuḻandhaigaḷ |
| man → men | man / men | மனிதன் → மனிதர்கள்manithan → manithargaḷ |
| foot → feet | foot / feet | கால் → கால்கள்kāl → kālgaḷ |
| mouse → mice | mows / mys | எலி → எலிகள்eli → eligaḷ |
| fish → fish | fish / fish | மீன் → மீன்கள்mīn → mīngaḷ |