Simple Present Tense
நிகழ்கால வினைச்சொல் (எளிய வடிவம்)
English marks the present tense with almost no ending at all — except for a lone -s that appears only in the third person, a small but famous trap for learners.
Grammar Comparison
இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு
Only third-person singular gets a special ending
I eat, you eat, we eat, they eat — all identical to the base verb — but he/she/it eats
நான் சாப்பிடுறேன், நீ சாப்பிடுற, அவன் சாப்பிடுறான் — every person gets its own distinct ending
Tamil verbs conjugate fully — a different ending for every single person, no exceptions. English gives up on this almost entirely in the present tense: the base verb form (eat, go, work) covers I/you/we/they without any change, and only he/she/it gets a special marker, a lone -s. Because Tamil trains you to expect a full conjugation table, it's easy to either over-apply -s to every person or forget it on he/she/it — drill this one exception deliberately, since it's the one place English still conjugates at all.
Vocabulary
சொற்கள்
| English | Pronunciation | Tamil |
|---|---|---|
| I eat | eye eet | நான் சாப்பிடுறேன்nān sāppiḍuṟēn |
| he eats | hee eets | அவன் சாப்பிடுறான்avan sāppiḍuṟān |
| she works | shee wurks | அவள் வேலை செய்யிறாavaḷ vēlai seyyiṟā |
| they play | thay play | அவங்க விளையாடுறாங்கavanga viḷaiyāḍuṟānga |
| I go | eye goh | நான் போறேன்nān pōṟēn |
| it rains | it raynz | மழை பெய்யுதுmaḻai peyyudhu |