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Lesson 8A1

Family

குடும்பம்

French nouns carry grammatical gender — but only two, not three. For people, French le/la lines up with the same instinct behind Tamil's உயர்திணை (rational, human) gender split.

Grammar Comparison

இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு

le/la for people ≈ Tamil's உயர்திணை gender split

French

le père (masc.) / la mère (fem.)

Tamil

அவன் தந்தை / அவள் தாய் (masc./fem. pronoun agreement)

French has only masculine and feminine, not three genders. For family words this is easy: le/un for men, la/une for women, matching what Tamil's அவன்/அவள் pronoun system already tracks. The harder part comes later — French also genders inanimate objects (la table, le livre) with no biological logic at all, which Tamil doesn't do.

Vocabulary

சொற்கள்

FrenchPronunciationTamilEnglish
la mèrelah mairஅம்மாammāmother
le pèreluh pairஅப்பாappāfather
le frèreluh frairசகோதரன்sagōdharanbrother
la sœurlah suhrசகோதரிsagōdharisister
la grand-mèrelah grahn-mairபாட்டிpāṭṭigrandmother
le grand-pèreluh grahn-pairதாத்தாthāththāgrandfather
le filsluh feesமகன்maganson
la fillelah feeமகள்magaḷdaughter