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Lesson 8A1
Family
குடும்பம்
German nouns carry grammatical gender (der/die/das). For people, this usually lines up with biological sex — the closest Tamil parallel is உயர்திணை (the 'rational' noun class for humans), which similarly treats male and female people as distinct grammatical categories.
Grammar Comparison
இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு
der/die for people ≈ Tamil's உயர்திணை gender split
German
der Vater (masc.) / die Mutter (fem.)
Tamil
அவன் தந்தை / அவள் தாய் (masc./fem. pronoun agreement)
Tamil doesn't put der/die/das in front of nouns, but its pronoun system (அவன், அவள்) and verb agreement already track male vs. female for people — the same underlying idea German expresses with articles. Learning German gender for family words is mostly memorizing which article, not learning a brand-new concept.
Vocabulary
சொற்கள்
| German | Pronunciation | Tamil | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| die Mutter | dee MOO-ter | அம்மாammā | mother |
| der Vater | dair FAH-ter | அப்பாappā | father |
| der Bruder | dair BROO-der | சகோதரன்sagōdharan | brother |
| die Schwester | dee SHVES-ter | சகோதரிsagōdhari | sister |
| die Großmutter | dee GROHS-moo-ter | பாட்டிpāṭṭi | grandmother |
| der Großvater | dair GROHS-fah-ter | தாத்தாthāththā | grandfather |
| der Sohn | dair zohn | மகன்magan | son |
| die Tochter | dee TOKH-ter | மகள்magaḷ | daughter |