MozhiLingo
← All lessons
Lesson 42B2

Nominalization

வினைச்சொல்லிலிருந்து பெயர்ச்சொல்

Formal and academic German prefers turning verbs into nouns (ankommen → die Ankunft) rather than stringing clauses together — a compression habit Tamil also uses, though built with different suffixes.

Grammar Comparison

இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு

Verb-to-noun suffixes, different toolkits

German

ankommen (to arrive) → die Ankunft (the arrival); untersuchen (to examine) → die Untersuchung (the examination)

Tamil

வா (to come) → வருகை (the arrival); ஆராய் (to examine) → ஆராய்ச்சி (the examination)

Both languages have dedicated suffixes for turning a verb into an abstract noun — German mostly uses -ung (untersuchen → Untersuchung) or a vowel-changing pattern (ankommen → Ankunft), while Tamil uses suffixes like -கை or -ச்சி (ஆராய் → ஆராய்ச்சி). Formal German leans on this heavily to compress a clause into a noun phrase: instead of 'weil er ankam' ('because he arrived'), formal writing often prefers 'wegen seiner Ankunft' ('because of his arrival'). Watch for -ung nouns in particular — there's almost always a verb hiding underneath one.

Vocabulary

சொற்கள்

GermanPronunciationTamilEnglish
die Ankunftdee AHN-koonftவருகைvarugaithe arrival
die Untersuchungdee OON-ter-zoo-khoongஆராய்ச்சிārāychithe examination
die Entscheidungdee ent-SHY-doongமுடிவுmuḍivuthe decision
die Entwicklungdee ent-VIK-loongவளர்ச்சிvaḷarchithe development
die Bewegungdee beh-VAY-goongஇயக்கம்iyakkamthe movement