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Lesson 21A2

Possessive Articles

உடைமைப் பெயரடைகள்

German possessives (mein, dein, sein...) decline just like ein — changing ending based on the noun's gender and case — unlike Tamil's invariant possessive pronouns.

Grammar Comparison

இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு

One possessive word, many endings vs. Tamil's fixed form

German

mein Vater (masc.), meine Mutter (fem.), mein Kind (neut.) — same root 'mein', different endings

Tamil

என் அப்பா, என் அம்மா, என் குழந்தை — என் never changes

Tamil's possessive என் ('my') is invariant — it stays என் no matter the noun's class or role in the sentence. German mein behaves like the indefinite article ein with a possessive meaning attached: it takes an ending depending on whether the following noun is masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural, and on the noun's case (nominative, accusative, dative). Learn possessives as 'ein with an owner attached' rather than as a fixed word, and the pattern from Articles & Gender carries over directly.

Vocabulary

சொற்கள்

GermanPronunciationTamilEnglish
meinmynஎன்enmy (masc./neut. noun)
meineMY-nehஎன்enmy (fem./plural noun)
deindynஉன்unyour (informal)
seinzynஅவனுடையavaṉuḍaiyahis
ihreerஅவளுடையavaḷuḍaiyaher
unserOON-zerஎங்களுடையengaḷuḍaiyaour