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Lesson 18A2

Prepositions with Fixed Cases

நிலையான வேற்றுமை கொண்ட முன்னிடைச்சொற்கள்

Some German prepositions always demand the accusative, others always demand the dative, regardless of meaning. Tamil doesn't split this the same way, since its postpositions already carry the case built into the suffix itself.

Grammar Comparison

இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு

Preposition decides case; in Tamil the suffix IS the postposition

German

für den Mann (accusative, 'for the man') / mit dem Mann (dative, 'with the man')

Tamil

மனிதனுக்காக (for) / மனிதனுடன் (with) — the case-like meaning is fused into one postposition word

Tamil postpositions like -உடன் ('with') or -காக ('for') already encode both the relationship and any case-like meaning in a single suffix — there's no separate 'which case' decision to make. German splits this into two layers: first pick the preposition (für, mit, ohne...), and that preposition then forces a specific case onto the noun that follows, whether or not the meaning has anything to do with direct action. Memorize each preposition together with the case it demands, the way you memorized each noun's article.

Vocabulary

சொற்கள்

GermanPronunciationTamilEnglish
für (+ Akk.)fuer-க்காக-kkāgafor
durch (+ Akk.)doorkhவழியாகvaḻiyāgathrough
ohne (+ Akk.)OH-nehஇல்லாமல்illāmalwithout
gegen (+ Akk.)GAY-genஎதிராகedhirāgaagainst
um (+ Akk.)oomசுற்றிsuṟṟiaround / at (time)
mit (+ Dat.)mit-உடன்-uḍanwith
nach (+ Dat.)nahkhபிறகு / நோக்கிpiṟagu / nōkkiafter / to
bei (+ Dat.)byஅருகில்arugilat / near
seit (+ Dat.)zytமுதல்mudhalsince
von (+ Dat.)fonஇருந்துirundhufrom / of
zu (+ Dat.)tsoo-க்கு-kkuto