Question Words
கேள்விச் சொற்கள்
Polish question words work much like their Tamil counterparts, and there's a handy little word that flags a yes/no question upfront — though it works differently from how Tamil marks one.
Grammar Comparison
இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு
dlaczego Needs Its Own Answer Word — Same as Tamil's ஏன்/காரணம்
Dlaczego nie idziesz? Bo jestem zmęczony.
ஏன் போகவில்லை? காரணம், நான் களைப்பாக இருக்கிறேன்.
Tamil keeps 'why' and 'because' as separate words — ஏன் (why) and காரணம் (because/the reason) never substitute for each other. Polish does the same: dlaczego means only 'why', and bo (or the slightly more formal ponieważ) means only 'because'. You always need both words in both languages — you can't answer a dlaczego question by echoing dlaczego back.
czy Flags a Yes/No Question Upfront — Tamil Marks It on the Verb Instead
Czy mówisz po polsku?
நீ போலிஷ் பேசுவாயா?
Tamil signals a yes/no question by attaching -ஆ to the end of the word being questioned — பேசுவாயா is 'will-you-speak' plus that question suffix. Polish signals the same kind of question differently: placing czy at the very start of the sentence does the job instead, without changing the word order that follows — Czy mówisz po polsku? is literally '[question marker] you-speak in-Polish?'. Both languages grammatically mark a yes/no question rather than relying only on rising intonation — they just mark it in opposite positions, Tamil at the end of a word, Polish at the start of the sentence. czy is optional in casual Polish speech (rising intonation alone can do the job), but very common in writing and careful speech.
Vocabulary
சொற்கள்
- Tamil
- யார்yār
- English
- who
- Tamil
- என்னeṉṉa
- English
- what
- Tamil
- எங்கேeṅgē
- English
- where
- Tamil
- எப்போதுeppōdhu
- English
- when
- Tamil
- ஏன்ēṉ
- English
- why
- Tamil
- எப்படிeppaḍi
- English
- how
- Tamil
- எவ்வளவுevvaḷavu
- English
- how much / how many
- Tamil
- எதுedhu
- English
- which
- Tamil
- இது யார்?idhu yār?
- English
- Who is this?
- Tamil
- நீ எங்கே வசிக்கிறாய்?nī eṅgē vasikkiṟāy?
- English
- Where do you live?
- Tamil
- இதன் விலை என்ன?idhaṉ vilai eṉṉa?
- English
- How much does it cost?
- Tamil
- காரணம்kāraṇam
- English
- because