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Lesson 4A1

Family

குடும்பம்

Spanish nouns carry grammatical gender — masculine or feminine, no neuter — and for people this lines up cleanly with the same instinct behind Tamil's உயர்திணை (rational, human) gender split.

Grammar Comparison

இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு

el/la for people ≈ Tamil's உயர்திணை gender split

Spanish

el padre (masc.) / la madre (fem.)

Tamil

அவன் தந்தை / அவள் தாய் (masc./fem. pronoun agreement)

Spanish has only masculine and feminine, not three genders. For family words this is easy: el/un for men, la/una for women, matching what Tamil's அவன்/அவள் pronoun system already tracks. The harder part comes later — Spanish also genders inanimate objects (la mesa, el libro) with no biological logic at all, which Tamil doesn't do.

-o/-a endings often reveal gender at a glance

Spanish

hermano (brother, -o) / hermana (sister, -a)

Tamil

தமிழில் இப்படி ஒரு முடிவு அமைப்பு இல்லை

Many Spanish family words come in matched -o/-a pairs — hermano/hermana, tío/tía, abuelo/abuela — where swapping the final vowel swaps the gender. Tamil family words don't follow any such shared-root pattern (தந்தை and தாய் are unrelated words), so this pairing is a genuinely new shortcut, not something to expect a Tamil parallel for.

Vocabulary

சொற்கள்

SpanishPronunciationTamilEnglish
la madrelah MAH-drehஅம்மாammāmother
el padreel PAH-drehஅப்பாappāfather
el hermanoel er-MAH-nohசகோதரன்sagōdharanbrother
la hermanalah er-MAH-nahசகோதரிsagōdharisister
la abuelalah ah-BWEH-lahபாட்டிpāṭṭigrandmother
el abueloel ah-BWEH-lohதாத்தாthāththāgrandfather
el hijoel EE-hohமகன்maganson
la hijalah EE-hahமகள்magaḷdaughter