Ordinal Numbers (Adjectives)

In the last article I read, ஆம் and வது occur after numbers.

In A Reference Grammar of Spoken Tamil, Howard Schiffman covers ordinal numbers on pages 136-138.
These pages are currently available in the book preview on Google Books.


Essentially for dates we use ஆம் and for number of times we use வது.

Children's Song: White Rabbit #2

Children's Song: வெள்ளை முயல்
Unlike the first version I found, this one provides the lyrics at the bottom!

வெள்ளை முயல் ஓடுது
வேகமாக ஒத்து,
குள்ளி முயல் ஓடுது
குதித்துக் குதித்து ஓடுது;
நெட்டையான காதையே
நீட்டி நீட்டி ஆட்டுது,
குட்டையான வாலையே
குறுகுறுன்று ஆட்டுது!

Vocabulary:

• வெள்ளை = (adj) white
• முயல் = (n) rabbit
• ஓடு = (v) run
• வேகம் = (n) velocity, swiftness
• குதி = (v) leap, jump, spring, skip
• நெட்டை = (n) tallness, long-ness
• காது = (n) ear
• நீட்டி = be prolonged, be long, delay, extended
• ஆட்டு = shake, dance
• குட்டை = short
•  வால் = tail

Grammar
Here we can see examples of how adjectives and adverbs are formed.
Take the noun வேகம் (velocity). We add ஆக to turn it into the adverb: வேகமாக (quickly).
The noun நெட்டை (tallness), changes to நெட்டையான to make "tall."
The noun குட்டை (shortness), changes to குட்டையான to make "short."

More simple sentences, plus some adjective work

These sentences and phrases come from the Intermediate Textbook made available by the Tamil Virtual University.
This is from Section 3 of Unit 1. Unit 1 spans 20 pages, some are sample sentences, others are  worksheets. I won't recreate everything here, but instead focus on translations and vocabulary.

Section 3
I have color coded each Tamil/English sentence pair since the sentence word order differs.  This also shows you how certain English words are unnecessary or implied in Tamil.

இது சிங்கம், சிங்கம் விளங்குகளில் வலியது.
This is a lion, the lion is strong among the animals.

இது யானை, யானை விலங்குகளில் பெரியது.
This is an elephant, the elephant is big among the animals.

அது மான், மான் சாதுவான விலங்கு.
That is a deer, the deer is a gentle animal.

இது கங்காரு, இது ஒரு ஆஸ்திரேலியா விளங்கு, இது இந்தியக் காடுகளில் இல்லை.
This is a kangaroo, it is an Australian animal, it is not native in the forest in India. (native is my best guess for காடுகளில்)

அது தான் சிட்டுக்குருவி, சிட்டுக்குருவி புறவைகளில்  சிறியது.
That is indeed a sparrow, the sparrow is small among birds.

இது மயில், மயில் ஆழகானது, இது இந்திய தேசியப்பறவை.
This is a peacock, the peacock is beautiful, it is India's national bird.

Colors

Colors are interesting... when I was taking beginning anthropology, we briefly touched upon the fact that different cultures perceive colors differently. So, even though you can translate a name, it may not be exactly the same color from one language to the other.

Here is a clip from the book Tamil Self Taught, which does not use the orthography. The first column is English, the second is the transliteration, and the third is a pronunciation guide.

So, now I am matching these up with the written Tamil I have record of in other places. In some cases the words match, in others, they seem wildly different.

Adjectives

Adjectives seem to have some very specific rules. Looking at some translations I found online it is clear there is a change in the adjectives based on the corresponding pronoun.

old in the dictionary is முதுமை
"I am old" was translated as நான் முதுமையானவள் (this is when the speaker of "I" is female I think)
"You are old" was translated as நீங்கள் முதுமையானவர்.
"She is old" was translated as அவள் முதாட்டி

young in the dictionary is இளமை (childhood)
for I, you and she the author wrote இளமையானவள் --this seems to be the feminine ending though

tall in the dictionary is உயரம் other forms:
உயரமானவர்
உயரமானவன்

short in the dictionary is குள்ளம்
அவன் குள்ளமானவன்

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