Monday, November 9, 2009

More Future tense

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According to Asher's Colloquial Tamil (Chapter 1 still), Future Tense is used to describe habitual actions, much as English uses present tense. The example:
"Do they drink sugar cane juice?"
Karumbu caaru kudipaangaalaa?"
"கரும்பு சாறு குடிபாங்காலா?"
On to the exercise:

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Tamil Nadu Textbooks!

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I was sent a page where the Tamil Nadu government has uploaded all of their textbooks!
http://www.textbooksonline.tn.nic.in/


I had seen excerpts of them here and there, but this is where all of them are available for download.


Lesson 1 of Std. 1
என் பொம்மை

Adjectives

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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

Friday, November 6, 2009

Plurals

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This is based on a flashcard set made by a member of livemocha
Some of the transliterations are not quite how Azhagi or blogger would do them, so I am looking up the words and transliterating back into written Tamil.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Some basics

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Based on lesson 1 from the University of Pennsylvania/ South Asian Language Center's Tamil Site

என் பெயர் ஜெனி. என் சொந்த ஊர் சண் டியேகோ. (Link will open download page for audio, better to open in a new tab)
I was told ஜெனி would be closer than ஜென்னி... what do you think?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

"What do you do?" Chat notes

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The sentence "What do you do (for work)?" was translated to "nekka enna veli seykirrikal."
nekka = nii/niingal (still confused on this, spelling? pronunciation?)
enna = what
veli = work
seykirrikal = you do present tense

So now I have to check with my dictionaries and see how everything matches up and conjugate செய் as well.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Pronouns, Present tense, Direct Object

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This post on Tamil Pronouns, Present Tense and Direct Objects is based on information in Lessons 2-3 from "Learn Thamil Through English" on the Duke University page.
Direct download link to the lessons pdf.
These lessons briefly cover present tense conjugation and how to make direct objects.