Objective case

We saw in the previous section that in the sentence நாய் பூமனமய ேிரட்டியது, the suffix -ஐ marks the object. Another example is

பூமன பாமலக் குடித்தது. Cat drank milk

In this case, after the -ஐ suffix, the second word starts with a hard consonant, கு = க் + உ. A hard consonant following the -ஐ suffix always doubles. In other words it is wrong to write பூமன பாமல குடித்தது. Of the six hard consonants, only four க் ச் த் ப் can appear at the beginning of a word. The other two would never start a word.

Thus a grammatical rule is that whenever the object-indicating -ஐ suffix is followed by a word starting with க் ச் த் ப், another such consonant appears after the suffix. This is a strict rule; however, many natives do not know this, only because they were not paying attention in their Tamil classes. After all, it is the knowledge of English that would make them scientists and engineers! In fact you will find this rule being violated in many of the popular newspapers and magazines. Nevertheless, be assured that if you omit the doubling hard consonants in your writings, you would not be well received by those in the know.

The doubling hard consonant is another one of those coupling transformations, which we first came across in section 2.1.2. There are other instances of doubling hard consonants. I will mention them at the appropriate contexts. Only the four consonants க் ச் த் ப் can double in this fashion; so this does not apply to any other consonant.

Now, suppose we omit the suffix and write பூமன பால் குடித்தது.

Here the object is not explicitly marked and there is a potential ambiguity. However, we can resolve that ambiguity by common sense. We can safely infer ‘cat drank milk’ and not ‘milk drank cat’, even if it is written in the less common way: பால் பூமன குடித்தது. Omitting the suffix is allowed and it is called an implied Differentiator or a hidden Differentiator.

3.3.1 Excercise

1) Read the following words and recall their meanings:

குடி பூமன நாயி ண்ணு வதால்

ேில் தீட்டு சேட்டு சேரட்டு ே ீடு

த்தி மை ண் வதாலு வதாளு

2) Write the Tamil words with the following meanings:

Chase skin eye bow cut

Knife milk cat sharpen ink

Drink dog house wagon spring (coil) 3) Write the meanings of the following sentences:

a) அேன் ேண்டிமயத் தள்ைினான். b) பால் நான் ோங் ிவனன்.

c) ைரம் யாமனமய ைமறக் ிறது.

4) Write the Tamil sentences with the following meanings: a) We ate idly.

b) The elephant is hiding the tree. c) Students read books

5) Write and say the colloquial forms of the following: பூமன பாமலக் குடித்தது.

3.4

‘With’

The preposition ‘with’ is used in two different senses. When we say ‘he cut with a knife’, the word represents the use of a tool or instrument. However, when we say ‘he went with his son’, the word represents accompaniment.

The suffix -ஆல் indicates a tool or instrument.

த்தியால் சேட்டினான். (He) cut with (a) knife.

Sometimes, the suffix -ச ாண்டு is used synonymously with -ஆல். In older writings, the suffix -ஆன் is also used in place of -ஆல். Thus, the following two sentences mean exactly the same as above.

த்திச ாண்டு சேட்டினான்.

த்தியான் சேட்டினான். (He) cut with (a) knife.

The suffixes -உடன் and -ஓடு indicate accompaniment or association. வதாலுடன் பழம் ொப்பிட்டான்.

வதாவலாடு பழம் ொப்பிட்டான். (He) ate fruit with (the) peel The fruit referenced here is most probably grapes and not bananas.

ை னுடன் வபானான்.

ை வனாடு வபானான். (He) went with (his) son.

Colloquially, these words are spoken as த்தியால, வதாவலாட, and ை வனாட. In spoken Tamil the suffix -கூட is sometimes used in place of -ஓடு or -உடன். The word கூட means additional.

ை ன்கூடப் வபானான். (He) went with (his) son. These suffixes can be implicit depending on context. For example,

ண் மை தீட்டினாள். (She) painted (her) eye(s) with ink (mascara). which is, with explicit differentiators,

ண்மண மையால் தீட்டினாள்.

3.5

‘To’ and ‘for’

The prepositions ‘to’ and ‘for’ precede a destination of an action; that is, a noun to or for which an action is performed. Sometimes the preposition can be missing as in ‘He gave me a drink’ which means ‘He gave a drink to me’.

The Tamil suffix used to mean ‘to’ and ‘for’ is -_{கு. For example,} ே ீட்டுக்குப் வபானான். (He) went (to) home. ைாட்டுக்கு நான்கு ால் ள். Four legs to cow.

Cow has four legs. சென்மனக்குப் வபானான். (He) went to Chennai.

There is a doubling hard consonant rule for this suffix too, just like the one we had for the objective suffix -ஐ. When the suffix -கு is followed by one of the hard consonants க், ச், த், ப்; the consonant doubles. The fact that many natives and the media write சென்மனக்கு வபானான் does not make it grammatically correct. The suffix can be implied as in சென்மன வபானான். However when the suffix does appear, a hard consonant must double.

3.6

‘From’

For ‘from’, in contemporary Tamil, we have the suffix, -_{இலிருந்து. For} example,

ே ீட்டிலிருந்து ேரு ிறான். (He) is coming from home.

In older writings the suffixes -இன் and -இல் were used. These suffixes have the sense of ‘in relation to’. They represent the sources of actions, just like -கு represents their destinations.

However, -இன் is also applicable to ‘of’ and -இல் is also applicable to ‘in’, as we will see later. This is probably the reason that modern usage has extended -இல் with இருந்து to get -இலிருந்து for the meaning of ‘from’. இரு means ‘be’ and _{இருந்து means ‘having been’ (section 4.5 later). So}

ே ீட்டிலிருந்து ேரு ிறான் literally means ‘having been at home, (he) comes’.

Colloquially, -இலிருந்து is contracted as -லருந்து or -வலந்து. So ே ீட்டிலிருந்து ேரு ிறான் becomes ே ீட்டிலருந்து ோரான்.

3.7

‘Of’ (possessive case)

The possessive case is indicated in English by the preposition ‘of’ or by the suffix ‘s’ preceded by an apostrophe, as in ‘The hand of Rama’ or ‘Rama’s hand’. The same idea is represented in Tamil by any one of the suffixes, -_இன், -அது, and -உமடய. Thus

ராைனின் ம , ராைனது ம , ராைனுமடய ம Rama’s hand

அேருமடய ே ீடு his house

அதன் ால் its leg

அேற்றின் ால் ள் their legs

The suffix can be omitted when it is clear which noun possesses the other noun, as in ராைன் ம .

The suffix -அது can be used only when preceded by a noun consistent with அது. Above we have correctly said ராைனது ம , because ம is singular thing (அது); however, it is wrong to say ராைனது தம்பி, because தம்பி is singular masculine (அேன்). Strictly speaking, it is also wrong to say ராைனது ம ள், because ம ள் is plural. The correct way is ராைன ம ள்; the plural form of the -அது suffix is -அ. Notice the parallel between these possessive suffixes and the verb suffixes seen earlier in section 2.2.1 for அது and அமே. The -அ suffix has now fallen into disuse. ராைனுமடய ம ள் is used instead.

In conversations, -உமடய is the most commonly used suffix and it is spoken as -ஓட as in ராைவனாட ம .

3.8

‘In’, ‘on’, and ‘at’ (locations)

The concepts represented by ‘in’, ‘on’, and ‘at’ are similar in that they indicate locations. According to my grammar book, there are twenty eight suffixes to represent these concepts in Tamil, although the book does not even list them. The ones practiced in contemporary Tamil are -இல், -வைல், and -இடம். The following examples illustrate these ideas.

புத்த ம் ே ீட்டில் இருக் ிறது. The book is at home. புத்த ம் வைமஜயில் இருக் ிறது. The book is in the table. புத்த ம் வைமஜவைல் இருக் ிறது. The book is on the table. புத்த ம் அேனிடம் இருக் ிறது. The book is with him.

It is a good approximation to say that the suffixes -இல், -வைல், and - இடம் correspond to ‘in’, ‘on’, and ‘at’ respectively. In fact, இடம் is a standalone word meaning ‘location’ or ‘place’.

In classical literature, we find the suffix - ண் being used heavily to indicate location.

In colloquial Tamil, the -இல் suffix is spoken as -இல. For example ே ீட்டில் இருக் ிறது is spoken as ே ீட்டில இருக்கு. Another suffix that is used only in spoken Tamil is - ிட்ட as in

புத்த ம் அேர் ிட்ட இருக்கு. The book is with him.

The literal meaning of ிட்ட is ‘near’, but is used in the sense of ‘with’ or ‘at’ in this context.

3.8.1 Excercise

1) Write the meanings of the following sentences: a) குைரன் தமேத் திறந்தான்.

b) ேண்டி மும்மபக்குப் வபாகும். c) த்திக் குத்து

e) அேன் ம யால் எழுதினான். f) அேைிடம் ச ாடுத்வதன். g) அேன் ிட்ட குடுத்வதன் h) இந்தியாேின் தமலந ரம் டில்லி. i) ொப்பாட்டுடன் ாப்பி தந்தார். j) ைாட்டின் ழுத்தில் யிற்மறக் ட்டு. k) புல்மல ைாட்டுக்குப் வபாட்டான். l) இட்டிலிமயச் ெட்டினியுடன் ொப்பிட்டாள். m) ராைனின் புத்த ம் அேருமடய ே ீட்டில் இருக் ிறது. 2) Write the Tamil sentences with the following meanings:

a) Kumaran cut the tree b) He stabbed with a knife. c) She is coming from Chennai. d) She is from Chennai.

e) He pulled the cow’s leg.