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Much ofTamil grammar is extensively described in the oldest available grammar book forTamil, theTolkāppiyam (dated between 300 BCE and 300 CE). Modern Tamil writing is largely based on the 13th century grammarNaṉṉūl, which restated and clarified the rules of the Tolkāppiyam with some modifications.

Traditional Tamil grammar consists of five parts, namely eḻuttu, sol, poruḷ, yāppu and aṇi. Of these, the last two are mostly applicable in poetry.^[1] The following table gives additional information about these parts.

Eḻuttu (writing) defines and describes the letters of the Tamil alphabet and their classification. It describes the nature ofphonemes and their changes with respect to different conditions and locations in the text.

Sol defines the types of the words based on their meaning and the origin. It defines the gender, number, cases,tenses, classes, harmony etc. This chapter also provides rules for compounding the words.

Porul defines the contents of poetry. It gives guidance on which topic to choose for poetry based on certain conditions like the nature of the land or time or the people. It gives a distinction betweenAgam (internal / love life) andPuram (external / worldly life).

Yāppu defines rules for composing Traditional poetry. It defines the basic building blockAsai and describes howasai should be joined to form asīr, joiningsīr for anadi.

Aṇi defines techniques used for comparing, praising and criticizing the taken topics.

The script of Tamil Language consists of 247 letters. The script falls under the categoryAbugida, in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as a unit. The grammar classifies the letters into two major categories.

• Prime Letters –முதலெழுத்துmutaleḻuttu
• Dependent Letters –சார்பெழுத்துsārpeḻuttu

12 vowels and 18 consonants are classified as the prime letters.

• The vowels (உயிரெழுத்துகள்uyireḻuttukaḷ): அ (a), ஆ (ā), இ (i), ஈ( ī), உ (u), ஊ (ū), எ (e), ஏ (ē), ஐ (ai), ஒ (o), ஓ (ō), ஔ (au)
• The consonants (மெய்யெழுத்துகள்meyyeḻuttukaḷ): க், ங், ச், ஞ், ட், ண், த், ந், ப், ம், ய், ர், ல், வ், ழ், ள், ற், ன்

The vowels are calleduyir, meaning soul, in Tamil. The consonants are known asmey, meaning body. When the alphasyllabary is formed, the letter shall be taking the form of the consonants, that is the body, and the sound shall be that of the corresponding vowel, that is the soul.

The vowels are categorized based on the length, as short (kuril) and long(nedil). The short vowels are pronounced for a duration 1 unit, while the long vowels take two units. Based on the duration of the sound, the vowels form 5 pairs. The other two vowels ஐ(ai) and ஔ(au) are diphthongs formed by joining the letters அ(a)+இ(i) and அ(a)+உ(u). Since these two are a combination two short letters, their pronunciation takes 2 units of time, that is they fall undernedil category. ஐ(ai) and ஔ(au) can also be spelt அய் and அவ். This form is known aseḻuttuppōli and is generally not recommended.

The consonants are categorised into three groups,வல்லினம்valliṉam (hard),மெல்லினம்melliṉam (soft) andஇடையினம்iṭaiyiṉam (medium), based on the nature of the sound.

From the 30 prime letters, the dependent letters are formed.

Tamil grammar defines 10 categories of Dependent letters.

• Alphasyllabic lettersஉயிர்மெய் எழுத்துuyirmey eḻuttu
• Aidamஆய்த எழுத்துāyta eḻuttu
• Elongated vowelஉயிரளபெடைuyiraḷapeṭai
• Elongated consonantஒற்றளபெடைoṟṟaḷapeṭai
• Shorteneduகுற்றியலுகரம்kuṟṟiyalukaram
• Shortenediகுற்றியலிகரம்kuṟṟiyalikaram
• Shortenedaiஐகாரக் குறுக்கம்aikārak kuṟukkam
• Shortenedauஔகாரக் குறுக்கம்aukārak kuṟukkam
• Shortenedmமகரக்குறுக்கம்makarakkuṟukkam
• ShortenedAidamஆய்தக்குறுக்கம்āytakkuṟukkam

The alphasyllabic letters – 216 in total – are formed by combining the consonants and the vowels. The duration of the sound is that of the vowel attached to the consonant (or the inherent vowel, in case of the pure consonants). For example, the table below shows the formation of க் based letters.

Aidam is also known asதனிநிலைtaṉinilai (stand alone). Theaidam is always preceded by a single short letter (தனிக்குறில்taṉikkuṟil) and followed by a hard alphasyllabic letter (வல்லின உயிர்மெய்valliṉa uyirmey). It takes half unit time for pronunciation.

Uyiraḷapeṭai (உயிரளபெடை) andOṟṟaḷapeṭai (ஒற்றளபெடை) are formed by elongating the duration of pronunciation of a letter to satisfy certain grammatical rules while composing poetry. InUyiralapetai, the intrinsic vowel of the letter that is elongated is written next to it, to indicate that the letter now is pronounced for 3 units of time.

InKutriyalukaram, the duration of the short 'u' letters ofvallinam category (கு, சு, டு, து, பு, று) is reduced to half units, when the letter is found at the end of the word, preceded by multiple letters or a singlenedil(long) letter.

If a word withkutriyalikaram is followed by a word with 'ய'(ya) as the first letter, theu sound is corrupted toi sound and takes a half unit of time for pronunciation.

InAikarakurukkam andAukarakurukkam, the duration of the letters ஐ and ஔ are reduced to 1 1/2 units if they are the first letters of the word. If situated elsewhere it is reduced to 1 unit.

In Tamil, a single letter standing alone or multiple letters combined form a word. Tamil is anagglutinative language – words consist of alexical root to which one or moreaffixes are attached.

Most Tamil affixes aresuffixes. These can bederivational suffixes, which either change the part of speech of the word or its meaning, orinflectional suffixes, which mark categories such asperson,number,mood,tense, etc. There is no absolute limit on the length and extent ofagglutination, which can lead to long words with a large number of suffixes, which would require several words or a sentence in English. To give an example, the wordpōkamuṭiyātavarkaḷukkāka (போகமுடியாதவர்களுக்காக) means "for the sake of those who cannot go", and consists of the followingmorphemes:

Words formed as a result of the agglutinative process are often difficult to translate.Today Translations,^[5] aBritish translation service, ranks the Tamil wordசெல்லாதிருப்பவர் (sellātiruppavar, meaning a certain type oftruancy) as number 8 in theirThe Most Untranslatable Word In The World list.

In Tamil, words are classified into four categories namely,

• NounsPeyarsol
• VerbsVinaisol
• Particles and Pre-/PostpositionsIdaisol
• Adjective and AdverbsUrisol

All categories of nouns are declinable. Verbs are conjugated to indicate person, tense, gender, number and mood. The other two classes are indeclinable.

Nouns are inflected based on number and grammatical case, of which there are 9:nominative case,accusative case,dative case,instrumental case,sociative case,locative case,ablative case,genitive case, andvocative case. If the plural is used, the noun is inflected by suffixing the noun stem with first the plural marker-kaḷ, and then with the case suffix, if any. Otherwise, if the singular is used, the noun is instead inflected by suffixing either the noun stem with the case suffix, or the oblique stem with the case suffix. An optional euphonic increment-iṉ or-aṉ can occur before the case suffix.

The nominative case is used for the subject of an intransitive verb, the agent of a transitive verb, the predicate of a nominal sentence, and subject and object complements. It is the base form of the noun withno suffix.

Kumār māṇavaṉ.	"Kumar (is) (a) student."
Kumār māṇavaṉ ākiṉṟāṉ.	"Kumar becomes (a) student."
Katavu tiṟantatu.	"The door opened."

It can also be used to mark the direct object when it is indefinite and irrational.

The accusative case marks the direct object of a transitive verb. It is marked by the suffix-ai. It is required when the direct object is rational. When used with irrational nouns, the accusative must be used when the direct object is definite. When an irrational direct object is indefinite, the nominative is used instead, unless there is an explicit indefinite determiner present, in which case either the nominative or accusative may be used.

Kumār paiyanai pārttāṉ.	"Kumar sawa/the boy."	(rational direct object, the accusative must be used regardless of definiteness)
Nāṉ eṉ cāviyai tolaittēṉ.	"I lostmy key."	(irrational direct object, the possessive pronouneṉ makes the noun definite, the accusative must be used)
Nāṉ cāviyai tolaittēṉ.	"I lostthe key."	(irrational direct object, the accusative shows the noun is definite)
Nāṉ cāvi tolaittēṉ.	"I losta key."	(irrational direct object, the nominative shows the noun is indefinite)
Nāṉ oru cāvi(yai) tolaittēṉ.	"I losta key."	(irrational direct object, the determineroru makes the noun explicitly indefinite, accusative is optional)

The dative case is marked with-ukku,-kku, or-ku. It expresses an indirect object, a goal of motion, a purpose, or an experiencer.

Kumār appāvukku oru paṭattai kāṭṭiṉāṉ.	"Kumar showedfather a picture."	(indirect object)
Kumār ūrukku pōṉāṉ	"Kumar wentto a town."	(goal of motion, in this sense restricted to inanimate nouns)
Kumār taṉ uṭampukku ṭāṉik uṭkoḷkiṟāṉ.	"Kumar takes tonicfor his health."	(purpose)
Kumārukku oru vīṭu vēnṭum.	"Kumar wants a house."	(experiencer)

The instrumental case is shown with-āl. It marks the instrument, means, source, or reason by which an action occurs.

Kumār kattiyāl paḻattai veṭṭiṉāṉ.

"Kumar cut the fruitwith a knife."

It also marks the agent in passive constructions.

Kumār appāvāl aṭikkappaṭṭāṉ.

"Kumar was beatenby father."

The sociative case is marked with either-ōṭu or-uṭaṉ. It shows that the noun it modifies is involved in the action of the sentence.

Kumār taṉ maṉaiviyōṭu vantāṉ.

"Kumar camewith his wife."

The locative case is marked with either-il or-iṭam.-il occurs with inanimate nouns and plural animate nouns, whileiṭam occurs with animate nouns in both numbers. It shows location.

Kuruvi marattil uṭkārkiṟatu.

"The sparrow is sittingon the tree."

The ablative case is expressed through the suffix-iliruntu added onto the locative of a noun. It marks motion away from something.

Kumār marattiliruntu viḻuntāṉ.

"Kumar fellfrom the tree."

The oblique stem of a noun is used before adding case suffixes, as a modifier in genitive function before a head noun, as the first element of a compound, and before postpositions.

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The grammatical gender of Tamil nouns corresponds to their natural sex. Nouns in Tamil have two numbers, singular and plural.

Grammatical gender, known asபாpā in Tamil, encompasses both the concepts of gender and number, thus is highly predictable. Masculine and feminine genders are only applicable to "higher class" nouns. Even though the genders of animals are marked in a sentence (e.g.:பெண் நாய்peṇ nāy "female, dog"), grammatically they are handled as a neuter noun. Thus there are five genders in Tamil, namely, masculine singular (ஆண்பால்āṇpāl), feminine singular (பெண்பால்peṇpāl), high-class plural (பலர்பால்palarpāl), lower-class singular (ஒன்றன்பால்oṉṟaṉpāl), lower-class plural (பலவின்பால்palaviṉpāl). These are summarized in the table below.

In Tamil, the demonstrative particles area- (அ),i- (இ), andu- (உ) (archaic and has fallen out of use, except in Sri Lankan dialects). These demonstrative particles display deictic properties.i- (இ) is a near deixis form, which demonstrates the objects around/near the first person, whilea- (அ) has distant deixis form, which demonstrates things near the 3rd person.u- (உ) was used to indicate objects near the second person, but has gradually fallen out of use. In modern Tamili- (இ) indicates objects nearer anda- (அ) indicates objects in a distance. Using these particles demonstrative pronouns are derived. The same set of pronouns is also used as personal pronouns in 3rd person. e.g.avan (he),atu (that object/being),anta (that)

e- (எ) andyā- யா are the two important interrogative particles in Tamil.e- (எ) is used for deriving the interrogative pronouns. e.g.evaṉ (which one, 3rd person singular masculine),enta (which),etaṟku (for what?)

First person plural pronouns in Tamil distinguish betweeninclusive and exclusive we. In Tamil, plural terminators are used for honorific addressing. It could be noted in both 2nd and 3rd persons. There are unique personal pronouns available for first and second persons while demonstrative pronouns are used in place of personal pronouns as well.

Like Tamil nouns, Tamilverbs are also inflected through the use of suffixes. A typical Tamil verb form will have a number ofsuffixes, which showperson,number,mood,tense andvoice, as is shown by the following exampleaḻintukkoṇṭiruntēṉ (அழிந்துக்கொண்டிருந்தேன்) "(I) was being destroyed":

Person and number are indicated bysuffixing theoblique case of the relevantpronoun (ēṉ in the above example). The suffixes to indicate tenses and voice are formed fromgrammatical particles, which are added to the stem. The chart below outlines the most common set of suffixes used to conjugate for person and tense, but different groups of Tamil verbs may use other sets of suffixes or have irregularities.^[8]

¹The infix -kiṟ- is a shortening of the infix -kiṉṟ-, which is also sometimes used.^[7]

¹Class X verbs take -iṟṟu added directly to the root (-iṉ + -tu). In the future, -um is added directly to the root of verbs in Classes I through VIII, whereas -um replaces the -iṟ- in the present stem to form the future of verbs in Classes IX through XIII (and no termination is added afterwards).

²This suffix takes an irregular present in -kiṉṟ-/-kkiṉṟ- before it. The -um future (see directly above) can be used in the plural, as well.

Tamil has three simpletenses – past, present, and future – indicated by simple suffixes, and a series of perfects, indicated by compound suffixes. Mood is implicit in Tamil, and is normally reflected by the samemorphemes which mark tense categories. These signal whether the happening spoken of in the verb is unreal, possible, potential, or real. Tamil verbs also markevidentiality, through the addition of the hearsaycliticām.^[9]

Tamil has twovoices. The first - used in the example above - indicates that the subject of the sentenceundergoes oris the object of the action named by the verb stem, and the second indicates that the subject of the sentencedirects the action referred to by the verb stem. These voices are not equivalent to the notions oftransitivity orcausation, or to theactive-passive or reflexive-nonreflexive division of voices found inIndo-European languages.

Tamil has noarticles. Definiteness and indefiniteness are indicated either by context or by special grammatical devices, such as using the number "one" as an indefinite article. In the first person plural, Tamil makes a distinction betweeninclusive pronouns that include the listener and exclusive pronouns that do not. Tamil does not distinguish betweenadjectives andadverbs – both fall under the categoryuriccol.Conjunctions are callediṭaiccol.

Verb auxiliaries are used to indicateattitude, agrammatical category which shows the state of mind of the speaker, and his attitude about the event spoken of in the verb. Common attitudes includepejorative opinion,antipathy, relief felt at the conclusion of an unpleasant event or period, and unhappiness at or apprehension about the eventual result of a past or continuing event.

Except in poetry, the subject precedes the object, and the verb concludes the sentence. In a standard sentence, therefore, the order is usuallysubject–object–verb (SOV), butobject–subject–verb is also common.

Tamil is anull-subject language. Not all Tamil sentences have subjects, verbs, and objects. It is possible to construct valid sentences that have only a verb, such asmuṭintuviṭṭatu (முடிந்துவிட்டது, "It is completed"), or only a subject and object, such asatu eṉ vīṭu (அது என் வீடு, "That is my house").

The elements that are present, however, must follow the SOV order. Tamil does not have an equivalent for the existential verbto be; it is included in the translations only to convey the meaning. The negative existential verb,to be not, however, does exist in the form ofillai (இல்லை) and goes at the end of the sentence (and does not change with number, gender, or tense). The verbto have in the meaning "to possess" is not translated directly, either. To say "I have a horse" in Tamil, a construction equivalent to "There is a horse to me" or "There exists a horse to me", is used.

Tamil lacksrelative pronouns, but their meaning is conveyed by relative participle constructions, built using agglutination. For example, the English sentence "Call the boy who learned the lesson" is said in Tamil like "That-lesson-learned-boy call".

A sample passage in Tamil script with transliteration.

• A. H. Arden,A progressive grammar of the Tamil language, 5th edition, 1942.

Schiffman, Harold F. (1998).A Reference Grammar of Spoken Tamil(PDF).Cambridge University Press. pp. 20–21.ISBN 978-0-521-64074-9.Archived(PDF) from the original on 11 April 2024.

• Lehmann, Thomas.A Grammar of Modern Tamil. Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture, 1989.

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