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Words and their types: finite verbs, participles, cases and compounds

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Key numbers

The eight cases and their markers

First (nominative)no marker; the noun stands alone
Second (accusative)ai; making, destroying, reaching, leaving, resembling, owning (Karikalan built the Kallanai: making)
Thirdaal, aan (instrument, agent); odu, oodu (accompaniment)
Fourth (dative)ku; gift, enmity, friendship, fitness, becoming, purpose, relation, limit
Fifth (ablative)in, il; separation, comparison, limit, cause
Sixth (genitive)adhu, aadhu, a; possession; aadhu and a are no longer used
Seventh (locative)kan; also mel, keezh, kaal, il, idam; place and time
Eighth (vocative)no marker; turns a noun into a call (annan → annaa)

Key facts

Kinds of mozhi (Nannool sutra 260)three (class 10, page 17)
Finite verb occurs infive genders, three tenses, three persons (class 8, page 37)
Therinilai vinaimutru showssix things (class 8, page 37)
Optative suffixeska, iya, iyar, al (class 8, page 38)
Caseseight; six with markers (class 8, page 85)
Meanings of the second casesix (class 8, page 85)
Auxiliary verbs in Tamilabout 40 (class 9, page 53)
o and e (Nannool)eight and six meanings (class 9, page 140)
Kinds of akupeyarsixteen (class 9, page 200)
Kinds of thogainilaith thodarsix (class 10, page 40)

Easy to confuse

Verbal noun / vinaiyalanaiyum peyarpadiththal: no tense, action only; padiththavar: tense, the doer
Eval / viyangoleval: second person only, singular and plural; viyangol: all persons, suffixes ka, iya, iyar, al
Peyarecham / vinaiyecham / mutrechampadiththa + noun; padiththu + verb; padiththanal + finite verb
il fifth / il seventhseparation is fifth; place is seventh
Vinaithogai / peyarechamveesuthendral expands to three tenses; veesiya thendral shows one
Panbuthogai / irupeyarottusengaandhal: mai, aagiya hidden; maargazhith thingal: specific + general noun
Part / quality akupeyarmarukkozhundhu (part) nattaan; manjal (quality) poosinaal
The full note

What is a word?

A word is one letter or several letters that give a meaning; it shows both classes (thinai) and all five genders (pal) and occurs in all three persons. Nannool (sutra 260) divides mozhi into three: thanimozhi, thodarmozhi and pothumozhi. Words that cannot be split (kan, padi) are pakapatham; words that can (kannan, padiththaan) are pakupatham. Ettu means a number alone and something else when split (el + thu): such a word is pothumozhi (also vengai = vem + kai).

Verbal noun and vinaiyalanaiyum peyar

A verbal noun (thozhirpeyar) names an action (eethal, nadaththal) and shows no number, person, tense or gender. Its kinds: with a suffix (nadaththal, vaazhkkai), negative (nadavaamai, kollaamai), the bare root (thattu, urai, adi) and the changed root (kedu → keedu, sudu → soodu). A finite verb used as a noun with another predicate is vinaiyalanaiyum peyar (vandhavar avarthaan). "Walking in the morning is good" uses a verbal noun; "the one who walked on the Marina is my uncle" uses vinaiyalanaiyum peyar.

Telling the two apart

A verbal noun shows no tense and belongs to the third person only; vinaiyalanaiyum peyar shows tense, refers to the doer and belongs to all three persons. If the word answers "who did it?", it is vinaiyalanaiyum peyar.

Finite verbs: therinilai and kurippu

A word for an action is a verb; a verb whose meaning is complete is a finite verb (vinaimutru), found in all five genders, three tenses and three persons. Therinilai vinaimutru shows all six: doer, instrument, place, action, time and object. Kurippu vinaimutru is based on one of six (thing, place, time, part, quality, action), shows no tense and shows only the doer (ponnan, kariyan). In "Amma cooked pongal on the stove", samaiththaal is therinilai.

Imperative and optative

The imperative (eval) asks the person in front to act; it is second person only, singular ezhuthu, plural ezhuthumin. The optative (viyangol) blesses, curses, commands or requests and is common to both classes, all genders and persons; its suffixes are ka, iya, iyar, al (vaazhga, vaazhiyar, vaaral), the last two now only in verse. In the sense of command it is not used in the first person. "Look at the board" is eval; "may the couple live long" on a wedding card is viyangol.

Participles: peyarecham, vinaiyecham, mutrecham

A word whose meaning is left incomplete is echam. Peyarecham ends in a noun and occurs in all three tenses (paadiya, paadukindra, paadum); therinilai shows action and tense (ezhuthiya kaditham), kurippu shows only a quality (siriya kaditham). Vinaiyecham ends in a verb (padiththu mudiththaan): ezhuthi vandhaan is therinilai, mella vandhaan is kurippu. A finite verb that works as a participle before another finite verb is mutrecham (valli padiththanal magizhndhaal).

Case: eight kinds

Case (vetrumai) changes the meaning of a noun; the endings added for it are case markers. A full word used as a marker, like kondu, is a postposition (sollurubu). There are eight cases: the first and the eighth have no marker; the six from the second to the seventh have markers. A hidden marker gives vetrumai thogai.

Finer points of the third case

"He made the statue with wood" has a primary instrument; "with a chisel" has an auxiliary instrument. "The Kallanai was built by Karikalan" is a causing agent; "Periya Puranam was written by Sekkizhar" is a composing agent. The marker il is the fifth case for separation and the seventh case for place.

Simple, compound and auxiliary verbs

By form, verbs are simple (padi) or compound (aasaippadu, kandupidi). Compounds are noun + verb (thandhiyadi), verb + verb (kandupidi) or particle + verb (munneru). The main verb gives the basic meaning; the auxiliary gives a grammatical meaning and takes the endings for class, gender, person and tense. Tamil has about 40 auxiliary verbs; in Tamil and Japanese the auxiliary comes after the main verb.

Particles and uriccol

Tholkappiyar says particles (idaichol) do not stand alone but work with nouns and verbs. Case markers, plural suffixes (kal, maar), tense and negative markers, saariyai, simile markers and connectives are some of their kinds. Per Nannool, o has eight meanings and e six; today e is used only for emphasis, and thaan, also emphatic, comes once in a sentence. The particle aa makes the word it joins a question. Uriccol expresses sound, sign and quality, does not stand alone and belongs to verse (Nannool). Kadi has many meanings (fragrance, guard, speed, sharpness); uru, thava and nani all mean "much". Andru is singular and alla plural; eththanai counts, eththunai measures amount and time.

Metonymy (akupeyar)

Akupeyar is the name of one thing used by long custom for a related thing; there are sixteen kinds. Mullaiyaith thoduththaal (thing), vakupparai siriththathu (place), kaar aruththaan (time), marukkozhundhu nattaan (part), manjal poosinaal (quality), vatral thindraan (action). Measures too: ondru petraal olimayam (count), irandu kilo kodu (weight), arai litre vaangu (volume), aindhu metre vettinaan (length).

Compounds (thogainilaith thodar): six kinds

The six are vetrumai, vinai, panbu, uvamai, ummai and anmozhi thogai. Vinaithogai drops the tense marker and the participle suffix (veesuthendral, kolkaliru): a peyarecham with its tense hidden. Panbuthogai drops mai and aagiya or aana (sengaandhal); with a specific noun before a general one it is irupeyarottu (maargazhith thingal). Uvamaithogai drops the simile marker (malarkkai), ummaithogai drops um (annan thambi), and anmozhithogai hides other words too (murukku meesai vandhaar).

Example: Veesuthendral: give the grammar label

What is the grammar label of veesuthendral?

  1. Split it: veesu (root) + thendral (noun).
  2. Expand it with tense: veesiya, veesukindra, veesum thendral.
  3. It expands to all three tenses; the tense marker is hidden.

Answer: vinaithogai (veesiya thendral, with one tense only, is a peyarecham).

Source: தமிழ், எட்டாம் வகுப்பு (Tamil, Standard VIII; Samacheer Kalvi) (8ஆம் வகுப்புத் தமிழ், இயல் 2-4 கற்கண்டு, பக்கம் 37-38, 63-64, 84-87; 9ஆம் வகுப்புத் தமிழ், இயல் 2, 5, 7 கற்கண்டு, பக்கம் 52-54, 139-141, 200-201; 10ஆம் வகுப்புத் தமிழ், இயல் 1-2 கற்கண்டு, பக்கம் 17-18, 40-41)

PYQ (2012-2025 papers)

Provisional key: until TNPSC publishes the final key; the answer may change.

Free questions

  1. Question 1

    பின்வரும் கூற்றுகளை ஆராய்க. 1. விகுதி பெறாமல் வினைப்பகுதியே தொழிற்பெயராவது முதனிலைத் தொழிற்பெயர். 2. 'சுடு' என்பது 'சூடு' என வருவது முதனிலை திரிந்த தொழிற்பெயர். 3. 'உரை' என்பது முதனிலை திரிந்த தொழிற்பெயர். சரியான கூற்றுகள் எவை?

    1. A. 1, 2 மட்டும்
    2. B. 1, 3 மட்டும்
    3. C. 2, 3 மட்டும்
    4. D. 1, 2, 3
    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A. 1, 2 மட்டும்

    முதனிலைத் தொழிற்பெயர் விகுதி பெறாத வினைப்பகுதியே (தட்டு, உரை, அடி); சுடு → சூடு முதனிலை திரிந்தது. ஆகவே 1, 2 சரி; உரை முதனிலைத் தொழிற்பெயர் என்பதால் 3 தவறு.

    Source: தமிழ், பத்தாம் வகுப்பு (Tamil, Standard X; Samacheer Kalvi) (இயல் 1 கற்கண்டு (எழுத்து சொல்), p. 18 (PDF p. 28))

  2. Question 2

    சொல் எத்தனை பால்களைக் குறிக்கும்?

    1. A. மூன்று
    2. B. இரண்டு
    3. C. ஐந்து
    4. D. ஆறு
    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: C. ஐந்து

    சொல் இரு திணைகளையும் ஐந்து பால்களையும் குறிக்கும்; மூவகை இடங்களிலும் வரும்.

    Source: தமிழ், பத்தாம் வகுப்பு (Tamil, Standard X; Samacheer Kalvi) (இயல் 1 கற்கண்டு (எழுத்து சொல்), p. 17 (PDF p. 27))

  3. Question 3

    நன்னூல் கூறும் மொழியின் மூன்று வகைகள் எவை?

    1. A. பகுபதம், பகாப்பதம், பொதுமொழி
    2. B. பெயர், வினை, இடை
    3. C. தெரிநிலை, குறிப்பு, பொதுமொழி
    4. D. தனிமொழி, தொடர்மொழி, பொதுமொழி
    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: D. தனிமொழி, தொடர்மொழி, பொதுமொழி

    மொழி தனிமொழி, தொடர்மொழி, பொதுமொழி என மூன்று வகை என்று நன்னூல் நூற்பா 260 கூறுகிறது.

    Source: தமிழ், பத்தாம் வகுப்பு (Tamil, Standard X; Samacheer Kalvi) (இயல் 1 கற்கண்டு (எழுத்து சொல்), p. 17 (PDF p. 27))

  4. Question 4

    கீழ்க்காண்பவற்றுள் பகாப்பதம் எது?

    1. A. கண்ணன்
    2. B. படித்தான்
    3. C. வந்தவர்
    4. D. படி
    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: D. படி

    பிரிக்க இயலாத சொல் பகாப்பதம்; கண், படி போன்றவை பகாப்பதங்கள்.

    Source: தமிழ், பத்தாம் வகுப்பு (Tamil, Standard X; Samacheer Kalvi) (இயல் 1 கற்கண்டு (எழுத்து சொல்), p. 17 (PDF p. 27))

The unit's 20 free questions

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Frequently asked questions

What is the grammar label of veesuthendral?

vinaithogai (veesiya thendral, with one tense only, is a peyarecham).

Full guide: TNPSC Group 4 Tamil grammar: the 6 topics, with Samacheer textbook pages

Sources

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