Thamil Cases

Thamil Cases

Certain special suffixes in Thamil are known as case suffixes. There are about 7 case suffixes, and they are only added to nouns. Each has a different meaning. Examples of the meanings of some case suffixes include “at”/“in”, “for”/“to”, and “from”. In a setence, words that have case suffixes usually appear after the noun but before the adverb.

Case Suffixes

Adding case suffixes is the second instance where the word changes before a suffix is added. The first was when making plural nouns.

Adding Case Suffixes
  • If the word ends in -டு or -று:
    • add the case suffix using the basic set of suffix addition rules if:
      • the word is made of two short letters
      • the final -டு or -று is preceded by a consonant
    • change -டு to ட்ட் or -று to ற்ற் and add the case suffix for any other word
  • If the word ends in -ம்: drop the -ம், add த்த், and add the case suffix

Remember that a consonant is a letter that does not have a vowel sound (e.g. க், ங், ச், etc.).

The pronouns change uniquely before adding suffix:

Case Suffixes - Word Changes
Word Change before adding case suffix Word Change Before Adding Case Suffix
நான் என்- நாம் நம்-
நாங்கள் எங்கள்-
நீ உந் நீங்கள் உங்கள்-
நீங்கள் உங்கள்-
அவன் அவன்- அவர்கள் அவர்கள்-
அவள் அவள்-
அவர் அவர்-
அது அத்-/அதன்- அவை அவற்று-
Word Change Before Adding Case Suffix
எல்லாம் எல்லாவற்ற்-

அது changes very irregularly when adding case suffixes to it.

See the next lesson about direct objects to see examples of case suffix rules.