Tamil Tense Grammer.docx

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Verb Tenses: Past Having learned the present tense and future tense formation using the root verb, tense marker and the verb terminator to match the subject, let us move on to see how to form past tense. To comfort you before the start of the discussion, I want to state that the concept is similar for present tense and future tense formation. However, I have to admit there are many exception and irregular forms that you have to pick up along the way. We know the general rule of tense formation of Tamil verbs: root verb + tense marker + terminator to match with the subject. The root verb and the terminator which changes to indicate the number and gender don't change. Just like the present tense formation where we had the variation of kiru or k+kiru and the future tense formation that had the corresponding two variations - future tense marker 'v' or 'pp', past tense also has similar and corresponding markers. The rule of thumb is for those verbs you used 'kiru' for the present tense marker, (you use 'v' for the future tense), you would use 'ndh' as the tense marker and where you used 'k' + 'kiru', (you use 'pp' for the future tense marker), you would use 'thth' ie strong 'th' . Examples: for marker (thth) Avan paarkkiran - He sees (present) Avan paarppan. - He will see (future) Avan paarththan. He saw

Examples: for marker (ndh) Naan vazhgiren ( I live) Naan vazhven ( I will live) Naan vazhndhen ( I lived) The above are general rules as far as past tense formation is concerned but there a lot of exceptions in the past tense formation which is why I avoided the subject for

so long. But I must admit, that the way the irregular formation of past tense is a logical process that comes naturally without much effort once you get the hang of the general rules (cited above) for tense formation. e.g. for root verb azhu ( to weep) (using second person singular pronoun) Nee azhugirai - Present Nee azhuvai - future Nee azhudhai - Past The past tense here has just 'th' as the marker but according to the rule stated earlier for verbs having 'kiru', the past tense marker would 'ndh' which is clearly not the case here. So, while there are variations to the general rule especially in the past tense formation, it is not drastically different from the general rule, and one can quickly get the hang of it pretty fast. Note: Please observe that the root verb and the verb termintor (vikuthi) are the same for all the tenses for a given pronoun. It is easy to note and memorise the terminator and use it correctly without any confusion. Only the tense markers change for each tense and they follow a general rule or pattern. In the case of past tense, the tense marker there are variations or exception which can be quickly learnt as well.

http://mylanguages.org/tamil_verbs.php