Numbers, food and the shop
🎯 Count, order food and ask a price.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- ஒன்று, இரண்டு, மூன்று, நான்கு, ஐந்து 🔊 on-dru, i-ran-du, moon-dru, naan-gu, ain-dhu 1 to 5 In speech these shorten: ஒண்ணு, ரெண்டு, மூணு, நாலு, அஞ்சு.
- ஆறு, ஏழு, எட்டு, ஒன்பது, பத்து 🔊 aa-ru, ay-zhu, et-tu, on-ba-dhu, pat-tu 6 to 10 ஏழு has the ழ் again — good practice.
- எவ்வளவு? — evvalavu? 🔊 EV-va-la-vu How much? In speech often just 'evlo'.
- ரொம்ப விலை அதிகம் — romba vilai adhigam 🔊 ROM-ba vi-LAI a-dhi-GAM The price is too high. ரொம்ப romba = very, and it is everywhere in spoken Tamil.
- ஒரு காபி குடுங்க — oru kaapi kudunga 🔊 O-ru KAA-pee KOO-doong-ka Please give one coffee. ஒரு oru = one, a. Filter coffee in Tamil Nadu is an institution.
- ரொம்ப நன்றி — romba nandri 🔊 ROM-ba NAN-dree Thank you very much.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 Written Tamil and spoken Tamil are two registers
This gap is larger in Tamil than in most Indian languages, and it confuses learners who study only from books. Learn the spoken forms for talking and recognise the written ones for reading.
- written ஒன்று → spoken ஒண்ணு (one)
- written போகிறேன் → spoken போறேன் (I go)
- written வருகிறார்கள் → spoken வர்றாங்க (they come)
- News, signboards and school books use the written form; every conversation uses the spoken one.
🌍 Among the people
A Tamil meal is served on a banana leaf with rice at the centre, and the leaf is folded towards you at the end to show the meal was good. Folding it away means the opposite.
🔁 Practise today
- Count to ten in both the written and spoken forms.
- Order a coffee and a meal aloud.
- Listen for ரொம்ப in any Tamil film — you will hear it within a minute.
