UPMSP High School Tamil flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Mutal karuttu

The central idea of a prose lesson, stated in one sentence. A theme answer gives it first, then supports it with two or three incidents from the prescribed text.

Nēri value question

Examination item that asks the candidate to judge a character's action. The full answer names the value, cites the act from the lesson, and states why it is right or wrong.

Kathāp pāttiram

A character in a prose lesson. A sketch is built from at least three named incidents plus the quality each incident reveals; bare adjectives without incidents are not accepted as evidence.

Kaṭṭurai (prose essay)

A non-fictional prose piece that explains or argues a position. Questions on it require the writer's purpose plus one supporting example located in the text.

Vāḻkkai varalāṟu

Biography: a prose genre about a real person's life. Answers should follow the events in chronological order and end with the subject's main achievement and its significance.

Uvamai aṇi

Simile in Tamil poetics. Two unlike things are compared through an explicit sign word such as pōla, pōl, aṉṟu or otta, and both objects are named in the line.

Uruvakam aṇi

Metaphor in Tamil poetics. The comparison word is absent and the image stands directly for the object, as when a poet calls the eyes malar without using pōla.

Cilēṭai aṇi

Sound figure in which successive words or metrical feet begin with the same letter or sound, creating rhyme. It is identified by scanning initial letters, not by meaning.

Vetrumai aṇi

Figure that attributes contradictory qualities to a single object, such as sweet pain or cruel kindness, to intensify the feeling rather than to state a literal contradiction.

Nava rasa

The nine moods of Tamil poetics: cṛṅkāram (love), hāsyam (laughter), karuṇai (grief), raudram (anger), vīram (heroism), bhayānakam (fear), vīpatsam (disgust), atputam (wonder), cāntam (peace).

Cīr

The metrical foot of Tamil prosody, a group of syllables of fixed weight. Lines (aṭi) are counted in cīr; veṇpā carries four cīr to a line.

Puṇarcci (sandhi)

Sandhi, the joining of two words or morphemes into one unit. Traditional grammar recognises five contexts: iyalpu, vēṟṟumai, tokainilai, viṉainilai and alvaḻi.

Maram + il = marattil

Test case for Tamil sandhi: when a word in final -am takes a vowel-initial suffix, the m is dropped and the next consonant doubles, giving marattil and marattai.

Paṇputtokai

Compound whose first element is an adjective qualifying the second. The link āya or āṉa can be restored: ceṅkai equals civanta kai, red hand.

Vēṟṟumaittokai

Compound made by dropping a case marker so that the first word stands in a case relation to the second, as marakkiḷai stands for marattiṉ kiḷai, branch of the tree.

Aṉmoḻittokai

Compound that does not mean the sum of its parts. It names a third object or person, so adding the word meanings gives a wrong answer.

Vēṟṟumai (case)

Tamil case system of eight members marked by urupu: eluvai (no suffix), ai, āl/oṭu/uṭaṉ, ku, il/iṉ, atu, kaṇ, and vili (ē, ō) for address.

Iṟanta kālam

Past tense in Tamil. It is marked by -t-, -ṭ-, -ṟ- or -iṉ- between the verb root and the person-number ending, as in cey-t-āṉ, he did.

Kaṭṭurai structure

Three-part essay plan: munnurai states the topic and the writer's stand, karupporuḷ develops one idea per paragraph, muṭivu concludes with a forward-looking sentence.

Alūval kaṭitam

Formal Tamil letter. Its parts in order are sender address, date, receiver's designation and address, subject line, salutation, body, and closing with iṭam and signature.

Curakkam (precis)

Precis or summary. It keeps the main argument and key terms of a passage in about one-third of the original length, in the third person, without examples or personal opinion.

Cintanai kaṭṭurai

Reflective essay that develops a single thought or value. It uses the present tense, general statements rather than a story, and closes with a moral judgement.

Peyarccol agreement

Rule that a Tamil pronoun matches its antecedent in person, number and gender. In an unseen passage, use this agreement rather than nearness to decide what a pronoun refers to.

Inference answer

A conclusion the passage implies but does not state. It must be supported by a quoted line plus reasoning, and it must add no outside facts.

Vocabulary in context

The meaning a word carries in a particular passage, which may differ from its dictionary sense. Check the surrounding words and collocation before choosing an answer.

Main idea question

Item asking what the whole passage is about. The answer combines the topic with the writer's point; the first sentence or a single detail is usually insufficient.

SOV vs SVO

Tamil and Hindi place the verb at the end of the clause; English places it after the subject. Reorder the clause when translating in either direction.

Postposition

Tamil case suffix placed after the noun, such as -il in marattil, in the tree. English uses a preposition before the noun, so translate the whole phrase.

Article rule

Tamil has no a, an or the. When translating into English, supply the article from number and context; when translating into Tamil, delete English articles.

Idiom equivalence

Translation principle: render a source idiom with a target idiom of the same function. A word-by-word gloss of an idiom produces meaningless or comic output.

Yāṉaikkum aṭi cariyum

Tamil proverb meaning even an elephant slips. It warns that the strong and experienced also make mistakes; the English equivalent is even Homer nods.

Kaṟṟatu kaimaṇ aḷavu

Tamil proverb: what we have learnt is a handful, what we have not learnt is the whole world. It urges lifelong learning and humility.