UPMSP High School Tamil key terms

Urainadai is Tamil writing in ordinary sentence form, without the metre and line rules of verse. It is used for stories, essays, letters and the prescribed prose lessons.

Kataimāntar means a character in a story or prose lesson: a figure who acts, speaks and reveals values through choices. Questions often ask you to describe such a person and judge their conduct.

Karupporuḷ is the central idea or value that a prose passage or poem keeps returning to, such as friendship, service or courage. You should state it and support it with evidence from the text.

Ciṟukatai is a brief narrative with one main incident, few characters and a pointed ending. In the Tamil syllabus it is a prose form whose plot, characters and message may be examined.

Pāttirappaṭaippu is the way an author builds a character through action, speech and description. A question may ask how a figure is presented or whether the portrayal is convincing.

Naiyāṇṭi is humour used to expose folly or vice indirectly, often through irony. Recognizing it explains why a passage is funny and what social point the writer is making.

Vāḻkkai varalāṟu is a biography: an account of a real person's life written by someone else. Tamil prose readers include such lives to model public service, scholarship or devotion.

Kaṭṭurai is a short piece of writing on one topic, usually with an introduction, ordered paragraphs and a conclusion. The exam may ask you to write one in Tamil on a familiar subject.

Ceyyuḷ is a Tamil poem composed under prosody, with measured lines and sound patterns. Prescribed Padya lessons are of this kind and must be read differently from prose.

Aṇi is a deliberate pattern or comparison in language that adds beauty or force to meaning. Candidates identify it by name and explain the effect it creates in a given line.

Uvamai aṇi is a simile: one thing is compared to another unlike thing using words such as போல, போன்ற or ஒப்ப. The comparison is stated openly rather than implied.

Uruvaka aṇi is a metaphor: one thing is treated as if it were another without words of comparison. The identity is implied, as when a person is called a lamp of the family.

Toṭai is sound patterning in Tamil verse, such as repeated syllables at line beginnings or in second positions. It gives rhythm and memorability; mōṉai and etukai are common types.

Mōṉai is alliteration: repetition of the same initial sound in nearby words of a Tamil verse line. It creates a musical effect and is identified by comparing the first letters.

Etukai is rhyme based on the same second letter or sound in words beginning successive Tamil verse lines. It is a common device for cohesion and rhythm in poetry.

Racam or cuvai is the emotional flavour a reader experiences from a poem, such as love, heroism, pity or wonder. Naming it requires the dominant feeling and supporting lines.

Canti is sandhi: the sound change when two words or morphemes join, so a boundary letter is added, dropped or doubled. It is a core grammar topic in Tamil.

Camācam is a compound: one word formed by combining two or more words that keep a grammatical and meaningful relationship. The compound functions as a single unit in a sentence.

Vēṟṟumai is case: the grammatical relation of a noun to the rest of the sentence, shown by suffixes or context. The eight traditional cases express subject, object, instrument, place and similar roles.

Urupu is a case marker: a suffix attached to a noun or pronoun to show its case relation, such as -ஐ for object or -ஆல் for instrument. Recognizing it is essential for parsing Tamil sentences.

Vinaikkālam is tense: the marking that shows whether an action happens in the past, present or future. Tamil verbs change endings accordingly, and questions often ask for conversion between tenses.

Iṇaiccōl is a synonym: a word with the same or nearly the same meaning as another word in the language. The exam asks you to supply or choose one for a given word.

Etirccōl is an antonym: a word whose meaning is opposite to another's, such as உயரம் and தாழ்வு. Recognizing opposites helps in vocabulary questions and in precise translation.

Peyarccōl is a noun: a word naming a person, place, thing or abstract idea that can take case endings in Tamil. Distinguishing nouns from verbs is basic to sentence analysis.

Vinaiccōl is a verb: a word expressing action, event or state and carrying tense and person endings in Tamil. It is the core of a clause and agrees with the subject.

Moḻipeyarppu is translation: carrying meaning from one language into another while keeping sense, tone and naturalness in the target language. The exam may test Tamil into Hindi or English and the reverse.

Nēraṭi moḻipeyarppu is literal translation, following source wording and sentence order closely. It can preserve detail but may sound unnatural, so it is checked against target-language idiom.

Karuttuppeyarppu is free translation: it gives overall meaning and effect rather than a word-for-word rendering. It reads naturally in the target language but may omit small details.

Maraputtoṭar is an idiom: a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from its individual words, such as a phrase describing someone as having a stone heart. It must be learnt and translated as a whole.

Paḻamoḻi is a proverb: a short traditional saying expressing practical wisdom or a moral observation. Recognizing one helps in comprehension and in finding an equivalent idiom in another language.

Curukkam is a precis: a shortened restatement that keeps a passage's main ideas in your own words and cuts the length substantially. It should not add opinion or copy whole sentences.

Viṇṇappam is a formal written request to an authority, following a set layout with sender, date, subject and closing. Letter-writing questions often ask for one in Tamil.

Muṉṉurai is the opening part of an essay or composition that states the topic and prepares the reader for what follows. It should be brief and relevant, not a general preamble.

Muṭivurai is the closing part of an essay that sums up the discussion and may offer a suggestion or judgement. It should follow from the body and avoid introducing a new topic.

Patti is a paragraph: a group of sentences developing one idea, marked in Tamil writing by indentation or a line break. Clear paragraphing is part of the assessment in composition.

Purintukoḷḷutal is comprehension: the reading skill of extracting stated information and implied meaning from an unseen passage. It involves locating details, interpreting vocabulary in context and answering in your own words.

Ūkam is inference: a conclusion drawn from clues in a passage rather than from an explicit statement. Inference questions ask what the writer implies about a person, motive or outcome.

Cūḻal is context: the words and situation surrounding a word or sentence that help fix its meaning. In comprehension and translation, context often decides which sense of a word is intended.

Maiyakkarruttu is the central idea that a whole passage or poem conveys, usually expressible in one sentence. Distinguishing it from supporting details is a common comprehension task.