All / Listing Subjects / Or

“All”

For the English word “all”, there are two words. One word is used for people, and one word is used for non-people things.

"All"
எல்லோரும் everyone
எல்லாம் everything

To translate the word “all” when it is used as an adjective in English, insert one of the two words above after the things/people it describes. Ex:

  • மாடுகள் எல்லாம் தூங்கும் = “All of the cattle will sleep.”
  • குழந்தைகள் எல்லோரும் இன்று விளையாடுவார்கள் = “All of the kids will play today.”

Listing Subjects

When the subject of a sentence is a compound subject, 2 things or people are referred to. To refer to many things at the same time, you put the words in a list.

Forming a List
  1. Separate each item with a comma, then place “எல்லோரும்”/“எல்லாம்” at the end.
  2. Separate each item with a comma, then insert “மற்றும்” before the last word.

Other Meanings of -உம்

The suffix -உம் can also be used to mean “even” or “also”. Ex:

  • அவர்களும் தமிழ் படிக்கிறார்களா? = “Do they too read Thamil?”
  • அந்த சின்ன பெண்ணும் படிக்கிறாள் = “Even that litte girl reads.”

“Or”

To use the word “or” in the subject of the sentence is easy. To do that, just insert the word “அல்லது” between the two words. Ex:

  • சந்திரன் அல்லது கோபால் சமைப்பான் = “Chanthiran or Gopal will cook.”

It is probably more proper to use “அல்லது” in a compound sentence, especially if the 2 subjects take differently verb suffixes. Ex:

  • அவள் நடப்பாள், அல்லது அவன் நடப்பான் = “She will walk, or he will walk.”

“அல்லது” can also be used with verbs. Ex:

  • அவர்கள் நடப்பார்கள் அல்லது ஓடுவார்கள்= “They will walk or run.”