Possessive / Instrumental Cases

Possessive Case

The possessive case is added to nouns to indicate that the noun has ownership or possession of something. It is something like the “–’s” that is added to the end of a word in English for the same purpose.

Possessive Case

The possessive case is formed for

  • nouns ending in -ம், -டு, or -று by adding the case suffix -இனுடைய
  • all other nouns by adding the case suffix -உடைய

The possessive case may also be formed by adding the suffix -இன். It is equivalent to -உடைய except that it is not typically added to pronouns.

Instrumental Case

The instrumental case is added to nouns to mean “with the use of”, “because of”, or “by means of”.

Instrumental Case

The instrumental case is formed by adding the suffix -ஆல்

Examples

  • அவன் கத்தியால் மாம்பழத்தினுடைய தோலை சீவினான் = “He cut the mango’s skin with a knife”
  • அவளுடைய கதை செய்தித்தாளில் வருமா? = “Will her story appear in the newspaper?”