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Lesson #11

ÎâKÞ¢ ÉÞÀ¢

ÈÎáAßÈßÏᢠ®æa ÕàGßÈí çÉÞµÞ¢!

Let's Go to My House Now!

This is the third lesson in the Malayalam language. In this lesson, you will learn a new noun case and a verb tense that goes along with it!

You may view this lesson in three ways:

1. With Malayalam script and English translation (on this page),

2. with Malayalam script, phonetics, and English translation, or

3. with Malayalam script and English translation for everything except the Dialogue.

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Ø¢ÍÞ×â Dialogue

Mohan and his driver, Ibrahim, have helped Sam, Charlotte, and Vasudevan by carrying their luggage to Mohan's car. The airport is a crowded place, not a part of Thiruvananthapuram where Mohan wants to spend too much time! In fact, he and Ibrahim are about to take their guests to Mohan's house in Ayur.

Click here to listen to the conversation!

§dÌÞÙߢ: Öøß ØÞçù.

(Charlotte talks with Vasudevan and Mohan about Ayur while Sam helps Ibrahim put the luggage into the car and talks to him.)

ÕÞØáçÆÕX (sneering): ¥æÄBÈÞ, ¦ÏâøßæÜÞKᢠ§ÜïçÜïÞ.

(Sam, trying to help Ibrahim, is about to put a bag into the trunk.)

English Translation

Mohan: OK. Let's go to my house now! Ibrahim, get the bags.

Ibrahim: Yes, sir.

(Charlotte talks with Vasudevan and Mohan about Ayur while Sam helps Ibrahim put the luggage into the car and talks to him.)

Charlotte: Can we see anything in Ayur?

Vasudevan (sneering): How can you ("how is that")? There's nothing in Ayur!

M: But this way, you can see a small town ("place") in Kerala. 

V: That's true. We'll all have fun that way!

(Sam, trying to help Ibrahim, is about to put a bag into the trunk.)

I: It's all right, sir, I'll do this.

Sam: Are you from Ayur, Ibrahim?

I: Yeah.

S: Are you a Muslim?

I: Yeah. Aren't you and Madam ("White man and White woman") Christians?

S: Yes. Are there a lot of Muslims in Ayur?

I: No, sir. But there are a lot of Christians and Hindus.

(see Note #1)                                                        Öøß.  Listen!

we (see Notes #2-3)                                           ÈÎáAí  Listen!

And/so now (referring to future)                                     §ÈßÏᢠListen!

house/home                                                          Õà¿í Listen!

to (literally "in") my house                             ®æa ÕàGßW Listen!

let's go! we can/shall go!                                       çÉÞµÞ¢! Listen!

bag                                                            çÌ·í Listen!

take!                                                      ®¿áAí! Listen!

sir                                                               ØÞV Listen!

in Ayur                                                    ¦ÏâøßW Listen!

something/anything                                      ®æLCßÜᢠListen!

Will (can) we see?                                         µÞÃÞçÎÞ? Listen!

How is...?                                                ...®BÈÞ? Listen!

How is that (possible)?                                    ¥æÄBÈÞ? Listen!

There's nothing.                                             ²Kᢠ§Üï. Listen!

but                                                                Éæf Listen!

this way                                                        §BæÈ Listen!

in Kerala                                                   çµø{JßW Listen!

a                                                                    ²øá Listen!

small                                                                æµÞºîá Listen!

place                                                                ØíÅÜ¢ Listen!

we will/shall/can see                                                 µÞÃÞ¢ Listen!

that way                                                            ¥BæÈ Listen!

we shall/will/can have fun                                         øØßÏíAÞ¢ Listen!

It's OK.                                                            ØÞøÎßÜï. Listen!

I'll do                                                             æºçÏñÞ{Þ¢ Listen!

Yeah. (All-purpose & very Malayalee way of saying "yes")                ©Õîí. Listen!

Muslim                                                                ÎáØïïࢠListen!

White man                                                            ØÞÏßMí Listen!

White woman                                                        ÎÆÞÎ Listen!

you and your wife ("the White man and woman") ØÞÏßMᢠÎÆÞÎÏᢠListen!

Christian(s)                                                dµßØñcÞÈß(µZ) Listen!

a lot of                                                                    ²øáÉÞ¿í Listen!

Muslims                                                                ÎáØïàBZ Listen!

is/are there? (in this context)                                            ©çIÞ? Listen!

No (there aren't).                                                        §Üï.  Listen!           

Hindu(s)                                                      Ùßwá(AZ) Listen!

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¥ùßÏÞÈÞÏßGáUÄí What There Is To Know

Chauffeurs and drivers are more commonly seen in India than in the West. Most middle- and high-class Indians have a driver, mainly because it is too dangerous to drive on the crowded Indian roads without very good driving skills (you should be able to drive very fast using standard shift and still not hurt anyone or damage property) and lots of experience.

Ibrahim is one of the few Malayalee Muslims from southern Kerala. Muslims in southern Kerala tend to be rather poor and not very common. In Northern and Central Kerala, however, there are many more Muslims who are middle or high class. These Muslims are known as "Moplas," from the Malayalam word ÎÞÉï or ÎÞMß{ meaning "Muslim" in the North and "Christian" in the South. 

ÎÞÉï can also mean "husband" among Christians in the South and Muslims in the North. For example, a Christian from Southern Kerala (Travancore) might introduce his wife by saying §æÄæa ÍÞøc, but his wife might say of her husband: §æÄæa ÎÞMß{.

In the conversation, Sam helps Ibrahim with the luggage. Most middle-class (and possibly high-class) Malayalees might not consider this to be socially acceptable. However, those who are being helped will most likely see this as a sign of generosity on your part (even you screw things up!), and talking with ordinary people is always a good way to practice speaking a language. ("Ordinary people" in Kerala also tend to know pretty interesting things as well!)

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ÕcÞµøâ Grammar

1. Öøß

This Malayalam word sounds somewhat like the English word "sure" and has a similar meaning. It basically means the same thing as the English expression "Righto!" but can have a more polite tone as well. (It would mean the same thing as "right," except that it does not refer to direction; it means either "correct" or "OK"). 

2. ÈNZ vs. ¾BZ

In the last lesson, you learned that the word "¾BZ" is one word that means "we."

In this lesson, you learned another form of the word "ÈNZ," which also means "we."

What's the difference?!?!

Well, the difference all lies in whether the word "we" involves the person you're talking to or not!

ÈNZ means "we" when you're including the person you're talking to. For example, let's say that Vasudevan and Mohan are talking to each other, and Vasudevan suddenly (for whatever reason!!!) says to Mohan:

ÈNZ ÎÜÏÞ{ßµ{Þ.

(Which, of course, means "We are Malayalees.")

This means that Vasudevan is saying, "I am a Malayalee and so are you (as well as some other people, perhaps)!"

But ¾BZ means "we" when the person you're talking to is NOT included in the "we." So, if Vasudevan was talking about himself and Mohan and said to Sam:

¾BZ ÎÜÏÞ{ßµ{Þ.

Then that would mean "Mohan and I are Malayalees; you are NOT!"

3. The Dative Case (©çgÖßµ Õß͵ñß)- Part 1 

In this lesson, the dative case is used differently from the way it is used in English. In Malayalam, it may be used in the same way as in English, but there are many other uses for it as well.

Here, it is used before what is known (to Malayalam grammarians!) as the permissive tense, which is apparently unique to Malayalam. Any verb in the permissive tense can be easily identified by the ending -Þ¢ (or, in a question, -ÞçÎÞ? (This tense is explained further in the next section.) 

For example, in the conversation, Mohan says:

ÈÎáAßÈßÏᢠ®æa ÕàGßW çÉÞµÞ¢!

The word ÈÎáAí is the dative case form of the word ÈNZ. It changes to this form because of the verb çÉÞµÞ¢, which is in the permissive tense.

The way to form the dative case is generally by adding -(Ïí)Aí or -(ß)Èí at the end of a word.

Which ending do you put when? It depends on what letter the word ends in in the usual (nominative) case:

If the word normally ends in the letter X, then in the dative case, that letter becomes Èí.

But if the word ends in any other letter, the ending is simply added:

If the word ends in either V or Z, then Aí is added to the end (in the dative).

If the word ends in any other (silent) consonant, then -ßÈí is added.

If the word ends in a vowel, then -ÏíAí is added.

There are a few exceptions to these rules...and all of them are pronouns! You will learn more about this later.

ÈÎáAí isn't one of the exceptions, even though it's the dative of the word ÈNZ. It's simply a shortened version of "ÈNZAí," which is not a real word in Malayalam anymore.

4. The Permissive Tense (¥Èá¼í¾Þϵ¢)

Although there are tenses with this same name in languages other than Malayalam (especially Hebrew), they do not serve the same function as the Malayalam version does.

In Malayalam, the permissive tense indicates that you can or plan to do something. It can also be used just like the first person plural form of the present tense in imperative mood.

HUH? 

Let me put that last sentence into simpler words. (You better, you're thinking, or I'm gonna leave your site and give up your stupid lessons, goddamn it!!) 

What I meant to say is: it can be used in Malayalam the same way a "'we' command" ("Let's...!") is used in English.

So, that's why "Let's go!" is ÈÎáAí çÉÞµÞ¢!

Again: you can use the permissive tense in that way, OR you can use it to show that you can or plan to do something.

Of course, you can also use it to mean that you WILL do something...but only if you also mean that you PLAN to do it!

5. æºçÏñÞ{Þ¢

Literally, this word means "did will-be-good" (æºÏñá æµÞUÞ¢). In other words, when Ibrahim said:

¾ÞX §Äí æºçÏñÞ{Þ¢.

The literal meaning of what he said was essentially: "If I do this, it will be good." ("I this did-will-be-good.") 

This construction is used when you're trying to say, "I'll be happy to do this" or "I don't mind doing this."

6. Spelling and Pronounciation Notes

1. The word çÉÞµÞ¢ is techincally written & pronounced /pOkaam/, but most Malayalees tend to slur it and say something that sounds more like p'aam or pwaam.

2. The word çÌ·í is pronounced exactly like the English word "bag."

3. The sound ÏíAÞ makes the -Þ sound more like the American/British "a" as in "cat" (rather than "a" in "father").

7. ØÞÏßMᢠÎÆÞÎÏá¢

The word ØÞÏßMí means "White man." It comes directly from the Hindi word sahib, which also means "sir" and is therefore a polite way of saying "White man." In Malayalam, however, it can also have a more derogatory use, just like the term "White guy" in English.

Similarly, the word ÎÆÞÎ means "White woman." It probably came from the French madame (Malayalees write the English "madam" in a different way!).

8. The suffix -O

You might have noticed that µÞÃÞçÎÞ means almost exactly the same thing as µÞÃÞ¢. Perhaps you also recall this similarity between the words ¦çÃÞ and ¦Ãí. 

The only differences between these slight variations is that one is used when asking a question and the other is used when stating something, commanding someone to do something, etc.

The reason why these two different forms exist is because of this formerly unwritten rule:

When asking a yes-or-no question in Malayalam, the sound /O/ must always be attached to the end of the main verb.

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Öøß! Now you can go to the Practice Corner (once it's done, anyway!).

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