Question Words
Tap any tile to hear the question word spoken.
Most Tamil question words start with எ– (eṉ-) — a remnant of an ancient Dravidian interrogative root. யார் (“who”) is the exception, with its own historical form. Notice the parallel pair: எத்தனை for things you can count (people, books, mangoes) and எவ்வளவு for things you measure (water, time, money in the abstract).
The eight question words (8)
Building questions
Tamil question words usually sit right before the verb: நீங்கள் எங்கே போகிறீர்கள்? (“Where are you going?”; literally “you where going-are”). For yes/no questions, no question word is needed — just attach the suffix -ஆ: வருகிறீர்களா? (“Are you coming?”). And to ask “what is your name?”, Tamil says உங்கள் பெயர் என்ன? (“your name what?”) — question word at the end.