Question Words

Question words in Tamil can occur freely in more than one position in a sentence. Depending upon where they occur and how the stress is placed on them, they have slightly different meanings. For example, யார் முருகன்? would mean #who is Murugan?# but the question முருகன் யார்? with an extra stress on the word யார் can mean #who do you think Murgan is?#. Both of these questions in normal utterances can also mean #which person is called Murgan?# or #who is called Murukan?#.

The following table provides a list of question words along with their spoken form.

Written form	Spoken form	Meaning
யார்	யாரு	Who
என்ன	என்ன	What
எது	எது	Which (noun)
எந்த	எந்த	Which (adjective)
ஏது	ஏது	What source
ஏன்	ஏன்	Why
எங்கே or எங்கு	எங்கே	Where
எப்படி	எப்படி	How
எப்பொழுதும்	எப்போ	When
எத்தனை	எத்தனெ	How many (countable)
எவ்வளவு	எவ்வளவு	How much

Question words and deictic sets

We have already seen a number of such constructions in Tamil: நான், நீங்கள், நீ, அவர், அவர்கள், அது,, etc. In addition, some deictics tend to occur in contrastive paradigms: e.g., in English, #here/there/where#, #this/that/which#, etc. In Tamil, such constrastive paradigms are extremely regular and vary by the first letter: இ, அ, எ (proximate, distal, question). Consider the following deictic sets:

Proximate (close to speaker/speech event)	Distal (far from speaker/speech event)	Question word
இவன், #this man (impol)#	அவன், #that man (impol)#	எவன், #which man (pol)?#
இவர், #this man (pol)#	அவர், #that man (pol)#	எவர், #which man (pol)?#
இவள், #this woman (impol)#	அவள், #that woman (impol)#	எவள், #which woman (impol)?#
இவர்கள், #this woman (pol), #these people#	அவர்கள், #that woman (pol)#, #those people#	எவர்கள், #which woman (pol)?#, #which people?#
இது, #this# (noun)	அது, #that# (noun)	எது, #which?# (noun)
இந்த, #this(adj)#	அந்த, #that(adj)#	எந்த, #which(adj)?#
இங்கெ, #here#	அங்கெ, #there#	எங்கெ, #where?#
இப்பொழுது, #this time#, #now#	அப்பொழுது, #that time#, #then#	எப்பொழுது, #which time?#, #when?#
இவ்வளவு, #this much#	அவ்வளவு, #that much#	எவ்வளவு, #how much?#
இத்தனை, #this many#	அத்தனை, #that many#	எத்தனை, #how many?#
இப்படி, #this way/manner#	அப்படி, #that way/manner#	எப்படி, #how?# (in what manner?)
இன்றைக்கு, #this day# (#today#)	அன்றைக்கு, #that day#	என்றைக்கு, #which day?#

Note that யாரு is simply the unmarked question word for எவன், எவர், எவள், எவர்கள் and can stand in for any of them. In fact, எவன், எவர், எவள், எவர்கள் can only be used if it is already known that the person in question fits the more specific information carried along in such question words (e.g., எவள் is a low-status/informal female, etc.). Similarly, எது is used only when it is known that a non-animate/rational #thing# is being talked about; otherwise என்ன is used.
Dialogue: unit_03/section_B/lesson02.html

Note on Politeness and Formal/Informal Tamil

When introducing someone to others, attention must be paid to use the appropriate polite forms. Elders should be addressed with the form உங்க #your-polite# as opposed to உன் #your-intimate#, which is normally used among equals and children. The plural pronominal forms in Tamil are used to denote polite singular, besides marking plural number. Also, only spoken informal variety is used in speech as opposed to formal literary variety, which is used only in platform speech and written communication. For example, உங்கள் is a formal literary variety whose spoken informal form is உங்க. These two varieties are distinguised based on a sequence of sound changes to the formal variety, as in this case the loss of ள் in உங்கள் makes it an informal spoken variety. This type of sound changes are an automatic phenomenon, and the learner is required to pay extra attention to learn the distinction between spoken informal variety and formal written/literary variety. Sound changes also tend to occur in intra-word level in sentences. Example, the phrase என் பேரு #my name# is used in speech as எம் பேரு with ன் becoming ம் in the word என் due to the following labial plosive sound ப். Stop sounds in Tamil have a tendency to assimilate the preceding nasal sounds to their place of articulation. This type of sound changes is very common in fast speech.

Following table lists a predominantly used formal and informal variety of pronominal forms.

Formal variety	Informal variety	Meaning
நீங்கள்	நீங்க	You
உங்கள்	உங்க	Your
அவர்கள்	அவுங்க	they/their/his (polite)
அவன்	அவர்	He
அவள்	அவ/அவுங்க	She
தான்	தாங்க	yourself (dialectal)