Here, there and where in Malayalam — and the most elegant table in the language. Learn one pattern and roughly thirty words fall into place at once. Malayalam builds a whole family of words from three initial sounds: ഇ points to what is NEAR — this, here, now, in this way അ points to what is FAR — that, there, then, in that way എ ASKS — which, where, when, how Then it attaches the same ending to all three. I am Dr. Reshmi R. Nair, an applied linguist from Kerala. I have taught hundreds of learners to speak Malayalam as it is actually spoken. THE TABLE — LISTEN FOR THE PATTERN, NOT THE WORDS ഇത് · അത് · ഏത് ithu · athu · ethu this · that · which ഇവിടെ · അവിടെ · എവിടെ ivide · avide · evide here · there · where ഇപ്പോൾ · അപ്പോൾ · എപ്പോൾ ippol · appol · eppol now · then · when ഇങ്ങനെ · അങ്ങനെ · എങ്ങനെ ingane · angane · engane this way · that way · how ഇത്ര · അത്ര · എത്ര ithra · athra · ethra this much · that much · how much WHY THIS MATTERS FOR HOW FAST YOU LEARN English learners memorise twelve unrelated items, because English lost the shape of its own system centuries ago. In Malayalam, if you know the ending you know all three words — and if you meet a new word beginning with അ in this family, you already know roughly what it means and what its two siblings are. AND A STARTLING PARALLEL Japanese has the ko-so-a-do system: kore, sore, are, dore — koko, soko, asoko, doko. The same architecture, arrived at independently, in an unrelated family on the other side of Asia. Say the ഇ അ എ row for "much" out loud, then post it below. #LearnMalayalam #MalayalamGrammar #Malayalam