English blurs three different things into one. "I eat rice." "I am eating rice." "I was in the middle of eating rice." Malayalam has three separate machines for these, each with its own ending, and picking the wrong one is one of the last things that still marks an advanced learner as foreign. MACHINE ONE — the habitual, ആറുണ്ട് (-aarundu). Says nothing about this moment. It describes the pattern of your life. ഞാൻ ദിവസവും ചോറ് കഴിക്കാറുണ്ട് (njaan divasavum choru kazhikkaarundu) I eat rice every day പുറത്ത് പോകാറുണ്ടോ? (purathu pokaarundo) do you usually go out? — the best question in a first conversation The negative is ആറില്ല (-aarilla), and keep it clear of two look-alikes: ചെയ്തിട്ടില്ല (cheythittilla) never once in my life ചെയ്യില്ല (cheyyilla) will not do it ചെയ്യാറില്ല (cheyyaarilla) simply not part of the pattern MACHINE TWO — the emphatic present, ഉന്നുണ്ട് (-unnundu). Spoken capital letters. അവൻ ഇപ്പോൾ കഴിക്കുന്നുണ്ട് (avan ippol kazhikkunnundu) he IS eating right now MACHINE THREE — ongoing action, the കൊണ്ടിരിക്ക് (kondirikk) chain, built from the stem + കൊണ്ട് + ഇരിക്കുക. In this class: • All three machines, built from scratch • The phantom form കഴിക്കുമുണ്ട് that does not exist — and why learners keep writing it • ആർ for always, ഉന്ന് for now — the memory pair • How the middle syllable compresses in fast speech Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.