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Feelings and Emotions in Malayalam — Happy, Sad, Angry, Afraid | Learn Malayalam #322
Feelings and Emotions in Malayalam — Happy, Sad, Angry, Afraid | Learn Malayalam #322
10:26
Sep 12, 2026 11:29 AM
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How to say how you feel in Malayalam — happy, sad, angry, afraid, in love — and the grammatical fact that changes everything: in Malayalam a feeling is not something you are. It is something that happens to you. In English you own your feelings: I am happy. Malayalam puts you in the dative, the case of the receiver, and lets the emotion be the thing that exists or arrives. 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 PATTERN എനിക്ക് സന്തോഷമുണ്ട് (enikku santhoshamundu) - to me there is happiness എനിക്ക് സങ്കടമുണ്ട് (enikku sankadamundu) - to me there is sorrow എനിക്ക് പേടിയാണ് (enikku pediyaanu) - to me it is fear എനിക്ക് ദേഷ്യം വന്നു (enikku deshyam vannu) - anger came to me Grammarians call this a dative-subject or experiencer construction. Learn the frame once and every emotion slots into it. THE VOCABULARY സന്തോഷം (santhosham) - happiness സങ്കടം (sankadam) - sorrow, the everyday word ദുഃഖം (duhkham) - grief, heavier and literary വിഷമം (vishamam) - distress, and also difficulty; one word for the hard problem and the feeling it produces പേടി (pedi) - fear, the ordinary word ഭയം (bhayam) - fear, the formal one ദേഷ്യം (deshyam) - anger കോപം (kopam) - anger, literary ഇഷ്ടം (ishtam) - liking സ്നേഹം (sneham) - love പ്രേമം (premam) - romantic love ആഗ്രഹം (aagraham) - desire, wish അസൂയ (asooya) - envy നാണം (naanam) - shyness അഭിമാനം (abhimaanam) - pride, in the good sense ലജ്ജ (lajja) - shame ആശ്വാസം (aashwaasam) - relief ആശ്ചര്യം (aashcharyam) - surprise വെറുപ്പ് (veruppu) - hatred Try one: how do you feel right now, in Malayalam, using the frame above? Comment and I will correct it. #LearnMalayalam #MalayalamGrammar #Malayalam
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Malayalam Grammar Made Obvious | Cases, Verbs and Tenses
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