Class 3 — having and existing, in Malayalam script. It opens with a sentence that surprises most learners: Malayalam has no verb meaning "to have". None. There is no word you can point at and say that one means have. Before you decide that is a defect — a true have-verb is actually the unusual thing. Most of the world’s languages do not have one. Western Europe does, English got it from there, and English speakers therefore assume it is normal. It is not normal. It is a regional habit. So how does Malayalam say I have a brother? It says TO ME A BROTHER EXISTS. എനിക്ക് ഒരു ചേട്ടനുണ്ട് — enikku oru chettanundu. There is your എനിക്ക് again from Class 1 — to me. And the new word: ഉണ്ട് (undu) — there is, it exists, it is present. That frame — എനിക്ക് + the thing + ഉണ്ട് — is every sentence about possession you will ever need: എനിക്ക് സമയമുണ്ട് (enikku samayamundu) I have time എനിക്ക് പണമുണ്ട് (enikku panamundu) I have money എനിക്ക് ഒരു ചോദ്യമുണ്ട് (enikku oru chodyamundu) I have a question എനിക്ക് പനിയുണ്ട് (enikku paniyundu) I have a fever And the company Malayalam keeps here is excellent company. Russian has no have-verb in normal use — у меня есть, at me there is. Irish has none: tá leabhar agam, a book is at me. Hebrew says yesh li, there is to me. Finnish, Hungarian — none. Turkish is the closest of all, almost word for word: var for there is, yok for there is not, and possession is my-thing var. Hold on to that pair, because Malayalam’s ഉണ്ട് and ഇല്ല are the same two words doing the same two jobs. If you speak Turkish, you already own this entire class. ഇല്ല (illa) is the negative twin: there is not. എനിക്ക് സമയമില്ല — I have no time. Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.