Many English speakers have studied French, Spanish or Hindi at school, where every table, car and sun is either masculine or feminine, and verbs or adjectives change to match. They arrive at Malayalam braced for the same work. They ask "is the table masculine?", or they call the family car "she", or they worry about changing verb endings for men and women. In this episode: • Every thing is athu • Verbs and describing words never change • Where gender does appear: people • The -an and -i pattern, and words with no gender • Animals and pets • Listening scene • Language bridge • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: മേശ (mesha) = table കാർ (kaar) = car വീട് (veedu) = house പുസ്തകം (pusthakam) = book ഫോൺ (fon) = phone മരം (maram) = tree ഈ മേശ വലുതാണ് (ee mesha valuthaanu) = this table is big അത് പുതിയതാണ് (athu puthiyathaanu) = it's new ഞാൻ വന്നു (njaan vannu) = I came അവൻ വന്നു (avan vannu) = he came അവൾ വന്നു (aval vannu) = she came അവർ വന്നു (avar vannu) = they came മഴ വന്നു (mazha vannu) = the rain came ഞാൻ പോകുന്നു (njaan pokunnu) = I'm going അവൾ പോകുന്നു (aval pokunnu) = she's going നല്ല കുട്ടി (nalla kutti) = a good child നല്ല വീട് (nalla veedu) = a good house നല്ല ചേട്ടൻ (nalla chettan) = a good older brother നല്ല ചേച്ചി (nalla chechi) = a good older sister അവൻ (avan) = he അവൾ (aval) = she അവർ (avar) = they, or he or she said respectfully, useful when gender is unknown ചേട്ടൻ (chettan) = older brother ചേച്ചി (chechi) = older sister അനിയൻ (aniyan) = younger brother Learn Spoken Malayalam at Home: a complete course in everyday spoken Malayalam for English speakers. Native Malayalam pronunciation, every phrase in Malayalam script, Manglish and English, plus a language bridge comparing Malayalam with other world languages. Listen, repeat out loud, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.