Class 70 — the shop and the market. Buying things is the best language practice in the world, and it is worth understanding why before you start. A shop transaction is short. It has a fixed structure. It repeats many times a day. It has a real consequence — you either get the thing or you do not. And crucially, the other person WANTS the conversation to succeed, because they want to sell you something. That combination is almost impossible to design in a classroom: real stakes, low risk, endless repetition, and a motivated conversation partner. If you want to become fluent quickly in Kerala, do your own shopping every day in Malayalam, even when English would be faster. THE PLACES. കട (kada) shop, the general word · ചന്ത (chantha) the market · മീൻ ചന്ത (meen chantha) the fish market · പച്ചക്കറി കട (pachakkari kada) the vegetable shop · ബേക്കറി — and in Kerala a bakery sells far more than bread: puffs, cakes, snacks, cool drinks · മെഡിക്കൽ ഷോപ്പ്, the pharmacy, which is the term people actually use. THE CORE VERBS. വാങ്ങുക (vaanguka) to buy, past വാങ്ങി — ഞാൻ പച്ചക്കറി വാങ്ങി, I bought vegetables. വിൽക്കുക (vilkkuka) to sell, past വിറ്റു. AND THE DISTINCTION ENGLISH DOES NOT MAKE, which Malayalam insists on: കൊടുക്കുക (kodukkuka) — to give TO SOMEONE ELSE. തരുക (taruka) — to give TO ME, or to us. The direction of the giving is built into the verb. എനിക്ക് താരൂ — give it to me. അവന് കൊടുക്കൂ — give it to him. You cannot use തരുക for giving to a third person. This is one of those small errors that marks a learner permanently, so fix it now. And once again Malayalam is in good company — Japanese makes the same distinction. Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.