Class 2 — who you are, in Malayalam script. Class 1 taught you to ask for things. Today you learn to say what something IS, and it turns on one small word: ആണ് (aanu) — is. The first thing to notice will feel wrong for about a week. ആണ് goes at the END. English says I am a teacher, with the is in the middle. Malayalam says I teacher am. ഞാൻ ഒരു അധ്യാപികയാണ് — njaan oru adhyaapikayaanu — I / one / teacher (female) / am. And notice that ആണ് did not stay separate. It fused onto the end of the previous word: അധ്യാപികയാണ്. That is normal, and Malayalam does it constantly. The ancient rule behind it is സന്ധി (sandhi), the joining: words that sit next to each other run together and the boundary softens. In careful speech the two separate; in ordinary speech they fuse. Learn to hear the fused version as two pieces. THE PRONOUNS THAT GO IN FRONT ഞാൻ (njaan) I · നീ (nee) you, familiar — only with children or people you are genuinely close to · നിങ്ങൾ (ningal) you, respectful, and this is your safe form · അവൻ (avan) he · അവൾ (aval) she · അവർ (avar) they, and also he or she when being respectful about one person. Then the pair English cannot make, and Malayalam insists on: നമ്മൾ (nammal) — we, and YOU ARE IN IT. ഞങ്ങൾ (njangal) — we, and you are NOT. നമ്മൾ പോകാം invites the person. ഞങ്ങൾ പോകാം tells them your group is leaving without them. Getting these backwards is socially loud. Learn them as a pair. This inclusive/exclusive distinction runs across a huge sweep of the world’s languages — Tamil and Telugu, Indonesian and Malay, Tagalog, Mandarin, Quechua, many Australian and Pacific languages. English once had something like it and lost it, as did most of Europe. Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.