Everyday Spoken Tamil
Build immediate conversational confidence in spoken Tamil through practical daily exchanges. Learn how to greet with warmth, order at local eateries, and navigate everyday street encounters using natural rhythm and polite phrasing.
Like Duolingo, but for Everyday Spoken Tamil. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes end to end, roughly 4 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Making Contact and Expressing Needs and Navigating the Street and Table. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Everyday Spoken Tamil
- 'Vanakkam' is the universal Tamil greeting suitable for both casual everyday encounters and formal meetings
- It is traditionally accompanied by folding hands together with a gentle nod or eye contact to convey warmth and respect
- Attaching the suffix '-nga' to words, greetings, or names instantly softens speech and signals politeness
- Using '-nga' prevents everyday interactions from sounding curt or demanding to native Tamil speakers
- A conversational greeting naturally begins with 'Vanakkam'
- 'Eppadi irukkeenga?' is the polite way to ask 'How are you?'
- 'Nallaa irukken' translates to 'I am fine' and serves as the standard response
- 'Neenga' is the respectful, polite pronoun for 'you' (and also the plural form)
- 'Nee' is strictly informal, reserved for children, very close friends, or younger relatives
- Addressing an adult stranger or acquaintance as 'nee' sounds disrespectful or overly presumptuous
- In spoken Tamil, attaching 'venum' directly after a noun means you want or need that item (e.g., 'thanni venum')
- Attaching 'vendaam' directly after a noun means you decline or do not want that item (e.g., 'tea vendaam')
- You do not need full conjugated verbs or linking prepositions to make everyday requests with these words
- 'Enna' asks 'what' and can stand alone as an informal query or sit before a verb
- 'Enge' asks 'where' when looking for a location or person
- 'Eppadi' asks 'how' when asking about manner, condition, or well-being
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Everyday Spoken Tamil the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What traditional gesture usually goes with saying 'Vanakkam'?
Get it right to open this lesson and 10 more in the app.
Where Everyday Spoken Tamil takes you
- 1
Making Contact and Expressing Needs
- Polite Greetings and First Impressions
- Asking, Wanting, and Refusing
- 2
Navigating the Street and Table
- Ordering Food and Handling Transactions
- Getting Around and Giving Directions
2 sections · 4 units · 11 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Everyday Spoken Tamil is taught in the Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Everyday Spoken Tamil today.
Download Tomo, search Everyday Spoken Tamil, and play your first lesson in under a minute.