இரு

Tamil

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /iɾu/, [iɾɯ]
  • (file)

Etymology 1

Cognate to Malayalam ഇരിക്കുക (irikkuka), Kannada ಇರು (iru).

Verb

இரு (iru)

  1. to be
    இங்கே இருக்கிறேன்iṅkē irukkiṟēṉI am here.
  2. to exist
    Synonym: உள் (uḷ)
  3. to stay, remain, wait
  4. (auxiliary) added to the adverbial participle of a verb to create the perfect tense
  5. to sit
Usage notes
  • Tamil is a zero-copula language for present-tense sentences whose predicate is a noun. Thus, this verb is not always used as a translation for all senses of 'be'. For example, to describe what or who something or someone is (e.g. "My name is Will"), no verbs are used. When using an adjective that does not precede a noun (e.g. "This food is good"), the adjective is treated as an adverb and is placed before the verb, or there is no verb and a noun is used. However, when describing what/who someone/something was in any tense but the present, இரு is used after an adverb derived from the predicate (see -ஆக (-āka)). For example, நான் விவசாயனாக இருந்தேன். (nāṉ vivacāyaṉāka iruntēṉ., I was a farmer., with adverb and copula) but நான் விவசாயன் (nāṉ vivacāyaṉ, I am a farmer, no adverb nor copula).
Conjugation

Etymology 2

From Proto-Dravidian *iru.

Adjective

இரு (iru)

  1. twice, two, double
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