When to use it
Use it to check whether guests or relatives you were expecting arrived.
“Did they arrive last night?” · The sentence in English
In “Did they arrive last night?” ‘Did’ carries the past and ‘arrive’ stays in base form.
- Did
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: past · auxiliary that makes a question in the past
- they
- pronounpersonal pronoun, third person plural
- arrive
- verbarrive · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "did" the verb stays in its base form
- last
- adjectiveadjective; "last night" means the night before today
- night
- nounnoun
“அவர்கள் நேற்று இரவு வந்து சேர்ந்தார்களா?” · The sentence in Tamil
In “அவர்கள் நேற்று இரவு வந்து சேர்ந்தார்களா?” ‘arrive’ is two verbs, ‘வந்து’ (having come) plus ‘சேர்’ (reach). The past, the plural and the question all sit in ‘சேர்ந்தார்களா’.
- அவர்கள்
- pronoun'they'
- நேற்று
- adverb'yesterday'
- இரவு
- noun'night'; nēṟṟu iravu = last night
- வந்து
- verbvā · form: conjunctive (-tu) · vantu cēr = arrive
- சேர்ந்தார்களா
- verbcēr · tense: past · number: plural · cērntārkaḷ 'reached' + ā (question)
What changes from one language to the other · English × Tamil
English needs ‘did’; Tamil changes the verb itself and puts the time before it.
Example conversation
— அவர்கள் நேற்று இரவு வந்து சேர்ந்தார்களா?
— Did they arrive last night?
— ஆமாம், நள்ளிரவில்; ரயில் தாமதமானது.
— Yes, around midnight; the train was late.