When to use it
Use it when you must write to a French-speaking office and ask the proper format.
The sentence in English (“How do you write a formal letter in French?”)
In “How do you write a formal letter in French?” generic ‘you’ and ‘do’ are needed.
- How
- adverbquestion word asking about the way or manner
- do
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: present · auxiliary that makes the question
- you
- pronounpersonal pronoun used for people in general
- write
- verbwrite · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "do you"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- formal
- adjectiveadjective
- letter
- nounnoun
- in
- prepositionpreposition
- French
- nounnoun; the name of the language, always capitalised
The sentence in Tamil (“பிரெஞ்சில் முறையான கடிதம் எப்படி எழுதுவது?”)
In “பிரெஞ்சில் முறையான கடிதம் எப்படி எழுதுவது?” the language comes first, with ‘-இல்’ for ‘in’. The verbal noun ‘எழுதுவது’ (writing) needs no subject.
- பிரெஞ்சில்
- proper noun'French' + -il 'in'
- முறையான
- adjective'formal'
- கடிதம்
- noun'letter'
- எப்படி
- adverb'how'
- எழுதுவது
- verbelutu · form: verbal noun (-vatu) · 'writing'; how one writes
What changes from one language to the other (English × Tamil)
English ends with ‘in French’ and needs ‘you’; Tamil fronts it and has no subject.
Example conversation
— பிரெஞ்சில் முறையான கடிதம் எப்படி எழுதுவது?
— How do you write a formal letter in French?
— “Madame, Monsieur” என்று தொடங்கி சுருக்கமாக எழுதுங்கள்.
— Start with “Madame, Monsieur” and keep it short.