ഞാൻ
ñāṉ/ɲaːn/
The Malayalam word for "I" is ഞാൻ (ñāṉ).
ഞാൻ is a personal pronoun.
Meaning: personal pronoun (pron)
How does it change in a sentence?
The pronoun ഞാൻ changes depending on its grammatical role. Its possessive form is എന്റെ (my). When expressing feeling, necessity or possession in certain contexts, it changes to the dative case എനിക്ക് (to me / for me).
How do you pronounce it?
The word is romanized as ñāṉ and pronounced /ɲaːn/.
Did you know?
- The dative form എനിക്ക് is used not just for 'to me' but also to express physical sensations, such as saying 'to me it is cold' instead of 'I am cold'.
- In formal or respectful speech, speakers often avoid ഞാൻ entirely by using a passive construction or referring to themselves in the third person to show humility.
- When you use the possessive form എന്റെ, you are using a word that shares a completely different root than the original pronoun ഞാൻ.
Examples in context
- ഞാൻ ഒരു എഞ്ചിനീയർ ആണ്.I am an engineer.This sentence is useful for stating your profession using ഞാൻ.Tatoeba #2730712 by dochash, translation #2730653 by afyodor
- ഞാൻ ഒരു അമേരിക്കൻ ആണ്.I am American.This sentence is useful for stating your nationality using ഞാൻ.Tatoeba #5494550 by dochash, translation #461975 by tamsanh
- ഞാൻ എൻറെ അവസാന പരീക്ഷ എഴുതുക ആണ്.I am taking my final exam.This sentence is useful for describing a current action using ഞാൻ.Tatoeba #2730723 by dochash, translation #2730041 by Amastan
- 56 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Meera and Rahul are meeting at a cafe.
- മീര Meeraഞാൻ മീര ആണ്.Njan Meera aanu.I am Meera.
- രാഹുൽ Rahulഹലോ മീര, ഞാൻ രാഹുൽ ആണ്.Hello Meera, njan Rahul aanu.Hello Meera, I am Rahul.
- മീര Meeraഞാൻ ഇവിടെ പുതിയതാണ്.Njan ivide puthiyathaanu.I am new here.
- രാഹുൽ Rahulസന്തോഷം, നമുക്ക് സംസാരിക്കാം.Santhosham, namukku samsarikkaam.Nice to meet you, let's talk.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “I” translations and entries ഞാൻ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
