MSBSHSE Syllabus for Class 12 Tamil (Tamil 2020)

Class 12 Tamil Syllabus 2020: What It Covers and Who It Applies To

This page covers the Tamil syllabus for the HSC (Class 12) examination of the Maharashtra State Board, where Tamil is studied as a language subject. The syllabus document is the official list of lessons, poems, grammar topics and writing tasks that the question paper is built from, so every question you meet in the exam comes from within it.

The 2020 syllabus applies to students who appeared for the board exam in 2020. If you are appearing in a later year, the subject list and lesson names may have changed, so confirm against the syllabus for your own exam year before you plan revision [verify].

In one line, the syllabus has four skill areas: prose (Urainadai) for reading comprehension, poetry (Seiyul) for appreciation and interpretation, grammar (Ilakkanam) for correct usage, and composition for writing essays, letters and other structured answers.

Tamil is offered as a second or third language in schools, and the question paper is set in Tamil medium, so you read the questions in Tamil and write your answers in Tamil.

Last updated: this page is reviewed against the official syllabus document. Download the official Class 12 Tamil syllabus PDF directly, with no login or sign-up: official state board website [verify exact PDF link]. Once you have the PDF, pair it with our Class 12 Tamil textbook solutions so each listed lesson has a worked reference beside it.

Tamil Syllabus at a Glance: Sections and Marks Weightage

The Tamil paper is built from five parts, and each part tests a different skill. The table below shows what each section contains, roughly how many marks it carries, and the kind of questions you will face. Use it to see where your marks actually come from before you start revision.

Treat the marks column as a guide only. The exact split for the 2020 paper must be checked against the official syllabus document, because the board can change the weightage of a section from year to year [verify].

Two things stand out in this table. First, grammar and composition together usually carry about half the paper, which is more than prose and poetry combined. That means a student who only memorises lessons and ignores grammar loses marks that are easier to earn. Second, the internal or oral component is small but almost free if you prepare for it, so do not leave it to the last week.

The written paper is out of 100 marks with a duration of 3 hours [verify]. If your school adds internal assessment, the final result is calculated on the combined total, so confirm the exact scheme with your Tamil teacher [verify]. For grammar, work through our Class 12 Tamil grammar practice exercises alongside the syllabus list, and once the topics are covered, move to Class 12 Tamil previous year question papers with solutions to see how each section is actually asked.

Unit-wise and Chapter-wise Tamil Syllabus for Class 12 (2020)

The syllabus is organised lesson by lesson, not as a single flat list of topics. Your textbook is the primary source: the prose and poetry lessons printed there are the ones that appear in the paper. The lists below show the shape of each unit and the skills it tests, so you can plan revision unit by unit. Before you begin, open the textbook contents page and the official syllabus PDF side by side and confirm the exact lesson titles and author names for your edition [verify].

Prose (Urainadai) Lessons

The prose unit is a collection of short stories, essays and life sketches. Each lesson is chosen to test whether you can follow a narrative, identify a character's motivation, and state the message the writer wants to convey.

• Short stories: usually built around a conflict or a turning point. Expect questions on the sequence of events, why a character acted in a particular way, and what the story teaches.
• Essays: present an argument or a personal view. Questions ask you to state the writer's main point and the reasons given for it.
• Biographical sketches: describe the life and contribution of a notable person. Questions focus on achievements, struggles and the lesson drawn from that life.
• Author names: learn the writer of each lesson. A one-mark question asking who wrote a given prose piece is common [verify].

Typical exam question: "What message does the lesson convey?" A full-mark answer names the lesson, states the message in one sentence, and then gives one incident from the text as evidence. An answer that only states the message without the incident usually loses part of the mark.

Poetry (Seiyul) Lessons

The poetry unit contains prescribed poems from Tamil literature. For each poem you need three things ready: the poet's name, the central idea, and the meaning of the difficult lines.

• Poet and title: fixed facts, easy marks, so memorise them exactly.
• Central theme: is the poem about nature, devotion, patriotism, social reform, or the value of language? Write the theme in two or three lines in your own words.
• Poetic devices: learn to spot uvamai (simile), uruvagam (metaphor) and edugai and monai (sound repetition at the start of lines). A question asking you to identify the figure of speech in a given line is standard [verify].
• Line explanation: practise rewriting each stanza as simple modern Tamil. This is the skill the explanation question actually tests.

Grammar (Ilakkanam) Topics

Grammar questions are short, rule-based and repeat across years. Work through this list as a checklist:

• Parts of speech (peyarchol, vinaichol, idai, uri) and identifying them in a sentence
• Tense forms and correct use of past, present and future
• Active and passive voice
• Direct and indirect speech (converting a quoted sentence)
• Punarchi (sandhi), the rules for joining two words, and splitting joined words back into their parts
• Compound words and their types
• Synonyms (oyarchol) and antonyms (edhirchol)
• Idioms (pazhamozhi) and their meanings
• Sentence correction: spotting a wrong ending, wrong tense or mismatched subject and verb

Common mistake: students learn the definition of sandhi but cannot apply the rule to a new word. The fix is to practise splitting and joining ten words a day rather than reading the rule again. Our Class 12 Tamil grammar practice exercises are arranged topic by topic for exactly this.

Composition and Writing Skills

This unit has no textbook lessons to memorise. It tests whether you can organise your own writing in Tamil, so the marks come from structure, not from content recall.

• Essay (katturai): a topic from current affairs, social issues, education or culture. A three-part structure (introduction, two or three body paragraphs, conclusion) is enough.
• Letter writing: formal letters to officials or institutions, and informal letters to relatives or friends. The format carries marks: sender's address, date, salutation, body, closing.
• Précis writing: condensing a given passage to roughly one-third of its length while keeping the main idea. Do not add your own opinion.
• Translation: included in some years, usually English to Tamil or Tamil to English [verify].

When you finish a composition, check the ending of every verb and the agreement between subject and verb. Most lost marks in this section come from careless endings, not weak ideas. For model structures, see How to write essays and letters in Tamil for HSC, then practise with the chapter-wise Class 12 Tamil textbook solutions to keep the prose and poetry answers precise.

HSC Tamil Paper Pattern: Question Types, Marks per Question and Time Allowed

The question paper is set in Tamil and you must write all your answers in Tamil, including one-word answers, grammar items and the composition. The paper carries a total of 100 marks and you get 3 hours to complete it [verify]. Marks are not spread evenly: many short items in grammar and objective questions are worth 1 mark each, while prose, poetry and composition answers carry 3 to 5 marks each. The table below shows the typical shape of the paper.

The marks in each row are indicative, so confirm the exact split in the official 2020 document before you build a revision plan around it [verify]. Sections often give you a choice, for example "answer any four of the following six", so read the instruction line above every question before answering [verify].

Here is how marks are actually lost. A student writes a five-mark character sketch with the right points but leaves out the lesson name and one supporting incident from the text. The examiner has nothing to anchor the answer to, and two marks go. The fix is a fixed answer pattern: name the lesson and author in the first line, state your point, then quote or describe one incident as proof.

• Attempt the objective and grammar questions first. They are quick, rule-based and give you a block of secured marks before you touch the long answers.
• Keep an eye on the clock: about 20 minutes for objective, 40 minutes for grammar, 80 minutes for prose and poetry, and 35 minutes for composition, leaving 5 minutes to check [verify].
• Do not spend more than 8 to 10 minutes on any single long answer. If a poem explanation is not coming, move on and return to it later.

Practise the pattern with real papers: solve at least two full sets from our Class 12 Tamil previous year question papers with solutions under timed conditions, and use the Class 12 Tamil textbook solutions to tighten the wording of your literature answers.

How to Download the Official Class 12 Tamil Syllabus PDF (No Login Needed)

The syllabus PDF is the only place where the exact lesson list, author names and grammar topics are printed. Your textbook follows that list, so download the PDF once and keep it on your phone or laptop. It takes about two minutes.

1. Open the state board website. Go to the official site of the state board. The commonly used address is mahatma.website, but confirm the exact URL from your school or the board's own notice board before you search [verify exact URL].
2. Find the syllabus section. Look for a menu or tab named "Syllabus" or "Curriculum". On most board sites it sits under the "Students" or "Academics" heading.
3. Choose Class 12 (HSC) and the year 2020. The site usually lists syllabi by standard and by academic year, so pick both correctly. If you pick a later year, you will get a different document.
4. Open the Tamil PDF. Scroll the language subject list until you reach Tamil, then click the link. The file opens in your browser.
5. Save it offline. Use the download or save icon, or press Ctrl+S on a computer. Rename the file something like "Class12_Tamil_Syllabus_2020" so you can find it during revision.

Some sites ask you to fill a form or create an account before the download starts. You do not need to do that here. Our page links straight to the PDF, so the file opens without any sign-up or waiting screen. If the board site is slow or down, use our direct link instead of hunting through search results.

Once the PDF is saved, keep it open beside your textbook for the first week. Tick each lesson and grammar topic as you finish it, and use our Maharashtra Board Class 12 syllabus hub if you also need the syllabus for your other subjects.

Prose Section: What to Expect and How to Prepare

Prose (Urainadai) is the largest reading block in the Tamil paper. The lessons are usually a mix of short stories, personal essays and short biographies, and the question paper tests four things from each one: whether you understood what happened (comprehension), why it happened (theme), who did what and why (character), and what the lesson teaches (moral or message). Marks are not given for retelling the story alone. A three-mark answer that only summarises the plot usually earns one mark, because the examiner is looking for the reason behind the events.

Read every lesson twice. The first reading is for gist: finish it without stopping, and note in the margin what the story is broadly about. The second reading is for detail: names, relationships, the order of events, and the one or two sentences where the author states the message directly. Most prose questions are built from those sentences.

Three question types repeat across papers [verify]:

• Short answer (2 to 3 marks): "Why did the character refuse the offer?" Answer in one or two full sentences with the reason, not the whole story.
• Character sketch (4 to 5 marks): give three or four qualities, and support each with one incident from the lesson. A sketch without evidence loses marks.
• Theme or message (4 to 5 marks): state the central idea in your first line, then explain it with two examples from the text. For example, if the lesson is about honesty under pressure, name the moment the character chose honesty and say what it cost them.

After finishing each lesson, write a one-page summary: lesson title, author, main characters with one line on each, the key events in order, and the message in your own words. Keep these pages together. In the last week before the exam, you can revise the whole prose section from them in under an hour. When you practise, write answers first and then compare with the chapter-wise Class 12 Tamil textbook solutions, and attempt prose questions from previous year question papers so you get used to the exact wording the board uses.

Poetry Section: Understanding and Analysing Poems

Poetry (Seiyul) is the shortest section by length but the easiest place to lose marks, because the examiner is testing interpretation, not memory. Each poem has to be understood at three levels: what it says literally (the plain meaning of each line), what it is really about (the theme), and how the poet creates that effect (the poetic devices).

Three devices appear again and again, so learn them by name:

• Simile (uvamai): a comparison using words like "like" or "as". Example: "his courage was like a rock in the river".
• Metaphor (uruvakam): a comparison without "like" or "as". Example: "the village was a sleeping child".
• Alliteration (murasu thodai): repetition of the same initial sound in nearby words, used for rhythm and emphasis.

For every poem, fix two facts in memory: the poet's name and the central idea in one sentence of your own. If a question asks "What is the message of this poem?", that sentence is your opening line, and the next two lines are evidence from the text. A typical 4-mark question, "Explain the message of the poem with examples", gives marks for the stated idea plus two supporting lines, not for a full reproduction of the poem.

Practise writing a short paraphrase of each poem: retell it in five or six plain sentences, without copying the original lines. This forces you to understand the meaning, and it is exactly what the "explain these lines" question expects. Compare your paraphrase with the chapter-wise Class 12 Tamil textbook solutions to check whether you missed any line's meaning.

Do not memorise poems word for word and stop there. Questions such as "Identify the figure of speech in the given line and explain why the poet used it" cannot be answered from memory alone, because the paper may quote a line you have not practised. Read the quoted line, ask what picture it creates, and name the device that creates it. Once you can do that for any line in the prescribed poems, the poetry section becomes the quickest part of the paper to score. Attempt poetry questions from Class 12 Tamil previous year question papers to see how the board words these questions [verify].

Grammar Section: Topics, Rules and Practice Strategy

Grammar (Ilakkanam) is the section where marks are decided by practice, not by reading. The same set of topics appears year after year, so once you know the rules and can apply them to a fresh sentence, you can pick up these marks quickly and reliably. The topics to cover are:

• Tense (Kaalam): past, present and future forms, and choosing the right one for the time word in the sentence.
• Voice (Vinai Vakai): converting active sentences to passive and back, keeping the tense unchanged.
• Direct and indirect speech (Ner Kooral and Adai Kooral): changing pronouns, tense and time words when reporting speech.
• Sandhi (Punarchi): how two words join and how the letters change at the join.
• Compound words (Thodar): identifying and forming joined word pairs.
• Synonyms and antonyms (Opporul and Edhirchol): word pairs, usually asked as one-mark items.
• Idioms and proverbs (Pazhamozhi): meaning of the phrase, not the literal words.
• Correction of sentences (Pizhai thiruthal): spotting the error and rewriting the sentence correctly.

Ten to fifteen items a day is enough. Do them in writing, not by reading the answers, because the exam asks you to produce the correct form, not to recognise it. A grammar notebook with one page per topic works best: rule at the top, two correct examples, and one wrong example with the fix written beside it.

Common errors repeat in almost every answer script. In tense, students write the past form when the sentence has a present time word, for example using a past verb with "now" in the sentence. In voice, the tense changes during conversion: an active past sentence must stay past in the passive. In reported speech, the time words are left unchanged, so "today" stays "today" when it should become "that day". In sentence correction, a singular subject is paired with a plural verb. The fix is always the same: underline the verb and the subject first, then check agreement and tense before you write the final sentence.

Use Class 12 Tamil previous year question papers with solutions to find which grammar items the board repeats most often. Mark those items in your notebook and revise them first. After that, work through Class 12 Tamil grammar practice exercises topic by topic until each type takes under a minute.

Composition Section: Essay, Letter, and Précis Writing

This is the section where you produce your own Tamil, and it is marked on structure as much as on language. Four task types usually appear: an essay (katturai) on a general or current topic, a letter (formal or informal), a précis (surakkam, a shortened version of a given passage), and sometimes translation. Check your textbook and the official 2020 document for the exact mix and marks [verify].

Essay (Katturai). Keep to three parts. The introduction is two or three sentences that state what the topic is and why it matters. The body is two or three short paragraphs, each carrying one idea with one example. The conclusion is two sentences that sum up your view. A 250-word essay written this way scores better than a longer one with no paragraph breaks. If the topic is "Viduthalai poril Tamilagam" or "Internetin payangalum thimangalum", the body paragraphs should give one benefit and one drawback with a concrete example, not a list of slogans.

Letter (Kaditham). The format carries marks, so learn it as a fixed pattern:

• Sender's address at the top left.
• Date below it, in the format used in your textbook.
• Salutation: formal letters use "Ayya" or "Amma" with the designation; informal letters use the relationship, such as "Anbulla nanbane".
• Body: purpose in the first paragraph, details in the second.
• Closing: "Izhaiyullu" or "Nanriyudan", followed by your name.

A common mistake is writing a formal letter to a friend or leaving out the date. Fix it by deciding the type of letter before you start and ticking off the five parts at the end.

Précis (Surakkam). Read the passage twice, underline the main idea, then write it in your own words at about one-third of the original length. Do not add opinions and do not copy whole sentences. Give it a short title if the question asks for one.

Write at least two compositions a week and get them checked by your teacher. For ready formats, see How to write essays and letters in Tamil for HSC, and practise timed writing with Class 12 Tamil previous year question papers with solutions.

Internal Assessment and Oral Marks in Class 12 Tamil

Language papers usually carry an internal assessment component alongside the written paper. For Class 12 Tamil this can include an oral exam, listening tasks, or project work, and the exact split between internal and external marks is set by the board for that year [verify]. Treat the written paper as the main target, but do not ignore the internal part: those marks are added to your final result and are often the easiest to secure.

Oral tasks in a language subject typically look like this:

• Reading aloud: you are given a short passage from the textbook and asked to read it with correct pronunciation and pauses.
• Recitation: a poem from the prescribed seiyul section, recited from memory with feeling.
• Conversation: the examiner asks a few simple questions in Tamil about your school, family, hobbies, or a familiar topic.

Prepare a short self-introduction of five or six sentences (your name, class, school, what you like to read, your aim) and practise saying it aloud until it sounds natural, not memorised. Then rehearse answers to likely questions such as "Ungalukku piditha paadam edu?" or "Neenga oru naal enna aaga virumbugireenga?" Record yourself once and listen back to catch slurred endings and wrong verb forms.

The school awards these internal marks and forwards them to the board, where they count towards your final grade [verify]. Keep a written record of any project you submit, including the topic, sources, and date of submission, so that you can produce it if the school asks for it again. For the written side, work through Class 12 Tamil textbook solutions (chapter-wise) so the same textbook passages you read aloud in the oral are also familiar in print.

How to Plan Revision Using the Syllabus: A 4-Week Study Plan

Four weeks is enough for Tamil if you divide the work by section instead of reading randomly. Keep the syllabus printout in front of you and tick each topic only after you can answer questions on it without the textbook open. The plan below assumes about two hours a day; stretch it to three if your other subjects allow.

Week 1: Prose (Urainadai). Take two or three lessons a day depending on length. For each lesson, read once for the story or argument, then again for details. Write a one-page summary: main events in order, the characters and one line on each, and the central message. Then answer the short-answer questions from your textbook and the end-of-lesson exercises. If a lesson is a biography, note the person's early life, main achievement, and contribution separately, because character-sketch questions follow that order.

Week 2: Poetry (Seiyul). Learn each poem at three levels: what it literally says, what it means, and what device the poet uses. Make a small table for yourself with the poet's name, theme, and two figures of speech (simile, metaphor, alliteration) per poem. Practise writing a short paraphrase of four to six lines in your own words, then check it against the textbook explanation. Interpretation questions, not recall questions, are common here, so understanding matters more than memorising lines.

Week 3: Grammar and writing. Spend 30 minutes daily on grammar, doing 20 items at a time from your practice set: tense, voice, direct and indirect speech, sandhi, compound words, synonyms, antonyms, idioms, and sentence correction. Mark every wrong answer in a notebook with the rule beside it. In the same week, write two essays and two letters. Follow the standard letter format (sender's address, date, salutation, body, closing) every single time so the format becomes automatic. Our Class 12 Tamil grammar practice exercises and guide to writing essays and letters in Tamil for HSC are built for this week.

Week 4: Full papers and repair work. Solve at least two complete previous year papers in three hours, sitting at a table with no phone. After each paper, list the topics where you lost marks and revise only those for the next two days. Do not start new lessons in this week.

A daily split that works: 1 hour for literature (prose or poetry, whichever week you are in), 30 minutes for grammar, and 30 minutes for writing practice. On days when you solve a full paper, that paper replaces the whole two hours.

Finally, use the syllabus itself as your checklist. Write the section names on a sheet, tick each topic after you have answered at least one question on it, and keep the sheet visible. A tick you cannot defend with a written answer is not revision, it is only reading.

Exam Strategy and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Start by reading the whole question paper once, pen down, before writing anything. Put a tick beside the questions you can answer confidently and a dot beside the ones you need to think about. This two-minute scan stops the most common exam-day problem: discovering a question you knew well only after the time for it has gone. Marks are usually printed against each question, so read them and decide how much to write. A two-mark question needs two or three sentences, not a full page.

Then attempt the grammar and objective-type questions first. They are short, they have a fixed correct answer, and they build marks quickly. If your paper has a section on synonyms, antonyms, sandhi, or sentence correction, finish it before you touch the long answers. This also settles your nerves before you write essays or explanations.

Time control decides more Tamil papers than vocabulary does. For a three-hour paper [verify], divide your time roughly by marks: keep about 45 to 50 minutes for grammar and objective items, 60 to 70 minutes for literature answers, and 45 to 50 minutes for composition. Never spend more than 10 minutes on any single long answer, even a character sketch or an essay. If an answer is not forming, leave three blank lines, move on, and return at the end. Writing four complete answers beats writing two excellent ones and leaving two untouched.

Write every answer in Tamil, in clear handwriting, with proper punctuation and paragraph breaks. For a character sketch, use one paragraph for the character's role in the lesson and one for their qualities with an example from the text. For an essay, keep the introduction short, give each body point its own paragraph, and end with a two-line conclusion. Examiners award marks for structure, not just content.

Watch for these mistakes:

• Ignoring grammar. Students spend weeks on literature and lose easy marks in grammar. Fix it with daily practice from our Class 12 Tamil grammar practice exercises.
• Writing essays without a plan. Two minutes of jotting points saves ten minutes of confused writing.
• Misreading the question. If it says "explain the message", do not retell the story. Underline the instruction word before you begin.
• Poor time management. Spending 25 minutes on one poem explanation is the single biggest cause of unfinished papers.
• Losing marks in revision. Leave the last 10 minutes to check that you have attempted every question, numbered your answers correctly, and completed any answer you left half-written.

Before the exam, solve at least two full papers under timed conditions using our Class 12 Tamil previous year question papers with solutions. Time yourself honestly and mark where you slowed down. That single habit removes most of the surprise on exam day.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the syllabus for Class 12 Tamil in the Maharashtra Board for 2020?

The 2020 Class 12 Tamil syllabus is the official list of prescribed prose (Urainadai), poetry (Seiyul), grammar (Ilakkanam) and composition topics that the HSC question paper is built from. Every question in the exam comes from within this document. Because it applies specifically to the 2020 exam, treat it as a historical reference if you are appearing in a later year [verify].

How many marks is the Class 12 Tamil paper out of, and what is the duration?

The Tamil paper is a 100-mark theory paper, and the board exam is usually held for three hours. Marks are distributed across prose, poetry, grammar and composition sections. Confirm the exact total and duration for your exam year from the official syllabus or the board's exam timetable, since these details can change [verify].

Is the 2020 Tamil syllabus still applicable for current HSC exams?

Not necessarily. The 2020 syllabus was framed for students who appeared in that year's board exam. Lesson names, prescribed texts and the subject list may have been revised since then. Before you plan revision, check the syllabus document for your own exam year on the official state board website, and use the 2020 version only as a broad guide [verify].

What are the sections of the Class 12 Tamil question paper?

The paper is built from five parts covering prose (Urainadai), poetry (Seiyul), grammar (Ilakkanam) and composition, with prose and poetry carrying roughly 25 marks each [verify]. Question types include short answers, character sketches, theme-based answers, poem appreciation, grammar application and structured writing tasks such as essays and letters. Each section tests a distinct skill, so prepare all of them.

Where can I download the official Class 12 Tamil syllabus PDF?

Download it from the official state board website, where syllabus PDFs are published subject-wise and free of cost, with no login needed [verify exact PDF link]. After downloading, match each listed lesson, poem and grammar topic against your textbook. Pairing the PDF with worked textbook solutions helps you cover every prescribed lesson instead of guessing what to study.

Is there internal assessment or oral marks in Class 12 Tamil?

For language subjects, the board usually conducts a written theory paper, and schools may carry out internal assessment as per board guidelines. Whether oral or listening components carry separate marks for Tamil in your year should be confirmed from the official syllabus document or your school [verify]. Ask your Tamil teacher early so you know exactly what is assessed internally and what is written.