Tamil is natively spoken by about 87 million people, primarily in Tamil Nadu (India), Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore, where it has official status. It is integral to Tamil cultural identity, known for its classical literature, ancient temples such as the Brihadeeswarar Temple, and traditional arts like Bharatanatyam dance. Written in the Tamil script, Tamil grammar features a subject-object-verb (SOV) word order, extensive use of case markers for nouns, and a system of verb conjugations that indicate tense, aspect, and mood.