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Telugu grammar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Telugu is an agglutinative language with person, tense, case and number being inflected on the end of nouns and verbs. Its word order is usually subject-object-verb, with the direct object following the indirect object. The grammatical function of the words are marked by suffixes that indicate case and postpositions that follow the oblique stem. It is also head-final and a pro-drop language.

The first treatise on Telugu grammar (Telugu: వ్యాకరణం vyākaraṇam), the Andhra Shabda Chintamani (Telugu: ఆంధ్ర శబ్ద చింతామణి Āndhra śabda cintāmaṇi) was written in Sanskrit by Nannayya, who is considered the first poet (ādikavi) and grammarian of the Telugu language, in the 11th century CE.

In the 19th century, Paravastu Chinnaya Suri wrote a simplified work on Telugu grammar called Bāla Vyākaraṇam (lit. Children's grammar), borrowing concepts and ideas from Nannayya, in Telugu.[1]

According to Nannayya, language without 'Niyama' or the language which does not adhere to Vyākaranam is called Grāmya (lit of the village) or Apabhraṃśa, is unfit for literary usage. All literary texts in Telugu follow the Vyākaraṇam.[1]

Nouns

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Telugu is more inflected than other literary Dravidian languages. Telugu nouns are inflected for number (singular, plural), gender (masculine and non-masculine) and grammatical case (nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, locative and vocative).[2]

we can convert verbs and adjectives into nouns by adding suffixes like ika, tanam, rikam, etc

Example :

  • verb

ceyu + ika = ceyika(action)

  • adjective

manchi + thanam = manchithanam (goodness)

Gender

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Telugu has three genders:

  • masculine ( puliṅgamu),
  • feminine (strī liṅgamu),
  • neuter (napunsaka liṅgamu).

In Telugu the occurrence of the suffix (–ḍu) almost always encodes masculine gender. For example:

  • tammuḍu (younger brother),
  • mukhyuḍu (important man),
  • Rāmuḍu (Rāma),
  • nāyakuḍu (leader).

However, there are nouns that do not end in (-ḍu) that belong to the masculine class.For example:

  • annayya (elder brother),
  • māmayya (uncle).

Most of the words ending in -ḍu are borrowings from Sanskrit words ending in -a, and therefore the feminine forms of these words are equivalent to the Sanskrit words.

Masculine Sanskrit original Feminine
nartakuḍu nartaka nartaki
vācakuḍu vācaka vācaki
premikuḍu premika preyasi

Sometimes, a word ending in -ḍu is feminized by adding the suffix -ālu to the root. The -a ending of the root becomes -ur. This phenomenon is known as the rugāgama sandhi.

Masculine Sanskrit original Feminine
nartakuḍu nartaka nartakurālu
priyuḍu priya priyurālu
bhaktuḍu bhakta bhakturālu

Neuter-gendered words usually contain the suffix -amu. This suffix descends from the Old Telugu suffix -ambu and is increasingly losing the final -u to become -aṁ. These neuter words are often borrowed from Sanskrit words ending in -a or -u. The final -a usually becomes -amu, and the final -u becomes -uvu.

Sanskrit original Telugu
ākāśam ākāśamu
madhu madhuvu

However, Telugu sometimes uses the same forms for singular feminine and neuter genders – the third person pronoun (అది /ad̪i/) is used to refer to animals and objects.[3]

Number (vachanam)

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Anything with quantity one is singular (ekavachanam). Anything more than one in number is called plural (bahuvachanam), as in English. Formation of the plural stem, however, is relatively complicated, although the ending is centered on variants -lu or -ḷu.

In Telugu the plural is also used to as an honorific. Some nouns are always plural and some are always singular. For example, water (neellu) is always plural.

God (bhagavantudu), sun (suryudu), earth (bhūmi), and moon (chandrudu) are always singular form.

Plural formation

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Rules[4]
Rule Telugu English Notes Exceptions
Singular Plural
0 āvu āvulu cow No modification of the stem, and variant -lu is used.
  • cellelucelleṇḍḷu, celleḷḷu "younger sister"
  • cēnucēlu "field with a crop"
  • kūturukūtuṇḍḷu, kūtuḷḷu "daughter"
  • eddueddulu, eḍḷu "bullock"
  • pēnupēlu "louse"
1 cōṭu cōṭḷu crore Vowels in -ṭ[i/u], -ṇṭ[i/u], or -ṇḍ[i/u] in the singular is deleted, and variant -ḷu is used. Forms in -ṇḍḷu varies with -ḷḷu, used in western and eastern dialects, respectively.
paṇḍu paṇḍḷu
paḷḷu
fruit
2 kālu kāḷḷu leg -ḍ[i/u], -l[i/u], or -r[i/u] (-li or -ri are limited to nouns with at least 3 syllables) in the singular are replaced by -ḷḷu. Some instances of -ḷḷu have alternative form -rlu.
  • alluḍualluṇḍḷu, alluḷḷu "son-in-law"
  • ēḍuēṇḍḷu, ēḷḷu "year"
  • jītagāḍujītagāṇḍḷu, jītagāḷḷu "servant"
  • kāḍikāṇḍḷu, kāḷḷu "yoke"
  • kumāruḍukumārulu, kumāruḷḷu "son"
  • manamarālumanamarāṇḍḷu, manamarāḷḷu "granddaughter"
pēru pēḷḷu
pērlu
name
  • koḍavalikoḍavanḍḷu, koḍavaḷḷu "sickle"
  • -gāri-gārlu "a honorific suffix"
  • -sāri-sārlu "time"
3 guḍḍu guḍḷu egg -ṭṭ[i/u] and -ḍḍ[i/u] in the singular change into -ṭ- and -ḍ- before variant -ḷu.
4 illu iṇḍḷu
iḷḷu
house -llu and -nnu in the singular are replaced by -ṇḍḷu or -ḷḷu.
  • junnujunnulu "kind of cheese"
  • pannupannulu "tax"
  • ponnuponnulu "iron ring"
  • tannutannulu "beating"
  • ṭannuṭannulu "tonne"
  • vennuvennulu "back, ear of corn"
5 pustakam pustakālu book -[a/ā]m and -em in the singular are replaced by -ā- and -ē- before variant -lu.
6 abbāy(i) abbāy(i)lu son, boy The vowel in -yi- is sometimes deleted, and variant -lu is used.
7 cēyi
ceyyi
tulu hand -(y)yi in the singular is replaced by -tulu, and the vowel preceding -yyi becomes long after pluralization (ceyyicētulu).
  • poyyipoyyilu, poyilu "hearth"
  • rāyirāḷḷu "rock"
  • veyyivēlu "thousand"
8 pilli pillulu cat The vowel -i- is replaced by -u-, and the variant -lu is used. In native nouns with more than three syllables, all instances of -i- is ablauted to -u-.
  • peṇḍḷi, peḷḷipeṇḍḷinḍḷu, peḷḷiḷḷu "marriage"
  • rātrirātriḷḷu "night"
  • varivaḍlu "paddy"
maniṣi manuṣulu person

Case (విభక్తి vibhakti)

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A Grammar of Modern Telugu by Krishnamurti and Gwynn (1985), which focuses on a grammatical description of modern spoken Telugu rather than classical literary Telugu, presents a simple analysis of grammatical case, in comparison with classical Telugu:

Only the nominative, genitive, accusative, and dative cases are regularly used, and the locative case is formed using the suffixes -lō, -lōpala which were originally placed in the Genitive case by traditional grammarians to fit into the Sanskrit case scheme. The instrumental+sociative case suffix is -tō (while classical has -cēn/-cētan for instrumental and -tōn/-tōḍan for sociative); the colloquial suffixes for ablative case are -nuṇḍi/-nuñci. Ablative case is also used for comparative statements in colloquial Telugu, for which the suffixes are -kaṇṭe/-kannā. Another usage of ablative case is to indicate 'because of' noun, where the suffix -valla (classical -valanan) is used. The benefactive suffixes in classical (-koṟakun/-kai) are completely replaced by -kōsam in modern colloquial Telugu. The genitive form of a noun is defaulted to its oblique stem, i.e., oblique stem of a noun serves as its genitive case by default, though an explicit suffix -yokka is used in formal contexts (refer to oblique stem formation below).

The accusative case suffix is -ni/-nu, with the former always used after final syllables containing -i-, and the latter elsewhere but freely varies with -ni. The intervening vowel is sometimes deleted between -ḍ-, -l-, -n-, -ṇ-, -r- and the suffix, e.g. mimmala "you (plural) + -nimimmalni, vāḍi "him" + -nivāṇṇi (*-ḍni-ṇṇi).

In neuter nouns, the nominative singular ending -am changes before the accusative and dative case suffixes, such that the combined forms of these endings are neuter accusative singular -ānni (← *-ānini) and neuter dative singular -āniki.[5]

Case Suffix Example
Dative -ki/-ku అతను బడికి వెళ్తాడు

Atanu baḍiki veḷtāḍu He goes to school

Accusative -ni/-nu అతను అబ్బాయిని చూస్తాడు

Atanu abbāyini cūstāḍu He sees the boy

Sociative + Instrumental -tō అతను కుక్కతో ఆడుకుంటాడు

Atanu kukka āḍukuṇṭāḍu He plays with the dog

అతను చేతితో రాస్తున్నాడు

Atanu cētitō rāstunnāḍu He is writing using hand

Ablative -nuṇḍi/-nuñci ('from')

-kaṇṭē/-kannā (comparative)

-valla ('because of')

అతను ఇంటినుండి బయలుదేరాడు

Atanu iṇṭinuṇḍi bayaludērǣḍu He set out from school

అతనికంటే నేను పొడుగు

Atanikaṇṭē nēnu poḍugu I am taller than him

అతనివల్ల నేను ఓడిపొయ్యాను

Atanivalla ōḍipoyyǣnu I have lost because of him

Locative -lō/lōpala అతను గదిలో ఉన్నాడు

Atanu gadi unnāḍu He is in the room

Oblique stem formation

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Formation of the oblique stem, also usually but not always the same as the genitive (by default homophonous unless noted), is relatively complicated just like pluralization. The plural oblique stem, however, is either -la or -ḷa.

Classes[6]
Class Telugu English Notes
Nominative Oblique
A ceṭṭu ceṭṭu- tree No change.
B kālu kāli- leg Human nouns ending in -ḍu, -lu, -nu, or -ru (including a few non-human nouns ending in -lu or -ru) replace -u with -i.
C gūḍu ṭi- tree Non-human nouns ending in -ḍ[i/u], -l[i/u], -r[i/u] replace the endings with -ṭi.
D illu iṇṭi- house Only limited to nouns cannu "breast", illu "house", kannu "eye", oḷḷu "body", pannu "teeth", and villu "bow".
kannu kaṇṭi- eye
E cēyi
ceyyi
ti- hand Only limited to nouns cēyi "hand", gōyi "pit", nēyi "ghee", nūyi "well", rāyi "stone", gorru "hearth", and Parru, all of them except the last three show variation between -V̄yi vs. -Vyyi.
gorru gorti hearth
F kalam kalāni- pen All nouns ending in -am replace the ending with -āni, although the genitive is homophonous with nominative instead of the oblique stem.

Examples

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Only nominative, genitive, accusative, and dative cases are shown here.

kukka "dog"
Singular Plural
Nominative kukka kukkalu
Genitive kukkala
Accusative kukkani kukkalani
Dative kukkaki kukkalaki

Sentence Structure

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Telugu word order tends to be subject–object–verb. It is head-final - the head follows its complements. Since Telugu is a pro-drop language, the subject can be omitted as the verb already marks person and number.

రాముడు

Rāmuḍu

Ram

SUBJECT

బడికి

baḍiki

to school

OBJECT

వెళ్తాడు.

veḷtāḍu

goes.

VERB

రాముడు బడికి వెళ్తాడు.

Rāmuḍu baḍiki veḷtāḍu

Ram {to school} goes.

SUBJECT OBJECT VERB

Ram goes to school.

అతను

Atanu

He

SUBJECT

కుక్కను

kukkanu

the dog

OBJECT

చూస్తాడు

cūstāḍu

sees

VERB

అతను కుక్కను చూస్తాడు

Atanu kukkanu cūstāḍu

He {the dog} sees

SUBJECT OBJECT VERB

He sees the dog

Sandhi or joining

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Sandhi is the fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of sounds due to neighboring sounds or due to the grammatical function of adjacent words.

Telugu sandhis can be divided into native ones and those derived from Sanskrit ones.

Sanskrit Sandhis

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These sandhis usually take place when the two words undergoing Sandhi are words borrowed from Sanskrit.

Savarṇadīrghasandhi (Vowel lengthening)

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The savarṇadīrgha sandhi, from Sanskrit savarṇa 'same sound' and dīrgha 'long', this sandhi takes place when the first word ends in the same vowel that the second word starts with. The two vowels join to form one long vowel.

Examples of the savarṇadīrgha sandhi
Initial word Final word Result
deva ālayamu dēvālayamu
pārvati īśvaruḍu pārvatīśvaruḍu
aṇu utpatti aṇūtpatti

Guṇasandhi (Vowel raising)

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The guṇasandhi takes place when a word final -a is followed by either -i, -u or -r̥. The sandhi yields -ē, -ō and -ar respectively. -ē, -ō and -ar are collectively called the guṇas, hence the name.

Examples of the guṇasandhi
Initial word Final word Result
mahā indra mahēndra
dhana utpatti dhanōtpatti
dēva ṣi dēvarṣi

Vr̥ddhisandhi (Diphthongization)

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The vr̥ddhisandhi, from Sanskrit vr̥ddhi-, 'growth', takes place when a word final -a is followed by -ē or -ai, -ō or -au, and -ar or -ār, and yields -ai, -au and -ār respectively. -ai, -au and -ār are collectively called the vr̥ddhis, hence the name.

Examples of the vr̥ddhisandhi
Initial word Final word Result
vasudha ēka vasudhaika
mahā aikyata mahaikyata
vīra ōjassu vīraujassu
divya auṣadhamu divyauṣadhamu

Yaṇādēśasandhi (Glide insertion)

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The yaṇādēśasandhi takes place when word final -i, -u or - is followed by a non-similar vowel. The sandhi yields either -y-, -v- or -r- respectively. These are known as the yaṇās.

Examples of the yaṇādēśasandhi
Initial word Final word Result
ati āśa atyāśa
su āgatamu svāgatamu
pit ājña pitrājña

Native sandhis

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These sandhis usually occur when one or both of the words is a native Telugu word, or is a Sanskrit borrowing that is treated as such (ex. iṣṭamu).

Akārasandhi (Elision of a)

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This sandhi occurs when a word final -a is followed by any vowel. The word final -a is removed, and the following vowel takes its place.

Examples of akārasandhi
Initial word Final word Result
iṅkā ēṇṭi iṅkēṇṭi
puṭṭina illu puṭṭinillu
amma aṇṭē ammaṇṭē
teliyaka uṇḍenu teliyakuṇḍenu

Ikārasandhi

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This sandhi occurs when a word final -i is followed by any vowel. The word final -i is removed, and the following vowel takes its place.

Examples of ikārasandhi
Initial word Final word Result
mari eppuḍu mareppuḍu
vāḍi illu vāḍillu
ēmi aṇṭivi ēmaṇṭivi
ēmi a(y)inadi ēma(y)inadi
ēmi undi ēmundi

Ukārasandhi

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This sandhi occurs when a word final -u is followed by any vowel. The word final -u is removed, and the following vowel takes its place.

Example of ukārasandhi
Initial word Final word Result
ceppu iṅkā ceppiṅkā
vāḍu evaḍu vāḍevaḍu
nīḷlu unnāyā nīḷlunnāyā
vāḍu annāḍu vāḍannāḍu

Trikasandhi

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One of the most complicated of the sandhis, the trikasandhi is of two forms:

  1. When a final -ā -ī or is followed by a non-clustered consonant, the vowel is shortened, and the unclustered consonant is geminated.
  2. When the word mūḍu (three) is followed by a consonant, the word-final -ḍu is eliminated. This triggers the first rule of the trikasandhi, and the now-word-final is shortened, and the following consonant is geminated. When the consonant is l-, sometimes it is geminated to -ḷḷ- instead.
Examples of the trikasandhi
Initial word Final word Result
ī kālamu ikkālamu
ē cōṭu eccōṭu
ā bhaṅgi abbaṅgi
mūḍu lōkamulu mullōkamulu
mūḍu kōṭi mukkōṭi

Āmrēḍitasandhi

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This sandhi deals with repeated words, i.e., pairs of same words. This sandhi forms some of the most used irregular-looking words in the language. It has three rules:

  1. When a vowel-initial word is repeated, the final vowel of the first word is eliminated.
  2. Word final forms of ka (ka, ki, ku, ke, etc.) of the first word are eliminated and the first rule is applied.
  3. The andādi words (anduku, iggulu, tumuru, tuniyalu, etc.) when compounded lead to irregular forms.
Examples of the āmrēḍitasandhi
Word Result
aura auraura
endun endendun
appaṭiki appaṭappaṭiki
ūran ūrūran
ceduru cellāceduru
iggulu iṟṟiggulu

Dviruktaṭakārasandhi

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Sometimes regarded as a form of the āmrēḍitasandhi, the dviruktaṭakārasandhi occurs when kaḍādi (kaḍa, naḍuma, madhyāhnamu, bayalu, etc.) words are compounded. A dviruktaṭakāra, a geminated -ṭṭ- forms from this sandhi, hence the name.

Examples of the dviruktaṭakārasandhi
Initial word Final word Result
madhyāhnamu madhyāhnamu miṭṭamadhyāhnamu
pagalu pagalu paṭṭapagalu
naḍuma iṇṭlō naṭṭiṇṭlō

Gasaḍadavādēśasandhi

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  • Trika Sandhi.
  • Dugagama Sandhi.
  • Saraladesha Sandhi
  • Gasadadavadesha Sandhi.
  • Rugagama Sandhi.
  • Yadagama Sandhi.
  • Prathametara Vibhakti Sandhi.
  • Uchadadi sandhi.

Samasam or nominal compounds

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Samasam or samasa occurs with various structures, but morphologically speaking they are essentially the same: each noun (or adjective) is in its (weak) stem form, with only the final element receiving case inflection.

Some of the Telugu samasams are:

  • Tatpuruṣa Samasam.
    • Prathama tatpurusha samasam
    • Dvitiya tatpurusha samasam
    • Trutiya tatpurusha samasam
    • Chaturthi tatpurusha samasam
    • Panchami tatpurusha samasam
    • Shashti tatpurusha samasam
    • Saptami tatpurusha samasam
    • Nai tatpurusha samasam
  • Karmadhāraya Samasam.
    • Viśeshana purwapada karmadharaya samasam
    • Viśeshana uttarapada karmadharaya samasam
    • Viśeshana ubhayapada karmadharaya samasam
    • Upamana purvapada karmadharaya samasam
    • Upamana uttarapada karmadharaya samasam
    • Avadharana purvapada karmadharaya samasam
    • Sambhavana purvapada karmadharaya samasam
  • Dvigu Samasam.
  • Dvandva Samasam.
  • Bahuvrīhi Samasam.
  • Amredita Samasam.
  • Avyayībhāva Samasam

Alankaram or ornamentation

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Telugu Alankaram is a figure of speech which means ornaments or embellishments which are used to enhance the beauty of the poems. There are two types of Alankarams, 'Shabdalankaram' which primarily focuses on Sound and 'Arthalamkaram' which focuses on meaning. These two alankarams are further broken down in to different categories.[7] shabdalankaras are 6 types where as there are nearly 30 to 40 types in ardhalankaras.

  • Shabdalankaram
    • Vruttyanuprasa
    • Chekanuprasa
    • Latanuprasa
    • antyanuprasa
    • Yamakam
    • Mukta pada grastam
  • Arthalamkaram
    • Upamanaalankaram
    • Utprekshaalankaram
    • Rupakaalankaram
    • Shleshalankaram
    • Arthantaranyaasam
    • Atishayokti
    • Drushtantam
    • Swabhavokti
    • vyajastu
    • virodhi
    • vishamamu
    • parikaramu
    • branti madala
    • kramalam

Chandassu or Telugu prosody

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Metrical poetry in Telugu is called 'Chandassu' or 'Chandas'. ya-maa-taa-raa-ja-bhaa-na-sa-la-gam is called the chandassu chakram. Utpalamala, Champakamala, Mattebha vikreeditham, Sardoola Vikreeditham, Kanda, Aata veladi, Theta geethi, Sragdhara, Bhujangaprayata, etc. are some metrics used in Telugu poetry.

Verbs

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Although the morphological (grammatical) structure of Telugu verbs is quite evidently complex and complicated, the basic conjugation of subject person and number endings in modern spoken Telugu is in fact rather straightforward:

Past tense

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Past tense Past tense negative
1st person singular
నేను
nēnu
వెళ్ళాను

veḷḷānu
I went

వెళ్ళలేదు
veḷḷalēdu
I didn't go
2nd person singular
నువ్వు
nuvvu
వెళ్ళావు

veḷḷāvu
You went

వెళ్ళలేదు
veḷḷalēdu
You didn't go
3rd person singular masculine
అతను
atanu
వెళ్ళాడు

veḷḷāḍu
He went

వెళ్ళలేదు
veḷḷalēdu
He didn't go
3rd person singular feminine/neuter
ఆమె
āme
వెళ్ళింది

veḷḷindi
She went

వెళ్ళలేదు
veḷḷalēdu
She didn't go
1st person plural
మేము
mēmu
వెళ్ళాము

veḷḷāmu
We went

వెళ్ళలేదు
veḷḷalēdu
We didn't go
2nd person plural
మీరు
mīru
వెళ్ళారు

veḷḷāru
You (plural) went

వెళ్ళలేదు
veḷḷalēdu
You (plural) didn't go
3rd person plural masculine/feminine
వారు
vāru
వెళ్ళారు

veḷḷāru
They (masc./fem.) went

వెళ్ళలేదు
veḷḷalēdu
They (masc./fem.) didn't go
3rd person plural neuter
అవి
avi
వెళ్లాయి

veḷlāyi
They (neuter) went

వెళ్ళలేదు
veḷḷalēdu
They (neuter) didn't go

The vowel -ā- is pronounced as /æː/, except in some verbs. In the verbs an- "to say", kan- "to buy", kon- "to bring forth", kūrcun- "to be seated", nilcun- "to stand", tin- " to eat", un- "to be", and vin- " to hear", -nā (with //) is used instead.

Present tense

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Present tense Present tense negative
1st person singular
నేను
nēnu
వెళ్తున్నాను

veḷtunnānu

I am going

వెళ్లట్లేదు

veḷlaṭlēdu

I am not going

2nd person singular
నువ్వు
nuvvu
వెళ్తున్నావు

veḷtunnāvu

You are going

వెళ్లట్లేదు

veḷlaṭlēdu

You aren't going

3rd person singular masculine
అతను
atanu
వెళ్ళుతున్నాడు

veḷḷutunnāḍu

He is going

వెళ్లట్లేదు

veḷlaṭlēdu

He isn't going

3rd person singular feminine/neuter
ఆమె
āme
వెళ్తోంది

veḷtōndi

She is going

వెళ్లట్లేదు

veḷlaṭlēdu

She isn't going

1st person plural
మేము
mēmu
వెళ్తున్నాము

veḷtunnāmu

We are going

వెళ్లట్లేదు

veḷlaṭlēdu

We aren't going

2nd person plural
మీరు
mīru
వెళ్తున్నారు

veḷtunnāru

You (plural) are going

వెళ్లట్లేదు

veḷlaṭlēdu

You (plural) aren't going

3rd person plural masculine/feminine
వారు
vāru
వెళ్తున్నారు

veḷtunnāru

They (masc./fem.) are going

వెళ్లట్లేదు

veḷlaṭlēdu

They (masc./fem.) aren't going

3rd person plural neuter
అవి
avi
వెళ్తున్నాయి

veḷtunnāyi

They (neuter) are going

వెళ్లట్లేదు

veḷlaṭlēdu

They (neuter) aren't going

Future tense

[edit]
Future tense Future tense negative
1st person singular
నేను
nēnu
వెళ్తాను

veḷtānu

I will go

వెళ్ళను

veḷḷanu

I won't go

2nd person singular
నువ్వు
nuvvu
వెళ్తావు

veḷtāvu

You will go

వెళ్లవు

veḷlavu

You won't go

3rd person singular masculine
అతను
atanu
వెళ్తాడు

veḷtāḍu

He will go

వెళ్ళడు

veḷḷaḍu

He won't go

3rd person singular feminine/neuter
ఆమె
āme
వెళ్తుంది

veḷtundi

She will go

వెళ్ళదు

veḷḷadu

She won't go

1st person plural
మేము
mēmu
వెళ్తాము

veḷtāmu

We will go

వెళ్ళము

veḷḷamu

We won't go

2nd person plural
మీరు
mīru
వెళ్తారు

veḷtāru

You (plural) will go

వెళ్ళరు

veḷḷaru

You (plural) won't go

3rd person plural masculine/feminine
వారు
vāru
వెళ్తారు

veḷtāru

They (masc./fem.) will go

వెళ్ళరు

veḷḷaru

They (masc./fem.) won't go

3rd person plural neuter
అవి
avi
వెళ్తాయి

veḷtāyi

They (neuter) will go

వెళ్ళవు

veḷḷavu

They (neuter) won't go

[8]

Imperative

[edit]
Informal Formal Informal negative Formal negative
వెళ్ళు

veḷḷu

Go

వెళ్ళండి

veḷḷaṇḍi

Go (formal)

వెళ్ళకు

veḷḷaku

Don't go

వెళ్ళకండి

veḷḷakaṇḍi

Don't go (formal)

[6]

Converbs

[edit]

Telugu has two types of converbs, present and past. These are heavily used to form compound sentences.

Past Present
వెళ్ళి

veḷḷi Having gone...

వెళ్తూ

veḷ While going...

  • ఇంటికి వెళ్ళి, కిరణ్ తన ఫోన్ చూసింది. iṇṭiki veḷḷi, kiraṇ tana phon cūsindi. - Kiran went home and looked at her phone.
  • ఇంటికి వెళ్తూ, కిరణ్ తన ఫోన్ చూస్తోంది. iṇṭiki veḷtū, kiraṇ tana phon cūstondi. - Kiran is looking at her phone while going home.

Note that in most cases, all sub clauses using these types of converbs need to share a subject.[9]

  • *వాడు ఇంటికి వెళ్ళి, కిరణ్ తన ఫోన్ చూసింది. *vāḍu iṇṭiki veḷḷi, kiraṇ tana phon cūsindi. - *He went home and Kiran looked at her phone. (Incorrect)

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Gopavaram, Padmapriya; Subrahmanyam, Korada (2011). "1". A Comparative Study Of Andhrashabdachintamani And Balavyakaranam. Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad.
  2. ^ Charles Philip Brown (1857). A grammar of the Telugu language (2 ed.). Christian Knowledge Society's Press.
  3. ^ Charles Philip Brown (1857). A grammar of the Telugu language (2 ed.). Christian Knowledge Society's Press. p. 39.
  4. ^ Krishnamurti & Gwynn 1985, pp. 51–56
  5. ^ Krishnamurti & Gwynn 1985, pp. 85–97
  6. ^ a b Krishnamurti; Gwynn (1985). A Grammar of Modern Telugu. pp. 163–166.
  7. ^ Gopavaram, Padmapriya; Subrahmanyam, Korada (2011). A Comparative Study Of Andhrashabdachintamani And Balavyakaranam. Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad.
  8. ^ Krishnamurti & Gwynn 1985, p. 138.
  9. ^ Chekuri, Ramarao (1975). తెలుగు వాక్యం [The Telugu Sentence] (in Telugu). p. 27.