Telugu grammar

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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.

Contents

The first treatise on Telugu grammar (Telugu : వ్యాకరణంvyākaraṇam), the Andhra Sabda 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

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]

Gender

Telugu has three genders:

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

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

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.

MasculineSanskrit originalFeminine
nartakuḍunartakanartaki
vācakuḍuvācakavācaki
premikuḍupremikapreyasi

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.

MasculineSanskrit originalFeminine
nartakuḍunartakanartakurālu
priyuḍupriyapriyurālu
bhaktuḍubhaktabhakturālu

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 originalTelugu
ākāśamākāśamu
madhumadhuvu

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)

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

Rules [4]
RuleTeluguEnglishNotesExceptions
SingularPlural
0āvuāvulucowNo 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"
1cōṭucōṭḷucroreVowels 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.
paṇḍupaṇḍḷu
paḷḷu
fruit
2kālukāḷḷuleg-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"
pērupēḷḷu
pērlu
name
  • koḍavalikoḍavanḍḷu, koḍavaḷḷu "sickle"
  • -gāri-gārlu "a honorific suffix"
  • -sāri-sārlu "time"
3guḍḍuguḍḷuegg-ṭṭ[i/u] and -ḍḍ[i/u] in the singular change into -ṭ- and -ḍ- before variant -ḷu.
4illuiṇḍḷu
iḷḷu
house-llu and -nnu in the singular are replaced by -ṇḍḷu or -ḷḷu.
  • junnu junnulu "kind of cheese"
  • pannupannulu "tax"
  • ponnuponnulu "iron ring"
  • tannutannulu "beating"
  • ṭannuṭannulu "tonne"
  • vennuvennulu "back, ear of corn"
5pustakampustakālubook-[a/ā]m and -em in the singular are replaced by -ā- and -ē- before variant -lu.
6abbāy(i)abbāy(i)luson, boyThe vowel in -yi- is sometimes deleted, and variant -lu is used.
7cēyi
ceyyi
tuluhand-(y)yi in the singular is replaced by -tulu, and the vowel preceding -yyi becomes long after pluralization (ceyyicētulu).
  • poyyipoyyilu, poyilu "hearth"
  • rāyirāḷḷu "hand"
  • veyyivēlu "thousand"
8pillipillulucatThe 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"
maniṣimanuṣuluperson

Case (విభక్తి vibhakti)

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:

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 case suffix is -tō; the colloquial suffixes for ablative case are -valla and -kaṇṭe/-kannā. The dative suffixes in classical are completely replaced by -kōsam.

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]

CaseSuffixExample
Dative -ki/kuఅతను బడికి వెళ్తాడు

Atanu baḍiki veḷtāḍu He goes to school

Accusative -ni/nuఅతను అబ్బాయిని చూస్తాడు

Atanu abbāyini cūstāḍu He sees the boy

Locative -lōఅతను గదిలో ఉన్నాడు

Atanu gadi unnāḍu He is in the room

Instrumental -tōఅతను కుక్కతో ఆడుకుంటాడు

Atanu kukka āḍukuṇṭāḍu He plays with the dog

Oblique stem formation

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]
ClassTeluguEnglishNotes
NominativeOblique
Aceṭṭuceṭṭu-treeNo change.
Bkālukāli-legHuman nouns ending in -ḍu, -lu, -nu, or -ru (including a few non-human nouns ending in -lu or -ru) replace -u with -i.
Cgūḍuṭi-treeNon-human nouns ending in -ḍ[i/u], -l[i/u], -r[i/u] replace the endings with -ṭi.
Dilluiṇṭi-houseOnly limited to nouns cannu "breast", illu "house", kannu "eye", oḷḷu "body", pannu "teeth", and villu "bow".
kannukaṇṭi-eye
Ecēyi
ceyyi
ti-handOnly 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.
gorrugortihearth
Fkalamkalāni-penAll nouns ending in -am replace the ending with -āni, although the genitive is homophonous with nominative instead of the oblique stem.

Sentence Structure

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.

SUBJECTOBJECTVERB

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

SUBJECTOBJECTVERB

He sees the dog

Sandhi or joining

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

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

Savarṇadīrghasandhi (Vowel lengthening)

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 wordFinal wordResult
devaālayamudēvālayamu
pārvatiīśvaruḍupārvatīśvaruḍu
aṇuutpattiaṇūtpatti

Guṇasandhi (Vowel raising)

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 wordFinal wordResult
mahāindramahēndra
dhanautpattidhanōtpatti
dēvaṣidēvarṣi

Vr̥ddhisandhi (Diphthongization)

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 wordFinal wordResult
vasudhaēkavasudhaika
mahāaikyatamahaikyata
vīraōjassuvīraujassu
divyaauṣadhamudivyauṣadhamu

Yaṇādēśasandhi (Glide insertion)

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 wordFinal wordResult
atiāśaatyāśa
suāgatamusvāgatamu
pitājñapitrājña

Native sandhis

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)

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 wordFinal wordResult
iṅkāēṇṭiiṅkēṇṭi
puṭṭinaillupuṭṭinillu
ammaaṇṭēammaṇṭē
teliyakauṇḍenuteliyakuṇḍenu

Ikārasandhi

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 wordFinal wordResult
marieppuḍumareppuḍu
vāḍiilluvāḍillu
ēmiaṇṭiviēmaṇṭivi
ēmia(y)inadiēma(y)inadi
ēmiundiēmundi

Ukārasandhi

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 wordFinal wordResult
ceppuiṅkāceppiṅkā
vāḍuevaḍuvāḍevaḍu
nīḷluunnāyānīḷlunnāyā
vāḍuannāḍuvāḍannāḍu

Trikasandhi

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 wordFinal wordResult
īkālamuikkālamu
ēcōṭueccōṭu
ābhaṅgiabbaṅgi
mūḍulōkamulumullōkamulu
mūḍukōṭimukkōṭi

Āmrēḍitasandhi

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
WordResult
auraauraura
endunendendun
appaṭikiappaṭappaṭiki
ūranūrūran
cedurucellāceduru
igguluiṟṟiggulu

Dviruktaṭakārasandhi

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 wordFinal wordResult
madhyāhnamumadhyāhnamumiṭṭamadhyāhnamu
pagalupagalupaṭṭapagalu
naḍumaiṇṭlōnaṭṭiṇṭlō

Gasaḍadavādēśasandhi


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

Samasam or nominal compounds

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:

Alankaram or ornamentation

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.

Chandassu or Telugu prosody

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

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

Past tensePast 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

Present tensePresent 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

Future tenseFuture 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

వెళ్ళదు

veḷḷadu

They (neuter) won't go

[8]

Imperative

InformalFormalInformal negativeFormal negative
వెళ్ళు

veḷḷu

Go

వెళ్ళండి

veḷḷaṇḍi

Go (formal)

వెళ్ళకు

veḷḷaku

Don't go

వెళ్ళకండి

veḷḷakaṇḍi

Don't go (formal)

[6]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Gopavaram, Padmapriya; Subrahmanyam, Korada (2011). "1". A Comparative Study Of Andhrasabdachintamani 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. 1 2 Krishnamurti; Gwynn (1985). A Grammar of Modern Telugu. pp. 163–166.
  7. Gopavaram, Padmapriya; Subrahmanyam, Korada (2011). A Comparative Study Of Andhrasabdachintamani And Balavyakaranam. Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad.
  8. Krishnamurti & Gwynn 1985, p. 138.