Kannada Grammar Pdf

[Melia Hazinski]

StandardKannada grammar (Kannada: ಕನ್ನಡ ವ್ಯಕರಣ) is primarily based on Keshiraja's Shabdamanidarpana (c. 1260 CE) which provides the fullest systematic exposition of Kannada language.[1][2] The earlier grammatical works include portions of Kavirajamarga (a treatise on alańkāra) of 9th century, Kavyavalokana and Karnatakabhashabhushana both authored by Nagavarma II in first half of the 12th century.[2]

Each sound has its own distinct letter, and therefore every word is pronounced exactly as it is spelt; so the ear is a sufficient guide. After the exact sounds of the letters have been once gained, every word can be pronounced with perfect accuracy. The stress falls on the first syllable.[3]

According to Keshiraja's Shabdamanidarpana, there are nine gender forms in Kannada. However, in modern Kannada literature only three gender forms are used in practice: masculine, feminine, and neuter.[6]All Kannada nouns code for gender.[7]Biological sex tends to correspond with the grammatical gender category. However, certain concepts personified by deities, such as sūrya, meaning 'the sun', share the grammatical gender of the deity, which in this case is masculine.[7]

Of course, Marada deseyiṃda allige hōdenu. would also be correct.Note that the nominative-case and accusative-case forms of a noun are often in the colloquial dialect substituted by the crude base.

There are, as in English, two grammatical numbers: the singular number (ಏಕವಚನ) and the plural number (ಬಹವಚನ).[10] In declension, the plural form of a masculine or feminine noun is made by suffixing 'ಅರ್' (ar) to the crude base, and then the case ending, and the plural form of a neuter noun is made by suffixing ಗಳ್ (gaḷ) to the crude base, and then the case ending. However, nouns of relationship, such as 'mother', 'great-grandfather', 'son-in-law', and 'younger brother', which are always masculine or feminine, have the plural number marker ಅದಿರ್ (aṃdir).[7]

In the fourth declension, a euphonic 'ವ್' ('vatva') must be inserted after the noun before a plural marker or case ending that begins with a vowel. However, when a Kannada noun ends in a 'ಉ' that was already added for euphony at some original stage, that final vowel is eliminated when the noun is followed by a plural marker or case ending that begins with a vowel.[11] However, technically true bases have no final vowel (although the base still takes the fourth declension endings), that euphonic ಉ u is elided during declension. These words that already have a euphonic ಉ u that is elided during declension attached to their end must be learned, but most native Kannada, or originally Kannada, words have this 'euphonic ಉ u' on their end, because not many Kannada words originally ended in ಉ u.[12]

Kannada, as does English, uses adjectives and adverbs as modifiers. Kannada does not have articles. However, the adjectives ಆ ā ('that') and ಒದ oṃdu ('one') can be used as the definite and the indefinite article, respectively.[7]

When any other form of the verb ends with the vowel 'ಇ' ('itva') or with the vowel 'ಎ' ('etva'), eliminate that final vowel if a suffix that begins with a vowel follows.[7] No other verb form other than the crude form/root of a verb will end in 'ಆ'.

Kannada verbs have several forms: an affirmative form (ನಿಶ್ಚಯರಪ), acontingent-future, or potential, form (ಸಭವರಪ),an imperative form (ವಿಧಿರಪ),and a negative form (ನಿಷಧರಪ).[13]The action of a verb in the affirmative form does happen, but the actionof a verb in the negative form does not happen. The contingent-future formexpresses the idea of the possibility of an action's occurrence at the presentor in the future; the imperative form commands, exhorts, or optates.

As in English, the three tenses (ಕಲಗಳ)include the present tense (ವರ್ತಮನಕಲ),the past tense (ಭತಕಲ),and the future tense (ಭವಿಷ್ಯತ್ತಕಲ).However, distinct forms for each of these tenses exist only in theaffirmative form.[7] The imperative form, as in English, lacks tense, and becauseof the meaning of the contingent-future form, it also lacks tense distinctions.The negative form is peculiar, for its forms can possess a present-tense,past-tense, or future-tense meaning, to be inferred from context; in the moderndialect, other modes of negation are employed.

To form the present adverbial participle of a verb, add the suffix 'ಉತ್ತ' to the crude form of the verb.[7][11][13] There are no exceptions in the modern dialect, but occasionally the forms 'ಉತ' or 'ಉತ್ತ' may appear.[7][11]

The past adjectival participle of the verb is formed from the past adverbial participle. If the past adverbial participle of a verb ends in 'ಉ' (-u), add 'ಅ' (-a) to the end of the past adverbial participle to form the past adjectival participle.[7] If the past adverbial participle of a verb ends in 'ಇ' (-i), add 'ದ' (-da) to the end of the past adverbial participle.[7]

To conjugate verbs in their past-tense affirmative form, attach the following suffixes to the past adjectival participle, except for the third person neuter singular suffix, which is attached to the past adverbial participle.

The contingent-future form expresses the idea that the action of a verb may perhaps occur in the future. For example, 'ಮಡಿಯನ', which is conjugated in the contingent-future form, may be translated as 'I might do (it)'.

Kannada word order is 'S-O-V', or 'subject-object-verb', as opposed to English, which is a 'S-V-O', or 'subject-verb-object' language. However, in Kannada, due to its highly inflected nature, a sentence's word order may be freely changed for style or emphasis.

Kannada sentences have two basic parts: the subject and the predicate. The subject consists of the central topic of the sentence, declined to the nominative case, while the predicate consists of a verb, often with an object (which formally should be in the accusative case), or may have no verb and object at all but rather simply have another noun declined in the nominative case, known as the predicate nominative, where an equivalency statement is intended.

Example: ನನ (subject) ಕನ್ನಡದ ವಿದ್ಯರ್ಥಿಯ (predicate nominative). ('I (am) a student of Kannada.' Note that there is no direct Kannada equivalent for the verb 'to be' as a copula [linking verb], because Kannada is a zero-copula language, although the sentence may be alternatively written 'ನನ ಕನ್ನಡದ ವಿದ್ಯರ್ಥಿ(ಯನ್ನ) ಆಗಿದ್ಧನೆ.' literally meaning 'I am/exist having become a student of Kannada.'

In Kannada, the subject is declined to the nominative case.[7] While the subject almost always performs the action in Kannada (use of the passive voice is highly rare), the subject may actually be the patient.

In a sentence with a subject, verb, and object, if the subject has already been made clear or is known from context, the subject may be omitted,[7] with the predicate standing alone to make the sentence.

Example: ಮನೆಗೆ ಹಗವೆನ. ('I will go home.' Here, we can omit the subject 'ನನ', meaning 'I' because it is clear by the termination of the verb (a first-person singular termination, the same person and number of 'I') that the subject is 'I'.

Example: ವಿನಯನ ಇವತ್ತ ವಶಲೆಗೆ ಹಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಮನೆಗೆ ಬದನ. ('Vinay did not go to school today. Vinay/he came home.' In the second sentence, the subject 'Vinay' is omitted because it is clear from the previous sentence that the subject is 'Vinay'.)

In Kannada, there cannot be more than one finite, or conjugated, verb in the sentence.[10] For example, the sentence 'I went to school and came home.' cannot be literally translated into Kannada. The Kannada equivalent of that sentence would be 'Having gone to school, I came home.' In Kannada, adverbial participles must be used.

Example: ನನ ಓಡಿ ಆಡವೆನ. ('I, having run, will play.' / 'I will run and play.' Note that if the intention is to say that the two actions will happen simultaneously ('I will play as I run.') then the sentence would be written 'ನನ ಓಡತ್ತ ಆಡವೆನ.')

In Kannada, the dative construction is used often.[10] The dative construction occurs when the semantic subject is in the dative case and semantic direct object is in the nominative case. For example, in Kannada, one does not say 'I feel cold'; rather, one says the equivalent of 'cold is happening to me' ('ನನಗೆ ಚಳಿಯ ಆಗತ್ತ ಇದೆ'). Similarly, one says 'dinner is wanted to me' ('ನನಗೆ ಉಟವ ಬಕ' or 'ನನಗೆ ಊಟವ ಬಕಗಿದೆ'; the latter literally is broken apart 'ನನಗೆ ಊಟವ ಬಕಗಿ ಇದೆ', literally meaning 'to me, dinner has become wanted/needed').

Yet another example is the use with 'ಇಷ್ಟ'. For example, one says 'ನನಗೆ ಸಬಗಳ ಇಷ್ಟ ಆಗತ್ತವೆ' (idiomatically--'I like apples'; literally--'to me, apples become pleasure').

Dative constructions are used to make the equivalent of English sensory linking verbs and with many modal auxiliary verbs.[10] For example, 'I see him' is translated as 'he causes me to see (him)', with 'me' in the dative case.

Kannada does not have any semantically negative words such as 'never', 'no one', and 'nothing'. These words are expressed by negating the verb with the positive equivalent of the negative word. For example, in Kannada, one cannot say 'students never go to school on Sundays'; one must say the equivalent of 'students do not go to school on Sundays ever' ('ಭನವರ ವಿದ್ಯರ್ಥಿಗಳ ಯವತ್ತ ಶಲೆಗೆ ಹಗರ'). Similarly, for 'no one goes to school on Sundays', one says 'anyone does not go to school on Sundays' ('ಯರ ವಿದ್ಯಲಯಕ್ಕೆ ಭನವರಗಳ ಮಲೆ ಹಗವದಿಲ್ಲ').

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