The Kannada grammar (Kannada: ????? ???????) is primarily based on Keshiraja's Shabdamanidarpana (c. 1260 CE) which provides the fullest systematic exposition of Kannada language. The earlier grammatical works include portions of Kavirajamarga (a treatise on ala?k?ra) of 9th century, Kavyavalokana and Karnatakabhashabhushana both authored by Nagavarma II in first half of the 12th century. The grammar of Kannada differs greatly from that of the Indo-European languages. As a Dravidian language, Kannada is not genetically related to Sanskrit, Hindi or any of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken in India.
Various grammatical aspects of Kannada include, tatsama-tadbhava, vibhakti pratyaya, k?la (tense-forms), linga (gender-forms), sandhi, sam?sa, chandassu, ala?k?ra; and different poetrical metres such as vritta, tripadi, kanda (also called, choupadi or chaturpadi), shatpadi, s?ngatya and others.
The name given for a pure, true letter is akshara, akkara or varna. Each letter has its own form (?k?ra) and sound (shabda); providing the visible and audible representations, respectively. Kannada is written from left to right. Kannada alphabet (aksharamale or varnamale) now consists of 49 letters.
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 accent falls on the first syllable.
The first treatise on Kannada grammar in English was written in 1864 by Rev. Thomas Hodson, a Wesleyan missionary, as An Elementary Grammar of the Kannada, or Canarese Language
Video Kannada grammar
Terminology
- word - pada (??) or ?abda (????)
- alphabet - ak?aram?le (?????????) or var?am?le (????????)
- letter - ak?ara (?????)
- vowel - svara (????)
- consonant - vya?jana (??????)
- noun - n?mapada (?????)
- pronoun - sarvan?ma (???????)
- adjective - gu?av?caka (???????)
- verb - kriy?pada (????????)
- participle - kar?dv?ci (????????)
- gender - li?ga (????)
- case - vibhakti (???????)
- number - vacana (???)
- person - puru?a (?????)
- numeral - a?ki (????)
- verb root - dh?tu (????)
- tense - k?la (???)
- voice - pray?ga (??????)
- sentence - s?lu (????) or v?kya (?????)
- form - r?pa (???)
- sandhi - sa?dhi (????)
eqval- sana ???
Maps Kannada grammar
Nouns (????)
Gender (????)
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. All Kannada nouns code for gender. Biological sex tend in Kannada to correspond with the grammatical gender category. However, certain concepts personified by deities, such as s?rya, meaning 'the sun', share the grammatical gender of the deity. Because the Hindu sun god eity (i.e. not a goddess), 's?rya' is a masculine noun.
- masculine gender (????????)
- Examples: arasa ('king'), dore ('master, lord'), v?yu ('wind')
- feminine gender (??????????)
- Examples: Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati, amma ('mother')
- neuter gender (??????????)
Nouns that do not belong to either of the above two classes are considered to have neuter gender.
- Examples: love (??????), world (???), tree (??), bear (????), river (???)
Case (???????)
Kannada has seven cases:
- nominative case (?????)
- accusative case (???? ???????)
- instrumental-ablative case (??? ???????)
- dative case (???????? ???????)
- genitive case (????????????)
- locative case (?????????????)
- vocative case (??????????????)
Because the traditional study of Kannada grammar is based on Sanskrit grammar, a fifth case (since the dative case is the fourth case and the genitive case is the sixth in the traditional order of the cases) is sometimes considered: the ablative case (?????????????). This case is formed periphrastically by combining the genitive case of the noun supposedly in the ablative with the instrumental-case form of the noun '????', meaning 'cause, vicinity, place, point'. Thus the Kannada ablative literally translates to 'from/by the cause/point of the {noun}'. However, this 'ablative' form is not commonly used colloquially, and exists only for propriety--it is not a true case, serving only to provide a parallel to the Sanskrit ablative. In its place, the third case, the instrumental-ablative case, is normally used.
- Example: Maradi?da allige h?denu. (literally: 'From the tree to there I went.'; idiomatically: 'I went there from the tree.')
Of course, Marada deseyi?da allige h?denu. 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.
Number (???)
There are, as in English, two grammatical numbers: the singular number (?????) and the plural number (??????). In declension, the plural form of a masculine or feminine noun is made by suffixing '???' to the crude base, and then the case-termination, and the plural form of a neuter noun is made by suffixing '???' to the crude base, and then the case-termination. 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 "??????'.
Declension (??????? ??????)
Kannada has four declensions, or groups of case-terminations. The first declension includes all masculine and feminine nouns that end in '?'; the second declension includes all neuter nouns that end in '?'; the third declension includes all nouns of all genders that end in '?', '?', '?', '?', or '?'; the fourth declension includes all nouns of all genders that end in '?', ?', '?', '?', '?', or '?'. Below are the 'standard' case-terminations, which are suffixed to the plural number markers to create the full case-termination in the plural. However, in the singular number, all the declensions use variations of the 'standard' case-terminations as the final case-terminations.
Declensional sandhi (?????????????? ????)
Sandhi is the mutation of the final or initial letters of a word for euphony. Sandhi occurs very often in declension.
In the first declension and in the second declension, the only sandhi that occurs is the elision (dropping) of the final '?' ('atva') before a plural marker or case-termination that begins with a vowel.
In the third declension, a euphonic '??' ('yatva') must be inserted after the noun before a plural marker or case-termination that begins with a vowel.
In the fourth declension, a euphonic '??' ('vatva') must be inserted after the noun before a plural marker or case-termination that begins with a vowel. However, when a Kannada noun ends in a '?' 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-termination that begins with a vowel. For example, the Kannada word for 'table' is '????', from the Persian 'mez'. In transference, the final 'z' of 'mez' became a 'j', since Kannada has no letter to represent the 'z' sound. However, '????' does not sound good in Kannada--so a euphonic '?' was added to the crude base of the word. However, because technically the true base has no final vowel (although the base still takes the fourth declension endings), that euphonic '?' of '????' is elided during declension. These words that already have a euphonic '?' that is elided during declension attached to their end must be learned, but most native Kannada, or originally Kannada, words have this 'euphonic "?" ' on their end, because not many Kannada words originally ended in '?'.
First declension (???????????? ?????? ????)
Second declension (???????????? ????? ????)
Third declension (???????????? ????? ????)
Fourth declension (???????????? ??????? ????)
Note that for the instrumental case, the genitive case, and the locative case, the case-termination first given is generally preferred.
Modifiers (???????????)
Kannada, as does English, uses adjectives and adverbs as modifiers. Kannada does not have articles. However, the adjectives '?' ('that') and '????' ('one') can be used as the definite and the indefinite article, respectively.
Kannada possess few adjectives that are not derived from some noun. Adjectivalizing suffixes include '??' (literally: 'which/that became') and '??'.
Example: sundarav?da hengasu ('a beautiful woman'), itih?sika dina ('a historic day')
Kannada lacks true predicate adjectives. To use an adjective predicatively, suffix the third-person pronoun to the end of the adjective that matches the subject.
Example: ? hengasu sundarav?dava?u. ('That woman (is) beautiful.')
Adverbs are formed by the suffix '???'. Adverbs can be added to adjectives or to nouns, unlike in English, where '-ly' can only be suffixed to adjectives.
- Example: sundarav?gi ('beautifully', from 'sundara' ["beauty"] + '???')
Verbs (???????????)
Sandhi with verb inflection (?????????? ????????????? ????)
Sandhi is the mutation of the final or initial letters of a word for euphony. Sandhi with verbs applies in any case when the form of a verb is being changed.
When any verb form (?????????) ends with the vowel '?' ('atva') or with the vowel '?' ('utva'), eliminate that final vowel if a suffix that begins with a vowel follows.
??? (crude verb form; 'come') -> ??? + ??? (third person singular imperative suffix) = ????
When the crude form/root of the verb (???????????) ends with the vowel '?' ('itva') or with the vowel '?' ('etva') or with the vowel '?' ('?tva'), insert a euphonic '??' ('yatva') after the form if a suffix that begins with a vowel follows.
??? (crude verb form; 'write') -> ????? + ??? (infinitive form suffix) + ??????? (past passive third person singular neuter suffix) = ????????????? (past passive third person neuter form of '???'; 'it was written')
When any other form of the verb ends with the vowel '?' ('itva') or with the vowel '?' ('etva'), eliminate that final vowel if a suffix that begins with a vowel follows. No other verb form other than the crude form/root of a verb will end in '?'.
???? (crude verb form; 'make') -> ???? (past adverbial participle; 'having made') + ??? (past active third person singular imperative suffix) = ??????
Finite verb forms (????????????)
Kannada verbs have several forms: an affirmative form (?????????), a contingent-future, or potential, form (????????), an imperative form (???????), and a negative form (????????). The action of a verb in the affirmative form does happen, but the action of a verb in the negative form does not happen. The contingent-future form expresses the idea of the possibility of an action's occurrence at the present or in the future; the imperative form commands, exhorts, or optates.
As in English, the three tenses (??????) include the present tense (??????????), the past tense (??????), and the future tense (?????????????). However, distinct forms for each of these tenses exist only in the affirmative form. The imperative form, as in English lacks tense, and because of 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 modern dialect, other modes of negation are employed.
There are two grammatical aspects (?????????) of verbs--the perfect aspect (????????? ??????), in which the action has already occurred at the time expressed by the tense of the verb, and the progressive aspect (??????? ??????), in which the action is ongoing at the time expressed by the tense of the verb.
The expression of voice (??????) in Kannada is quite different than in English, but the same two voices exist in both languages--the active voice (?????? ??????) and the passive voice (?????? ??????).
Finite Kannada verbs are conjugated for all these properties as well as three properties of the subject: person (?????), number (???), and gender (????). There are three persons in Kannada as in English--the first person (????? ?????), the second person (????? ?????), and the third person (????? ?????)--as well as a singular number (?????) and a plural number (??????). Whether a noun is of the masculine gender (????????), of the feminine gender (??????????), or of the neuter gender (??????????) is decided semantically. All nouns denoting male entities, including entities personified--for example, religiously--as male entities, are masculine, and all feminine nouns denote female entities or femalely personified entities; the remaining nouns fall into the neuter gender.
Non-finite verb forms (?????????? ???????????)
The first non-finite verb form is the infinitive form (??????). There are three infinitives, which vary in their uses and their endings. Other than the infinitive, Kannada has two types of participle--an adjectival participle (????????) and an adverbial participle (???????????). While the present participle of English can function both adjectivally and adverbially, and the past participle can function only adjectivally, Kannada participles' functions are quite consistent. The Kannada adjectival participle is peculiar, for it takes the place of the relative pronoun that introduces a restrictive relative clause, the verb of the relative clause, and if the relative pronoun is a prepositional complement, of the governing preposition. There is a present-future adjectival participle, as well as a past adjectival participle. The adverbial participle has a present-tense form and a past-tense form, and modifies the verb of the sentence. The adverbial participle may accept its own nominative, as may the adjectival participle in its clause. Kannada does not have a gerund, but nouns that express the same idea can be formed by suffixing the third-person neuter pronoun to the present adjectival participle.
Inflecting verbs for non-finite forms (?????????? ????????????? ????????????)
Present adverbial participle (??????????? ???????????)
To form the present adverbial participle of a verb, add the suffix '????' to the crude form of the verb. There are no exceptions in the modern dialect, but occasionally the forms '??' or '?????' may appear.
???? ("do, make") -> ??????? ("doing, making")
??? ("write") -> ???????? ("writing")
Past adverbial participle (??????? ???????????)
To form the past adverbial participle of a verb that ends in "?," add the suffix "?" to the crude form of the verb. To form the past adverbial participle of a verb that ends in any vowel but "?," add the suffix "??" to the crude form of the verb.
???? ("do, make") -> ???? ("having done, having made")
??? ("write") -> ????? ("having written")
There are many oddly formed past adverbial participles, some of them irregular, and some of them following old formations, and others changed for euphony. They are listed below:
For these verbs, or any modern forms of them:
- ????
- ????
- ???
- ???
- ????
- ????
- ????
- ????
- ????
- ????
- ?????
- ?????
- ??????
- ?????
- ???
- ???
- ????
- ???
- ????
- ???
- ????
- ??
- ??
suffix "??."
Certain final consonants are replaced with other consonants before the "??" or the "??" of the past participle. Before '??': ?? -> ??; ?? -> ??. Before "??": ?? -> ??; ?? (in which the final "?" was originally euphonic, as with the euphonic "?" for nouns) -> ??
The following verbs' past participles can be formed regularly, but there is also another, irregular form of those verbs: ??? -> ???; ???? -> ????; ???? -> ????
Present-future adjectival participle (??????????? ????? ?????????????? ????????)
To form the present-future adjectival participle, add the suffix "??" to the crude form of the verb. There are not irregulars for this form in the modern dialect.
???? ("do, make) -> ????? ("who/which/that does, who/which/that makes")
??? ("write") -> ?????? ("who/which/that writes")
Past adjectival participle (??????? ????????)
The past adjectival participle of the verb is formed from the past adverbial participle. If the past adverbial participle of a verb ends in '?', add '?' to the end of the past adverbial participle to form the past adjectival participle. If the past adverbial participle of a verb ends in '?', add '?' to the end of the past adverbial participle.
???? ("do, make) -> ????? ("who/which/that does, who/which/that made")
??? ("write") -> ???? ("who/which/that wrote")
Irregular past adjectival participles include: '??', from crude verb root '???'; '???', from crude verb root '????'; and '???', from crude verb root '????'.
Inflecting verbs for finite forms / Conjugation (?????????? ?????????????? ???????????? / ???????????)
Affirmative form (?????????)
To conjugate verbs in their present-tense affirmative form, attach the following suffixes to the present adverbial participle.
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.
To conjugate verbs in their future-tense affirmative form, attach the following suffixes to the present-future adjectival participle.
Negative form (????????)
The negative form of the verb does not have any tense. Tense must be told from context. However, more commonly used to negate a verb is the negative word '????'.
Suffix these terminations (which are the same as the future tense's suffixes) to the verbal infinitive that ends in "?" for the tenseless negative form:
The negative form has only the irregular formation that '????' may be alternatively used in place of the regular negative forms of '???'.
Contingent-future form (????????)
The contingent-future form expresses the idea that the action of a verb may perhaps occur in the future. For example, '????????', which is conjugated in the contingent-future form, may be translated as 'I might do (it)'.
These are the suffixes for the contingent-future form, suffixed to the past adverbial participle:
The contingent-future form does not have irregular formations.
Imperative form (???????)
The imperative form of the verb optates, exhorts, or commands. For example, the first-person and the third-person imperative expresses the idea of 'may/let {I/we/he/she/it/they} ___'. However, the second-person imperative either is used either to command ('Do something!') or with an optative or jussive sense ('may you ___'), depending on the verb's meaning and the context.
These suffixes are attached to the root of the verb:
Below are the irregular imperative forms:
- second-person plural imperative '???', from crude verb root '???'
- second-person singular imperative '??', from crude verb root '??????'
- second-person singular imperative '??', from crude verb root '????'
- second-person plural imperative '???', from crude verb root '???'
- second-person singular imperative '??', from crude verb root '???'
- second-person plural imperative '???????', from crude verb root '???'
- second-person singular imperative '??', from crude verb root '??'
Kushalathe
Word order (?????????)
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.
Sentence constituents (?????? ??????)
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: ???? (subject) ??????? (object) ????????? (verb). ('I built the table.' Here, the subject is 'I' and 'built the table' is the predicate, with 'built' as the verb and 'the table' as the object.
Example: ???? (subject) ?????? ???????????? (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 '???? ?????? ??????????(?????) ?????????.' literally meaning 'I am/exist having become a student of Kannada.'
Subject (?????)
In Kannada, the subject is declined to the nominative case. 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, with the predicate standing alone to make the sentence.
Example: ????? ????????. ('I will go home.' Here, we can omit the subject '????', 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: ?????? ?????? ???????????? ????????. ????? ?????. ('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'.)
Verb
In Kannada, there cannot be more than one finite, or conjugated, verb in the sentence. 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: ???? ???????????? ???? ????? ??????. ('I, having gone to school, came home.' / 'I went to school and came home.')
Example: ???? ??? ???????. ('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 '???? ?????? ???????.')
Object (????)
Dative construction (?????????? ????????????? ?????)
In Kannada, the dative construction is used often. 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' ('???? ????? ?????? ???'). Similarly, one says 'dinner is wanted to me' ('???? ???? ????' or '???? ???? ????????'; the latter literally is broken apart '???? ???? ?????? ???', literally meaning 'to me, dinner has become wanted/needed').
Yet another example is the use with '????'. For example, one says '???? ??????? ???? ????????' (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. For example, 'I see him' is translated as 'he causes me to see (him)', with 'me' in the dative case.
Interrogation (?????????????)
Negation (?????)
Negative words (?????????? ?????)
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' ('????????????? ????????? ???????????? ???????? ???? ??????????'). Similarly, for 'no one goes to school on Sundays', one says 'anyone does not go to school on Sundays' ('??? ??????????? ???????? ???? ??????????').
Example: '????? ? ?????????? ???? ?????????????????.' ('Nowhere will the people accept that declaration.')
Negative finite verbs (?????????? ?????????)
Although there is a negative 'mood' or form of the verb in Kannada, it is not used commonly anymore. In addition, the negative form does not express time distinctions, so analytic negative forms are employed.
There is no negative adverb like 'not' in Kannada. Analytic verb negation is very peculiar, and it employs a form of '???' ('to be, exist'), which is '????'. However, negative Kannada verbs with '????' do not have personal terminations--they do not indicate the person, gender, or number of the subject.
To form a past negative verb with '????', suffix '????' to the infinitive form of the verb ending in '???'. To form a present negative verb with '????', suffix '????' to the verbal noun of the verb. To form a future negative verb, either use the present-tense negative form of the verb with '????' or suffix '????' to the infinitive form of the verb ending in '???????'.
Aspect is expressed by '????' in the normal way--by using a negative form of '???' with an adverbial participle. For example, 'I will not have been being hit' is '????????????? ????? ???????????'.
Example: '??????? ?????????.' ('I am not going.')
Example: '???? ???????.' ('I had not gone.')
However, in the present tense, one can directly use '????' after the participle to express aspect.
Example: '??????? ????.' ('I am not going.')
Example: '???? ????.' ('I have not gone.')
Negation of adverbial participles (????????????? ?????)
Adverbial participles have a negative form, created by suffix '???' to the crude form of the verb. This form is tenseless, and is best translated as 'without ___ing'. For example '???? ??????' means 'I went having seen (it)', '??????? ??????' means 'seeing (it), I went' or 'I went seeing (it)', and '????? ??????' means 'I went not seeing (it)', "I went not having seen (it)', or 'I went without seeing (it)'.
However, '????', derived from '???' has an adverbial participle form - '??????' - and this can be used to keep tense when the adverbial participle must be negated. For example, one can say '???? ??????' to definitively mean 'not having seen, and '??????? ??????' to definitively mean 'not seeing'.
References
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