Telugu grammar


The first treatise on Telugu grammar, the Andhra Sabda Chintamani was written in Sanskrit by Nannayya, who is considered the first poet and grammarian of the Telugu language, in the 11th century CE. After Nannayya, Atharvana and Ahobala composed the sutras, the vartikas and the bhashyam.
In the 19th century, Chinnaya Suri wrote a simplified work on Telugu grammar called Bāla Vyākaraṇam, borrowing concepts and ideas from Nannayya, in Telugu.
According to Nannayya, language without 'Niyama' or the language which doesn't adhere to Vyākaranam is called Grāmya or Apabhraṃśa, is unfit for literary usage. All literary texts in Telugu follow the Vyākaraṇam.

Inflection

Telugu is more inflected than other literary Dravidian languages. Telugu nouns are inflected for number, gender and grammatical case.

Gender

Telugu has three genders:
In Telugu the occurrence of the suffix almost always encodes masculine gender. For example:
However, there are nouns that do not end in 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 neuter-gendered words ending in -a, -am, -i, or -u. The final -a usually becomes -amu, and the final -u becomes -uvu.
Sanskrit originalTelugu
citrapaṭamcitrapaṭamu
ākāśamākāśamu
nīranīru
madhumadhuvu

However, Telugu sometimes uses the same forms for singular feminine and neuter genders – the third person pronoun is used to refer to animals and objects.

Number (''vachanam'')

Anything with quantity one is singular.
Anything more than one in number is called plural, as in English.
In Telugu the plural is also used to address elders with respect. Some nouns are always plural and some are always singular. For example, water is always plural.
God, sun, earth, and moon are always singular form.
However, ḍevullu is a plural form of bhagavantudu, used when referring to multiple deities.

Case (విభక్తి ''vibhakti'')

Telugu has eight cases.
TeluguEnglishUsual SuffixesTransliteration of Suffixes
Prathamā Vibhakti Nominativeడు, ము, వు, లుḍu, mu, vu, lu
Dvitīyā Vibhakti Accusativeనిన్, నున్, లన్, కూర్చి, గురించిnin, nun, lan, kūrchi, gurinchi
Trutīyā Vibhakti Instrumentalచేతన్, చేన్, తోడన్, తోన్chētan, chēn, tōḍan, tōn
Chaturthi Vibhakti Dativeకొఱకున్, కైkorakun, kai
Panchamī Vibhakti Ablativeవలనన్, కంటెన్, పట్టిvalanan, kaṇṭen, paṭṭi
Shashthī Vibhakti Genitiveకిన్, కున్, యొక్క, లోన్, లోపలన్kin, kun, yokka, lōn, lōpalan
Saptamī Vibhakti Locativeఅందున్, నన్andun, nan
Sambodhanā Prathamā Vibhakti Vocativeఓ, ఓయీ, ఓరీ, ఓసీō, ōī, ōrī, ōsī

Word order

Telugu word order is free because nouns are inflected for case. However, speakers tend to use SOV.

Punctuation

Telugu uses single and double vertical bars to indicate a comma and a full stop. However modern Telugu uses punctuation marks which are borrowed from English.

Sandhi or joining

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

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.
Initial wordFinal wordResult
devaālayamudēvālayamu
pārvatiīśvaruḍupārvatīśvaruḍu
aṇuutpattiaṇū'tpatti

Guṇasandhi

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.
Initial wordFinal wordResult
mahāindramahēndra
dhanautpattidhanōtpatti
dēvar̥ṣidēvarṣi

Vr̥ddhisandhi

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.
Initial wordFinal wordResult
vasudhaēkavasudhaika
mahāaikyatamahaikyata
vīraōjassuvīraujassu
divyaauṣadhamudivyauṣadhamu

Yaṇādēśasandhi

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

Native sandhis

These sandhis usually occur when one or both of the words is a native Dravidian word, or is a Sanskrit borrowing that is treated as such.

Akārasandhi

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.
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.
Initial wordFinal wordResult
marieppuḍumareppuḍu
vāḍiilluvāḍillu
ēmiaṇṭiviēmaṇṭivi
ēmiainadiēmainadi
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.
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 -ē is followed by a non-clustured consonant, the vowel is shortened, and the unclustered consonant is geminated.
  2. When the word mūḍu is followed by a consonant, the word final -ḍu is eliminated. This triggers the first rule of the trikasandhi, and the now-word-final -ū is shortened, and the following consonant is geminated. When the consonant is l-, sometimes it is geminated to -ḷḷ- instead.
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 of the first word are eliminated and the first rule is applied.
  3. The andādi words when compounded lead to irregular forms.
WordResult
auraauraura
endunendendun
appaṭikiappaṭappaṭiki
ūranūrūran
cedurucellāceduru
igguluiṟṟiggulu

Dviruktaṭakārasandhi

Sometimes regarded as a form of the āmrēḍitasandhi, the dviruktaṭakārasandhi occurs when kaḍādi words are compounded. A dviruktaṭakāra, a geminated -ṭṭ- forms from this sandhi, hence the name.
Initial wordFinal wordResult
madhyāhnamumadhyāhnamumiṭṭamadhyāhnamu
pagalupagalupaṭṭapagalu
naḍumaiṇṭlōnaṭṭiṇṭlō

Gasaḍadavādēśasandhi



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

    Samasam or nominal compounds

Samasam or samasa occurs with various structures, but morphologically speaking they are essentially the same: each noun is in its 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.
  • awyaee bhava samasam

    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.
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
  • * Atishayokti Alamkaram
  • * Drushtantam
  • * Swabhavokti
  • * vyajastu
  • * virodhi
  • * vishamamu
  • * parikaramu
  • * branti madala
  • * kramalam

    Chandassu or Telugu prosody

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.

Prakruti and Vikruti

Telugu has many Tatsama words. They are called Prakruti, which are equivalent to Sanskrit words. The equivalent colloquial words are called Vikruti, which means distorted. However, Prakruti is only used as a medium of instruction in educational institutions, offices etc.

For example:

PrakrutiVikruti
అగ్ని Agni అగ్గి Aggi
భోజనం Bhojanam బోనం Bonam
విద్య Vidya విద్దె Vidhe, విద్దియ Vidhiya
రాక్షసి Raakshasi రక్కసి Rakkasi
శూన్య Shoonya సున్న Sunna
దృష్టి Drishti దిష్టి Dishti
కనిష్టం Kanishtam కనీసం Kaneesam
అగరవర్తి Agaravarti అగరవత్తి Agaravatti
విభూతి Vibhoothi విభూధి Vibhudhi
చనక Chanaka శనగ śanaga
కవచ Kavacha గవచ Gavacha, గవ్వ Gavva
భిక్షం Bhiksham బిచ్చం Bicham
ద్వితీయ Dvitiya విదియ Vidiya
తృతీయ Trutiya తదియ Thadhiya
జాగ్రత Jaagrata జాగ్రత్త Jaagratta
వామతి Vamati వాంతి Vanthi
స్వంత Swantha సొంత Sonta
అటవి Atavi అడవి Adavi
త్వర Twara తొరగా Toraga
రక్తము Rakthamu రగతము Ragathamu

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