Friday 22 January 2016

Tulu Lesson 1: Nouns

Namaskara! Hello Everyone!

Welcome to our first Tulu lesson. I am not a grammarian, but I feel it’s better if I started with few grammatical terms rather than giving a bunch of sentences to you. Before we start, please visit the page "How to Pronounce" to know how to pronounce Tulu words in Roman script. Today we are going to learn some of the nouns in Tulu.

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Nouns identify people, places, things, and ideas.

Eg: appae - Mother, amme - Father, ill - house, Uru –village, sudae - river, mara – tree, bolpu – light, kaDal – sea, porthu – time, sAlae – school, bElae – work etc.

Nouns in Tulu have three genders; masculine, feminine and neuter and two numbers; singular and plural

  • Masculine nouns: All the male names and nouns of relationship eg: rAme - Rama, karNe - Karna, amme – Father, AN – boy, palaye – elder brother, megye – younger brother, mage – son etc.

  • Feminine nouns: All the female names and nouns of relationship. Eg: Seetha, Kaveri,  appae – Mother, poNNu – girl, pali or palidi – elder sister, megdi – younger sister, magal - doughter etc.

  • Neuter nouns: All other nouns like names of animals, birds trees, fruits, places, things etc. Eg: bAlae – child, ill - house, Uru – village, sudae - river, nIr - water, mara - tree, kAD - forest, jana - people, nAyi - dog, puchchae - cat, pili - tiger, eru - bull, petta - cow, pakki – bird, pU – flower, etc

All the above words are in singular. To make it plural, we have to add one of the suffixes lu, kulu, er or allu.

  • lu and kulu – used for making plural nouns eg: ANulu – boys, poNNulu – girls, erukulu – bulls, pettalu – cows, illulu – houses, Urulu – villages, sudekulu – rivers, kADulu – forests, nAyilu – dogs, puchchelu – cats, pakkilu – birds, janokulu – people, marokulu – trees, pilikulu – tigers, pUkulu – flowers, bAlelu or jOkulu - children.

  • er – used for giving respect to someone. Eg: dEver – god, ammer – Father, apper – mother, rAjer – king, rAmer - Rama etc. This type of words can be pluralized again by adding ‘lu’ suffix. Eg: dEverlu – gods, rAjerlu – kings etc. Apart from this, 'er' also used to make plural adjectives. Eg: Tuluver - Tuluvas, buddhivanter - wisemen, kalver - thieves etc.

  • allu (originally aDlu, but in present Tulu it is pronounced as allu) – used to make the nouns of relationship to plural. Eg: appaellu – mothers, ammallu – fathers,  palayallu – elder brothers, megyallu – younger brothers, paliyallu – elder sisters, megdiyallu – younger sisters, magallu sons, magalallu – daughters etc.
You can learn more about plural suffixes in the lesson 45.

Noun Declension:

Tulu has 8 cases Nominative, Accusative, Ablative or Instrumental, Dative Genitive, Locative, Communicative and Vocative. 

Cases
Singular Affixes
Plural Affixes
Nominative
e, o or nothing
er, lu, kulu, allu
Accusative
n, nu
ren, len
Ablative or Instrumental
Dd, Ddu
reDd, leDd
Dative
k, g, ku, gu
reg, leg
Genitive
a, na, ta, da
re, rena, le, lena
Locative
D, T, Du, Tu
reD, leD
Communicative
Da, Ta
reDa, leDa
Vocative
A, O
rae, lae

Eg1: mara (Neuter) - tree
Cases
Singular
Plural
Nominative
mara or maro (a tree)
maroklu (trees)
Accusative
maran, maronu (a tree)
maroklen (trees)
Ablative or Instrumental
maraDd, maroDdu (from, by or through a tree)
marokleDd (from, by or through trees)
Dative
marak, maroku (to tree)
marokleg (to trees)
Genitive
marata, marota (of a tree)
marokle, maroklena (of trees)
Locative
maraT, maroTu (in a tree)
marokleD (in trees)
Communicative
maraTa, maroTa (to a tree)
marokleDa (to trees)
Vocative
(O!) marA, marO (O tree)
maroklae (O trees)

Eg2: nayi (Neuter) - dog
Cases
Singular
Plural
Nominative
nAyi
nAyilu
Accusative
nAyin
nAyilen
Ablative or Instrumental
nAyiDd
nAyileDd
Dative
nAyig
nAyileg
Genitive
nAyida
nAyile, nayilena
Locative
nAyiD
nAyileD
Communicative
nAyiDa
nAyileDa
Vocative
(O!) nAyI
nAyilae

Eg3: rAma (Masculine) – Rama
Cases
Singular
Plural (to give respect)
Nominative
rAme
rAmer
Accusative
rAmen
rAmeren
Ablative or Instrumental
rAmeDd
rAmereDd
Dative
rAmeg
rAmereg
Genitive
rAmena
rAmerena
Locative
rAmeD
rAmereD
Communicative
rAmeDa
rAmerDa
Vocative
O! rAmA
rAmerae

Eg4: sIta (Feminine) – Seetha
Cases
Singular
Plural (to give respect)
Nominative
sIta
sIter
Accusative
sItan
sIteren
Ablative or Instrumental
sItaDd
sItereDd
Dative
sItag
sItereg
Genitive
sItana
sIterena
Locative
sItaD
sItereD
Communicative
sItaDa
sIterDa
Vocative
O! sItA
sIterae

Eg5: appae (Feminine) – Mother

Cases
Singular
Plural
Plural (to give respect)
Nominative
appae
appaellu
apper
Accusative
appen
appaellen
apperen
Ablative or Instrumental
appeDd
appaelleDd
appereDd
Dative
appeg
appaelleg
appereg
Genitive
appena
appaellena
apperena
Locative
appeD
appaelleD
appereD
Communicative
appeDa
appaelleDa
appereDa
Vocative
O! appae
appaellae!
apperae!


Next week we will learn some pronouns and later I will give you sentences on each case. Please give me your feedback. Thanks!

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27 comments:

  1. Hey Kiran, its me again....

    "Gudded Bhoota Undu"....here does it mean "There is a demon in the hill" ? Would it be correct to say "Guddelena Mele Bhoota Undu" to say "There is a demon on the hill" ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, guDDeD bhUta uNDu means there is a demon in/on the hill.

      guDDelena means ‘of hills’ (guDDagaLa in Kannada), but is not used in conversation. Mele is a Kannada word, Tulu equivalent is mitt. So you can say, guDDeda mitt bhUta uNDu (guDDada mEle bhUta ide) - There is a demon on the hill.

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    2. shouldn't bhoota means spirit in english,whenever we use word bhuta it is to say spirit, demon is called as rakashe or rakshashe.why use word devil for bhuta?

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    3. shouldn't bhoota means spirit in english,whenever we use word bhuta it is to say spirit, demon is called as rakashe or rakshashe. why use word bhoota for devil ?

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    4. Yes, bhootha means spirit, a good spirit. In Tulu, a wandering soul of a dead person or evil spirit is called as 'kulae'. But many has used the word devil worship for 'bhootharadhane' which is not correct. You can find more information at https://goo.gl/uplBRQ and http://goo.gl/0TvBTR

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  2. hello sir, its yuvraj here
    "jepp eete..mast pathervaa" means what?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "jepp eete..mast pathervaa" = jeppu ittae..mast pAterva = sleep now..you speak a lot

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  3. Hello sir.. ee pothana andu...it means

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  4. This is for you means

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  5. Thanks awesome lessons. Can you please give kannada equivalents of Noun Declension, adjacent to the Tulu table also for all tables. It's easier for someone like me who knows zero english grammar;)

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  6. Hello this is a very good initiative from your side to teach us Tulu..it would be nice if you could add audio or a transliteration in an Indian language ,so that we could have a better understanding of the pronunciation..just a suggestion

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  7. Hi Kiran, I am a Maharashtrian...want to learn Tulu...Your way of teaching is appreciated... If only u can make it a step by step procedure for people like me who are at square 1...thankyou

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mr unknown. I m a maharashtrian too. How's ur learning going? M new here. Thnx kiran for this I initiative.

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    2. Hi pj__yaggayo, another Maharashtrian here. I too am learning tulu. Would love to compare notes if you are actively learning.

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  8. Thanks kiran for doing this

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  9. I am a shetty but don't know tulu...wanna learn

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  10. Dear Kiran Poojary
    Like you I am also interested in learning languages. I know all the four Dravidian languages and Hindi.
    All South Indian languages have the vowels
    e and E எ.ஏ ఎ.ఏ whereas Sanskrit and North Indian languages do not have short e and o.Englsh has three sounds,viz men, man and Mane. You have given under Pronunciations a sho
    rt vowel

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Mr Poojari
    Like you I am also interested in learning languages. I know the four South Indian languages and Hindi.
    Pronunciation : Under short vowels you have given ae and man as the English word

    for the sound. It is not clear which vowel you are referring to. The four Dravidian languages have the vowelse,E,o,O.ಎ,ಏ,ಒ,ಓ. Sanskrit and North Indian languages do not have the short vowels e and o.
    On the other hand English has three variations under vowel e and E, viz men,man and Mane.
    Regards
    Govindaswamy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The other 4 Dravidian languages do not have the vowel 'ae'. So I cannot provide you with the exact letter referring to other languages. It's pronounced same like the letter 'a' in the English words like 'man', 'fan', 'can' etc. I have also included Audio files in the pronunciation page (http://www.easytulu.com/p/how-to-pronounce.html ). You can listen to it.
      Also, I have explained this in the following video lesson:
      https://youtu.be/EeucCJAJMVc - explained in English language
      https://youtu.be/SHBZAeT1v_o - Explained in Kannada language

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    2. I heard Sinhala has the letter "ae"

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