Tulu Lesson 5: More Interrogative Sentences in Simple Present Tense, Numbers from 1 to 20

namaskAra! encha ullar?

If anyone asked you how are you in Tulu, you can reply them ‘ushAr ullae’ or just ‘soukhya’. Both mean the same ‘I am fine’.

Also, instead of ‘encha ullar?’ you can ask ‘soukhyana?’ or ‘ushAr ullara?’.

You know Tulu has different subjective pronouns to speak with elders or strangers with respect. Ir - you, Ar (remote) – He/She, mEr (proximate) – He/She. But there is no separate verb conjugation for these pronouns. Verbs are conjugated like if it was plural.

nikulu gobbuvar – you play (plural) 

Ir gobbuvar – you play (giving respect) 

akulu/mokulu gobbuver (plural)

Ar/mEr gobbuver (giving respect) 

But in interrogative form of sentences when you speaking to elders/strangers with respect, you can optionally add ‘e’ or ‘ne’ instead of ‘a’ or ‘na’ at the end.

nikulu gobbuvara? – Do you play? (plural) 

Ir gobbuvare? – Do you play? (giving respect) 

It’s not compulsory; you can also say ‘Ir gobbuvara?’, but adding ‘e’ sound at the end makes it more polite and many prefer it while speaking to elders.

Aye gobbujena? – Doesn’t he play? 

Aye gobbujene? - Doesn’t he play? (when you speak with elders/strangers with respect)

soukhyana? – Are you fine? 

soukhyane? Are you fine? (with respect)

Now look at the following sentence.

He is a nice man, right?

He is a nice man, isn’t he?

This kind of questions can be asked in Tulu using ‘ata’.

att – No/It is not

ata? – Isn’t it/right?

Aye eDDae naramAni, ata? - He is a nice man, right?

Aye eDDae naramAni, ate? -  He is a nice man, right? (giving respect to the listener)

The answer can be and/att – Yes/No

Aye ellae barpe, ata? – He will come tomorrow, right?

Aye ellae barpe, ate? - He will come tomorrow, right? (giving respect to the listener)

The answer can be and/ijji – Yes/No

Now look at the following sentence:

Whether he will come or not?

This kind for questions can be asked in Tulu using ‘ijja’.

ijji - No/It is not

ijja? – isn’t it?/or not?

Aye barpe – He will come

Aye barpena? – Will he come?

Aye barpene? - Will he come? (giving respect to the listener)

Aye barpena, ijja? - Whether he will come or not?

Aye barpene, ijje? - Whether he will come or not? (giving respect to the listener)

All right! We are done with interrogative form of sentences in Simple Present tense. Now let us look at all type of sentences we have learnt so far:

yAn tulu pAtervae – I speak Tulu.

yAn tulu kalpuvae – I will learn Tulu

enk tulu barpuNDu – I know Tulu

enk tulu gottuNDu (gottu + uNDu) – I know Tulu

yAn tulu pAterujae – I don’t speak Tulu

yAn tulu kalpujae – I will not learn Tulu

enk tulu barpuji – I don’t know Tulu

enk tulu gottuji – I don’t know Tulu

I tulu kalpuvana? Will you learn Tulu?

Ir tulu kalpuvare? Will you learn Tulu?

nikk tulu barpuNDa? Do you know Tulu?

ireg tulu barpuNDe? Do you know Tulu?

nikk tulu gottuja? Don’t you know Tulu?

ireg tulu gottuje? Don’t you know Tulu?

nikk tulu gottuNData? (gottuNDu + ata) – You know Tulu, right?

ireg tulu gottuNDate? - You know Tulu, right?

nikk tulu barpujata? (barpuji + ata) – You don’t know Tulu, right?

ireg tulu barpujate? – You don’t know Tulu, right?

nikk tulu gottuNDa, ijja? - Whether you know Tulu or not?

ireg tulu barpunDe, ijje? - Whether you know Tulu or not?

yAn ellae kuDlag pOpae, Irla ennoTTugu barpare? – I will go to Mangalore tomorrow, will you too come along with me?

Avu, yAnla barpae – OK, I will come too.

ijji, enk Apuji – No, I can’t

Avu – OK

ApuNDu – It becomes/It will become

Apuji – It does not become/It will not become

yAn Doctor Apae – I will become a Doctor. 

yAn Doctor Apujae – I will not become a Doctor. 

But when used with Dative or Ablative case, it gives the meaning of ‘not possible’ or ‘can’t’

enk Apuji – I can’t. (It’s not possible for me)

enaDd Apuji – I can’t (It’s not possible by me)

Tulu: ninaDd dAla bElae Apuji
English: You can’t do any work. Kannada: ninninda EnU kelasa Agalla

Also, this verb is used to express feelings.

Tulu: enk khushi ApuNDu
English: I feel happy
Kannada: nanage khushi Agtade

Tulu: enk bEjAr ApuNDu
English: I feel sad
Kannada: nanage bEjar Agtade

Tulu: enk bEnae Apuji
English: I don’t feel pain.
Kannada: nanage nOvu Agalla

Tulu: enk badApuNDu (baDav + ApuNDu)
English: I feel hungry
Kannada: nanage hasivAgtade

Tulu: enk bAjel ApuNDu
English: I feel thirsty
Kannada: nanage bAyArike Agtade

Tulu: Ayeg tarae bEnae ApuNDu
English: He has head ache.
Kannada: avanige tale nOvu Agtade

More sentences in Simple Present/Future tense:

Tulu: Aye dinola kANDae daikleg nIr pADuve
English: He waters the plants every morning.
Kannada: avanu dinA beLagge giDagaLige nIru hAktAne

Tulu: Ar rAtrae benper, pagel’D jeppuver
English: He works at night and sleeps during the day.
Kannada: avaru rAtri duDitAre, hagalu malagtAre

Tulu: ninna jOkulu sAleg pOpera?
English: Do your children go to school?
Kannada: ninna makkaLu shAlege hOgtAra?

Tulu: irena jOkulu sAleg pOpere?
English: Do your children go to school? (with respect)
Kannada: nimma makkaLu shAlege hOgtAra?

Tulu: yAn bEga jeppuvena?
English: Do I sleep early?
Kannada: nAnu bEga malagtEna?

Tulu: yAn bEga jeppuvene?
English: Do I sleep early? (with respect)
Kannada: nAnu bEga malagtEna?

Tulu: akulu enan ini leppujer
English: They will not call me today
Kannada: avaru nannannu ivattu kareyalla

Tulu: Ar enan madapujer
English: He/She will not forget me
Kannada: avaru nannannu mareyalla

Tulu: yAn aleDa paNpae
English: I will tell her.
Kannada: nAnu avaLalli hELtEne

Tulu: Aye ninan kerpe
English: He will kill you
Kannada: avanu ninnannu koltAne

Tulu: yAn enna dOstina illaDe pOpae
English: I will go to my friend’s house
Kannada: nAnu nanna geLeyana manege hOgtEne

Tulu: enna amma enna bAlen tUper
English: My mom will look after my child
Kannada: nanna amma nanna maguvannu nODtAre

Tulu: I jOkulu bareper
English: These children will write.
Kannada: I makkaLu bareyuttAre

‘I’ and ‘A’ are demonstrative adjectives.

undu – This

I bAlae – This child

I jOkulu – These children

au – That

A bAlae – That child

A jOkulu – Those children

Numbers in Tulu:

If we learn numbers from one to twenty correctly we will have no problems with the rest of the numbers. So, please try to learn the first twenty numbers and you’ll have no more problems!

onji – One

raDD – Two

mUji – Three

nAl – Four

ain – Five

Aji – Six

El – Seven

enma – Eight

orumba – Nine

patt – Ten

pattonji – Eleven

padiraDD – Twelve

padimUji – Thirteen

padinAl – Fourteen

padinain – Fifteen

padinAji – Sixteen

padinEl – Seventeen

padinenma – Eighteen

padinorumba – Nineteen

irva – Twenty

Words used in today’s lesson:

eDDae – good

naramAni – man

gottu – knowledge/understanding

kuDla – Mangalore

Irla – you too

ennoTTugu (enna + oTTugu) - with me

khushi – happy

bEjAr – sad

bEnae – pain

baDav – Hunger

bAjel – thirst

tarae – head

dai – plant

daikulu – plants

nIr – water

rAtrae – night

pagel – day time

bAlae – child

jOkulu – children

ini – today

dOsti – friend

Click here to learn more verbs.

Click here for Video lessons

All right! If you have any questions, feel free to comment. See you next week!

solmelu!