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.
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.
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.
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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