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A grammar of the Telugu language/BOOK SECOND

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The First Declension includes all those nouns that are masculine and endn in Du ; as a younger brother; a good man a hero ; a son-in-law. a husband a person a stout man. ​పుట:A grammar of the Telugu language.pdf/85 ​

ముఖచిత్రం

​ The verb is regulated by the same principle, and carries it yet further. poti 'I went' if it adds N becomes potini: but sy*&3 poye, ' he went' if it adds N becomes s^cSsfk pOyenu.

So the verb QoiZoh «to remain' makes in the Aorist JgpS&Sbpk., but in the past tense &0&8p 'I remained.' Thus pwi&k 'to stand' <6eu&b*j ' to speak' jSJfciSJfci' to walk'; the aorists of these verbs are J&exj&ffc; 6ex>5Sa6fS>: :and the other persons, singular and plural, proceed on the same principle. The past tenses are pSfl&p;

Thus the same principle appears throughout; when a noun or its inflection ends in O) the dative is § and the accusative is p; otherwise the dative is & and the accusative is j^j.

The only two words excepted from this principle are f>4) thou and Sfcr°co you, which make the dative in pfi and &t*s3. But these terminate in long, not short vowels. Thus they do not break the rule.

In the words noticed here the vowels I and U occur monotonously in the spoken dialect: in the poetical dialect this inconvenience is lessened by elision and contraction.

BOOK SECOND.

ON THE NOUN.

Ancient grammarians describe the nouns in three Declensions. There are two numbers; singular and plural. The Latin cases will be found to embrace all the shapes of the noun : and this arrangement is preferable to the native mode wherein Telugu grammarians have made fruitless efforts to mould the noun on the Sanscrit model.

In one respect the Sanscrit model is preferable : as discriminating the third case or Instrumental Ablative (By, with) from the Locative case (or 7th case) "In." ​ Accordingly the cases found in Telugu are the Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Vocative, Instrumental and Locative.*

The Genitive case, if it differs from the nominative is often called the inflection : thus యింటి is the inflection of యిల్లు a house.

The Genitive often uses యొక్క "of." Thus అతని పేరు and అతని యొక్క పేరు equally signify "his name."

The Genitive plural changes the లు LU of the Nom. plu. into ల LA. Thus N. Plu. తమ్ములు ; G. తమ్ముల of the brothers.

The Dative, as already pointed out, adds కి to the inflection if it ends in or ; as N. వాడు he, G. వాని, his, D. వానికి to him. - N. స్త్రీ a woman, D. స్త్రీకి to a woman. But if the inflection ends in any other syllable it takes కు. Thus NG. బిడ్డ a child. D. బిడ్డకు to a child. As regards some words the inflection ending in takes at pleasure న Na before కు in the Dative Singular. Thus NG. గుర్రము a horse. D. గుర్రముకు or గుర్రమునకు to a horse.

The Dative plural adds KU to the plu. inflection. Thus G. Plu. , D. to the horses.

The accusative generally adds to words that end in or  ; but to other words. Thus N. a cat. Accusative . N. a woman. Accusative, . But the plural N. cats, Accusative . N. , Accus.

Masculine nouns ending in UDU or DU make the accusative singular by changing the termination into NI. Thus N. a brother A. N. a son-in-law. A. N. a husband. A. N. a person. A. N. A. . But the Sanskrit masculines in drop at pleasure altogether; as N. a teacher. A. or .

  • Sanskrit grammarians (from whom Telugu authors borrow their rules) call the nominative First case; the Accusative Second case : the Instrumental Third case ; the Genitive and Dative are includied in the Sixth case; and the Locative is called the Seventh case. The Ablative is called either Instrumental or Locative. Singular is called and plural . ​

FIRST DELENSION.

SECOND DECLENSION.

This contains neuter nouns of more than two syllables, ending in and in the singular number. The Genitive of some nouns may be formed in . Many nouns use the nominative singular instead of any Inflection. ​పుట:A grammar of the Telugu language.pdf/87 ​పుట:A grammar of the Telugu language.pdf/88 ​

Words denoting inanimate things and ending in U, of this Declension, take t in the Locative case; either in the regular manner, by adding NA to the singular inflection, as, ~S~°MSsSx>$ in the paper, es--3~,5'sS»;S in the sky, "cSS" in the country; or by changing the 3&0 of the inflection into "tf and lengthening the preceding vowel: thus T0*-^, e3--r»'fi6, ciViS.

The form dniki, as ^s^rr-pS for Xol»sSx>iSS5, (also anni as Xo^PcJ. for Xo[tfsS»?S» in the accusative) are considered vulgar; and so is the ablative form ciVjS (in the country) from Two country, yet we meet with these expressions even in standard poems. Thus our English poets, even Pope and Milton, use expressions or forms which modern taste condemns.

Native tutors are apt to reject some good forms as vulgarities. (Thus instead of <&n>o-sS»7>&. H. K. 5. 76.) Some indeed

have urged me to omit such in this grammar. But whether the forms are right or wrong, we must learn them if we wish to understand and to be understood.

Sanscrit Neuter nouns, when they fall under this declension frequently use the Sanscrit shape of the Instrumental case. Thus ■jT°£d!6o Justice makes T^g^iS in justice, justly. SiS^tfo discrepancy, makes Z>&*~$i> inimically, through spite (See T. E. D. in tfsSsSM. S'oS't5"3reS43'(T*&o.) The proper and usual Telugu shapes would be aS^sko^tf, •jy°_gd!S8S»e^,s'oS'tfsSsS»i6 but, the pure Sanscrit forms are often used; just as we often use the pure Latin forms ex parte, ab initio, a fortiori, &c.

Nouns of this declension make the nominative plural either by adding «» to the nominative singular; or by changing the final «S» into «» and lengthening its penultimate syllable if it is not long. Thus N. Sing. XblSsto. Plu. ^s(tfd»e» or «o(jr»ex>. N. Sing. ~%o Ts-»js». Plu. "^poxpex).

THIRD DECLENSION.

The third Declension includes all regular nouns that have no inflection in the Singular.* Also irregular nouns; which will afterwards be described.

The word -to, the hand makes the G. in but it has no plural.

Sometimes the same plural is used for two or more different nouns: thus

Plural.

"i5*TM days, lands, nerves [table] [merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

Foreign Words. Both in speaking and writing, the Telugus generally retain many foreign words untranslated. The words Doctor, Captain, General; coat, ice, glass, wine, beer, brandy, cup, saucer, bottle, court, book, receipt, pen, ink, bureau, &c., and perhaps a hundred Hindustani expressions in daily use as Kharch S"i£>sfr expense, outlay, zu

Noie.—A grammar of this language written in Telugu and printed in 1835 is arranged somewhat in the method preferred by the English. But besides much that is omitted it gives some false statements. Regarding many of the words described in this page, it exhibits regular as well as irregular plurals. But those regular plurals are fictitious, ​ur, razi, sandook, chacu, petara, jild, jawSn, roz, naucar, munslii, nakd &c. This dialect cannot as yet be set aside: because

there are no native expressions which precisely convey the same ideas. Take an instance. The word gazu ^s1 does indeed mean glass: but in Telugu conveys the idea of glass bracelets; ginne 'a cup' denotes a metal cup. There is no word to denote a glass. In like manner the word book, if translated [Xo$;Sx> or l^J^S" sS» would convey the idea of a book written on palm leaves. Thus to bind a book is sooso "SoiSbT^csSoJSo 0r 2?ew5'k>£o because there is no intelligible and convenient word for binding. It is not easy to speak or write Telugu without using foreign words: but good taste requires us to use them in moderation.

These foreign nouns whether Hindustani, English or neuters of Sanscrit origin, have no inflection, nor Locative or Instrumental forms in the singular: in the plural a few have inflections. All these use affixes.

Thus "^"S'co naucar a servant naukari, service, 2T* a

table, 2^ 'amu (tne English word line) S"^jO a couch. 'die a pen. Omo! ink. 69-office. 2* wine, "cs" fps doctor. er»<sSco lawyer. ~rr°ts^r~ a guardian.

Words ending in LU as Vakeel ^lew, Amul t9sS»ew, &c. are included in the same rule thus, ​

BOOK THIRD

NOUNS

It may be worth while to remark that house-hold servants at Madras talk a broken English with fluency; but the learner will find it profitable to employ only those domesticks who will speak to him in the language he is studying: such are always to be had. Our initiatory native instructors also speak English, but we should as soon as possible lay aside such aid and employ a teacher who speaks Telugu alone.

ON PRONOUNS.

The pronouns may be divided into two kinds, viz. the personal and the adjective pronouns. There are no Relative pronouns.

Personal pronouns have two numbers like those of substantive nouns, and three persons in each number, as ~i$i&> I, fcsS thou, ■sr-sfe he. Plu. we, you, •sr'Oo they.

The Gender of the 1st and 2d person is always clear. But the 3d person calls for distinction. Thus Mas. he, Fem. and

Neut. wa.sAe, it, and Plu. Mas. and Fem. Tst»0o those persons. Neut.

a those things.

The pronouns have all the cases of nouns except the Vocative, which, however, is used in compound words, as Aj-5t»tw° O Gardener! r» "V" O milk maid he.

On The First Person. The first person (I, myself) has two modes of forming the plural, viz. we and s&iS^o thou and I, or you and roe, or thou and

we; for this includes the person addressed.

Singular. Plural.

N. I N. "&>sfaa we

G. ~F°, T^csm jy^dj my G. term, sSj^oJnSf^ s£r°i£> our

D. "i^so to me D. *&»5o to us

A. fSpS^L, jSjSo me A. sfosto fS.JfcsSn, s&sfoMy

or s&sfo,e)ff> us.

  • In poetry Wm is sometimes changed into £>j& enu or £> E'; and "t5os5i» is changed into 'Less • and jt)>g) into
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