From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Malayalam grammar
Malayalam grammar
Singular Plural
Case First per- Second per- Third per- Third per- First person First per- Second Third
son son son (mascu- son (femi- exclusive)
(exclusive) son (inclu- person Person
line) nine) sive)
Nominative ñān nī avan (voc. avaḷ (voc. ñaṅṅaḷ nām/ nam- niṅṅaḷ avar (voc.
avanē) avaḷē) maḷ avarē)
Accusative enne ninne avane avaḷe ñaṅṅaḷe namme niṅṅaḷe avare
Genitive ente (also ninte (also avante (also avaḷuṭe ñaṅṅaḷuṭe nammuṭe niṅṅaḷuṭe avaruṭe
en, nin, avanuṭe) (also
ennuṭe) ninnuṭe) ñaṅṅuṭe)
Dative enikku ninakku avanu avaḷkku ñaṅṅaḷkku namukku niṅṅaḷkku avarkku
Instrumental ennāl ninnāl avanāl avaḷāl ñaṅṅaḷāl (al- nammāl niṅṅaḷāl avarāl
so ñaṅṅāl) (also
niṅṅāl)
Locative ennil (also ninnil (also avanil (also avaḷil (also ñaṅṅaḷil nammil niṅṅaḷil avaril (al-
eṅkal) niṅkal) avaṅkal) avaḷkal) so
avarkal)
Sociative ennōṭu ninnōṭu avanōṭu avaḷōṭu ñaṅṅaḷōṭu nammōṭu niṅṅaḷōṭu avarōṭu
Malayalam is one of the Dravidian languages and as such Other nouns
has an agglutinative grammar. The word order is gener-
The following are examples of some of the most common
ally subject–object–verb, although other orders are often
declensional patterns.
employed for reasons such as emphasis. Nouns are in-
flected for case and number, whilst verbs are conjugated
for tense, mood and causativity (and also in archaic lan-
Words adopted from Sanskrit
guage for person, gender, number and polarity). When words are adopted from Sanskrit, their endings are
usually changed to conform to Malayalam norms:
Nouns Nouns
The declensional paradigms for some common nouns and 1. Masculine Sanskrit nouns with a Word stem ending
pronouns are given below. As Malayalam is an agglutina- in a short "a" take the ending "an" in the nominative
tive language, it is difficult to delineate the cases strict- singular. For example, Kr̥ṣṇa -> Kr̥ṣṇan. The final "n" is
ly and determine how many there are, although seven or dropped before masculine surnames, honorifics, or titles
eight is the generally accepted number. Alveolar plosives ending in "an" and beginning with a consonant other
and nasals (although the modern Malayalam script does than "n" – e.g. Krishna Menon, Krishna Kaniyaan etc., but
not distinguish the latter from the dental nasal) are un- Krishnan Ezhutthachan. Surnames ending with "ar" or
derlined for clarity, following the convention of the Na- "aḷ" (where these are plural forms of "an" denoting re-
tional Library at Kolkata romanization. spect) are treated similarly – Krishna Pothuval, Krishna
Chakyar, but Krishnan Nair, Krishnan Nambiar, as are
Personal pronouns Sanskrit surnames such "Varma(n)", "Sharma(n)", or
"Gupta(n)" (rare) – e.g. Krishna Varma, Krishna Shar-
Vocative forms are given in parentheses after the nom-
man.[citation needed] If a name is a compound, only the last
inative, as the only pronominal vocatives that are used
element undergoes this transformation – e.g. Kr̥ṣṇa + dē-
are the third person ones, which only occur in com-
va = Kr̥ṣṇadēvan, not Kr̥ṣṇandēvan.
pounds.
2. Feminine words ending in a long "ā" or "ī" are
changed so that they now end in a short "a" or "i", for
example Sītā -> Sīta andLakṣmī -> Lakṣmi. However, the
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Malayalam grammar
Word Tree Elephant Human Dog
Case Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative maram maraṅṅaḷ āna ānakaḷ manuṣyan manuṣyar paṭṭi paṭṭikaḷ
Vocative maramē maraṅṅaḷē ānē ānakaḷē manuṣyā manuṣyarē paṭṭī paṭṭikaḷē
Accusative maratte maraṅṅaḷe ānaye ānakaḷe manuṣyane manuṣyare paṭṭiye paṭṭikaḷe
Genitive marattinte maraṅṅaḷuṭe ānayuṭe ānakaḷuṭe manuṣyante manuṣyaruṭe paṭṭiyuṭe paṭṭikaḷuṭe
Dative marattinu maraṅṅaḷkku ānaykku ānakaḷkku manuṣyanu manuṣyarkku paṭṭiykku paṭṭikaḷkku
Instrumental marattāl maraṅṅaḷāl ānayāl ānakaḷāl manuṣyanāl manuṣyarāl paṭṭiyāl paṭṭikaḷāl
Locative marattil maraṅṅaḷil ānayil ānakaḷil manuṣyanil manuṣyaril paṭṭiyil paṭṭikaḷil
Sociative marattōṭu maraṅṅaḷōṭu ānayōṭu ānakaḷōṭu manuṣyanōṭu manuṣyarōṭu paṭṭiyōṭu paṭṭikaḷōṭu
long vowel still appears in compound words, such as "Narasiṃha" and "Ananta" are masculine nouns in the
Sītādēvi orLakṣmīdēvi. The long ī is generally reserved original Sanskrit.
for the vocative forms of these names, although in San- 6. Nouns with short vowel stems other than "a", such
skrit the vocative actually takes a short "i". There are also as "Viṣṇu", "Prajāpati" etc. are declined with the Sanskrit
a small number of nominative "ī" endings that have not stem acting as the Malayalam nominative singular (the
been shortened – a prominent example being the word Sanskrit nominative singular is formed by adding a visar-
"strī" "woman". ga, e.g. Viṣṇuḥ)[citation needed]
3. Nouns that have a stem in -an and which end with 7. The original Sanskrit vocative is often used in for-
a long "ā" in the masculine nominative singular have a mal or poetic Malayalam, e.g. "Harē" (for Hari) or "Prab-
"vŭ" added to them, for exampleBrahmā (stem Brahman) hō" (for "Prabhu" – "lord"). This is restricted to certain
-> Brahmāvŭ. When the same nouns are declined in the contexts – mainly when addressing deities or other ex-
neuter and take a short "a" ending in Sanskrit, Malay- alted individuals, so a normal man named Hari would
alam adds an additional "m", eg. Brahma (neuter nomi- usually be addressed using a Malayalam vocative such as
native singular of Brahman) becomes Brahmam. This is "Harī". The Sanskrit genitive is also occasionally found
again omitted when forming compounds.[citation needed] in Malayalam poetry, especially the personal pronouns
4. Words whose roots end in -an but whose nomina- "mama" (my/ mine) and "tava" (thy/ thine). Other cases
tive singular ending is -a – for example, the Sanskrit root are less common and generally restricted to the realm of
of "Karma" is actually "Karman" –are also changed. The Maṇipravāḷam.
original root is ignored and "Karma" (the form in Malay- 8. Along with these tatsama borrowings, there are
alam being "Karmam" because it ends in a short "a") is also many tadbhava words in common use. These were
taken as the basic form of the noun when declining.[1] borrowed into Malayalam before it became distinct from
However, this does not apply to all consonant stems, as Tamil. As the language did not then accommodate San-
"unchangeable" stems such as "manas" ("mind") and skrit phonology as it now does, words were changed to
"suhr̥t ("friend") are identical to the Malayalam nom- conform to the Old Tamil phonological system. For exam-
inative singular forms (although the regularly derived ple: Kr̥ṣṇa -> Kaṇṇan.[2]
"manam" sometimes occurs as an alternative to "man-
as").
5. Sanskrit words describing things or animals rather
References
than people with a stem in short "a" end with an "m" [1] Varma, A.R. Rajaraja (2005). Keralapanineeyam.
Malayalam. For example,Rāmāyaṇa -> Rāmāyaṇam. In Kottayam: D C Books. pp. 303. ISBN 81-713-0672-1.
most cases, this is actually the same as the Sanskrit end- [2] Varma, A.R. Rajaraja (2005). Keralapanineeyam.
ing, which is also "m" (or allophonically anusvara due Kottayam: D C Books. pp. 301–302.
to Sandhi) in the neuter nominative. However, "things ISBN 81-713-0672-1.
and animals" and "people" are not always differentiated
based on whether or not they are sentient beings – for
example Narasimha becomes Narasiṃham and not
Narasiṃhan, whereas Ananta becomes Anantan even
though both are sentient. This does not strictly corre-
spond to the Sanskrit neuter gender, as both
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Malayalam grammar
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