In this article, we will look at the different forms that verbs can have in Telugu.
I have created a Google sheet that contains many examples for a large number of verb forms. Some entries in the sheet don't follow the transformation rules described here. Those entries are highlighted in red or yellow, depending on how different they are from the transformation rule.
My primary source of Telugu grammar is the book An Intensive Course in Telugu by Parimi Ramanarsimham. The book has multiple chapters, each of which usually starts with a dialogue in Telugu between people, followed by exercises, vocabulary, and grammar notes related to the dialogue. Since the grammar notes are fragmented across chapters, it can be hard to refer to a particular topic. This article, on the other hand, is a structured reference of verb forms.
In many cells of the Google sheet, I have mentioned the book chapter that I sourced the entry from (where ICT stands for Intensive Course in Telugu).
My second source of Telugu grammar is my wife, who is a native Telugu speaker from Telangana. She said that Telangana uses a slightly different dialect of spoken Telugu compared to the above book. In this article, I have tried documenting these differences with regards to verb forms.
If you're learning Telugu, I recommend memorizing the following forms:
This is because these four forms can be used to derive almost all of the other forms. Additionally, it's useful to also memorize the past adjectival participle.
We will learn how to transform a verb from one form to other forms. To do these transformations, we will often need to join two words together. This process of joining words is called సంధి (संधि / sandhi). There are many different sandhi rules in Telugu, but for this article, the rules given by the following table will suffice. The rules depend on the kind of vowel the first word ends with and the kind of character the second word starts with. (Note that అ = अ is considered a vowel, so, e.g., మన ends with a vowel, but రాకేష్ and పుస్తకం don't.)
| 1st ends with | 2nd starts with | action | examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| short vowel | short vowel | remove 1st word's vowel and concatenate | వెళ్ళు + అకు = వెళ్ళకు, ఎక్కడ + ఉన్నావు = ఎక్కడున్నావు |
| long vowel | short vowel | remove 2nd word's vowel and concatenate | కూర్చో + అకు = కూర్చోకు |
| long vowel | long vowel | remove 1st word's vowel and concatenate | తింటూ + ఆను = తింటాను |
| vowel | consonant | concatenate | పో + వాలి = పోవాలి |
The imperative form denotes a request, order, or suggestion. Here are some example sentences, with the verbs in bold:
Moreover, there are sub-types of the imperative form:
The simple imperative form is generally considered the primary/defining form of the verb.
The other imperative forms (polite, negative, and polite negative) can be obtained from the infinitive form by appending (with sandhi) an appropriate suffix:
See the Google sheet for more examples.
The infinitive form has many functions.
Transformation Rule: Usually, the infinitive form is obtained by appending అ to the simple imperative form (with sandhi). Examples: వెళ్ళు → వెళ్ళ, కూర్చో → కూర్చో.
There are many exceptions to this rule. Most exceptions come from Trisyllabic verbs. These are verbs whose imperative form consists of three syllables. For them, before appending ఆ to the imperative form, the middle syllable's vowel is changed to అ. Examples: అడుగు → అడగ, వెతుకు → వెతక.
Verbs take on different forms based on who is doing the action and when the action happens. For example, here are the different forms of తిను (= eat = खाओ).
Modifying a verb based on context is called verb conjugation. In Telugu, verbs are conjugated based on:
Conjugating a verb usually involves picking an appropriate form of a verb based on tense and positivity/negativity, and then appending an appropriate personal suffix based on the subject's pronoun. So, we will frequently refer to the following table of personal suffixes:
| Subject's pronoun | positive personal suffix | negative personal suffix |
|---|---|---|
| నేను (I) | ఆను | ను |
| నువ్వు (You) | ఆవు | వు |
| మేం/మనం (We) | ఆం | ం |
| మీరు/వారు/వాళ్ళు (You/They) | ఆరు | రు |
| అతను/వాడు (He) | ఆడు | డు |
| ఆమె/అది (She/It) | అది | ది |
| అవి (They) | ఆయి | వు |
ఉండు (= be = हो) is called the existential verb.
ఉండు is conjugated in the simple present tense by appending the positive personal suffix to ఉన్న. Examples:
By the above rule, the conjugation for ఆమె and అది should be ఉన్నది. Although ఉన్నది is correct, ఉంది is more common.
For verbs other than ఉండు, the simple present tense is usually used to describe habits. Thus, it is also called the present habitual tense. E.g., నేను coffee తాగుతాను. = I drink coffee. = मैं coffee पीता हूँ।
Verbs other than ఉండు are conjugated in the simple present tense by appending the positive personal suffix to the present adverbial participle when the subject is not ఆమె/అది. Examples:
When the subject is ఆమె/అది, in the Telangana dialect, the ఊ at the end of present adverbial participle is replaced by అది in the Telangana dialect and ఉంది elsewhere. Examples:
In spoken Telugu, when the subject is నేను, sometimes the final ను is dropped. E.g.,
ఉండు is conjugated in the negative simple present tense by appending the negative personal suffix to లే. Examples:
Verbs other than ఉండు are conjugated in the negative simple present tense by appending the negative personal suffix to the verb's infinitive. Examples:
ఉండు is conjugated differently depending on dialect and context.
Method 1: conjugate to ఉండే.
Method 2: same as simple present.
With method 2, disambiguation between present and past tense is often done by using the words ఇప్పుడు (= now = अब/अभी) and అప్పుడు (= then = तब).
There are two ways to conjugate the simple past tense. Method 1 is understood everywhere. Sometimes method 2 is used in spoken Telangana Telugu.
Method 1:
Simple past tense conjugation rule for verbs other than ఉండు (actually this works for ఉండు too, depending on dialect and context):
In case 3 above, the ఆ in the positive personal suffix is pronounced differently: like the 'a' in 'man' or 'cat'.
Method 2:
This method only applies to subjects other than ఆమె/అది, and only when the past adjectival participle does not end with న్న.
ఉండు is conjugated differently depending on dialect and context.
Method 1: conjugate to లేకుండే or లేకపోయింది.
Method 2: same as negative simple present.
With method 2, disambiguation between present and past tense is often done by using the words ఇప్పుడు (= now = अब/अभी) and అప్పుడు (= then = तब).
Verbs other than ఉండు are conjugated in the negative simple past tense by appending the లేదు to the verb's infinitive. Examples:
ఉండు is conjugated in the simple future tense similar to how other verbs are conjugated in the simple present tense.
ఉండు is conjugated in the simple future tense by appending the positive personal suffix to ఉంటూ (the present adverbial participle of ఉండు) when the subject is not ఆమె/అది. Examples:
When the subject is ఆమె/అది, in the Telangana dialect, the ఊ at the end of ఉంటూ is replaced by అది in the Telangana dialect and ఉంది elsewhere. Example:
Verbs other than ఉండు are conjugated in the simple future tense in exactly the same way as they are conjugated in the simple present tense. Disambiguation between these two tenses is done by providing additional context.
Conjugation rule: append the negative personal suffix to the verb's infinitive. Examples:
For verbs other than ఉండు, the negative simple future tense is identical to the negative simple present tense. Hence, additional context is often used to disambiguate between them.
If the subject is not ఆమె/అది, append the positive personal suffix to the present adjectival participle. Examples:
If the subject is ఆమె/అది, in the Telangana dialect, the ఊ at the end of the verb's present adverbial participle is replaced by ఉంది in the Telangana dialect and ఓంది elsewhere. Example:
In spoken Telugu, when the subject is నేను, sometimes the final ను is dropped. E.g.,
Conjugation rule: append లేదు to the verb's gerund. Examples:
A verb's participle form is used to describe something. E.g., in the English sentence, "The children who were playing didn't look at us.", "who were playing" is a participle of the verb play, because "who were playing" describes "the children".
Participles can be adjectival, i.e., those that describe nouns and pronouns, or they can be adverbial, i.e., those that describe other verbs. They often have a tense associated with them (present, past, future) and they can be positive or negative.
The present adverbial participle is used to describe two actions happening simultaneously. Examples:
This form can often be obtained by adding తూ to the verb's imperative form, but there are a lot of exceptions to this rule.
The past adverbial participle is used to describe actions that happen sequentially. Examples:
This form can often be obtained by changing the imperative form's final ఉ to ఇ, but there are a lot of exceptions to this rule.
The negative adverbial participle is used to describe an action happening without another action happening or having happened.
This form can be obtained by appending అకుండా to the infinitive (or equivalently, by appending ఉండా to the negative imperative).
The present adjectival participle can describe either the subject currently doing the action or the object currently receiving the action.
Other examples:
The present adjectival participle can be obtained from the present adverbial participle by replacing the final ఊ with ఉన్న. Examples:
The past adjectival participle can describe either the subject that did the action or the object that received the action.
Other examples:
The past adjectival participle can be obtained from the past adverbial participle. If the past adverbial participle ends with ని, change the ని to న్న. Otherwise, append న to the past adverbial participle. Examples:
The future/habitual adjectival participle can describe either the subject that does (or will do) the action or the object that receives (or will receive) the action.
Other examples:
The future/habitual adjectival participle can be obtained from the past adverbial participle by replacing the final ఇ with ఏ. Examples:
The negative adjectival participle can describe either the subject that doesn't/didn't do the action or the object that doesn't/didn't receive the action.
In Telugu, the negative adjectival participle doesn't change based on tense.
The future/habitual adjectival participle can be obtained by appending ని to the infinitive. Examples:
The derived manner adverb can be derived from the adjectival participle of the appropriate tense. For the future/habitual tense, append టట్లు to the participle, and for the other tenses, append అట్లు to the participle.
Examples:
The temporal adverb can be derived from the adjectival participle of the appropriate tense. For the future/habitual tense, append టప్పుడు to the participle, and for the other tenses, append అప్పుడు to the participle.
Construction rule:
The gerund is a noun form of the verb. Examples:
The gerund is usually formed by appending అటం or అడం to the verb's infinitive. Examples:
For verbs whose infinitive ends with పో, కా, రా, or తే, the gerund is formed by appending వటం or వడం instead. Examples:
For verbs whose infinitive ends with కో, either అటం/అడం or వటం/వడం is appended depending on dialect. Example:
It can often be obtained by replacing the final ఊ in the present adverbial participle by ఏ, but unfortunately there are a lot of exceptions to this rule.
The negative conditional can be obtained by adding అపోతే to the negative imperative (or equivalently, adding కపోతే to the infinitive).
The obligatory form can be constructed from the infinitive. If the infinitive ends in a long vowel, append వాలి to it, otherwise append ఆలి to it. Examples:
The hortative can be obtained from the present adverbial participle. First, replace the final తూ or టూ with దాం, and then if it ends with స్డాం, replace that with ద్దాం.
The negative hortative can be obtained by adding వద్దు to the infinitive.