I am overwhelmed by the positive responses from the readers for Learn Tulu Online Series. Knowing few phrases may be a good starting point to learn a new language. But if not taught formal structure/grammar of the language, one will not go beyond those few phrases. As some of you have suggested earlier, in this post there is an attempt to teach the language formally.Do listen to the audio guide below to pick up the pronunciation
Sentence formation in Tulu :
Pronouns:
English: I, You, He, She, We, They, This, That
Tulu : yaan, ee, aaye, aal, nama, akl, undu, avu
Kannada : naanu, neenu, avanu, avaLu, naavu, avaru, idu, adu
Apart from the pronouns listed above, one important and common pronoun to use in any Indian languge is the plural form of 'you', to address the person you are talking to.
In Tulu, you use eer.
In Kannada, you can use neevu or taavu.
Verbs:
Some of the common verbs used in day-to-day life
English: go, come, sit, laugh, stop, call, tell, do, write, read
Tulu: pola, bala, kullu, telipu, unt, leppu, pan, manpu, barela, odla
Kannada: hogu, baa, koothko, nagu, nillu, kare, heLu, maaDu, bare, odu
Some more verbs
English: give, take, eat, drink, run, get up, dance, watch/look, wait, talk
Tulu: koru, detonu, tin, par, balipu, lakk, nalipu, toola, kaapu, paater
Kannada: kodu, tegeduko, tinnu, kuDi, oDu, ELu, kuNi, noDu, kaayi, maatanaaDu
Listed above are the singular forms these verbs. It is important to use the plural form of these verbs as otherwise it might be perceived as disrespect while talking to elders or the people you meet for the first time. So, here are the list of plural forms of the above verbs in their respective order. Also, it should be noted that these verb forms are the ones used, when you directly talk to the person and not in 3rd person narration.
Tulu: pole, bale, kullule, telipule, untle, leppule, panle, manpule, barele, odle
Kannada: hogi, banni, koothkoLLi, nagi, nilli, kareyiri, heLi, maaDi, bareyiri, odi
Tulu: korule, detonule, tinle, parle, balipule, lakkle, nalipule, toole, kaapule, paaterle
Kannada: kodi, tegedukoLLi, tinni, kuDiyiri, oDi, ELi, kuNiyiri, noDi, kaayiri, maatanaaDi
By now, you would have realized that in Tulu for the verbs, if you add 'le' at the end you would get the plural form of the same(atleast it is true for the verbs listed here). In Kannada, though the suffix may be different for the words ending in different letters, 'i' at the end is common.
Objects:
English: lunch/dinner, water, tea, home, work, place
Tulu: vaNas, neer, chaaya, ill, bEle, oor
Kannada: ooTa, neeru, chahaa, mane, kelasa, ooru
Simple Sentence Formation : As it is always better to start off with plural form of verbs while learning any Indian language, I have used the same below. For singular forms refer the list above.
English : You take this route.
Tulu : eer ee route detonle.
Kannada : neevu ee route thegedukoLLi.
(though 'this' is 'undu' in Tulu, in this context for 'this route', 'ee route' is more appropriate. Same in the case of Kannada. Also, usually in Indian languages verbs come last unlike in English, where it comes in the middle of the sentence)
English : You run in the marathon.
Tulu : eer marathan d balipule.
Kannada : neevu marathonnalli ODi.
English : You sit in this chair.
Tulu : eer ee chair d kullule.
Kannada : neevu ee chairnalli koothkoLLi.
I hope you will be able to form more sentence following the examples above. If you require more verbs/sentences/objects please leave a comment in this post. In the next post, more complex sentences to follow.
Happy Learning
Raveesh
