Gujarati grammar
Thegrammar of the Gujarati languageis the study of theword order,case marking,verb conjugation,and othermorphologicalandsyntacticstructures of theGujarati language,anIndo-Aryanlanguage native to theIndianstate ofGujaratand spoken by theGujarati people.This page overviews the grammar of standard Gujarati, and is written in aromanization(seeGujarati script#Romanization). Hovering the mouse cursor overunderlinedforms will reveal the appropriateEnglishtranslation.
Nominals
[edit]Nouns
[edit]Gujarati has threegenders,twonumbers,and threecases(nominative,oblique/vocative,and to a certain extent,locative). Nouns may be divided intodeclensionalsubtypes:markednouns displaying characteristicdeclensionalvowelterminations,andunmarkednouns which do not. These are the paradigms for the termination[1][2]—
Nom. | Obl./Voc. | Loc. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sg. | Pl. | Sg. | Pl. | ||
Masc. | -ઓo | -આā | -એe | ||
Neut. | -ઉંũ | -આંā̃ | -આā | -આંā̃ | |
Fem. | -ઈī |
Two things must be noted about the locative case and its limited nature. First, it only exists as a case for masculines and neuters, which is why the corresponding feminine cell has been left blanked out. Rather, for marked feminine and unmarked nouns the locative is apostposition,which are explained on later in the article. Second, there is no distinction of gender.
Furthermore, there also exists in Gujarati apluralmarker -ઓ(o). Unlike theEnglish pluralit is not mandatory, and may be left unexpressed if plurality is already expressed in some other way: by explicit numbering,agreement,or the above declensional system (as is the case with nominative marked masculines and neuters). And yet despite the declensional system,ઓ(o) often gets tacked onto nominative marked masculine and neuter plurals anyway. This redundancy is called thedouble plural.Historically, the origin of this suffix is murky, but it is certainly morphological rather than lexical. It is new (18th century) and it is not attested inOld Gujarati,Middle Gujarati,andOld Western Rajasthaniliterature.It may simply be the case that it spread from an unrepresenteddialect.[3][4]
Thus combining both the declensional and plural suffixes, the following table outlines all possible Gujarati noun terminations —
Nom. | Obl./Voc. | Loc. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sg. | Pl. | Sg. | Pl. | |||
M'd. | Masc. | -ઓo | -આ(ઓ)ā(o) | -આā | -આઓāo | -એe |
Neut. | -ઉંũ | -આં(ઓ)ā̃(o) | -આં(ઓ)ā̃(o) | |||
Fem. | -ઈī | -ઈઓīo | -ઈī | -ઈઓīo | ||
unM'd. | -ઓo | -ઓo |
There are also several forms of feminines derived from masculine nouns that do not end in -ઓ(o).[5]
Masc. (Sg.) | Fem. (Sg.) | Examples | |
---|---|---|---|
Masc. | Fem. | ||
-ઇયો iyo | -ઇયેણiyeṇ | ભાગિયો bhāgiyo | ભાગિયેણ bhāgiyeṇ |
-ઇયણ iyaṇ | વાણિયો vāṇiyo | વાણિયણ vāṇiyaṇ | |
-ઇયાણી iyāṇī | વાણિયાણી vāniyāṇī | ||
-ઈī | -ણી ṇī | હાથી hāthī | હાથણી hāthaṇī |
-એણ eṇ | |||
-અણ aṇ | ધોબી dhobī | ધોબણ dhobaṇ | |
-ઉu | -વ-(Fem. suffix) -v- | સાધુ sādhu હિંદુ hĩdu |
સાધ્વી sādhvī હિંદવાણી hĩdvāṇī |
unM'd. | -આ -ā | પંડિત pãḍit | પંડિતા pãḍitā |
-ઈ -ī | દેવ dev | દેવી devī | |
-ડી -ḍī | ભીલ bhīl | ભીલડી bhīlaḍī | |
-ણી -ṇī | પિશાચ piśāc | પિશાચણી piśācaṇī | |
-આણી -āṇī | રજપૂત rajpūt | રજપૂતાણી rajpūtāṇī | |
-એણ -eṇ | વાઘ vāgh | વાઘેણ vāghēṇ | |
-ણ -ṇ | સિંહ sĩh | સિંહણ sĩhaṇ | |
-વી -vī | નટ naṭ | નાટવી naṭavī |
The next table, of noun declensions, shows the above suffix paradigms in action. Words:છોકરો (chhokro)"boy",ડાઘો (ḍāgho)"stain",મહિનો (mahino)"month",કચરો (kacro)"rubbish",છોકરું (chhokrũ)"child",કારખાનું (kārkhānũ)"factory",બારણું (bārṇũ)"door",અંધારું (andhārũ)"dark",છોકરી (chhokrī)"girl",ટોપી (ṭopī)"hat",બાટલી (bāṭlī)"bottle",વીજળી (vījḷī)"electricity",વિચાર (vichār)"thought",રાજા (rājā)"king",ધોબી (dhobī)"washerman",બરફ (baraf)"ice",ઘર (ghar)"house",બહેન (bahen)"sister",મેદાન (medān)"field",પાણી (pāṇī)"water",બાબત (bābat)"matter",નિશાળ (niśāl)"school",ભાષા (bhāṣā)"language",ભક્તિ (bhakti)"devotion".
Nom. | Obl./Voc. | Loc. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sg. | Pl. | Sg. | Pl. | |||
M'd. | Masc. | છોકરો chhokro ડાઘો ḍāgho મહિનો mahino કચરો kacro |
છોકરા(ઓ) chhokrā(o) ડાઘા(ઓ) ḍāghā(o) મહિના(ઓ) mahinā(o) |
છોકરા chhokrā ડાઘા ḍāghā મહિના mahinā કચરા kacrā |
છોકરાઓ chokrāo ડાઘાઓ ḍāghāo મહિનાઓ mahināo |
મહિને mahine |
Neut. | chhokrũ kārkhānũ bārṇũ andhārũ |
chhokrā̃(o) kārkhānā̃(o) bārṇā̃(o) |
chhokrā kārkhānā bārṇā andhārā |
chhokrā̃(o) kārkhānā̃(o) bārṇā̃(o) |
kārkhāne | |
Fem. | chhokrī ṭopī bāṭlī vījḷī |
chhokrīo ṭopīo bāṭlīo |
chhokrī ṭopī bāṭlī vījḷī |
chhokrīo ṭopīo bāṭlīo |
||
unM'd. | Masc. | vichār rājā dhobī[1] baraf |
vichāro rājāo dhobīo |
vichār rājā dhobī baraf |
vichāro rājāo dhobīo | |
Neut. | ghar bahen medān pāṇī[2] |
gharo baheno medāno |
ghar bahen medān pāṇī |
gharo baheno medāno | ||
Fem. | bābat niśāḷ bhāṣā[3] bhakti[4] |
bābato niśāḷo bhāṣāo |
bābat niśāḷ bhāṣā bhakti |
bābato niśāḷo bhāṣāo |
- The last entry of each gender category is amass noun.
- Somecount nounsare averse to taking the plural marker:bhāg"portion(s),dā̃t"tooth(/teeth) ",pag"foot(/feet) ",caṇā"chick peas",etc.
- Regarding nouns that terminate inī:[6]
- ^Rather than marking femininity,īcan sometimes denote vocation or attribute, most often in indicating (male) persons:ādmī"man" (lit. "ofĀdam"),baṅgāḷī"Bengali",śāstrī"scholar" (lit. "scripture-ist "),ṭapālī"postman".
- Somemalerelations end ināī:bhāī"brother",jamāī"daughter'shusband",vevāī"child'sfather-in-law".
- ^Some derive from male Sanskrit-in:hāthī"elephant",[7]or neuter Sanskrit-iyam,-ījam,etc.:pāṇī"water",marī"black pepper",bī"seed".
- ^Many feminine Sanskritloanwordsend inā.i.e.bhāṣā"language",āśā"hope",icchā"intention".
- ^Many Sanskrit loanwordsorthographicallyend ini,though in Gujarati there is now no phonetic difference betweeniandī,so those words could just as well be held as marked feminines.
- In the end, unmarked nouns probably outnumber marked ones, though many marked nouns are highly frequent.[8]Marked or not, the bases of the gender of nouns are these —
- Biological: animates. Thus achokrī"girl" is feminine, abaḷad"bull" is masculine, etc.[9]
- Perceived: animates. Some animals have the propensity to be addressed and cast as being of one gender over the others, across the board, regardless of the biological gender of the specific organism being referred to. Thus spiders are masculine:karoḷiyo,cats feminine:bilāṛī,and rabbits neuter:saslũ.These three can be cast into other genders if such specificity is desired, but as explained that would be deviation from the default rather than a scenario of three equally valid choices.
- Size. An object can come in differently gender-marked versions, based on size. Masculine is big, getting smaller down through neuter and then feminine; neuter can sometimes bepejorative.[10]Hence,camco"big spoon" andcamcī"small spoon", andvāṛko"big bowl" andvāṛkī"small bowl". The same can apply to animates (animals) that fall under the second rule just above. One would thinksasloto be "male rabbit", but it's more so "big rabbit".
- For the rest there is no logic to gender, which must simply be memorized by the learner.irādo"intention (m)",māthũ"head (n)", andmahenat"effort (f)" are neither animates possessing biological gender nor a part of a set of differently-sized variants; their gender is essentially inexplicable.[9]
Adjectives
[edit]Adjectivesmay be divided intodeclinableandindeclinablecategories. Declinables are marked, taking the appropriatedeclensional terminationfor the noun they qualify. One difference from nouns however is that adjectivesdo nottake the plural marker-o.Neut. nom. sg. (-ũ) is thecitation form.Indeclinable adjectives are completely invariable. All adjectives can be used eitherattributively, predicatively, or substantively.
- Examples of declinable adjectives:moṭũ"big",nānũ"small",jāṛũ"fat",sārũ"good",kāḷũ"black",ṭhaṇḍũ"cold",gā̃ṛũ"crazy".
- Examples of indeclinable adjectives:kharāb"bad",sāf"clean",bhārī"heavy",sundar"beautiful",kaṭhaṇ"hard",lāl"red".
Nom. | Obl./Voc. | Loc. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sg. | Pl. | Sg. | Pl. | |||
M'd. | Masc. | sāro chhokro | sārā chhokrā(o) | sārā chhokrā | sārā chhokrāo | sāre mahine |
Neut. | sārũ chhokrũ | sārā̃ chhokrā̃(o) | sārā chhokrā | sārā̃ chhokrā̃(o) | sāre kārkhāne | |
Fem. | sārī chhokrī | sārī chhokrīo | sārī chhokrī | sārī chhokrīo | ||
unM'd. | Masc. | sāro vichār sāro rājā sāro dhobī sāro baraf |
sārā vichāro sārā rājāo sārā dhobīo |
sārā vichār sārā rājā sārā dhobī sārā baraf |
sārā vichāro sārā rājāo sārā dhobīo | |
Neut. | sārũ ghar sārũ medān sārũ pāṇī |
sārā̃ gharo sārā̃ medāno |
sārā ghar sārā medān sārā pāṇī |
sārā̃ gharo sārā̃ medāno | ||
Fem. | sārī bābat sārī niśāḷ sārī bhāṣā sārī bhakti |
sārī bābato sārī niśāḷo sārī bhāṣāo |
sārī bābat sārī niśāḷ sārī bhāṣā sārī bhakti |
sārī bābato sārī niśāḷo sārī bhāṣāo |
Nom. | Obl./Voc. | Loc. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sg. | Pl. | Sg. | Pl. | |||
M'd. | Masc. | kharāb chhokro kharāb ḍāgho kharāb mahino kharāb kacro |
kharāb chhokrā(o) kharāb ḍāghā(o) kharāb mahinā(o) |
kharāb chhokrā kharāb ḍāghā kharāb mahinā kharāb kacrā |
kharāb chhokrāo kharāb ḍāghāo kharāb mahināo |
kharāb mahine |
Neut. | kharāb chhokrũ kharāb kārkhānũ kharāb bārṇũ kharāb andhārũ |
kharāb chhokrā̃(o) kharāb kārkhānā̃(o) kharāb bārṇā̃(o) |
kharāb chhokrā kharāb kārkhānā kharāb bārṇā kharāb andhārā |
kharāb chhokrā̃(o) kharāb kārkhānā̃(o) kharāb bārṇā̃(o) |
kharāb kārkhāne | |
Fem. | kharāb chhokrī kharāb vījḷī |
kharāb chhokrīo |
kharāb chhokrī kharāb vījḷī |
kharāb chhokrīo |
||
unM'd. | Masc. | kharāb vicār kharāb rājā kharāb dhobī kharāb baraf |
kharāb vicāro kharāb rājāo kharāb dhobīo |
kharāb vicār kharāb rājā kharāb dhobī kharāb baraf |
kharāb vicāro kharāb rājāo kharāb dhobīo | |
Neut. | kharāb ghar kharāb bahen kharāb medān kharāb pāṇī |
kharāb gharo kharāb baheno kharāb medāno |
kharāb ghar kharāb bahen kharāb medān kharāb pāṇī |
kharāb gharo kharāb baheno kharāb medāno | ||
Fem. | kharāb bābat kharāb niśāḷ kharāb bhāṣā kharāb bhakti |
kharāb bābato kharāb niśāḷo kharāb bhāṣāo |
kharāb bābat kharāb niśāḷ kharāb bhāṣā kharāb bhakti |
kharāb bābato kharāb niśāḷo kharāb bhāṣāo |
Comparatives and superlatives
[edit]Comparisonsare made by using "than" (thepostpositionthī;see below) or "instead of" (nā kartā̃), and "more" (vadhu,vadhāre,etc.) or "less" (ochũ). The word for "more" is optional, while "less" is required, denoting that in the absence of either it's "more" than will be inferred.
Gujarati | Literal | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Gītā Gautamthī ū̃cī che | Gita is tall than Gautam | Gita is taller than Gautam |
Gītā Gautam kartā̃ ū̃cī che | Gita is tall instead of Gautam | |
Gītā Gautamthī vadhāre ū̃cī che | Gita is more tall than Gautam | |
Gītā Gautamthī ochī ū̃cī che | Gita is less tall than Gautam |
In the absence of an object of comparison ( "more" of course is now no longer optional):
Gujarati | Literal | Meaning |
---|---|---|
vadhu moṭo kūtro | The more big dog | The bigger dog |
kūtro vadhu moṭo che | The dog more big is | The dog is bigger |
Superlativesare made through comparisons with "all" (sau).
Gujarati | Literal | Meaning |
---|---|---|
sauthī sāf orṛo | The clean than all room | The cleanest room |
orṛo sauthī sāf che | The room is clean than all | The room is the cleanest |
Or by leading withmā̃"in" postpositioned to the same adjective.
Gujarati | Literal | Meaning |
---|---|---|
nīcāmā̃ nīcī chokrī | The short in the short girl | The shortest girl |
Postpositions
[edit]The sparse Gujarati case system serves as a springboard for Gujarati's grammatically functionalpostpositions,which parallelEnglish'sprepositions.It is their use with a noun or verb that is what necessitates the noun or verb taking the oblique case. There are six, one-syllableprimary postpositions.Orthographically, they are bound to the words they postposition.
- નું (nũ)–genitivemarker; variably declinable in the manner of an adjective. Xનો(no)/નું(nũ)/ની(nī)/ના(nā)/નાં(nā̃)/ને(ne)Y has the sense "X's Y", withનો(no)/નું(nũ)/ની(nī)/ના(nā)/નાં(nā̃)/ને(ne)agreeing with Y.
- એ (e)–ergativemarker; applied tosubjectsoftransitiveperfectiveverbs.
- ને (ne)– marks the indirectobject(hence named "dativemarker "),or,ifdefinite,the direct object.
- થી (thī)– has a very wide range of uses and meanings:
- "from";બરોડાથી (Baroṛāthī)"fromBaroda".
- "from, of";તારાથી ડરવું (tārāthī ḍarvũ)"to fear of you, to fear you".
- "since";બુધવારથી (budhvārthī)"since Wednesday".
- "by, with";instrumentalmarker.
- "by, with, -ly";adverbialmarker.
- "than"; forcomparatives.
- એ (e)– a generallocative,specifying senses such as "at", "during", etc. It is also usedadverbially.As detailed previously, for the masculine and neuter genders it is acasetermination, however to marked feminine and unmarked nouns it is a postpositional addition.
- પર (par)– "on".
- માં (mā̃)– "in".
Postpositions can postposition other postpositions. For example,થી (thī)(as "from" ) suffi xing the two specific locatives can help to specify what type of "from" is meant (પરથી (parthī)"from off of",માંથી (mā̃thī)"from out of" ).
Beyond this are a slew ofcompound postpositions,composed of the genitive primary postpositionનું (nũ)plus an adverb.
- નાં અંગે (nā aṅge)"with regard to, about";ની અંદર (nī andar)"inside";ની આગળ (nī āgaḷ)"in front (of)";ની ઉપર (nī upar)"on top (of), above";ના કરતાં (nā kartā̃)"rather than";ને કારણે (ne kāraṇe)"because of";ની જોડે (nī joḍe)"with";ની તરફ (nī taraph)"towards";ની તરીકે (nī tarīke)"as, in the character of";ને દરમિયાન (ne darmiyān)"during";ની નજીક (nī najīk)"near, close to"; etc.[11]
The genitive bit is often optionally omissible with nouns, though not with pronouns[12](specifically, not with first and second person genitive pronouns, because, as will be seen, they have no outward, distinct, separableનું (nũ)).
Pronouns
[edit]Personal
[edit]Gujarati haspersonal pronounsfor the first and second persons, while its third person system usesdemonstrativebases, categorizeddeicticallyas proximate and distal.
The language has aT–V distinctioninતું (tũ)andતમે (tame).The latter "formal" form is also grammatically plural. A similar distinction also exists when referring to someone in the third person.
Rare among modernIndo-Aryan languages,Gujarati hasinclusive and exclusive we,આપણે (āpṇe)andઅમે (ame).
Personal | Demonstrative | Relative | Interrogative | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st pn. | 2nd pn. | 3rd pn. | ||||||||||||||
Sg. | Pl. | Sg. & Inf. |
Pl./ Form. |
Prox. | Dist. | |||||||||||
Inc. | Exc. | Inf. | Form. | Inf. | Form. | Inf. | Form. | Anim. | Inan. | |||||||
Sg. | Pl. | Sg. | Pl. | Sg. | Pl. | |||||||||||
Nominative | હું hũ | આપણે āpṇe | અમે ame | તું tũ | તમે tame | આ ā | આઓ āo | તે te | તેઓ teo | જે je | જેઓ jeo | કોણ kɔṇ | શું śũ | |||
Ergative | મેં mɛ̃ | તેં tɛ̃ | આણે āṇe | આઓએ āoe | આમણે āmṇe | તેણે tɛṇe | તેઓએ teoe | તેમણે tɛmṇe | જેણે jɛṇe | જેઓએ jeoe | જેમણે jɛmṇe | કોણે kɔṇe | ||||
Dative | મને mane | આપણને āpaṇne | અમને amne | તને tane | તમને tamne | આને āne | આઓને āone | આમને āmne | તેને tɛne | તેઓને teone | તેમને tɛmne | જેને jɛne | જેઓને jeone | જેમને jɛmne | કોને kɔne | શેને śɛne |
Genitive | મારું mārũ | આપણું āpṇũ | અમારું amārũ | તારું tārũ | તમારું tamārũ | આનું ānũ | આઓનું āonũ | આમનું āmnũ | તેનું tɛnũ | તેઓનું teonũ | તેમનું tɛmnũ | જેનું jɛnũ | જેઓનું jeonũ | જેમનું jɛmnũ | કોનું kɔnũ | શેનું śɛnũ |
- તેઓ (teo)and its derivatives are quite rarely spoken and only very formally. More so it'sતે લોકો (te loko)(lit. those people). The same goes forઆઓ (āo)andજેઓ (jeo)and their derivatives.
- લોકો (loko)can be used to emphasize plurality elsewhere:આપણે લોકો (āpṇe loko),અમે લોકો (ame loko),તમે લોકો (tame loko).
- The initialત (t)in distal forms is mostly dropped in speech;એ (e),એનું (ɛnũ),એમનું (ɛmnũ),etc.
- Second person formalઆપ (āp)is borrowed fromHindiand might be used in rare, ultra-formal occasions (i.e. addressing a crowd).
- The system is regular for the remaining three postpositions (માં (mā̃),પર (par),થી (thī)), which suffix to anobliqued genitive base(invariably toઆ (ā)):મારા (mārā),આપણા (āpṇā),અમારા (amārā),તારા (tārā),તમારા (tamārā),આના (ānā),આઓના (āonā),આમના (āmnā),તેના (tɛnā),તેઓના (teonā),તેમના (tɛmnā),જેના (jɛnā),જેઓના (jeonā),જેમના (jɛmnā),કોના (kɔnā),શેના (śɛnā).Forinanimateswithમાં (mā̃),the genitive bit gets omitted:આમાં (āmā̃),એમાં (emā̃),જેમાં (jemā̃),શેમાં (śemā̃).
- અમે (ame),અમને (amne),તમે (tame),તમને (tamne),તેણે (tɛṇe),તેમણે (tɛmṇe),તેને (tɛne),તેમને (tɛmne),જેણે (jɛṇe),જેમણે (jɛmṇe),જેને (jɛne)also occur withmurmuredvowels.[13]
- In speechશું(śũ)is most often not variable with regards to gender and number. It does have the obliqueશે (śɛ),and althoughશા (śā)exists, it is rarely heard outside the phraseશા માટે (śā māṭē),meaning why (lit. for what reason).
- In speech, all words beginning with aશ (ś)are often heard as if only with aસ (s).Many speakers consider theશ (ś)to sound pedantic, however in writing,સું (sũ)and all other correspondingly spelled forms appear uneducated or rural.
- In speech, all words containing anએ (ɛ)are also heard as if with ande.There would be no corresponding Gujarati spelling difference.
- In speech,આપણે (āpṇe)and all other forms are often pronounced asāpre,āprũ,etc. There would be no corresponding Gujarati spelling difference.
Derivates
[edit]Interrogative | Relative | Demonstrative | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Dist. | Prox. | |||
Time | ક્યારે kyāre | જ્યારે jyāre | ત્યારે tyāre | અત્યારે atyāre |
Place | ક્યાં kyā̃ | જ્યાં jyā̃ | ત્યાં tyā̃ | અહીં ahī̃ |
Quantity | કેટલું keṭlũ | જેટલું jeṭlũ | તેટલું teṭlũ | આટલું āṭlũ |
Size | કેવડું kevṛũ | જેવડું jevṛũ | તેવડું tevṛũ | આવડું āvṛũ |
Quality | કેવું kevũ | જેવું jevũ | તેવું tevũ | આવું āvũ |
Manner | કેમ kɛm | જેમ jɛm | તેમ tɛm | આમ ām |
- There is a formકયું (kayũ)which means "which?".
- કેમ (kɛm)doesn't mean "how" as would be expected; rather it means "why". It does however mean "how" in the greetingકેમ છો (kɛm cho)"how are you?". It may also mean "how" when in reference to a spokenજેમ (jɛm),તેમ (tɛm),orઆમ (ām)by means of parallel structure. "How" is usually expressed in these ways:કેવી રીતે (kevī rīte)(lit. "in what kind of way" ),કયી રીતે (kayī rīte)(lit. "in which way" ), andકેમનું (kɛmnũ).
- There are several other ways to say "now" in Gujarati:હમણાં (hamaṇā̃),અબઘડી (abghaḍī),હવે (have),andઅટાણે (aṭāṇē).
- અત્રે/અત્ર (atre/atra),તત્રે/તત્ર (tatre/tatra),andયત્રે/યત્ર (yatre/yatra)may also be used to mean "here", "there" and "where", although their usage is far less common than the ones above. These are Sanskrit loanwords while the above are Sanskrit descendants.
- Just as in the pronouns whereતે (te)becomesએ (e)colloquially, the wordsતેટલું (teṭlũ),તેવડું (tevṛũ),તેવું (tevũ),andતેમ (tɛm)also often lose their initialત (t)when spoken and even written.
- ક્યારે (kyāre),જ્યારે (jyāre),ત્યારે (tyāre),અત્યારે (atyāre)are composed of theadverbiallocative postpostionએ (e)and the basesક્યાર (kyār),જ્યાર (jyār),ત્યાર (tyār),અત્યાર (atyār).
- People often useકેવું (kevũ)to ask about or ascertain a noun's gender. For example,બિલાડી કેવી (bilāḍī kēvī),would indicate that the nounબિલાડી (bilāḍī),"cat", is feminine.
- When appending postpositions such as (માં (mā̃),થી (thī),નું (nũ),etc.), they are attached to the oblique formsક્યાર (kyār),કેટલા (keṭlā),કેવડા (kevṛā),કેવા (kevā),etc. resulting inક્યારથી (kyārthī),કેટલામાં (keṭlāmā̃),etc.
Verbs
[edit]Overview
[edit]The Gujarativerbalsystem is largely structured around a combination ofaspectandtense/mood.Like the nominal system, the Gujarati verb involves successive layers of (inflectional) elements after thelexical base.[14]
Gujarati has 2 aspects:perfectiveandimperfective,each having overt morphological correlates. These areparticipleforms, inflecting for gender, number, and case by way of a vowel termination, like adjectives. The perfective forms from theverb stem,followed by-ય(y)-,capped off by the agreement vowel and theimperfectiveforms with-ત(t)-.
Derived fromહોવું (hɔvũ)"to be" are fivecopulaforms:present,subjunctive,past,contrafactual (aka"past conditional" ), and presumptive. Used both in basic predicative/existential sentences and asverbal auxiliariesto aspectual forms, these constitute the basis of tense and mood.
Non-aspectual forms include theinfinitive,theimperative,and theagentive.Mentioned morphological conditions such the subjunctive, contrafactual, etc. are applicable to both copula roots for auxiliary usage with aspectual formsandto non-copula roots directly for often unspecified (non-aspectual)finiteforms.
Finite verbalagreementis with the nominativesubject,except in thetransitiveperfective,where it is with thedirect object,with the erstwhile subject taking theergativeconstruction-એ(e)(seepostpositionsabove). The perfective aspect thus displayssplit ergativity.The infinitive's agreement is also with its direct object, if paired with one.
Tabled just below on the left are the paradigms for the major gender and number agreement termination (GN), nominative case. Oblique paradigms differ from those introduced in#Nouns,being either thoroughly-આ(ā)orઆં(ā̃).Locative-એ(e)is found in attributive adjectival function only in fixed expressions. To the right are the paradigms for the person and number agreement termination (PN), used by the subjunctive and future. Yellow fields: -એ (e)following C,ઉ (u),ઊ (ū);-ઈ (ī)followingઓ (o),ઓ (ɔ);-ય (y)followingઆ (ā).
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Forms
[edit]The example verb is intransitivehālvũ"to shake", with various sampleinflections.Much of the below chart information derives fromMasica (1991:300–302, 323–325).
Non-aspectual | Aspectual | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-finite |
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Finite |
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Notes
- The negation particles arenaandnahiwith the former standing before the copula (or if no copula, the aspectual form) and the latter generally after. A negation particlecombineswith presentch-PN however for the invariablenathī.An alternative to the pastna hat-GN isnahot-GN.
Aff ch-PN hɔ-PN ha-t-GN hɔ-t ha-(ī)ś-PN Neg nathī na hɔ-PN na ha-t-GN na hɔ-t ha-(ī)ś-PNnahi na, nahi
- ^Gujarati retains an aspectually unmarked form (*-PN) in the function of the Present Imperfective, although a marked form (hālto nathī[10]) replaces it in the negative.[15]
- ^Gujarati does not distinguish between habitual andcontinuous.[16]
- ^When GN =īthenyisomitted.hālyo,buthālī.[17]
- Some roots show vowel alternation:[18]
- ā/a:jā/ja"go",thā/tha"become, occur".
- e/ɛ/a/ø:le/lɛ/la/l"take",de/dɛ/da/d"give".
- o/u:jo/ju"see, look, watch",dho/dhu"wash".
- ɔ/a/ø:hɔ/ha/h"be".
- In northern and central Gujarat, roots in-āregularly have-a-before-īś-of future forms.[18]
- Certain verb forms showsuppletionin their perfective roots:ga-(jā"go" ),kī-(kar"do" [in some dialects]),dī-(jo"see, look, watch" [in some dialects]).[18]
- ^Instead of the general affix-y-in their perfectives a few vowel-terminating roots takedhands-terminating rootsṭh.
- dh:khā-dh-(khā"eat" ),dī-dh-(de"give" ),pī-dh-(pī"drink" ),lī-dh-(le"take" ),bī-dh-(bī"fear" ),kī-dh-(kahe"say" [in addition tokah-y-]),kī-dh-(kar"do" [in addition tokar-y-]).
- ṭh:nā-ṭh-(nās"flee" ),pɛ-ṭh-(pɛs"enter" ),bɛ-ṭh-(bɛs"sit" ),dī-ṭh-(jo"see, look, watch" [in addition tojo-y-]).
- t:sū-t-(sū"sleep" ).
- Thehain the past auxiliaryha-t-GN is omitted in speech after aspectual forms and negativena.
- ^Flexible order:hālto nathī←→nathī hālto.[19]
- The future imperative is politer than the imperative, and using the future tense (questioningly: "will you...?" ) is politer still.[20]
Causatives
[edit]Gujaraticausativesare morphologically contrastive. Verbs can be causativized up to two times, to a double causative.
Single
[edit]Causatives are made by two main schemes involving alteration of the root.[21]
- Lengthening of final vowel; shortening of a preceding vowel (ifūis the only vowel, then →o).
- Finalṭ→ḍ.
or
- Suffixvif ending in vowel orh.
- Shortening of vowel(s).
- Suffix:āv,āḍ,v,vḍāv,oreḍ.
- Sometimes nasalisation (anusvāra).
If the causativization is of a transitive, then the secondary agent, whom the subject "causes to" or "gets to" do whatever, is marked by the postpositionnī pāse.[22]
Double
[edit]Furthermore, that causative can be causativized again, for a double causative ( "to cause to cause..." ), with a possible tertiary agent.[23]
- ḍāvsuffixed to 1st causative suffix ofāv.
- āvsuffixed to 1st causative suffixes ofāḍandeḍ.
- Beyond this are irregular forms that must be memorized.
Passives
[edit]The passive has bothperiphrasticand morphological means of expression. The former has-mā̃ āvvũpostpositioned to infinitive; the latter hasāadded to root, with certain phonological processes as work as well: if the root vowel isāthen it becomesa(SeeGujarati phonology#ɑ-reduction) and if the root ends in a vowel thenhorvis suffixed.[24]Thuslakhvũ"to write" →lakhvāmā āvvũ,lakhāvũ"to be written". The post-positionthīmarks the agent, As in other New Indo-Aryan languages, formation of passives is not restricted to transitive verbs and has a restricted domain of usage except in specialregisters.[25]Both intransitive and transitive may be grammatically passivized to show capacity, in place of compounding with themodalśakvũ"to be able". Lastly, intransitives often have a passive sense, or convey unintentional action.
Sample text
[edit]એક
Ēka
માણસને
māṇasanē
બે
bē
દીકરા
dīkarā
હતા.
hatā.
અને
Anē
તેઓમાંના
tēōmāṁnā
નાનાએ
nānāē
બાપને
bāpanē
કહ્યું
kahyuṁ
કે,
kē,
બાપ,
bāpa,
સંપતનો
saṁpatanō
પહોંચતો
pahōṁcatō
ભાગ
bhāga
મને
mane
આપ,
āpa,
ને
nē
તેણે
tēṇē
તેઓને
tēōnē
પુંજી
puṁjī
વહેંચી
vahēṁcī
આપી.
āpī.
A to-man two sons were. And them-in-of by-the-younger to-the-father it-was-said that, "father, of-the-property the-arriving share to-me give," and by-him to-them the-stock having-divided was-given.
References
[edit]- ^(Dwyer 1995,pp. 65–66)
- ^(Dwyer 1995,p. 282)
- ^(Masica 1991,p. 213)
- ^(Masica 1991,p. 473)
- ^Taylor 1908,p. 15.
- ^(Tisdall 1892,p. 27)
- ^(Taylor 1908,p. 13)
- ^(Masica 1991,p. 219)
- ^ab(Dwyer 1995,p. 43)
- ^(Masica 1991,p. 78)
- ^(Dwyer 1995,pp. 320–321)
- ^(Masica 1991,p. 234)
- ^(Cardona & Suthar 2003,pp. 675–676)
- ^Masica (1991:257)
- ^(Masica 1991,p. 302)
- ^(Masica 1991,p. 269)
- ^(Dwyer 1995,p. 149)
- ^abc(Cardona & Suthar 2003,p. 680)
- ^(Dwyer 1995,pp. 88–89)
- ^(Dwyer 1995,p. 90)
- ^(Dwyer 1995,pp. 304–306)
- ^(Dwyer 1995,p. 307)
- ^(Dwyer 1995,pp. 311–312)
- ^(Dwyer 1995,pp. 292–294)
- ^(Cardona & Suthar 2003,p. 686)
- ^Grierson, G.A.Linguistic Survey of India: Volume IX, Indo-Aryan FamilY: Central Group, Part II: Specimens of the Rājasthānī and Gujarātī.Superintendent Government Printing. p. 365-366.
Bibliography
[edit]- Cardona, George(1965),A Gujarati Reference Grammar,University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Cardona, George;Suthar, Babu(2003),"Gujarati",in Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh (eds.),The Indo-Aryan Languages,Routledge,ISBN978-0-415-77294-5.
- Dave, Jadish (1995),Colloquial Gujarati(2004 ed.), Routledge,ISBN0-415-09196-9.
- Dwyer, Rachel (1995),Teach Yourself Gujarati,London: Hodder and Stoughton, archived fromthe originalon 2008-01-02.
- Lambert, H.M. (1971),Gujarati Language Course,Cambridge University Press.
- Masica, Colin(1991),The Indo-Aryan Languages,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-521-29944-2.
- Mistry, P.J. (2001), "Gujarati", in Garry, Jane; Rubino, Carl (eds.),An encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present,New England Publishing Associates.
- Taylor, G.P. (1908),The Student's Gujarati Grammar(2nd ed.), Bombay: Thacker & Co..
- Tisdall, W.S. (1892),A Simplified Grammar of the Gujarati Language,Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co..