Malayalam grammar

Malayalam is thought to have no semantic category for adjectives, and instead relies heavily on using participial relative clauses for modifying nouns.^[1][2] There are two classes of words that typically act as adjectives.^[3]

1. Native roots + -(iy)a: This includes words such as നൽ > നല്ല (nalla, good), വൽ > വലിയ (valiya, big), നനഞ്ഞു > നനഞ്ഞ (naṉañña, wet), and ചെറു/ചിറു > ചെറിയ/ചിറ്റ (ceṟiya/ciṟṟa, short). All such words can be directly used as adjectives, without further modification. The conventional view regarding this category of words is that they typically encode the possession of the property they signify in the participial marker (-a) attached to them, meaning a word such as നല്ല (nalla) would actually mean "having goodness". For instance: ഇതൊരു നല്ല പുസ്തകമാണ് (itoru nalla pustakamāṇŭ), translating to "this is a good book", could be thought to mean "this is a goodness-having book". Note that when used in typical relative clauses, the marker -a can be inflected for tense, but not when used here in an adjectival sense.
2. Removing the noun formative -am: This includes words such as സങ്കടം (saṅkaṭaṁ, sadness), മരം (maraṁ, tree), and ഉയരം (uyaraṁ, height/tallness). As in marattaṭi "timber", mara vīṭŭ "wooden house". Another way is in the form of -ഉള്ള (uḷḷa), the suffix for the non-finite existential copula. For instance: അവൻ ഉയരമുള്ള കുട്ടിയാണ് (avaṉ uyaramuḷḷa kuṭṭiyāṇŭ, translating to "he is a tall child") could be thought to mean "he is a tallness-having child". Since the suffix is non-finite it does not vary with tense or person. The exception is with color words like (skt. nīla >) nīla "blue" which can act as both a noun and an adjective.

• Words ending with -ṟu, -tu, -ṭu can have the plosive doubled to make an adjective as in kāṭŭ > kāṭṭŭ, kāṭṭu tī "forest fire"; cōṟŭ > cōṟṟŭ, cōṟṟupātram "tiffin box".
• Words ending with -vu can have the suffix removed to make an adjective, eg. nilāvŭ > nilā niḻal, rājāvŭ > rāja putraṉ.
• Another adjectivizing suffix is -m added to some words ending with vowels, pai > paim "green, gorgeous," paiṅkiḷi > "green bird, parrot"; pū > pūm "flowery", pūmpāṟṟa "flower lizard, butterfly".
• Another adjectivizing suffix is -aṉ, eg. kaṭu > kaṭṭaṉ "strong, thick", kaṭṭaṉ cāya "strong tea, black tea".

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

Inflection of Malayalam verbs occurs for tense, aspect, and mode (TAM), and not for number (plurality) or gender. The dictionary form of verbs typically have the ending -ഉക (-uka), although some verbs have the ending ഇക (-ika) too.^[4]

Broadly, there are three tenses in Malayalam language: present, past and future. Verb forms in different tenses are created by either simply replacing the citation form ending (for present and future tense), or by suffixing the verb stem (obtained by removing the citation form ending and the preceding consonant) with a special marker depending on the class of the verb (for past tense).

The present tense is formed by replacing the citation form ending with -ഉന്നു (-unnu). For example, the present tense form of പറയുക (paṟayuka, 'to say') is പറയുന്നു (paṟayunnu).

The future tense is formed by replacing the citation form ending with -ഉം (-um). For example, the future tense form of നടക്കുക (naṭakkuka, 'to walk') is നടക്കും (naṭakkum).

For most verbs the marker -ഇ (-i) (or യി, (-yi) if the verb stem ends in a vowel) is added to the verb stem to create the past tense form, but other verb classes have different rules. A non-exhaustive list of the rules for different classes, as well as some exceptions, is given below.

Common Past Tense Formations

Citation Ending	Change Rule	Example
-ടുക (-ṭuka) (after short vowel)	Replace -ടുക with -ട്ടു (-ṭṭu)	ഇടുക → ഇട്ടു (iṭuka → iṭṭu)
-യ്യുക (-yyuka)	Replace ending with -യ്തു (-ytu)	ചെയ്യുക → ചെയ്തു (ceyyuka → ceytu)
-അക്കുക (-akkuka)	Replace ending with -ന്നു (-nnu)	നടക്കുക → നടന്നു (naṭakkuka → naṭannu)
-ഇക്കുക (-ikkuka)	Replace ending with -ച്ചു (-ccu)	അടിക്കുക → അടിച്ചു (aṭikkuka → aṭiccu)
-യ്ക്കുക (-ykkuka)	Replace ending with -ച്ചു (-ccu)	നനയ്ക്കു → നനച്ചു (naṉaykkuka → naṉaccu)
-ഉക്കുക (-ukkuka)	Replace ending with -ത്തു (-ttu)	തണുക്കുക → തണുത്തു (taṇukkuka → taṇuttu)
-ർക്കുക (-ṟkkuka)	Replace ending with -ർത്തു (-ṟttu)	ഓർക്കുക → ഓർത്തു (ōṟkkuka → ōṟttu)
-ൽക്കുക (-lkkuka)	Replace ending with -റ്റു (-ṯṯu)	തോൽക്കുക → തോറ്റു (tōlkkuka → tōṯṯu)
-ൾക്കുക (-ḷkkuka)	Replace ending with -ട്ടു (-ṭṭu)	കേൾക്കുക → കേട്ടു (kēḷkkuka → kēṭṭu)
-യുക (-yuka)	Replace ending with -ഞ്ഞു (-ññu)	പറയുക → പറഞ്ഞു (paṟayuka → paṟaññu)
-രുക (-ruka)	Replace ending with -ർന്നു (-ṟnnu)	തീരുക → തീർന്നു (tīruka → tīṟnnu)
-ലുക (-luka) / -ല്ലുക (-lluka)	Replace ending with -ന്നു (-nnu)	അകലുക → അകന്നു (akaluka → akannu)
-ളുക (-ḷuka) / -ള്ളുക (-ḷḷuka)	Replace ending with -ണ്ടു (-ṇṭu)	ഉരുളുക → ഉരുണ്ടു (uruḷuka → uruṇṭu)
-രിക (-rika)	Replace ending with -ന്നു (-nnu)	വരിക → വന്നു (varika → vannu)
-ണുക (-ṇuka)	Replace ending with -ണ്ടു (-ṇṭu)	കാണുക → കണ്ടു (kāṇuka → kaṇṭu)

• നക്കുക (nakkuka, to lick) → നക്കി (nakki). (Exception to the -akkuka rule).
• ഇരിക്കുക (irikkuka, to sit) → ഇരുന്നു (irunnu). (Exception to the -ikkuka rule).
• നിൽക്കുക (nilkkuka, to stand) → നിന്നു (ninnu). (Exception to the -lkkuka rule).
• തിന്നുക (tiṉṉuka, to eat) → തിന്നു (tinnu).
• വേകുക (vēkuka, to cook) → വെന്തു (ventu).
• നോകുക (nōkuka, to pain) → നൊന്തു (nontu).
• ചാകുക (cākuka, to die) → ചത്തു (cattu).

Verb conjugations for the verb "പോകുക" (pōkuka, to go) based on the commonly recognized aspects in Malayalam are given below.^[5] The past tense marker in this case is -ഇ (-i).

Tenses

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	പോയി pōyi പോയി pōyi	പോകുന്നു pōkunnu പോകുന്നു pōkunnu	പോകും pōkum പോകും pōkum
Continuous	പോകുകയായിരുന്നു pōvukayāyirunnu പോകുകയായിരുന്നു pōvukayāyirunnu	പോകുകയാണ് pōvukayāṇŭ പോകുകയാണ് pōvukayāṇŭ	പോകുകയായിരിക്കും pōyikkoṇṭirikkum പോകുകയായിരിക്കും pōyikkoṇṭirikkum
Perfect	പോയിട്ടുണ്ടായിരുന്നു/പോയിരുന്നു pōyiṭṭuṇṭāyirunnu പോയിട്ടുണ്ടായിരുന്നു/പോയിരുന്നു pōyiṭṭuṇṭāyirunnu	പോയിട്ടുണ്ട് pōyiṭṭuṇṭŭ പോയിട്ടുണ്ട് pōyiṭṭuṇṭŭ	പോയിട്ടുണ്ടാകും pōyiṭṭuṇṭākum പോയിട്ടുണ്ടാകും pōyiṭṭuṇṭākum
Perfect continuous	പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയായിരുന്നു pōyikkoṇṭirikkunnuṇṭāyirunnu പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയായിരുന്നു pōyikkoṇṭirikkunnuṇṭāyirunnu	പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയാണ് pōyikkoṇṭirikkunnuṇṭŭ പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയാണ് pōyikkoṇṭirikkunnuṇṭŭ	പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയായിരിക്കും pōyikkoṇṭirikkunnuṇṭākum പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയായിരിക്കും pōyikkoṇṭirikkunnuṇṭākum
Habitual	പോകാറുണ്ടായിരുന്നു pōkāṟuṇṭāyirunnu പോകാറുണ്ടായിരുന്നു pōkāṟuṇṭāyirunnu	പോകാറുണ്ട് pōkāṟuṇṭŭ പോകാറുണ്ട് pōkāṟuṇṭŭ	–

Bare root can act as an imperative, eg. cey! "do!", another way is by aorist suffix formal -ū (< -um), informal -ŭ eg. ceyyū/ceyyŭ and -aṇam/ēṇam, ceyyaṇam/ceyyēṇam "must do!" which is a short form of vēṇam. Originally in old Malayalam -Ø/-kku was for singular and -viṉ (weak verbs), -ppiṉ (strong verbs), -miṉ (after nasals) for plurals, eg 2sg cey, pl cey-viṉ "do!", sg naṭa/naṭakku "walk!", pl naṭa-pp-iṉ "walk!", kāṇmiṉ "see!". Plural set is rarely used in modern formal Malayalam and is interchangable with the singular set. A polite imperative is made with -ka/-kka in finite forms, eg. ceyyuka "do!". Old Malayalam prohibitive was by adding -āy before -ka for singular and -viṉ for plural, eg. ceyy-āy-ka "(one) should not do", nill-āy-vin "do not stand!".^[6]

In old Malayalam -il/-kil were used as conditionals and is rarely used in modern formal Malayalam, eg. OMa. var-il/varu-kil "if one comes". Modern Malayalam uses past form and -āl (dialectal -ēl), Mdn Ma. vann-āl (dialectal vann-ēl) "if one comes". -āl can come only after verbs, eg uṇṭeṅkil = uṇṭēl but there can't be uṇṭāl. Concessive is made by adding -um to the conditional form, vann-āl-um. Another form is adding -eṅkil (from -en "to say" and -kil) to the past form, vann-eṅkil.^[7]

In Old Malayalam the infinitive was made by adding -ān to the non-past stem in -m/-pp/-uv-/-v, eg. kāṇ-m-āṉ "to see", koṭu-pp-āṉ "to give", cey-v-āṉ "to do". Modern Malaylam -āṉ acts as an infinitive suffix preceded by -kk in the case of strong verbs, eg. kāṇ-āṉ, koṭu-kk-āṉ, ceyy-āṉ.^[8]

-ām is used for potential mood, ceyyām "will do", ceytēkkām "may do".

Malayalam employs two defective verbs as its copulas. The first, -ആക് (ākŭ), is the plain equative copula. The second, -ഉണ്ട് (uṇṭŭ), is the locative copula and also used to indicate possession (with the subject/possessor in the dative case). These verbs change forms in different tenses and are usually suffixed to the noun phrases that are specified by the copula. The table below lists some examples.

Example	Notes
Equative
അവൻ avaṉ സന്തുഷ്ടനാണ് santuṣṭaṉāṇŭ അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനാണ് avaṉ santuṣṭaṉāṇŭ He is happy	Present tense form of ആക് is ആണ് (āṇŭ)
അവൻ avaṉ സന്തുഷ്ടനായിരുന്നു santuṣṭaṉāyirunnu അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനായിരുന്നു avaṉ santuṣṭaṉāyirunnu He was happy	Past tense form of ആക് is ആയിരുന്നു (āyirunnu)
അവൻ avaṉ സന്തുഷ്ടനാകും santuṣṭaṉākuṁ അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനാകും avaṉ santuṣṭaṉākuṁ He will be happy	Future tense form of ആക് is ആകും (ākuṁ)
Locative
അവൻ avaṉ വീട്ടിലുണ്ട് vīṭṭiluṇṭŭ അവൻ വീട്ടിലുണ്ട് avaṉ vīṭṭiluṇṭŭ He is in the house	ഉണ്ട് stays the same in the present tense
അവൻ avaṉ വീട്ടിൽ vīṭṭil ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു uṇṭāyirunnu അവൻ വീട്ടിൽ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു avaṉ vīṭṭil uṇṭāyirunnu He was in the house	Past tense form of ഉണ്ട് is ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു (uṇṭāyirunnu)
അവൻ avaṉ വീട്ടിൽ vīṭṭil ഉണ്ടാകും uṇṭākuṁ അവൻ വീട്ടിൽ ഉണ്ടാകും avaṉ vīṭṭil uṇṭākuṁ He will be in the house	Future tense form of ഉണ്ട് is ഉണ്ടാകും (uṇṭākuṁ)
Possessive
അവൾക്ക് avaḷkkŭ ഒരു oru പുസ്തകമുണ്ട് pustakamuṇṭŭ അവൾക്ക് ഒരു പുസ്തകമുണ്ട് avaḷkkŭ oru pustakamuṇṭŭ She has a book
അവൾക്ക് avaḷkkŭ ഒരു oru പുസ്തകം pustakaṁ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു uṇṭāyirunnu അവൾക്ക് ഒരു പുസ്തകം ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു avaḷkkŭ oru pustakaṁ uṇṭāyirunnu She had a book
അവൾക്ക് avaḷkkŭ ഒരു oru പുസ്തകം pustakaṁ ഉണ്ടാകും uṇṭākuṁ അവൾക്ക് ഒരു പുസ്തകം ഉണ്ടാകും avaḷkkŭ oru pustakaṁ uṇṭākuṁ She will have a book

Malayalam has 3 levels of causatives, usually verb happening, 1st person causing it to happen and making someone do it. Usually the last consonant is doubled to make the 2nd level but some verbs can use -kku- for it; 3rd level suffixes -ppikku-. Example ōṭuka "to run", ōṭikkuka/ōṭṭuka "to make someone run/ to drive", ōṭippikkuka/ōṭṭikkuka "to make someone make someone run/to make someone drive". Another suffix for 2nd level is -ttu, eg. cāruka/cāṟttuka/cāṟttikkuka, akaluka/akaṟṟuka/akaṟṟikkuka, kāṇuka/kāṭṭuka/kāṭṭikkuka, last 2 with sandhi for -ttu. 2nd level can be made 1st by adding peṭuka after it, eg. kāṇappeṭuka "get seen". Not all verbs have causatives like pōkuka.

Standard negation is expressed through the use of the negative particle/suffix -ഇല്ല (-illa, literally "no"), regardless of tense.^[9] The equative copula -ആക്, however, is negated by the negative suffix -അല്ല (-alla) in the present tense; in all other tenses -ഇല്ല is used. When these particles are suffixed to their corresponding noun phrases, sandhi (സന്ധി) rules must be obeyed.

Example	Notes
അവൻ avaṉ സന്തുഷ്ടനല്ല santuṣṭaṉalla അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനല്ല avaṉ santuṣṭaṉalla He is not happy	Equative copula negated by -അല്ല (-alla) in the present tense
അവൻ avaṉ സന്തുഷ്ടനായിരുന്നില്ല santuṣṭaṉāyirunnilla അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനായിരുന്നില്ല avaṉ santuṣṭaṉāyirunnilla He was not happy	Equative copula negated by -ഇല്ല (-illa) in any tense other than the present tense
അവൾക്ക് avaḷkkŭ ഒരു oru പുസ്തകമില്ല pustakamilla അവൾക്ക് ഒരു പുസ്തകമില്ല avaḷkkŭ oru pustakamilla She does not have a book	All other negations use -ഇല്ല (-illa)
അവൾ avaḷ പോകുന്നില്ല pōkunnilla അവൾ പോകുന്നില്ല avaḷ pōkunnilla She is not going
അവർ avaṟ ഇവിടെയില്ല iviṭeyilla അവർ ഇവിടെയില്ല avaṟ iviṭeyilla They are not here

• Old Malayalam -ā(y) is rare today, used mostly in the standard language, eg. paṟakkā kiḷi "flightless bird", paṟakkāyka "flightlessness", commonly paṟakkātta kiḷi / paṟakkillātta kiḷi, varāñña (<var-āy-nt-a) "(subject) which did not come", commonly vannillātta.^[10]

Prohibitive

Dismissive/Insistent/Low "don't"	ചെയ്യല്ലേ (ceyyallē)
Non-polite "don't"	ചെയ്യാൻ പാടില്ല (ceyyān pāṭilla)
Polite "please don't"	ചെയ്യാതെ (ceyyāte)
Recommending "shouldn't"	ചെയ്യരുത് (ceyyarutu)
Forbidding "mustn't"	ചെയ്യണ്ട (ceyyaṇṭa)

• -kāḷ and -kāṭṭi are used interchangeably as comparatives after adding the accusative case, eg. pattiṉekkāṭṭi/pattiṉekkāḷ valutŭ nūṟāṇŭ. -um can be added for intensification pattiṉekkāṭṭum valutŭ nūṟāṇŭ.

Summarize Fact Check

Malayalam is an agglutinative language, and words can be joined in many ways. These ways are called sandhi (literally 'junction'). There are basically two genres of Sandhi used in Malayalam – one group unique to Malayalam (based originally on Old Tamil phonological rules, and in essence common with Tamil), and the other one common with Sanskrit. Thus, we have the "Malayāḷa Sandhi" and "Saṁskr̥ta Sandhi".

There are basically four Sandhi types unique to Malayalam – the "lōpa sandhi", "dvitva sandhi", "āgama sandhi" and "ādēśa sandhi".

The Lopa sandhi occurs when the varna (vowel) at the end of a word is lost when it merges with another word. In most cases, the varna is the "samvr̥tōkāram". (the "closed u sound").

In Malayalam, gemination is more in tense consonants and less in lax consonants. When two words combine in which the first is the qualifier and the qualified, the tense consonant initial to the second word geminates.

When two vowels undergo Sandhi, a consonant ("y" or "v") is added to avoid the pronunciation difficulty.

In this Sandhi, one letter is substituted by another during concatenation.

This sandhi also includes Sanskrit Sandhi forms like vi + samam = viṣamam, but the latter rule isn't absolute, its patisandhya, nissāram, vismayam not patiṣandhya, niṣṣāram, viṣmayam.

These Sandhi rules are basically inherited from Sanskrit, and are used in conjunction with Sanskrit vocabulary which forms approximately 60% of Modern Standard Malayalam (the entire Sanskrit vocabulary is also usable with appropriate changes).^[11][12] The rules like savarṇadīrgha sandhi, yaṇ sandhi, guṇa sandhi, vr̥ddhi sandhi and visarga sandhis are used without changes.

All the Sanskrit samāsa rules are adapted to Malayalam compounds. In Malayalam, the tatpuruṣa compounds are classified according to the vibhakti they are based on, during compounding. The "alaṅkāraṁ" is also used to classify tatpuruṣa compounds. There are 4 types of samasam: 1) āvyayi bhavaṉ, 2) tatpuruṣa, 3) dvandaṉ, and 4) bahuvr̥hi.

The vr̥ttaṁ consists of metres of Malayalam prosody. Like Sandhi, there are specific vr̥ttaṁs unique to Malayalam apart from the metres common with Sanskrit. As in case of Sandhi, the Malayalam vrittams are also named in Sanskrit.

Alaṅkāraṁ or "ornamentation" is also based on Sanskritic grammarian classification. It consists of the different figures of speech used in Malayalam poetry. Being successor to Sanskrit and Maṇipravāḷam, most of Sanskrit alankaras are used in Malayalam. Thus, the common figures of speech in poems are rūpakaṁ, utprēkṣā, upamā etc.