Tulu Lesson 16: Present Continuous Tense

Hello All! Welcome back!

Today we are going to learn one more tense in Tulu. This tense is Present Continuous Tense. Look at the following example:

‘I am going’

As you see, we use ‘To be’ plus the ‘ing’ form of verbs to express Present Continuous in English. That is to say, we have Subject + am/is/are + main verb + ing.

In Tulu, the sentence structure would be Subject + main verb + am/is/are

We already know the auxiliary verb ‘to be’ in Tulu - ‘ippu/uppu’ (Infinitive: ippuni/uppuni – To be). There are two forms of this verb exist: ‘uppu/ippu’ and ‘ul’. Here we are using the second form ‘ul’. We have learned how to conjugate the verb ‘ul’ in Simple Present Tense in the lesson 4. Let’s try it again:

yAn ullae – I am

I ulla – You are

Aye/imbe ulle – He is

Al/mOlu  ullal – She is

au/undu  uNDu – It is

nama/enkulu  ulla – We are

Ir/nikulu  ullar – You are

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr uller – They are

undekulu/aikulu ulla – They are

Now, let us see what we should do with the main verb (going). In English, we have added suffix ‘ing’ to the verb ‘go’. In Tulu, we have to add suffix ‘ondu’ to the root verb.

Go + ing >>> Going

pO + ondu >>> pOvondu

I am going >>> yAn pOvondu ullae (Kannada: nAnu hOgtA iddEne)

Easy, isn’t it?

yAn pOvondullae – I am going

I pOvondulla – You are going

Aye/imbe pOvondulle – He is going

Al/mOlu  pOvondullal – She is going

au/undu  pOvonduNDu – It is going

nama/enkulu  pOvondulla – We are going

Ir/nikulu  pOvondullar – You are going

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr pOvonduller – They are going

undekulu/aikulu pOvondulla – They are going

One thing you have to remember that the suffix 'ondu' is actually added to simple past verb stem (same like reflexive verbs), but in currently spoken Tulu, it is directly added to the root verb except 'pu' ending verbs. So, when adding the suffix ‘ondu’ to a 'pu' ending root verb, the ‘p’ sound changes to ‘t'. Also, to 'N' ending nouns either you can add the suffix 'ondu' directly to the root verb or add it to the simple past verb stem. Both the forms are used. 

Example:

malpu (malpuni) – To do

malpu + ondu >>> maltondu - doing

maltondu ullae – I am doing (Kannada: nAnu mADtA iddEne)

yAn maltondullae – I am doing

I maltondulla – You are doing

Aye/imbe maltondulle – He is doing

Al/mOlu  maltondullal – She is doing

au/undu  maltonduNDu – It is doing

nama/enkulu  maltondulla – We are doing

Ir/nikulu  maltondullar – You are doing

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr maltonduller – They are doing

undekulu/aikulu maltondulla – They are doing

kalpu (kalpuni) – To learn

kalpu + ondu >>> kaltondu – learning

kaltondu ullae – I am learning (Kannada: nAnu kalitA iddEne)

yAn kaltondullae – I am learning

I kaltondulla – You are learning

Aye/imbe kaltondulle – He is learning

Al/mOlu  kaltondullal – She is learning

au/undu  kaltonduNDu – It is learning

nama/enkulu  kaltondulla – We are learning

Ir/nikulu  kaltondullar – You are learning

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr kaltonduller – They are learning

undekulu/aikulu kaltondulla – They are learning

Let’s see more examples:

par (parpini) – To drink

par + ondu >>> parondu - drinking

yAn parondullae – I am drinking

I parondulla – You are drinking

Aye/imbe parondulle – He is drinking

Al/mOlu  parondullal – She is drinking

au/undu  paronduNDu – It is drinking

nama/enkulu  parondulla – We are drinking

Ir/nikulu  parondullar – You are drinking

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr paronduller – They are drinking

undekulu/aikulu parondulla – They are drinking

tin (tinpini) – To eat

tin + ondu >>> tinondu ('tiNDondu' also used) – eating

yAn tinondullae – I am eating

I tinondulla – You are eating

Aye/imbe tinondulle – He is eating

Al/mOlu  tinondullal – She is eating

au/undu  tinonduNDu – It is eating

nama/enkulu  tinondulla – We are eating

Ir/nikulu  tinondullar – You are eating

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr tinonduller – They are eating

undekulu/aikulu tinondulla – They are eating

bar (barpini) – To come

bar + ondu >>> barondu ('battondu' also used) – coming

yAn barondullae – I am coming

I barondulla – You are coming

Aye/imbe barondulle – He is coming

Al/mOlu  barondullal – She is coming

au/undu  baronduNDu – It is coming

nama/enkulu  barondulla – We are coming

Ir/nikulu  barondullar – You are coming

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr baronduller – They are coming

undekulu/aikulu barondulla – They are coming

rA (rApini) – To fly

rA + ondu >>> rAvondu – flying 

yAn rAvondullae – I am flying

I rAvondulla – You are flying

Aye/imbe rAvondulle – He is flying

Al/mOlu  rAvondullal – She is flying

au/undu  rAvonduNDu – It is flying

nama/enkulu  rAvondulla – We are flying

Ir/nikulu  rAvondullar – You are flying

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr rAvonduller – They are flying

undekulu/aikulu rAvondulla – They are flying

malpA (malpAvuni) – cause to do/have someone do

malpA + ondu >>> malpAvondu – having someone do

yAn malpAvondullae – I am having someone do

I malpAvondulla – You are having someone do

Aye/imbe malpAvondulle – He is having someone do

Al/mOlu  malpAvondullal – She is having someone do

au/undu  malpAvonduNDu – It is having someone do

nama/enkulu  malpAvondulla – We are having someone do

Ir/nikulu  malpAvondullar – You are having someone do

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr malpAvonduller – They are having someone do

undekulu/aikulu malpAvondulla – They are having someone do

Example Sentences:

Tulu: yAn TV tUvondullae

English: I am watching TV

Kannada: nAnu TV nODtA iddEne

Tulu: Ir ittae tulu kaltondullar

English: You are learning Tulu now

Kannada: nIvu Iga tuLu kalitA iddIra

Tulu: I dAda maltondulla?

English: What are you doing?

Kannada: nInu Enu mADtiddIya?

Tulu: enk nidrae baronduNDu

English: I am feeling sleepy

Kannada: nanage nidde bartA ide

Tulu: enk tarae bEne AvonduNDu

English: I am having head ache 

English: nanage tale nOvu AgtA ide

Tulu: Aye uNondulle

English: He is having lunch/dinner

Kannada: avanu UTa mADtA iddAne

Tulu: akulu kabaDDi gobbonduller

English: They are playing Kabaddi

Kannada: avaru kabaDDi ADtA iddAre

Tulu: enkulu kuNTu ardondulla

English: We are washing the clothes

Kannada: nAvu baTTe ogitA iddEve

Tulu: barsa baronduNDu

English: It is raning

Kannada: maLe bartA ide

In Tulu Present Continuous tense is also used for Present Perfect Continuous.

Examples:

Tulu: yAn mulpa mUji varsoDdinchi (varsoDd + inchi) bElae maltondullae

English: I have been working here for 3 years.

Kannada: nAnu illi mUru varshadinda kelasa mADtA iddEne

Tulu: Al kANDeDdinchi ninan kAtondullal

English: She has been waiting for you from the morning.

Kannada: avaLu beLiggeyinda ninnannu kAytA iddALe

Tulu: nAl dinaDdinchi barsa baronduNDu

English: It has been raining for 4 days

Kannada: nAlku dinadinda maLe bartA ide.

Tulu: I raDD tingoluDdinchi tulu kaltondulla

English: You have been learning Tulu for 2 months

Kannada: nInu eraDu tingaLinda tuLu kalitA iddIya

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I hope you enjoyed the lesson! If you need more sentences translated in Tulu, please leave a comment. If you find this lesson helpful, please share it with your friends who wish to learn Tulu J

See you next week!

solmelu!