Tulu Lesson 1: Nouns

Namaskara! Hello Everyone!

Welcome to our first Tulu lesson. I am not a grammarian, but I feel it’s better if I started with few grammatical terms rather than giving a bunch of sentences to you. Before we start, please visit the page "How to Pronounce" to know how to pronounce Tulu words in Roman script. Today we are going to learn some of the nouns in Tulu.

Nouns identify people, places, things, and ideas.

Eg: appae - Mother, amme - Father, ill - house, Uru –village, sudae - river, mara – tree, bolpu – light, kaDal – sea, porthu – time, sAlae – school, bElae – work etc.

Nouns in Tulu have three genders; masculine, feminine and neuter and two numbers; singular and plural

• Masculine nouns: All the male names and nouns of relationship eg: rAme - Rama, karNe - Karna, amme – Father, AN – boy, palaye – elder brother, megye – younger brother, mage – son etc.

• Feminine nouns: All the female names and nouns of relationship. Eg: Seetha, Kaveri,  appae – Mother, poNNu – girl, pali or palidi – elder sister, megdi – younger sister, magal - doughter etc.

• Neuter nouns: All other nouns like names of animals, birds trees, fruits, places, things etc. Eg: bAlae – child, ill - house, Uru – village, sudae - river, nIr - water, mara - tree, kAD - forest, jana - people, nAyi - dog, puchchae - cat, pili - tiger, eru - bull, petta - cow, pakki – bird, pU – flower, etc

All the above words are in singular. To make it plural, we have to add one of the suffixes lu, kulu, er or allu.

• lu and kulu – used for making plural nouns eg: ANulu – boys, poNNulu – girls, erukulu – bulls, pettalu – cows, illulu – houses, Urulu – villages, sudekulu – rivers, kADulu – forests, nAyilu – dogs, puchchelu – cats, pakkilu – birds, janokulu – people, marokulu – trees, pilikulu – tigers, pUkulu – flowers, bAlelu or jOkulu - children.

• er – used for giving respect to someone. Eg: dEver – god, ammer – Father, apper – mother, rAjer – king, rAmer - Rama etc. This type of words can be pluralized again by adding ‘lu’ suffix. Eg: dEverlu – gods, rAjerlu – kings etc. Apart from this, 'er' also used to make plural adjectives. Eg: Tuluver - Tuluvas, buddhivanter - wisemen, kalver - thieves etc.

• allu (originally aDlu, but in present Tulu it is pronounced as allu) – used to make the nouns of relationship to plural. Eg: appaellu – mothers, ammallu – fathers,  palayallu – elder brothers, megyallu – younger brothers, paliyallu – elder sisters, megdiyallu – younger sisters, magallu sons, magalallu – daughters etc.

You can learn more about plural suffixes in the lesson 45.

Noun Declension:

Tulu has 8 cases Nominative, Accusative, Ablative or Instrumental, Dative Genitive, Locative, Communicative and Vocative. 

Cases	Singular Affixes	Plural Affixes
Nominative	e, o or nothing	er, lu, kulu, allu
Accusative	n, nu	ren, len
Ablative or Instrumental	Dd, Ddu	reDd, leDd
Dative	k, g, ku, gu	reg, leg
Genitive	a, na, ta, da	re, rena, le, lena
Locative	D, T, Du, Tu	reD, leD
Communicative	Da, Ta	reDa, leDa
Vocative	A, O	rae, lae

Eg1: mara (Neuter) - tree

Cases	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mara or maro (a tree)	maroklu (trees)
Accusative	maran, maronu (a tree)	maroklen (trees)
Ablative or Instrumental	maraDd, maroDdu (from, by or through a tree)	marokleDd (from, by or through trees)
Dative	marak, maroku (to tree)	marokleg (to trees)
Genitive	marata, marota (of a tree)	marokle, maroklena (of trees)
Locative	maraT, maroTu (in a tree)	marokleD (in trees)
Communicative	maraTa, maroTa (to a tree)	marokleDa (to trees)
Vocative	(O!) marA, marO (O tree)	maroklae (O trees)

Eg2: nayi (Neuter) - dog

Cases	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nAyi	nAyilu
Accusative	nAyin	nAyilen
Ablative or Instrumental	nAyiDd	nAyileDd
Dative	nAyig	nAyileg
Genitive	nAyida	nAyile, nayilena
Locative	nAyiD	nAyileD
Communicative	nAyiDa	nAyileDa
Vocative	(O!) nAyI	nAyilae

Eg3: rAma (Masculine) – Rama

Cases	Singular	Plural (to give respect)
Nominative	rAme	rAmer
Accusative	rAmen	rAmeren
Ablative or Instrumental	rAmeDd	rAmereDd
Dative	rAmeg	rAmereg
Genitive	rAmena	rAmerena
Locative	rAmeD	rAmereD
Communicative	rAmeDa	rAmerDa
Vocative	O! rAmA	rAmerae

Eg4: sIta (Feminine) – Seetha

Cases	Singular	Plural (to give respect)
Nominative	sIta	sIter
Accusative	sItan	sIteren
Ablative or Instrumental	sItaDd	sItereDd
Dative	sItag	sItereg
Genitive	sItana	sIterena
Locative	sItaD	sItereD
Communicative	sItaDa	sIterDa
Vocative	O! sItA	sIterae

Eg5: appae (Feminine) – Mother

Cases	Singular	Plural	Plural (to give respect)
Nominative	appae	appaellu	apper
Accusative	appen	appaellen	apperen
Ablative or Instrumental	appeDd	appaelleDd	appereDd
Dative	appeg	appaelleg	appereg
Genitive	appena	appaellena	apperena
Locative	appeD	appaelleD	appereD
Communicative	appeDa	appaelleDa	appereDa
Vocative	O! appae	appaellae!	apperae!

Next week we will learn some pronouns and later I will give you sentences on each case. Please give me your feedback. Thanks!

Subscribe to Easy Tulu Channel:

Click here for Video lessons