Tulu Lesson 7: (Uncertain) Future Tense

mAteregla namaskAra! We have already learnt Simple Present Tense in Tulu. As I said earlier, in Tulu, Simple Present Tense also used to talk about actions that will happen certainly in the future (prior plans, strong intentions, fixed arrangements and to make promises or threats).

yAn Epola barpae – I always come

yAn ellae barpae – I will come tomorrow

In Tulu, Future Tense is mainly used to express probability or uncertainty. Look at the following sentences:

I may come tomorrow

I will probably come tomorrow.

Today we are going to learn these types of sentences in Tulu.   Let us learn how to conjugate verbs in Future Tense first.

In Simple Present Tense, we divided verbs into two groups; Class A and Class B. For Class A verbs, we added ‘p’ sound and for Class B, we added ‘uv’ sound to root verbs and then added personal endings to conjugate verbs in Simple Present Tense. Alright! To conjugate verbs in Future Tense, add ‘uv’ sound to Class A verbs and nothing to Class B verbs and then add personal endings!

Class A verbs: Root verb + uv + personal ending

Class B verbs: Root verb + personal ending

Personal endings in Future Tense are same as Simple Present Tense except third person neuter singular.

		Singular			Plural
		Pronoun	Ending	Example: pO	Pronoun	Ending	Example: pO
First Person		yAn	ae	pOvae	nama/enkulu	a	pOva
Second Person		I	a	pOva	nikulu/Ir	ar	pOvar
Third Person	Masc.	Aye/imbe	e	pOve	akulu/Ar/mokulu/mEr	er	pOver
	Fem.	Al/mOlu	al	pOval
	Neut.	au/undu	u	pOvu	aikulu/undekulu	a	pOva

Now let us conjugate some verbs in Future Tense.

Class A: bar (barpini – to come)

bar + uv + ae = baruvae – I will probably come (I may come)

Class B: mAr (mAruni – to sell)

mAr + ae = mArae – I will probably sell (I may sell)

yAn baruvae – I will probably come

I baruva – You will probably come

Aye/imbe baruve – He will probably come

Al/mOlu baruval – She will probably come

au/undu baru – It will probably come (We don’t have to add ‘uv’ sound since personal ending starts from ‘u’ sound)

nama/enkulu baruva – We will probably come

Ir/nikulu baruvar – You will probably come

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr baruver – They will probably come

undekulu/aikulu baruva – They will probably come

yAn mArae – I will probably sell

I mAra – You will probably sell

Aye/imbe mAre – He will probably sell

Al/mOlu mAral – She will probably sell

au/undu mAru – It will probably sell

nama/enkulu mAra – We will probably sell

Ir/nikulu mArar – You will probably sell

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr mArer – They will probably sell

undekulu/aikulu mAra – They will probably sell

Class A: pO (pOpini – to go)

pO + uv + ae = pOvae

Class B: malpu (malpuni – to do)

malpu + ae = malpae (if root verb has final ‘u’, then ‘u’ is dropped before adding personal ending)

yAn pOvae – I will probably go

I pOva – You will probably go

Aye/imbe pOve – He will probably go

Al/mOlu pOval – She will probably go

au/undu pOvu – It will probably go

nama/enkulu pOva – We will probably go

Ir/nikulu pOvar – You will probably go

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr pOver – They will probably go

undekulu/aikulu pOva – They will probably go

yAn malpae – I will probably do

I malpa – You will probably do

Aye/imbe malpe – He will probably do

Al/mOlu malpal – She will probably do

au/undu malpu – It will probably do

nama/enkulu malpa – We will probably do

Ir/nikulu malpar – You will probably do

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr malper – They will probably do

undekulu/aikulu malpa – They will probably do

Class A: A (Apini - to become/happen)

A + uv + ae = Avae

yAn Avae – I will probably become

I Ava – You will probably become

Aye/imbe Ave – He will probably become

Al/mOlu Aval – She will probably become

au/undu Avu – It will probably become (It may happen)

nama/enkulu Ava – We will probably become

Ir/nikulu Avar – You will probably become

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr Aver – They will probably become

undekulu/aikulu Ava – They will probably become

In Tulu ‘Avu’ is also used to express consent like ‘okay’ in English.

Class B: uppu (uppuni – to be)

uppu + ae = uppae

yAn uppae – I will probably be

I uppa – You will probably be

Aye/imbe uppe – He will probably be

Al/mOlu uppal – She will probably be

au/undu uppu – It will probably be

nama/enkulu uppa – We will probably be

Ir/nikulu uppar – You will probably be

akulu/mokulu/Ar/mEr upper – They will probably be

undekulu/aikulu uppa – They will probably be

Verb conjugation in Future Tense might be confusing for beginners. But if you learnt verb conjugation in Simple Present Tense correctly, you will have no problems with Future Tense. Look at the following verbs:

baruvae – I will probably come (Future Tense)

mAruvae – I sell/I will sell (Simple Present Tense)

These two verbs conjugated in similar way, but the former is in Future Tense and the latter is in Simple Present Tense. The root verbs are ‘bar’ and ‘mAr’. At first, let us conjugate them in Simple Present Tense.

‘bar’ is a Class A verb. So it’s conjugated in Simple Present Tense as:

bar + p + personal ending = barpae – I come

‘mAr’ is a Class B verb. So it’s conjugated in Simple Present Tense as:

mAr + uv + personal ending =  mAruvae – I sell

To make Future Tense verb conjugation from Simple Present Tense, if you find ‘uv’ sound preceding personal endings, then just remove it and if you find ‘p’ sound preceding personal endings, change it to ‘uv’.

mAruvae - Simple Present Tense

mArae – Future Tense (removed ‘uv’ sound)

barpae - Simple Present Tense

baruvae - Future Tense (changed ‘p’ to ‘uv’)

Some short sentences in Future Tense:

Tulu: Aye satya paNuve
English: He will probably tell the truth / He may tell the truth.
Kannada: avanu satya hELiyAnu/hELabahudu

Tulu: jAgratae! bUra
English: Be careful! You may fall down.
Kannada: jOke! biddIya

Tulu: akulu ellae pOver
English: They will probably go tomorrow.
Kannada: avaru nALe hodAru

Tulu: Al illaD uppal
English: She may be at home
Kannada: avaLu maneyalli irabahudu

Tulu: yAn ini bEga pOvae
English: I may go soon today
Kannada: nAnu ivattu bEga hOdEnu

Tulu: portAvu (portu + Avu)
English: It will probably be late
Kannada: hottAdItu

Tulu: ini barsa baru
English: It will probably rain today
Kannada: ivattu maLe bandItu

Tulu: Ayeg bEjAr Avu
English: He may feel bad.
Kannada: avanige bEjAr AdItu

Tulu: aleg kushi Avu
English: She may feel happy
Kannada: avaLige kushi AdItu

Tulu: enk banga Avu
English: It may be difficult for me
Kannada: nanage kashTa AdItu

Tulu: akleg kOpa baru
English: They may get angry
Kannada: avarige kOpa bandItu

Tulu: onjattonji (onji att onji) dina Aye pira baruve
English: One day he may come back
Kannada: ondallondu dina avanu hindirugi bandAnu

Tulu: nama ellae saiva
English: We may die tomorrow
Kannada: nAvu nALe sattEvu

Tulu: pEr’n puchchae paru
English: Cat may drink the milk.
Kannada: hAlannu bekku kuDidItu

Tulu: Aye ninan keruve
English: He may kill you
Kannada: avanu ninnannu kondAnu

Tulu: Aye niNDa kEne
English: He may ask with you
Kannada: avanu ninnalli kELiyAnu

Tulu: yAn onji gaNTedulai (gaNTeda + ulai) ettae
English:  I will probably reach within an hour. Kannada: nAnu ondu gaNTe oLage talupiyEnu

Tulu: nama genda
English: We will probably win
Kannada: nAvu geddEvu

Tulu: akulu sOper
English: They will probably loose.
Kannada: avaru sotAru

Tulu: dEver naman mApu malper
English: God may forgive us Kannada: dEvaru nammannu kshamisiyAru

New words:

jAgratae – Carefulness/Caution

portu – Time/Late

ini – Today

barsa – Rain

banga – Trouble/Difficulty

kOpa -Anger

onji att onji – one or one

pEr – milk

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If you have any questions, feel free to comment. See you next week!

Solmelu!