Tulu Lesson 13: Adjectives – Part 1

Hello everyone, welcome back!

So far we have learned Simple Present, Future Tense and Simple Past Tense in Tulu. The tenses we have learned are good enough for us to take another step. Before going to other tenses, I am going to start a different part of the Tulu language. Today, we are going to learn some simple adjectives. Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns or pronouns. Generally it tells about quality, quantity, size, shape, age, colour and material of nouns or pronouns used in the sentences.

Tulu	Kannada	English
eDDae	oLLe	Good
porlu/shOku	chanda	Beautiful
malla	doDDa	Big
elya	saNNa / chikka	Small
mast	tumbA	Very much, a lot
dinja/jAsti	tumbA/jAsti	Much, full
vantae/chUru	svalpa	A little, a bit
mAta / pUra	ellA	All/whole
iDi	iDi	Full, whole
ardha	ardha	Half
kelavu	kelavu	Some
pAka	halavu	Many
nirmala / sudda	svachcha	Clean
para	haLe	Old
posa	hosa	New

Click here to learn more adjectives in Tulu.
Click here to learn colours in Tulu.

Colours and numbers can also be used as adjectives. 

Example sentences:

Tulu: Aye eDDae naramAni

English: He is a good man

Kannada: avanu oLLe manushya

Tulu: Aye mast eDDae narmAni

English: He is a very good man

Kannada: avanu tumbA oLLe manushya

Tulu:  porluda poNNu / shOkuda poNNu

English: Beautiful girl

Kannada: chandada huDugi

Tulu: yAn onji malla illan tUyae

English: I saw a big house

Kannada: nAnu ondu doDDa maneyannu nODide

Tulu: parbogu mAterla posa kuNTu pADuver

Engish: Everyone wears new dress for the festival

Kannda: habbakke ellarU hosa baTTE uDuttAre

Tulu: Aye enna para dOsti

English: He is my old friend

Kannada: avanu nanna haLe geLeya

Tulu:  Aye boldu angi pAduve

English: He will wear a white shirt

Kannada: avanu biLi baTTe hAktAne

Tulu: enna illaD El kONae uNDu

English: There are seven rooms in my house.

Kannada: nanna maneyalli ELu kONegaLu ive.

Tulu:  pAka jana sEriyer

English: many people gathered

Kannada: halavu jana sEridaru.

Tulu: onji shOkuda elya ill

English: A beautiful small house

Kannada: ondu chandada saNNa mane

Tulu: kappu nAyi koret’ND

English: The black dog barked

Kannada: kappu nAyi bogaLitu

Tulu: nUdu jana itter

English: There were hundred people

Kannada: nUru jana iddaru

Tulu: yAn bechcha nIr pariyae

English: I drank warm water

Kannada: nAnu bisi nIru kuDide

Tulu: Aye onji posa angi dettoNDe

English: He bought a new shirt

Kannada: avanu ondu hosa angi takoNDa

Adjectives can be formed from different words like nouns and verbs. But they are used in Genitive case (suffix  ‘da’/’ta’ or ‘na’).

Some of adjectives which are formed from nouns:

Tulu	Kannada	English
marata	marada	Wooden
dUrada	dUrada	Distant
kaitalda/muTTada	hattirada	Nearby
sukhata	sukhada	Happy
dukkhada	dukkhada	Sorrowful
bEneda	nOvina	Painful
kashTada / bangada	kashTada	Difficult
sulabada	sulabada	Easy
buddhida	buddhiya	Clever
koNDATada	muddAda	Lovely

Examples:

Tulu: marata ill

English: Wooden house

Kannada: marada mane

Tulu: dUrada Uru

English: Distant village

Kannada: dUrada Uru

Tulu: sukhata bad’k

English: Happy life

Kannada: sukhavAda baduku

Tulu: sulabada bElae

English: Easy work

Kannada: sulabhavada kelasa

Tulu: koNDATada bAlae / mOkeda bAlae

English: Lovely kid

Kannada: muddAda magu

Tulu: shOkuda nAyida kinni

English: cute puppy

Kannada: chandada nAyi mari

Tulu: buddhida nAyi

English: buddhiya (jANa) nAyi

English: Clever dog

Tulu: bangArda ungila

English: Gold ring

Kannda: chinnada ungura

Tulu: kuppida kAjilu

English: Glass bangles

Kannada: gAjina baLegaLu

We will learn how to form adjectives from verbs in coming lessons.

Comparative Adjectives: There are no comparative adjectives in Tulu, but it can be expressed by using ablative case.

Examples:

Tulu: rAme dUmeDd malla

English: Rama is bigger (older) than Duma.

Kannada: rAma dUmaniginta doDDava

Tulu: moleDd Al porlu

English: she is more beautiful than her

Kannada: ivaLiginta avaLu chanda

Tulu: kuDla uDupiDd muTTa

English: Mangalore is nearer than Udupi

Kannada: mangaLUru uDupiginta hattira

Tulu: imbe mAtereDd'la buddhivante

English: He is the cleverest of them all.

Kannada: ivanu ellarigintalU buddhivanta

Tulu: enaDd I udda

English: You are taller than me

Kannada: nanaginta nInu udda

Tulu: Aye ninaDd tOra

English: He is fatter than you

Kannada: avanu ninaginta dappagiddAne

Tulu: yAn ninaDd sapura

English: I am skinnier than you

Kannada: nAnu ninaginta sapura

Some of the adjectives can be used with pronouns to indicate gender:

malla – big

malla + Aye = mallAye – Elder (M) (Kannada: doDDavanu)

malla + Al = mallAl -  Elder (F) (Kannada: doDDavaLu)

malla + au = mallau – Elder / The one that is big (N) (Kannada: doDDadu)

malla + Ar = mallAr – Elder (M/F) (Kannada: doDDavaru)

malla + akulu = mallakulu – Elders (Kannada: doDDavaru)

tOra – Thick / Fat

tOradAye – He who is fat (Kannada: dappaginavanu)

tOradAl – She who is fat (Kannada: dappaginavaLu)

tOradau – The one which is fat (Kannada: dappaginadu)

tOradAr – He/She who is fat (Kannada: dappaginavaru)

tOradakulu – They who are fat (Kannada: dappaginavaru)

kaital – Near

kaitaldAye – He who is nearby/close (Kannada: hattiradavanu)

kaitaldAl – She who is nearby/close (Kannada: hattiradavaLu)

kaitaldau – The one which is nearby/close (Kannada: hattiraddu)

kaitaldAr - He/She who is nearby/close (Kannada: hattiradavaru)

kaitaldakulu - They who are nearby/close (Kannada: hattiradavaru)

porlu – Beauty

porludAye – He who is beautiful (Kannada: chandadavanu)

porludAl – She who is beautiful (Kannada: chandadavaLu)

porludau – The one which is beautiful (Kannada: chandaddu)

porludAr - He/She who is beautiful (Kannada: chandadavaru)

porludakulu - They who are beautiful (Kannada: chandadavaru)

kAs’dAye – He who has money / Rich man (Kannada: duDDiruvava)

kAs’dAl – She who has money / Rich woman (Kannada: duDDiruvavaLu)

kAs’dAr - – He/She who has money (Kannada: duDDiruvavaru)

kAs’dakulu – They who has money (Kannada: duDDiruvavaru)

There are some words which are created from adjectives and can be used as nouns:

posa – new (Kannada: hosa)

posatt – The one which is new (Kannada: hosattu)

posabe – He who is new/New man (Kannada: hosaba)

posabedi – She who is new/New woman (Kannada: hosabaLu)

posaber – They who are new/New people (Kannda: hosabaru)

para – old

paratt – The one which is old (Kannada: haLattu)

parabe – He who is old /Old man (Kannada: haLaba / muduka)

parabedi /parabu – She who is old /Old woman  (Kannada: haLabaLu / muduki)

paraber – They who are old/Old people (Kannada: haLabaru / mudukaru)

buddhivante - He who is clever/Clever man (Kannada: buddhivanta)

buddhivantedi - she who is clever/Clever woman(Kannada: buddhivante)

buddhivanter - They who are clever//Clever people(Kannada: buddhivantaru)

javane - He who is young/Young man (Kannada: yuvaka)

javandi - she who is young/Young woman (Kannada: yuvati)

javaner - those who are young/Young people (Kannada: yuvakaru)

tuluve – A Tuluva man (M) (Kannada: tuLuva)

tuluvedi – A Tuluva woman (F) (Kannada: tuLuvaLu)

tuluver – Tuluvas/Tuluva people (Kannada: tuLuvaru)

baDave – Poor man (Kannada: baDava)

baDavedi – Poor woman (Kannada: baDavaLu)

baDaver – Poor people (Kannada: baDavaru)

sirivante – Rich man (Kannada: sirivanta)

sirivantedi - Rich woman (Kannada: sirivante)

sirivanter – Rich people (Kannada: sirivanta)

That is all for today. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. See you next week!

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solmelu!