Vocabulary

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Nouns

Country - Desaam

Pronouns

First and foremost, in order to say simple sentences it is important to learn pronouns. Pronouns will allow one to say sentences containing: I, my, you, yours, they, their, we, and so forth.

This looks like a complicated chart but let's go ahead a break it down.

Understanding Each Pronoun

A nominative case is basically a term for something that generally is the subject of the sentence or verb. Sort of like:

"I am doing xyz"

"I" is the subject that is "doing" xyz.

It is also important to recognize a difference in English and Telugu. Many Americans may have learned a second language, perhaps Spanish, French, or German. Similar to those languages, Telugu also has a gendered grammatical system. There is a place for masculine, feminine, and neutral nouns and pronouns.

First Person

నేను (Naenu)

First and foremost we have Naenu. This is a pronoun that is used by all genders and just representative as "I". It is important to note the distinction in genders.

నా (Naa)

Naa is a posessive case pronoun, which basically means "My" or "Mine". I

మనము (Manamu) / మేము (Maemu)

In the plural case, we have Manamu and Maemu. It might seem weird that we have two words that both mean "we", however, this is actually important to distinguish in Telugu. Manamu includes the listener whereas Maemu does not. This can lead into a lot clearer distinction in what the speaker may be trying to say. You could be speaking to your best friend and say "We are going to Disney World" but choose to leave them out or not.

మన (Mana) / మా (Maa)

For the final first person pronouns, we have Mana and Maa, which means ours. Accordingly to how we have Manamu and Maemu, correlatingly we have these pronouns as such. One has the listener included and the other does not. Once you remember the nominative case, it is easy to remember the possessive case as it is just the same with a few characters removed.

Naenu -> Naa

Manamu -> Mana

Maemu -> Maa

And we will see that with these next few perspectives.

Second Person

నువ్వు (Nuvvu) / మీరు (Meeru)

Unlike first person perspective, we have two words that mean "you" in Telugu. This is due to honorifics, which may cause confusion, so let's try our best to explain the difference.

Nuvvu is how to speak to someone really familiar or under in age. Whereas Meeru, would be someone who is respected such as a grandparent or a professor and so forth. Note that these are also the exact forms that we use to speak in plural tenses.

నీ (Nee) / మీ (Mee)

In a second person possessive case we use Nee and Mee, which similar to Nuvvu and Meeru, they would be informal and formal. In fact, to further distinguish this case, Mee most of the time will be used for older elders.

Third Person

వీడు (Veedu) / వాడు (Vaadu) / అతను (Athanu) / ఆయన (Aayana)

First for the third person nominative case, we have the "He's". These three may mean the same thing, however, they are all used differently. Vaadu is the most informal, depending on the person you are talking to, it may even be offensive. It cannot be said to elders, and seen as improper even when referencing younger folk, however, when approaching certain dialects, this may be the norm. It is important to still recognize it as a commonly used "He". The difference between Vaadu and Veedu is just proximity. Veedu is referenced when the younger person is closer to you, whereas Vaadu is further away.

Secondly Athanu is a common place "He". This can be said when referencing anyone and it is important to recognize that this should fit almost all occasions when speaking about someone in the third person.

Lastly, the most formal is Aayana. This is very formal and should only be in reference to older elders, such as your grandparents or in-laws.

ఆమె (Aame) / ఆవిడ (Aavida)

For the feminine representatives, we have Aame and Aavida which both mean "She". The more common form to be spoken is Aame, whereas Aavida is very formal and usually only references older women. Aavida in general is sort of outdated, and though its accepted and people understand, it's a little odd saying the word unless it is really only for old older women, sort of like your grandparents. But generally Aavida just means anyone who is older than the age of 30 for reference, meaning a full-fledged adult.

ఇది (Idhi) / అది (Adhi)

These two terms reference a neutral term for both people and objects, but in singular tense. Idhi and Adhi is commonly in reference objects. Though it is sort of like the "They/Them" of our language. What I mean by that is similar to English, "They/Them" is taught in schools as to call anyone that term, which was a thing long before the "LGBTQ+ propoganda" that people blame schools for. In Telugu, Idhi and Adhi are mostly called to show objects as the subject of the sentence, as it also represents "it".

In order to properly use Idhi AND Adhi is to also reference women younger than you. Idhi being those who are closer and Adhi references those who are further from you. This does not have a formality denotion.

వీళ్లు (Veellu) / వాళ్ళు (Vallu)

This references the plural form for "They/Them", which can be used for everyone. However, this really does enforce the plurality similar to Idhi and Adhi. This is specifically pertaining to people. Veellu references those who are close by and Vallu are those who are further.

ఇవి (Ivi) / అవి (Avi)

Though this may sound really similar to Idhi and Adhi, this should NOT be in reference to people at all. This should only be used for objects and can seem condescending or disrespectful if said about people. This is also a plural form to the "It" pronoun. Ivi references those which are close by and Avi are those which are further.

దీని (Deeni) / దాని (Daani)

This form is in reference to anything non-human, and shows the possessive case in third person. It does have a feminine characteristic, so many people do use this pronoun to reference female possession, however, it is very disrespectful. Deeni references objects which are close by and Daani are those which are further.

Notice

In future lessons we will be using past knowledge in our content, therefore it does require one to build their skills on top of each other. It is important to practice.