Appendix:Telugu verbs

According to A grammar of Modern Telugu (1985) by Bh. Krishnamurti and J. P. L. Gwynn, Telugu verbs are grouped into 6 classes, the last of them is reserved for irregular verbs. Usually, the lemma or citation form for verbs is the same as the second person singular imperative (there are few exceptions to this rule, such as వచ్చు (vaccu) : రా (rā)). Conjugation in Telugu is more complicated, when compared to other Dravidian languages, due to many morphological changes, including regular ablaut (actually termed "vowel harmony") and syncope.

Sorted as B2, taken from the principle part B. Here are the rules:

1. The stem final -u deleted before the endings (అమ్ము (ammu) → అమ్మాను (ammānu)).
2. Medial -u- is ablauted to -i- (అడుగు (aḍugu) → అడిగాను (aḍigānu)).
3. Before the endings, -s- is sometimes spelled as -ś- (కలువు (kaluvu) → కలిశాను (kaliśānu), కలిసాను (kalisānu)).
4. Here, Telugu does not distinguish the vowels /æː/ and /aː/, both are written as ఆ (ā). Generally, ā in the past tense endings is pronounced as in the former, except in 10 verbs where it pronounced as in the latter:

   అను (anu), చెడు (ceḍu), కను (kanu), కొను (konu), కూర్చొను (kūrconu), నిల్చును (nilcunu), పడు (paḍu), తిను (tinu), ఉండు (uṇḍu), విను (vinu)

   However, these verbs also have different third person nonmasculine ending -అదు (-adu), with the last consonant being doubled before all the endings (విను (vinu) → విన్నది (vinnadi)).

5. The third person nonmasculine ending is also irregular in the verb ఉండు (uṇḍu): ఉన్నది (unnadi), ఉంది (undi).

Rayalaseema and Telangana dialects have distinct set of endings:

Rayalaseema

Telangana

Also known as the future-habitual tense. Sorted as A3, taken from the principal part A. Here are the rules:

1. Stems ending in -pp and -ṭṭ will be replaced by -ba- and -ḍa- (and -bu- and -ḍu- in the third person non-masculine) instead before the endings (చెప్పు (ceppu) → చెబతాను (cebatānu)).
2. Stems ending in -c and -ñc are simplified to -s- instead before the endings (పిలువు (piluvu) → పిలుస్తాను (pilustānu)).
3. -t- becomes -ṭ- after -n- (విను (vinu) → వింటాను (viṇṭānu)).
4. Other geminates are simplified to single consonants (వెళ్లు (veḷlu) → వెళ్తాను (veḷtānu)). These stems ending in geminates are rendered as irregular in the source.

Sorted as C2, taken from the principal part C. Here are the rules:

1. The stem final -u deleted before the endings (అమ్ము (ammu) → అమ్మను (ammanu)).
2. Medial -u- is ablauted to -a- (చదువు (caduvu) → చదవను (cadavanu)).

Sorted separately, singular imperative as C7, plural imperative as C6, and negative imperative forms as C5, taken from the principal part C.

The singular imperative is usually used as the lemma form (see above), with few exceptions, mostly class VI verbs. It commonly ends in -ఉ (-u), or in few verbs -ఇ (-i) after -V̄y- (but if the structure is -yi, then it varies with -y and -yyi, e.g. చెయ్ (cey), చేయి (cēyi), చెయ్యి (ceyyi)). In class II verbs, which often have the ending -ఉవు (-uvu), tends to become -ఉ (-u) or -ఊ (-ū) in speech. However, in some other non-standard varieties, -c- or -s- may occur instead of -v-. Thus, పిలువు (piluvu) may become పిలుచు (pilucu), పిలు (pilu), or పిలూ (pilū). There are only a few exception to this:

1. వచ్చు (vaccu) → రా (rā) (suppletive)
2. తెచ్చు (teccu) → తే (tē)
3. పోవు (pōvu) → పో (pō)
4. పద (pada) (only exists as in the imperative)

Here are the rules to form other imperative forms:

1. The stem final -u deleted before the endings (అమ్ము (ammu) → అమ్మండి (ammaṁḍi)).
2. Medial -u- is ablauted to -a- (అడుగు (aḍugu) → అడగండి (aḍagaṇḍi)).

Sorted as A5. The only ending is -దాం (-dāṁ), however, stem final -s and -c are assimilated to -d- except in the Telangana dialect (పిలువు (piluvu) → పిలుద్దాం (piluddāṁ), but Telangana పిలుస్దాం (pilusdāṁ)).