Nouns, Number, and Gender

The Plural in -లు

41.The plural of a Telugu noun is made by adding -లు (lu) to it. There is one plural ending and not several, and the difficulty lies not in the ending but in what the stem does before it.

అబ్బాయి → అబ్బాయిలు

abbāyi → abbāyilu

boy → boys — abbāyi → abbāyilu; the stem is untouched

పిల్ల → పిల్లలు

pilla → pillalu

child → children — pilla → pillalu

కుక్క → కుక్కలు

kukka → kukkalu

dog → dogs — kukka → kukkalu

What the Stem Does Before -లు

42.Many nouns change before the plural ending, and the changes fall into a few regular kinds. A noun in -ం (ṁ) replaces it with a long vowel; a noun in -లు (lu) or -డు (ḍu) turns that consonant into -ళ్ళు (ḷḷu).

పుస్తకం → పుస్తకాలు

pustakaṁ → pustakālu

book → books

ఇల్లు → ఇళ్ళు

illu → iḷḷu

house → houses

నది → నదులు

nadi → nadulu

river → rivers

Two Genders, Not Three

43.Telugu distinguishes two genders, masculine and non-masculine, and has no feminine gender as such. A noun naming a male person is masculine; a noun naming a woman, an animal, or a thing is non-masculine.

అతను

atanu

he — masculine

ఆమె / అది

āme / adi

she / it — non-masculine, whichever word is used

• [1] The older grammars call the two genders మహత్ (mahat) and అమహత్ (amahat), Sanskrit terms for "the great" and "the not-great"; Krishnamurti and Gwynn use masculine and non-masculine instead, and this course follows them.

The Line Moves Between Singular and Plural

44.Which gender a noun takes depends on its number as well as on what it names: the boundary between masculine and non-masculine falls in one place for the singular and in another for the plural. A noun that stands alone as non-masculine can become masculine once there is more than one of it.

ఒక అమ్మాయి → అది. అమ్మాయిలు → వాళ్ళు.

oka ammāyi → adi. ammāyilu → vāḷḷu.

one girl → non-masculine అది; girls → masculine వాళ్ళు

The Singular Masculine: Male Persons Only

45.In the singular, the masculine gender contains male persons and nothing else. The demonstratives వాడు (vāḍu), అతను (atanu), and ఆయన (āyana) all refer to a man, and the verb takes the ending -డు (ḍu).

అతను నా అన్న.

atanu nā anna.

He is my elder brother. — అతను is masculine, and refers only to a man

The Singular Non-Masculine: Everything Else

46.Everything else in the singular — a woman, an animal, a stone — is non-masculine, and shares one pronoun, అది (adi), and one verb ending, -ది (di). A woman is thereby grouped with the dog and the stone.

ఆమె / అది

āme / adi

she / it — both non-masculine

అది పెద్ద చెట్టు.

adi pedda ceṭṭu.

That is a big tree. — అది of a thing, non-masculine and unremarkable

A Child Is Non-Masculine

47.పిల్ల (pilla) and బిడ్డ (biḍḍa), the ordinary words for a child, are non-masculine regardless of the child's sex. Both take అది (adi) and the verb ending -ది (di), exactly as a woman or a thing does.

ఇది ఒక పిల్ల. అది మంచి పిల్ల.

idi oka pilla. adi mañci pilla.

This is a child. It/She is a good child. — అది agrees with పిల్ల whether the child is a boy or a girl

అది of a Woman Is Impolite

48.అది (adi) of a woman is impolite; the ordinary words are ఆమె (āme) or ఆవిడ (āviḍa). The verb ending stays -ది (di) whichever word is chosen, since the politer words are still grammatically non-masculine.

ఆమె నా అమ్మ.

āme nā amma.

She is my mother. — ఆమె is the ordinary, respectful word

The Plural Masculine: All Persons Together

49.In the plural, the masculine gender widens to include every person, male or female. All persons take వాళ్ళు (vāḷḷu) and the verb ending -రు (ru), so that a woman who was non-masculine alone becomes masculine among others.

అమ్మాయిలు ఇక్కడ. వాళ్ళు నా స్నేహితులు.

ammāyilu ikkaḍa. vāḷḷu nā snēhitulu.

The girls are here. They are my friends. — girls are people, so masculine in the plural — వాళ్ళు, never అవి

అబ్బాయిలు, అమ్మాయిలు ఇక్కడ — వాళ్ళు.

abbāyilu, ammāyilu ikkaḍa — vāḷḷu.

Boys and girls are here — they. — both sexes share one plural pronoun once there is more than one person

The Sexes, Alone and Together

50.The sexes are distinguished when a person stands alone, and are not distinguished once several stand together. This single fact governs the pronoun, the demonstrative, and the verb ending alike.

ఆమె నా అమ్మ. అమ్మాయిలు నా స్నేహితులు — వాళ్ళు.

āme nā amma. ammāyilu nā snēhitulu — vāḷḷu.

She is my mother. The girls are my friends — they. — one woman is non-masculine; women together are masculine — the line has moved

The Plural Non-Masculine: Animals and Things

51.Animals and things remain non-masculine in the plural, and take అవి (avi) and the verb ending -యి (yi). They are counted with the ordinary numerals, never with the numerals reserved for people.

కుక్కలు అక్కడ. అవి పెద్దవి.

kukkalu akkaḍa. avi peddavi.

The dogs are there. They are big. — dogs are not people, so non-masculine — అవి

రెండు కుక్కలు

reṇḍu kukkalu

two dogs — counted like any non-masculine noun, with the same numeral things take