All Tenses of some common Telugu verbs (Complete English version - Detailed)

Sunday 25 December 2011

IMPORTANT: To learn Telugu Easily and Fastly using this website, I advise you to go to the homepage and go through all my posts. You will find links to all posts in the homepage. Ignore this message if you are already in the homepage.

This is not the homepage. The homepage for this website is here which contains links to all the posts on this website. To learn Telugu easily and fastly using this website, I advise you to go to that page and go through all the posts present there.

In this post, I'm listing all the possible uses of the verb (in terms of tenses) in our day to day conversations. If you feel I've missed something or want me to add something, please let me know, I'll add to this list. For people who already know Telugu, please let me know if I've made a mistake, I'll correct it.

Note: There is a similar post here that explains tenses in Telugu but contains some Telugu text. I fully encourage you to learn how to read Telugu text which should be very easy if your mother tongue is one of the Indian languages, so that, that post will also be of use to you. This post is completely in English and is in more detail (w.r.t. the explanation of tenses) though the number of verbs covered is less. I'll try to add more verbs to this page in due course of time.

First let's start with one verb say 'go' in very detailed manner.

1. Verb: go


1. Present tense (verb - go)
a. I (nEnu) : velthAnu
Usage: While referring to yourself: 'I go' - 'nEnu velthAnu'
b. We (mEmu) velthAmu
Usage: While referring to ourselves: 'We go' - 'mEmu velthAmu'
c. Male/Female informal (You) (nuvvu) : vellu
Usage: While addressing (directly speaking to) male/female informally: 'You go' - 'nuvvu vellu (nuvvellu)'
c1. Male very informal (You) (nuvvu) vellara (vellu + ra)
Usage: While addressing a male very informally: 'You go' - 'nuvvellara (nuvvu + vellara)'
c2. Female very informal (You) (nuvvu) vellave (vellu + e)
Usage: While addressing a female/object very informally: 'You go' - 'nuvvellave (nuvvu + vellave)'
d. Plural OR male/female with respect (You) (mIru) vellandi
Usage: While addressing a male/female respectfully OR addressing more than two persons: 'You go' - 'mIru vellandi'
e. Male informal (He) (vAdu/athadu) : velthAdu
Usage: While referring to a male informally: 'He goes' - 'vAdu velthAdu'
f. Female/Neutral informal (She, It) (Ame, adhi) : velthundhi
Usage: While referring to a gender-less object or while referring to a female informally: 'She/It goes' - 'Ame/adhi velthundhi'
g. Male/female with respect OR Plural (They) (vAru/vAllu) : velthAru
Usage: While referring to a male/female with respect OR more than two persons: 'He/She (respect) goes', 'They go', - 'vAru velthAru'.
Note: While vAru can be used to refer both 'Male/female with respect' and 'They', vAllu can only be used to refer 'They'.


2. Present continuous tense (verb + ing - going)
a. I - velthunnAnu
Usage: I am going - nEnu velthunnAnu
b. We - velthunnAmu
Usage: We are going - mEmu velthunnAmu
c. Male/Female informal (You) - velthunnAvu
Usage: You are going - nuvvu velthunnAvu (nuvvelthunnAvu)
d. Plural OR male/female with respect (You): velthunnAru
Usage: You are going - mIru velthunnAru (mIrelthunnAru)
e. Male informal (He): velthunnAdu
Usage: He is going - vAdu velthunnAdu
f. Female/Neutral informal (She, It): velthundhi
Usage: She/It is going - Ame/adhi velthundhi
g. Male/female with respect OR Plural (They): velthunnAru
Usage: They are going, He/She (respect) is going - vAru velthunnAru


3. Past tense (2nd form of verb - went)

*Note: The 'A' in these starred words should be pronounced like 'a' in 'bash' or 'bat' and NOT like 'a' in 'bar'.
a. I - vellAnu*
b. We - vellAmu*
c. Male/Female informal (You) - vellAvu*
d. Plural OR male/female with respect (You): vellAru*
e. Male informal (He): vellAdu*
f. Female/Neutral informal (She, It): vellindhi
g. Male/female with respect OR Plural (They): vellAru*


4. Past continuous tense (was/were + verb + ing - was/were going )

a. I - velthU unnAnu
b. We - velthU unnAmu
c. Male/Female informal (You) - velthU unnAvu
d. Plural OR male/female with respect (You): velthU unnAru
e. Male informal (He): velthU unnAdu
f. Female/Neutral informal (She, It): velthU undhi
g. Plural OR male/female with respect (They): velthU unnAru



5. Future tense (will + verb - will go)

a. I - velthAnu
b. We - velthAmu
c. Male/Female informal (You) - velthAvu
d. Plural OR male/female with respect (You): velthAru
e. Male informal (He): velthAdu
f. Female/Neutral informal (She, It): velthundhi
g. Plural OR male/female with respect (They): velthAru


6. Future continuous tense (will be + verb + ing - will be going)

a. I - velthU untAnu
b. We - velthU untAmu
c. Male/Female informal (You) - velthU untAvu
d. Plural OR male/female with respect (You): velthU untAru
e. Male informal (He): velthU untAdu
f. Female/Neutral informal (She, It): velthU untundhi
g. Plural OR male/female with respect (They): velthU untAru


7. can (indicating capacity) + verb - can go

a. I - vellagalanu
b. We - vellagalamu
c. Male/Female informal (You) - vellagalavu
d. Plural OR male/female with respect (You): vellagalaru
e. Male informal (He): vellagaladu
f. Female/Neutral informal (She, It): vellagaladhu
g. Plural OR male/female with respect (They): vellagalaru


Other:
8. can(NOT indicating capacity)/might + verb: vellacchu
Usage: You/He can go: nuvvu/vAdu vellacchu
9. should + verb: vellAli
Usage: You/He should go: nuvvu/vAdu vellAli
10. should have + 3rd form of verb: velli undAlsindhi
Usage: You/He should have gone: nuvvu/vAdu vellundAlsindhi
11. might have + 3rd form of verb (gender insensitive): velli undacchu (vellundacchu)
Usage: You/He might have gone: nuvvu/vAdu vellundacchu
12. should have + 3rd form of verb + know?! : vellundacchugA (velli+undacchu+kadA(know))
Usage: You should have gone know?! = vellundacchugA?!. Note the simplification of 'kadA' (know) to simply 'gA'. This is widely used in spoken Telugu

NOTE:
1. In day to day conversations, the individual words will not be pronounced separately, but will be combined (and in the process some letters can be omitted also) and pronounced like in 'nuvvellu' which is actually a combination of two words 'nuvvu' and 'vellu'.
2. a) For sentences which have 'You(informal)' as subject, the verbs generally end in 'vu'. But in day to day conversations, the last 'u'(vowel) will be omitted. Ex: ekkadiki vellavu (where did you go)? = ekkadiki vellav? (applying principle 2) = ekkadikellav? (applying principle 1). b) In sentences with 'I' as subject, the verbs generally end in 'nu', but in day to day conversations (spoken Telugu), that last 'nu' won't be pronounced. For example to say 'I ate'(nEnu thinnAnu), say it has 'nEnu thinnA'. If you use these two rules (a,b) and other spoken Telugu rules (like 12 above) people will think that you are a native Telugu speaker!
3. Notice the similarity between 1a-5a, 1b-5b, 1e-5e, 1f-5f, 1g-5g. It's common in day to day conversations.
4. Notice the similarity between d-g in every set (2 to 7) except 1st. This is because in 1d (verb), if we use 'velthAru' instead of 'vellandi' it generally means 5d (i.e, will + verb). Ex1: vAlla tharuvAtha mIru velthAru : After them you will go. Ex2: vAlla tharuvAtha mIru vellandi: You go after them.
5. In many cases, in place of set 4, some times set 2 itself is used as you can see there is no much difference between them except for splitting set 1 verb forms in between and extending the sound of 'u' gives set 2.
6. Since writing this detail for every verb would be cumbersome, I will use the notation like 1e,8,3g, etc to refer to above and give only the corresponding verb forms.

2. Verb: Come




1.Present
come

2.Present continuous
coming

3.Past
came

4.Past continuous
was/were coming

5.Future
will come

6.Future continuous
will be coming

7.can come

8 - 11 (Note: 8 - 11 verbs can be used for all subjects (I,You,He,etc)

a. I (nEnu)

 vasthAnu

 vasthunnAnu

 vacchAnu*

vasthU unnAnu

vasthAnu

vasthU untAnu 

rAgalanu 

8. can come: rAvacchu

b. We (mEmu)

 vasthAmu

 vasthunnAmu
vacchAmu*
vasthU unnAmu

vasthAmu

vasthU untAmu 

rAgalamu 

9. should come: rAvAli 

c. You (Single) (nuvvu)

 rA,rAra,rAve

 vasthunnAvu

vacchAvu*

vasthU unnAvu

vasthAvu 

vasthU untAvu 

rAgalavu 

10. should have come: vacchi undAlsindhi OR rAvAlsindhi

d. You (Plural) (mIru)

 randi

 vasthunnAru
vacchAru*
vasthU unnAru 

vasthAru 

vasthU untAru 

rAgalaru 

11. might have come: vacchi undacchu 

e. He (vAdu / athadu)

 vasthAdu

 vasthunnAdu

vacchAdu*

vasthU unnAdu

vasthAdu 

vasthU untAdu 

rAgaladu 
12.You should have come know?!: vacchundacchugA

f. She/It (Ame / adhi)

 vasthundhi

 vasthundhi

vacchindhi

vasthU undhi

vasthundhi

vasthU untundhi 

rAgaladhu


g. They (vAllu / vAru)

 vasthAru

 vasthunnAru

vacchAru*

vasthU unnAru 

vasthAru 

vasthU untAru 

rAgalaru 





* -  The 'A' in these starred words should be pronounced like 'a' in 'bash' or 'bat' and NOT like 'a' in 'bar'


More verbs will be added in due course of time OR upon request by readers






---------------------------------------------------

UTSAVA MURTHY OF LORD SRI MALAYAPPA(VENKATESWARA) WITH SRIDEVI AND BHUDEVI
(Click on the image to view full size)

12 comments:

Anonymous,  4 July 2012 at 23:13  

good job!!!!!!!

deeptireddy 14 April 2013 at 19:28  

nice comparison on variations in verb.

Anonymous,  15 January 2015 at 01:51  

This article is very helpful for beginners. Can you please add some more examples. thanks.

Anonymous,  15 January 2015 at 01:56  

Can you please add an example of 'Do, doing , done' (chesthaanu , cheyali etc)? Thanks in advance.

sushree 5 April 2015 at 12:44  

Very well explained for the non telugu speakers.Could you add few more verbs with example.

sushree 5 April 2015 at 12:45  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown 16 June 2015 at 23:23  

Hey hw can both the present continuous tense and future tense for female be same i.e., "velthundi"? "she is going" is said to be "ame velthundi" and "she will go" is also translated as "ame velthundi"!! Both are same!!!

Learn spoken kannada online 24 June 2015 at 09:53  

To learn kannada language visit http://learnkannada.in
whatsapp number is 9535097540
any bloggers can contact me for mutual traffic exchange

Unknown 29 January 2016 at 19:49  

Present continuous, to my knowledge, should be either 'ame velthondi' or 'ame velthunnadi'. 'Ame velthundi' is the simple future tense. I am not sure but the article might be wrong in this respect.

Unknown 12 June 2016 at 21:45  

I like to listen telugu songs and watch telugu movies but I understand few of the words. I am writing the words below I heard in the song but can't understand them. I exactly Don't know how to spell them so I'm sorry for that:-
Raakaasi
Rabbar
Mogestunnave
Pilla
Nunte
Rachkunta
Raaskunna
Phumade
Unmade
Rakshasi
Anchullo
Elise
Manasu
Murine
Endukante
Eppudaina
Ippudemo
Nene
Nadche
AlaraI
Kosam
Daari
Kaaminaadu
Navvula
Dokkaraithe
Pilchikunna
Kalisipothe
Valusulu
Petti
Manohari
Jagatha
Inumoolo
Kocchadu
Vintodu
Neneppudaina
Mutthusthunnaave
Munchestunnave
Murise
Sogase
Fattu
Nattu
Pista
Kalisthe
Vente
Kilimanjaro
Pothe
Santamaina
Kadhilosthe
Untundhe
Kalise
Inka
Cheyesthe
Kundi
Ammayo
Gala
Chula
Baaga
Yenkuke
Anduke
Egaresthunnaave
Chedivina
Paataalanni
Gullo
Choopistha
Manase
Allaadi
Kantilona
Begumma
Maikam
If you know Hindi you can tell them in Hindi also.









Telugu Translation 20 March 2017 at 16:22  

I am teaching online. Just by attending classes (online or offline) or reading books of "learn a language in 30 days" will not help to learn a language. Living in that society will help you to learn the language. SO I can suggest you, to watch TV serials (not for the story) to get familiar with the pronunciation at least.

Engvarta 22 November 2018 at 12:16  

Truly praiseworthy article published by you. Genuinely this might be considered for the visitors who desire to learn Telugu for English. One can speak and practice English in an effective way, just by downloading English Learning App on your own smartphone, which you can use whenever and wherever you want to practice your communication skills with experts.
Practice English app | English Speaking App



  © Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP