Learn Telugu as Second Language

21. Verbs: Voice and Mood 1.  Active and Passive Voice (a) A verb is in active voice when it expresses an action performed by its subject. A verb is in passive voice when it expresses an action performed upon its subject or when the subject is the result of an action. Ex. 1. Active Voice (కర్త్రర్థకము) కృష్ణుడు కంసుని చంపెను = Krishna killed Kamsa. The verb here is answering the question, "who killed?" by pointing the finger at Krishna, the subject. Ex. 2. Passive Voice (కర్మార్థకము) కంసుడు కృషునిచే చంపబడెను = Kamsa was  killed  by Krishna. The verb here is answering the question, "who was killed? by pointing at the object Kamsa." (b) All  transitive verbs (సమాపక క్రియలు, those that take an object) can be used in the passive voice. Intransitive verbs (అసమాపక క్రియలు) do not have a passive voice. Ex. 3.  కృష్ణుడు మధురకు పోయెను = Krishna went  to Madhura. Here the verb stem పోవు is intransitive. Evidently, a se...

20. Verb - Structure and Concord Verb is perhaps the most important topic to master; it is therefore treated in several chapters. In grammar, concord   refers to the way that a word has a form appropriate to the number or gender of the noun or pronoun it relates to. For example, in 'He hates it,' there is concord between the singular form of the verb and the singular pronoun 'he.' The basic structural components of a Telugu verb are: (a) The verb stem (ధాతువు) (b) Formative suffixes (ప్రత్యయం), which are appended to the stem. The original form of a verb, prior to adding any suffixes, is called the verb stem. Almost all Telugu verb stems end in a ఉ (u) sound. Example:  చేయు (cE-yu) = do ఉండు (uM-Du) = be రాయు (rA-yu) = write వండు (vaM-Du) = cook There are two classes of verb stems in Telugu: native stems and imported stems. The three stems shown above are native Telugu words. Most of the imported words in classical Telugu are from Sanskri...