Kannada grammar
Kannada sentence structure — building a basic sentence
Kannada follows Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order. Descriptive words come before the noun, and case markers attach after it.
I eat rice
ನಾನು ಅನ್ನ ತಿನ್ನುತ್ತೇನೆ
nānu anna tinnuttēne
Literally "I rice eat" — the verb always comes last.
The big house
ದೊಡ್ಡ ಮನೆ
doḍḍa mane
Adjectives precede the noun, same order as English.
to the market
ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಗೆ
mārukaṭṭege
Case markers attach after the noun, the reverse of an English preposition.
She is reading a book
ಅವಳು ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಓದುತ್ತಾಳೆ
avaḷu pustaka ōduttāḷe
Subject → object → verb, in that fixed order.
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More Kannada grammar lessons
Kannada personal pronouns
Kannada distinguishes formal and informal pronouns. Learn the core set to form basic sentences.
Kannada present tense verbs
Kannada present tense attaches -ಉತ್ತ- (-utta-) to the verb stem followed by a person-and-number ending. Here it is conjugated for "ಮಾಡು" (māḍu, "to do").
Kannada negation — ಅಲ್ಲ vs. ಇಲ್ಲ
Kannada splits negation the same way Telugu does: ಅಲ್ಲ (alla) negates identity/description ("is not"), while ಇಲ್ಲ (illa) negates existence, possession, or a completed action — and is also the everyday word for "no."
Kannada postpositions & case markers
Kannada is agglutinative — case markers attach directly to the end of a noun instead of using separate preposition words.
Kannada question words & yes/no questions
Kannada wh-questions use a fixed set of question words; yes/no questions are formed by adding -ಆ (-ā) to the verb.
Kannada numbers 1–10
The Kannada numerals 1 through 10.