Kannada grammar
Kannada personal pronouns
Kannada distinguishes formal and informal pronouns. Learn the core set to form basic sentences.
I
ನಾನು
nānu
First person singular.
You (informal)
ನೀನು
nīnu
Casual singular "you".
You (formal/plural)
ನೀವು
nīvu
Polite or plural "you".
He
ಅವನು
avanu
Informal masculine.
She
ಅವಳು
avaḷu
Informal feminine.
We
ನಾವು
nāvu
First person plural.
They
ಅವರು
avaru
Third person plural / polite singular.
Learn 1,000+ Kannada words, phrases & lessons on the Bhasha app
Daily 5-minute lessons, audio from native speakers, progress tracking and 1,000+ words. Free to start — first 8 units unlocked, no card required.
- ✓ Native-speaker audio
- ✓ Offline lessons
- ✓ Progress sync
- ✓ Ad-free for kids
More Kannada grammar lessons
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 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.
Kannada numbers 1–10
The Kannada numerals 1 through 10.