Malayalam grammar
Malayalam personal pronouns
Malayalam pronouns distinguish formality and — like Tamil — an inclusive vs exclusive "we". Respectful third-person forms matter a lot socially.
I
ഞാൻ
ñān
First person singular.
You (informal)
നീ
nī
Close friends, children, younger people.
You (polite/plural)
നിങ്ങൾ
niṅṅaḷ
Plural "you", and polite singular in everyday speech. താങ്കൾ (tāṅkaḷ) is the very formal form.
He
അവൻ
avan
Informal masculine. Respectful form: അദ്ദേഹം (addēhaṁ).
She
അവൾ
avaḷ
Informal feminine. Respectful form: അവർ (avar).
We (inclusive)
നമ്മൾ
nammaḷ
Includes the listener.
We (exclusive)
ഞങ്ങൾ
ñaṅṅaḷ
Excludes the listener.
They
അവർ
avar
Third person plural; also the polite singular for a woman or elder.
Learn 1,000+ Malayalam 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 Malayalam grammar lessons
Malayalam present tense verbs
Malayalam is unusual among Dravidian languages: verbs do NOT change for person, number or gender. The present tense adds -ഉന്നു (-unnu) to the stem, and the same form works for every subject. Shown here for ചെയ്യുക (cheyyuka, "to do").
Malayalam negation with ഇല്ല and അല്ല
Malayalam has two everyday negators: ഇല്ല (illa) denies existence or an action, while അല്ല (alla) denies identity — "is not (a) X".
Malayalam case suffixes
Malayalam is agglutinative — case endings attach directly to the noun rather than standing as separate words.
Malayalam question words & yes/no questions
Malayalam wh-questions use a fixed set of question words; yes/no questions add -ഓ (-ō) to the end of the verb or word being questioned.
Malayalam sentence structure — building a basic sentence
Malayalam follows Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order. Adjectives come before the noun, and case suffixes attach after it.
Malayalam numbers 1–10
The Malayalam numerals 1 through 10.