Telugu grammar
Telugu personal pronouns
Telugu has different pronouns for formal and informal contexts. This guide covers I, you, he/she, we, and they.
I
నేను
nēnu
Used for "I" — singular first person.
You (informal)
నువ్వు
nuvvu
Used with close friends and children.
You (formal/plural)
మీరు
mīru
Polite "you" for elders, strangers, or addressing multiple people.
He
అతను
atanu
Third person masculine singular.
She
ఆమె
āme
Third person feminine singular.
We
మేము
mēmu
Exclusive "we" (excluding listener). Use మనం (manaṁ) for inclusive.
They
వాళ్ళు
vāḷḷu
Third person plural.
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More Telugu grammar lessons
Telugu present tense verbs
Telugu present/present-continuous tense is built with the marker -తున్న (-tunna) attached to the verb stem, followed by a person-and-number ending. Here it is conjugated for "చేయు" (cheyu, "to do").
Telugu negation — కాదు vs. లేదు
Telugu splits negation into two words depending on what's being denied: కాదు (kādu) for identity/description ("is not"), and లేదు (lēdu) for existence, possession, or a past action that didn't happen.
Telugu postpositions & case markers
Telugu is agglutinative — instead of separate preposition words, short markers attach directly onto the end of a noun to show its role in the sentence.
Telugu question words & yes/no questions
Telugu wh-questions use a fixed set of question words in the same slot the answer word would occupy; yes/no questions are formed by adding -ఆ (-ā) to the end of the verb.
Telugu sentence structure — building a basic sentence
Telugu follows Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order, the opposite of English's Subject-Verb-Object. Descriptive words come before the noun they describe, and case markers come after it.
Telugu numbers 1–10
The Telugu numerals 1 through 10 — used the same way whether counting objects or reading them aloud.