Telugu grammar
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.
in/at (locative)
-లో
-lō
e.g. ఇంట్లో (inṭlō) — "in the house."
to/for (dative)
-కి / -కు
-ki / -ku
e.g. నాకు (nāku) — "to me / for me."
from
-నుండి
-nuṇḍi
e.g. ఇంటి నుండి (inṭi nuṇḍi) — "from home."
with
-తో
-tō
e.g. నాతో (nātō) — "with me."
on/above
మీద / పై
mīda / pai
e.g. బల్ల మీద (balla mīda) — "on the table."
of (possessive)
-యొక్క
-yokka
Often dropped in casual speech — just placing two nouns next to each other implies possession.
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More Telugu grammar lessons
Telugu personal pronouns
Telugu has different pronouns for formal and informal contexts. This guide covers I, you, he/she, we, and they.
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 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.