Gujarati grammar

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The grammar of the Gujarati language is the study of the word order, case marking, verb conjugation, and other morphological and syntactic structures of the Gujarati language, an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken by the Gujarati people. This page overviews the grammar of standard Gujarati, and is written in a romanization (see Gujarati script#Romanization). Hovering the mouse cursor over underlined forms will reveal the appropriate English translation.

Contents

[edit] Morphology

[edit] Nouns

Gujarati has three genders, two numbers, and three cases (nominative, oblique/vocative, and to a certain extent, locative). Nouns may be divided into declensional subtypes: marked nouns displaying characteristic, declensional vowel terminations, and unmarked nouns which do not. These are the paradigms for the termination[1][2] —

Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
Masc. -o -ā -e
Neut. -ũ -ā̃ -ā -ā̃
Fem. -ī

Two things must be noted about the locative case and its limited nature. First, it only exists as a case for masculines and neuters, which is why the corresponding feminine cell has been left blanked out. Rather, for marked feminine and unmarked nouns the locative is a postposition, which are explained on later in the article. Second, there is no distinction of gender.

Furthermore, there also exists in Gujarati a plural marker -o. Unlike the English plural it is not mandatory, and may be left unexpressed if plurality is already expressed in some other way: by explicit numbering, agreement, or the above declensional system (as is the case with nominative marked masculines and neuters). And yet despite the declensional system, o often gets tacked on to nominative marked masculine and neuter plurals anyway. This redundancy is called the double plural. Historically, the origin of this suffix is murky, but it is certainly morphological rather than lexical. It is new (18th century) and it is not attested in Old Gujarati, Middle Gujarati, and Old Western Rajasthani literature. It may simply be the case that it spread from an unrepresented dialect.[3][4]

Thus combining both the declensional and plural suffixes, the following table outlines all possible Gujarati noun terminations —

Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
M'd. Masc. -o -ā(o) -ā -āo -e
Neut. -ũ -ā̃(o) -ā̃(o)
Fem. -ī -īo -ī -īo
unM'd. -o -o

The next table, of noun declensions, shows the above suffix paradigms in action. Words: chokro "boy", ḍāgho "stain", mahino "month", kacro "rubbish", chokrũ "child", kārkhānũ "factory", bārṇũ "door", andhārũ "darkness", chokrī "girl", ṭopī "hat", bāṭlī "bottle", vījḷī "electricity", vicār "thought", rājā "king", dhobī "washerman", baraf "ice", ghar "house", bahen "sister", medān "field", pāṇī "water", bābat "matter", niśāḷ "school", bhāṣā "language", bhakti "devotion".

Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
M'd. Masc. chokro
ḍāgho
mahino
kacro		 chokrā(o)
ḍāghā(o)
mahinā(o)

 chokrā
ḍāghā
mahinā
kacrā		 chokrāo
ḍāghāo
mahināo
mahine
Neut. chokrũ
kārkhānũ
bārṇũ
andhārũ		 chokrā̃(o)
kārkhānā̃(o)
bārṇā̃(o)

 chokrā
kārkhānā
bārṇā
andhārā		 chokrā̃(o)
kārkhānā̃(o)
bārṇā̃(o)

 kārkhāne
Fem. chokrī
ṭopī
bāṭlī
vījḷī		 chokrīo
ṭopīo
bāṭlīo

 chokrī
ṭopī
bāṭlī
vījḷī		 chokrīo
ṭopīo
bāṭlīo
unM'd. Masc. vicār
rājā
dhobī[1]
baraf		 vicāro
rājāo
dhobīo

 vicār
rājā
dhobī
baraf		 vicāro
rājāo
dhobīo
Neut. ghar
bahen
medān
pāṇī[2]		 gharo
baheno
medāno

 ghar
bahen
medān
pāṇī		 gharo
baheno
medāno
Fem. bābat
niśāḷ
bhāṣā[3]
bhakti[4]		 bābato
niśāḷo
bhāṣāo

 bābat
niśāḷ
bhāṣā
bhakti		 bābato
niśāḷo
bhāṣāo
  • The last entry of each gender category is a mass noun.
  • Some count nouns are averse to taking the plural marker: bhāg "portion(s), dā̃t "tooth(/teeth)", pag "foot(/feet)", caṇā "chick peas", etc.
  • Regarding nouns that terminate in ī[5]:
    • ^ Rather than marking femininity, ī can sometimes denote vocation or attribute, most often in indicating (male) persons: ādmī "man" (lit. "of Ādam"), baṅgāḷī "Bengali", śāstrī "scholar" (lit. "scripture-ist"), hāthī "elephant" (lit. "hand-y"), ṭapālī "postman".
    • Some male relations end in āī: bhāī "brother", jamāī "daughter's husband", vevāī "child's father-in-law".
    • ^ Some derive from neuter Sanskrit -iyam, -ījam, etc.: pāṇī "water", marī "pepper", bī "seed".
  • ^ Many feminine Sanskrit loanwords end in ā. i.e. bhāṣā "language", āśā "hope", icchā "intention".
  • ^ Many Sanskrit loanwords orthographically end in i, though in Gujarati there is now no phonetic difference between i and ī, so those words could just as well be held as marked feminines.
  • In the end, unmarked nouns probably outnumber marked ones, though many marked nouns are highly frequent.[6] Marked or not, the basis' of the gender of nouns are these —
    1. Biological: animates. Thus a chokrī "girl" is feminine, a baḷad "bull" is masculine, etc.[7]
    2. Perceived: animates. Some animals have the propensity to be addressed and cast as being of one gender over the others, across the board, regardless of the biological gender of the specific organism being referred to. Thus spiders are masculine: karoḷiyo, cats feminine: bilāṛī, and rabbits neuter: saslũ. These three can be cast into other genders if such specificity is desired, but as explained that would be deviation from the default rather than a scenario of three equally valid choices.
    3. Size. An object can come in differently gender-marked versions, based on size. Masculine is big, getting smaller down through neuter and then feminine; neuter can sometimes be pejorative.[8] Hence, camco "big spoon" and camcī "small spoon", and vāṛko "big bowl" and vāṛkī "small bowl". The same can apply to animates (animals) that fall under the second rule just above. One would think saslo to be "male rabbit", but it's moreso "big rabbit".
    4. For the rest there is no logic to gender, which must simply be memorized by the learner. irādo "intention (m)", māthũ "head (n)", and mahenat "effort (f)" are neither animates possessing biological gender nor a part of a set of differently-sized variants; their gender is essentially inexplicable.[7]

[edit] Adjectives

Adjectives may be divided into declinable and indeclinable categories. Declinables are marked, taking the appropriate declensional termination for the noun they qualify. One difference from nouns however is that adjectives do not take the plural marker -o. Neut. nom. sg. (-ũ) is the citation form. Indeclinable adjectives are completely invariable. All adjectives can be used either attributively, predicatively, or substantively.

  • Examples of declinable adjectives: moṭũ "big", nānũ "small", jāṛũ "fat", sārũ "good", kāḷũ "black", ṭhaṇḍũ "cold", gā̃ṛũ "crazy".
  • Examples of indeclinable adjectives: kharāb "bad", sāf "clean", bhārī "heavy", sundar "beautiful", kaṭhaṇ "hard", lāl "red".


Declinable adjective sārũ "good" in attributive use
Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
M'd. Masc. sāro chokro
sāro ḍāgho
sāro mahino
sāro kacro		 sārā chokrā(o)
sārā ḍāghā(o)
sārā mahinā(o)

 sārā chokrā
sārā ḍāghā
sārā mahinā
sārā kacrā		 sārā chokrāo
sārā ḍāghāo
sārā mahināo
sāre mahine
Neut. sārũ chokrũ
sārũ kārkhānũ
sārũ bārṇũ
sārũ andhārũ		 sārā̃ chokrā̃(o)
sārā̃ kārkhānā̃(o)
sārā̃ bārṇā̃(o)

 sārā chokrā
sārā kārkhānā
sārā bārṇā
sārā andhārā		 sārā̃ chokrā̃(o)
sārā̃ kārkhānā̃(o)
sārā̃ bārṇā̃(o)

 sāre kārkhāne
Fem. sārī chokrī
sārī ṭopī
sārī bāṭlī
sārī vījḷī		 sārī chokrīo
sārī ṭopīo
sārī bāṭlīo

 sārī chokrī
sārī ṭopī
sārī bāṭlī
sārī vījḷī		 sārī chokrīo
sārī ṭopīo
sārī bāṭlīo
unM'd. Masc. sāro vicār
sāro rājā
sāro dhobī
sāro baraf		 sārā vicāro
sārā rājāo
sārā dhobīo

 sārā vicār
sārā rājā
sārā dhobī
sārā baraf		 sārā vicāro
sārā rājāo
sārā dhobīo
Neut. sārũ ghar
sārũ bahen
sārũ medān
sārũ pāṇī		 sārā̃ gharo
sārā̃ baheno
sārā̃ medāno

 sārā ghar
sārā bahen
sārā medān
sārā pāṇī		 sārā̃ gharo
sārā̃ baheno
sārā̃ medāno
Fem. sārī bābat
sārī niśāḷ
sārī bhāṣā
sārī bhakti		 sārī bābato
sārī niśāḷo
sārī bhāṣāo

 sārī bābat
sārī niśāḷ
sārī bhāṣā
sārī bhakti		 sārī bābato
sārī niśāḷo
sārī bhāṣāo


Indeclinable adjective kharāb "bad" in attributive use
Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
M'd. Masc. kharāb chokro
kharāb ḍāgho
kharāb mahino
kharāb kacro		 kharāb chokrā(o)
kharāb ḍāghā(o)
kharāb mahinā(o)

 kharāb chokrā
kharāb ḍāghā
kharāb mahinā
kharāb kacrā		 kharāb chokrāo
kharāb ḍāghāo
kharāb mahināo
kharāb mahine
Neut. kharāb chokrũ
kharāb kārkhānũ
kharāb bārṇũ
kharāb andhārũ		 kharāb chokrā̃(o)
kharāb kārkhānā̃(o)
kharāb bārṇā̃(o)

 kharāb chokrā
kharāb kārkhānā
kharāb bārṇā
kharāb andhārā		 kharāb chokrā̃(o)
kharāb kārkhānā̃(o)
kharāb bārṇā̃(o)

 kharāb kārkhāne
Fem. kharāb chokrī
kharāb ṭopī
kharāb bāṭlī
kharāb vījḷī		 kharāb chokrīo
kharāb ṭopīo
kharāb bāṭlīo

 kharāb chokrī
kharāb ṭopī
kharāb bāṭlī
kharāb vījḷī		 kharāb chokrīo
kharāb ṭopīo
kharāb bāṭlīo
unM'd. Masc. kharāb vicār
kharāb rājā
kharāb dhobī
kharāb baraf		 kharāb vicāro
kharāb rājāo
kharāb dhobīo

 kharāb vicār
kharāb rājā
kharāb dhobī
kharāb baraf		 kharāb vicāro
kharāb rājāo
kharāb dhobīo
Neut. kharāb ghar
kharāb bahen
kharāb medān
kharāb pāṇī		 kharāb gharo
kharāb baheno
kharāb medāno

 kharāb ghar
kharāb bahen
kharāb medān
kharāb pāṇī		 kharāb gharo
kharāb baheno
kharāb medāno
Fem. kharāb bābat
kharāb niśāḷ
kharāb bhāṣā
kharāb bhakti		 kharāb bābato
kharāb niśāḷo
kharāb bhāṣāo

 kharāb bābat
kharāb niśāḷ
kharāb bhāṣā
kharāb bhakti		 kharāb bābato
kharāb niśāḷo
kharāb bhāṣāo

[edit] Comparatives and Superlatives

Comparisons are made by using "than" (the postposition thī; see below) or "instead of" (nā kartā̃), and "more" (vadhu, vadhāre, etc.) or "less" (ochũ). The word for "more" is optional, while "less" is required, denoting that in the absence of either it's "more" than will be inferred.

Gujarati Literal Meaning
Gītā Gautamthī ū̃cī che Gita is tall than Gautam Gita is taller than Gautam
Gītā Gautam kartā̃ ū̃cī che Gita is tall instead of Gautam
Gītā Gautamthī vadhāre ū̃cī che Gita is more tall than Gautam
Gītā Gautamthī ochī ū̃cī che Gita is less tall than Gautam

In the absence of an object of comparison ("more" of course is now no longer optional):

Gujarati Literal Meaning
vadhu moṭo kūtro The more big dog The bigger dog
kūtro vadhu moṭo che The dog is more big The dog is bigger

Superlatives are made through comparisons with "all" (sau).

Gujarati Literal Meaning
sauthī sāf orṛo The clean than all room The cleanest room
orṛo sauthī sāf che The room is clean than all The room is the cleanest

Or by leading with mā̃ "in" postpositioned to the same adjective.

Gujarati Literal Meaning
nīcāmā̃ nīcī chokrī The short in the short girl The shortest girl

[edit] Postpositions

The sparse Gujarati case system serves as a springboard for Gujarati's grammatically functional postpositions, which parallel English's prepositions. It is their use with a noun or verb that is what necessitates the noun or verb taking the oblique case. There are six, one-syllable primary postpositions. Orthographically they are bound to the words they postposition.

  • nũ – genitive marker; variably declinable in the manner of an adjective. X no/nũ/nī/nā/nā̃/ne Y has the sense "X's Y", with no/nũ/nī/nā/nā̃/ne agreeing with Y.
  • e – ergative marker; applied to subjects of transitive perfective verbs.
  • ne – marks the indirect object (hence named "dative marker"), or, if definite, the direct object.
  • thī – has a very wide range of uses and meanings:
    • "from"; Baroṛāthī "from Baroda".
    • "from, of"; tārāthī ḍarvũ "to fear of you".
    • "since"; budhvārthī "since Wednesday".
    • "by, with"; instrumental marker.
    • "by, with, -ly"; adverbial marker.
    • "than"; for comparatives.
  • e – a general locative, specifying senses such as "at", "during", etc. It is also used adverbially. As detailed previously, for the masculine and neuter genders it is a case termination, however to marked feminine and unmarked nouns it is a postpositional addition.
  • par – "on".
  • mā̃ – "in".

Postpositions can postposition other postpositions. For example, thī (as "from") suffixing the two specific locatives can help to specify what type of "from" is meant (parthī "from off of", mā̃thī "from out of").

Beyond this are a slew of compound postpositions, composed of the genitive primary postposition nũ plus an adverb.

  • nā aṅge "with regard to, about"; nī andar "inside"; nī āgaḷ "in front (of)"; nī upar "on top (of), above"; nā kartā̃ "rather than"; ne kāraṇe "because of"; nī joḍe "with"; nī taraph "towards"; nī tarīke "as, in the character of"; ne darmiyān "during"; nī najīk "near, close to"; etc.[9]

The genitive bit is often optionally omissible with nouns, though not with pronouns[10] (specifically, not with first and second person genitive pronouns, because, as will be seen, they have no outward, distinct, separable nũ).

[edit] Pronouns

[edit] Personal

Gujarati has personal pronouns for the first and second persons, while its third person system uses demonstrative bases, categorized deictically as proximate and distal.

The language has a T-V distinction in tũ and tame. The latter "formal" form is also grammatically plural. A similar distinction also exists when referring to someone in the third person.

Lastly, curious among New Indo-Aryan languages, Gujarati has inclusive and exclusive we's with āpṇe and ame.

Personal Demonstrative Relative Interrogative
1st pn. 2nd pn. 3rd pn.
Sg. Pl. Sg. &
Inf.		 Pl./
Form.		 Prox. Dist.
Inc. Exc. Inf. Form. Inf. Form. Inf. Form. Anim. Inan.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
Nominative hũ āpṇe ame tũ tame ā āo te teo je jeo kɔṇ śũ
Ergative mɛ̃ tɛ̃ āṇe āoe āmṇe tɛṇe teoe tɛmṇe jɛṇe jeoe jɛmṇe kɔṇe
Dative mane āpaṇne amne tane tamne āne āone āmne tɛne teone tɛmne jɛne jeone jɛmne kɔne śɛne
Genitive mārũ āpṇũ amārũ tārũ tamārũ ānũ āonũ āmnũ tɛnũ teonũ tɛmnũ jɛnũ jeonũ jɛmnũ kɔnũ śɛnũ
  • teo is quite rarely spoken. Moreso it's te loko (lit. those people).
  • loko can be used to emphasize plurality elsewhere: āpṇe loko, ame loko, tame loko.
  • The initial t in distal forms is mostly dropped in speech; e, ɛnũ, ɛmnũ, etc.
  • Second person formal āp is borrowed from Hindi and might be used in rare, ultra-formal occasions (i.e. addressing a crowd).
  • The system is regular for the remaining three postpositions (mā̃, par, thī), which suffix to an obliqued genitive base (invariably to ā): mārā, āpṇā, amārā, tārā, tamārā, ānā, āonā, āmnā, tɛnā, teonā, tɛmnā, jɛnā, jeonā, jɛmnā, kɔnā, śɛnā. For inanimates with mā̃, the genitive bit gets omitted: āmā̃, emā̃, jemā̃, śemā̃.
  • ame, amne, tame, tamne, tɛṇe, tɛmṇe, tɛne, tɛmne, jɛṇe, jɛmṇe, jɛne also occur with murmured vowels.[11]
  • In speech śũ is most often not variable with regards to gender and number. It does have obliques śɛ and śā.

[edit] Derivates

Interrogative Relative Demonstrative
Dist. Prox.
Time kyāre jyāre tyāre atyāre
Place kyā̃ jyā̃ tyā̃ ahī̃
Quantity keṭlũ jeṭlũ teṭlũ āṭlũ
Size kevṛũ jevṛũ tevṛũ āvṛũ
Quality kevũ jevũ tevũ āvũ
Manner kɛm jɛm tɛm ām

There is a form kayũ which means "which?".

kɛm doesn't mean "how" as would be expected; rather it means "why". It does however mean "how" in the greeting kɛm cho "how are you?". "How" is expressed in these ways: kevī rīte (lit. "in what kind of way"), kayī rīte (lit. "in which way"), kɛmnũ.

kyāre, jyāre, tyāre, atyāre are the adverbial locative postpostion e plus the bases kyār, jyār, tyār, atyār

[edit] Verbs

[edit] Overview

The Gujarati verbal system is largely structured around a combination of aspect and tense/mood. Like the nominal system, the Gujarati verb involves successive layers of (inflectional) elements to the right of the lexical base.[12]

Gujarati has 2 aspects: perfective and imperfective, each having overt morphological correlates. These are participle forms, inflecting for gender, number, and case by way of a vowel termination, like adjectives. The perfective forms from the verb stem, followed by -y-, capped off by the agreement vowel. The imperfective forms with -t-.

Derived from hɔvũ "to be" are five copula forms: present, subjunctive, past, contrafactual (aka "past conditional"), and presumptive. Used both in basic predicative/existential sentences and as verbal auxiliaries to aspectual forms, these constitute the basis of tense and mood.

Non-aspectual forms include the infinitive, the imperative, and the agentive. Mentioned morphological conditions such the subjunctive, contrafactual, etc. are applicable to both copula roots for auxiliary usage with aspectual forms and to non-copula roots directly for often unspecified (non-aspectual) finite forms.

Finite verbal agreement is with the nominative subject, except in the transitive perfective, where it is with the direct object, with the erstwhile subject taking the ergative construction -e (see postpositions above). The perfective aspect thus displays split ergativity. The infinitive's agreement is also with its direct object, if paired with one.

Tabled just below on the left are the paradigms for the major Gender and Number agreement termination (GN), nominative case. Oblique paradigms differ from those introduced in #Nouns, being either thoroughly -ā or -ā̃. Locative -e is found in attributive adjectival function only in fixed expressions. To the right are the paradigms for the Person and Number agreement termination (PN), used by the subjunctive and future. Yellow fields: -e following C, u, ū; -ī following o, ɔ; -y following ā.

(GN) Sg. Pl.
Masc. -o -ā
Neut. -ũ -ā̃
Fem. -ī
(PN) Subj. Fut.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
1st -ũ -īe -ũ
2nd -o -o
3rd -e

[edit] Forms

The example verb is intransitive hālvũ "to shake", with various sample inflections. Much of the below chart information derives from Masica (1991:300-302, 323-325).


Non-aspectual Aspectual
Non-finite
Inflection: neut. nom. sg.
(GN = ũ, the citation form).
Root * hāl
Infinitive/
Desiderative		 *-v-GN hālvũ
Obl. Infinitive *-v-ā hālvā
Conjunctive *-ī(ne) hālī(ne)
Agentive *-nār-GN hālnār(ũ)
Gerund/
Prospective/
Obligatory		 *-v-ā-n-GN hālvānũ
Adjectivals. Inflection: neut. nom. sg. (GNC = ũ).
Perfective *-el-(GN) hālel(ũ)
Imperfective *-t-GN hāltũ
Adverbials. Obl. of adjectivals.
Perfective *-y-ā̃ hālyā̃
Imperfective *-t-ā̃ hāltā̃
Finite
Inflection: 2nd. pl.
(PN = o, Pron. = tame).
Contingent Future *-PN hālo
Definite Future *-(ī)ś-PN hālśo
Inflection: all forms.
2nd pn. 1st pn.
Sg. & Inf. Pl./Form. Pl.
Imperative hāl hālo hālīe
Future Imp. hālje hāljo
Aspectuals plotted against copulas.
Inflection: 3rd. masc. sg. (GN = o, PN = e, Pron. = te).
Perfective[5] Imperfective[6]
*-y-GN[7][8] *-t-GN
Present ch-PN hālyo che hāle che[9]
Subjunctive hɔ-PN hālyo hɔī hālto hɔī
Past ha-t-GN hālyo hato hālto hato
Contrafactual hɔ-t hālyo hɔt hālto hɔt
Presumptive ha-(ī)ś-PN hālyo haśe hālto haśe
Unspecified hālyo hālto
Unsp. Contra. *-(a)t hālat


Notes

  • The negation particles are na and nahi with the former standing before the copula (or if no copula, the aspectual form) and the latter generally after. A negation particle combines with present ch-PN however for the invariable nathī. An alternative to the past na hat-GN is nahot-GN.
Aff ch-PN hɔ-PN ha-t-GN hɔ-t ha-(ī)ś-PN
Neg nathī na hɔ-PN na ha-t-GN na hɔ-t ha-(ī)ś-PN nahi na, nahi
  • ^ Gujarati retains an aspectually unmarked form (*-PN) in the function of the Present Imperfective, although a marked form (hālto nathī[10]) replaces it in the negative.[13]
  • ^ Gujarati does not distinguish between habitual and continuous.[14]
  • ^ When GN = ī then y is omitted. hālyo, but hālī.[15]
  • Some roots show vowel alternation[16]:
    • ā/a : jā/ja "go", thā/tha "become, occur".
    • e/ɛ/a/ø : le/lɛ/la/l "take", de/dɛ/da/d "give".
    • o/u : jo/ju "see, look, watch", dho/dhu "wash".
    • ɔ/a/ø : hɔ/ha/h "be".
  • In northern and central Gujarat, roots in -ā regularly have -a- before -īś- of future forms.[16]
  • Certain verb forms show suppletion in their perfective roots: ga- (jā "go"), kī- (kar "do" [in some dialects]), dī- (jo "see, look, watch" [in some dialects]).[16]
  • ^ Instead of the general affix -y- in their perfectives a few vowel-terminating roots take dh and s-terminating roots ṭh.
    • dh : khā-dh- (khā "eat"), dī-dh- (de "give"), pī-dh- (pī "drink"), lī-dh- (le "take"), bī-dh- (bī "fear"), kī-dh- (kahe "say" [in addition to kah-y-]), kī-dh- (kar "do" [in addition to kar-y-]).
    • ṭh : nā-ṭh- (nās "flee"), pɛ-ṭh- (pɛs "enter"), bɛ-ṭh- (bɛs "sit"), dī-ṭh- (jo "see, look, watch" [in addition to jo-y-]).
    • t : sū-t- (sū "sleep").
  • The ha in the past auxiliary ha-t-GN is omitted in speech after aspectual forms and negative na.
  • ^ Flexible order: hālto nathī ←→ nathī hālto.[17]
  • The future imperative is politer than the imperative, and using the future tense (questioningly: "will you...?") is politer still.[18]

[edit] Causatives

Gujarati causatives are morphologically contrastive. Verbs can be causativized up to two times, to a double causative.

[edit] Single

Causatives are made by two main schemes involving alteration of the root.[19]

  • Lengthening of final vowel; shortening of a preceding vowel (if ū is the only vowel, then → o).
  • Final ṭ → ḍ.

or

  • Suffix v if ending in vowel or h.
  • Shortening of vowel(s).
  • Suffix: āv, āḍ, v, vḍāv, or eḍ.
  • Sometimes nasalisation (anusvāra).

If the causativization is of a transitive, then the secondary agent, whom the subject "causes to" or "gets to" do whatever, is marked by the postposition nī pāse.[20]

[edit] Double

Furthermore, that causative can be causativized again, for a double causative ("to cause to cause... "), with a possible tertiary agent.[21]

  • ḍāv suffixed to 1st causative suffix of āv.
  • āv suffixed to 1st causative suffixes of āḍ and eḍ.
  • Beyond this are irregular forms that must be memorized.

[edit] Passives

The passive has both periphrastic and morphological means of expression. The former has -mā̃ āvvũ postpositioned to infinitive; the latter has ā added to root, with certain phonological processes as work as well: if the root vowel is ā then it becomes a (See Gujarati phonology#a-reduction) and if the root ends in a vowel then h or v is suffixed (See Gujarati phonology#.CA.8B-insertion).[22] Thus lakhvũ "to write" → lakhvāmā āvvũ, lakhāvũ "to be written". The post-position thī marks the agent, As in other New Indo-Aryan languages, formation of passives is not restricted to transitive verbs and has a restricted domain of usage except in special registers[23]. Both intransitive and transitive may be grammatically passivized to show capacity, in place of compounding with the modal śakvũ "to be able". Lastly, intransitives often have a passive sense, or convey unintentional action.

[edit] Numerals

[edit] Cardinal

Gujarati numbers are somewhat irregular compared to English. The following look to be the standard spellings[24], though pronunciation varies.

0 mīṇḍuṃ
1 ek
2 be
3 traṇ
4 cār
5 pāṃc
6 cha
7 sāt
8 āṭh
9 nav
10 das
11 agiyār
12 bār
13 ter
14 caud
15 pandar
16 soḷ
17 sattar
18 aḍhār
19 ogaṇīs
20 vīs
21 ekvīs
22 bāvīs
23 trevīs
24 covīs
25 paccīs
26 chavīs
27 sattāvīs
28 aṭhṭhāvīs
29 ogaṇtrīs
30 trīs
31 ekatrīs
32 betrīs
33 tetrīs
34 cotrīs
35 pāṃtrīs
36 chatrīs
37 sāḍatrīs
38 āḍatrīs
39 ogaṇcāḷīs
40 cāḷīs
41 ektāḷīs
42 betāḷīs
43 tetāḷīs
44 cummāḷīs
45 pistāḷīs
46 cheṃtāḷīs
47 suḍtāḷīs
48 aḍtāḷīs
49 ogaṇpacās
50 pacās
51 ekāvan
52 bāvan
53 trepan
54 copan
55 pañcāvan
56 chappan
57 sattāvan
58 aṭhṭhāvan
59 ogaṇsāṭh
60 sāṭh
61 eksaṭh
62 bāsaṭh
63 tresaṭh
64 cosaṭh
65 pāṃsaṭh
66 chāsaṭh
67 saḍsaṭh
68 aḍsaṭh
69 ogaṇoter
70 sitter
71 ekoter
72 boṃter
73 toṃter
74 cummoter
75 pañcoter
76 choṃter
77 sītoter
78 īṭhoter
79 ogaṇeṃsī
80 eṃsī
81 ekyāsī
82 byāsī
83 tyāsī
84 coṃrāsī
85 pañcyāsī
86 chyāsī
87 satyāsī
88 aṭhyāsī
89 nevvāsī
90 nevuṃ
91 ekṇuṃ
92 bāṇuṃ
93 trāṇuṃ
94 corāṇuṃ
95 pañcāṇuṃ
96 chāṇṇuṃ
97 sattāṇuṃ
98 aṭhṭhāṇuṃ
99 navāṇuṃ

After one hundred, numbers are regular and strung together in the same order as English, except that there is no "and". After one thousand, groupings are in hundreds. In gender, cardinals below nineteen are masculine, and nineteen and above are feminine.[25]

100 so
1 000 hajār
1 00 000 lākh
1 00 00 000 kroḍ
1 00 00 00 000 abaj

[edit] Ordinal[26]

1st pahelũ
2nd bījũ
3rd trījũ
4th cothũ
6th chaṭhṭhũ

For everything else it's the cardinal appended with mũ.

[edit] Fractions[27]

Gujarati has a colloquial set of fractions. For precision and mathematics, the Sanskritic system is used.

Fraction Alone Attributive modification of
1, 2 3-99 so, hajār, lākh Non-number
pā 0.25 25%
ardhũ 0.50 50%
poṇũ -0.25 -25%
savā +0.25 +25%
sāṛā +0.50
doṛh 1.5 150%
aṛhī 2.5 250%

[edit] Sample Text

Main article: Gujarati language#Sample Text

[edit] References

  1. ^ (Dwyer 1995, pp. 65-66)
  2. ^ (Dwyer 1995, p. 282)
  3. ^ (Masica 1991, p. 213)
  4. ^ (Masica 1991, p. 473)
  5. ^ (Tisdall 1892, p. 27)
  6. ^ (Masica 1991, p. 219)
  7. ^ a b (Dwyer 1995, p. 43)
  8. ^ (Masica 1991, p. 78)
  9. ^ (Dwyer 1995, pp. 320-321)
  10. ^ (Masica 1991, p. 234)
  11. ^ (Cardona & Suthar 2003, pp. 675-676)
  12. ^ Masica (1991:257)
  13. ^ (Masica 1991, p. 302)
  14. ^ (Masica 1991, p. 269)
  15. ^ (Dwyer 1995, p. 149)
  16. ^ a b c (Cardona & Suthar 2003, p. 680)
  17. ^ (Dwyer 1995, pp. 88-89)
  18. ^ (Dwyer 1995, p. 90)
  19. ^ (Dwyer 1995, pp. 304-306)
  20. ^ (Dwyer 1995, p. 307)
  21. ^ (Dwyer 1995, pp. 311-312)
  22. ^ (Dwyer 1995, pp. 292-294)
  23. ^ (Cardona & Suthar 2003, p. 686)
  24. ^ Dwyer 1995, p. 324
  25. ^ Dwyer 1995, p. 171
  26. ^ Dwyer 1995, p. 172
  27. ^ Dwyer 1995, pp. 172-174

[edit] Bibliography

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