Gujarati grammar

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 1 Morphology 1.1 Nouns 1.2 Adjectives 1.2.1 Comparatives and Superlatives 1.3 Postpositions 1.4 Pronouns 1.4.1 Personal 1.4.2 Derivates 1.5 Verbs 1.5.1 Overview 1.5.2 Forms 1.5.3 Causatives 1.5.3.1 Single 1.5.3.2 Double 1.5.4 Passives 2 Sample Text 3 References 4 Bibliography

Morphology

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 more so "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]

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

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

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).

Pronouns

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. More so 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.

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

Verbs

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

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]

Causatives

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

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]

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.

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.

Sample Text

References

Bibliography

• Cardona, George (1965), A Gujarati Reference Grammar, University of Pennsylvania Press .
• Cardona, George; Suthar, Babu (2003), "Gujarati", in Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh, The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge, ISBN 9780415772945, http://books.google.com/books?id=jPR2OlbTbdkC&pg=PA659&dq=indo-aryan+languages&sig=69z4DJxBuD4SPTTINIbzK_YW6ac .
• Dave, Jadish (1995), Colloquial Gujarati (2004 ed.), Routledge, ISBN 0415091969 .
• Dwyer, Rachel (1995), Teach Yourself Gujarati, London: Hodder and Stoughton, http://www.racheldwyer.com/publications.html .
• Lambert, H.M. (1971), Gujarati Language Course, Cambridge University Press .
• Masica, Colin (1991), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521299442, http://books.google.com/books?id=J3RSHWePhXwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=indo-aryan+languages .
• Mistry, P.J. (2001), "Gujarati", in Garry, Jane; Rubino, Carl, An encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present, New England Publishing Associates .
• Taylor, G.P. (1908), The Student's Gujarati Grammar, New Delhi: Asian Educational Services .
• Tisdall, W.S. (1892), A Simplified Grammar of the Gujarati Language, http://www.archive.org/details/simplifiedgramma00tisdiala .

Links to related articles Gujarati language topics Grammar · Phonology · Script · Literature Grammars of specific Indo-Aryan languages Bengali · Gujarati · Hindi-Urdu · Marathi · Nepali · Punjabi Indo-Iranian languages   Indic (Indo-Aryan)   Old · Middle Old Sanskrit (Vedic · Classical) · Mitanni superstrate Middle Abahatta · Apabhraṃśa · Dramatic Prakrits (Magadhi · Maharashtri · Shauraseni) · Elu · Gāndhārī · Jain · Paisaci · Pāli · Prakrit   Modern Central Hindi Awadhi · Bagheli · Bambaiya Hindi · Brij Bhasha · Bundeli · Chhattisgarhi · Fiji Hindi · Haryanvi · Kannauji · Sansiboli · Sadhukaddi (early form) Urdu Dakhni · Rekhta (early form) Others Dhanwar Rai Eastern Assamese and Bengali Assamese · Bengali Others Angika · Bhojpuri · Bishnupriya Manipuri · Chakma · Chittagonian · Halbi · Hajong · Kayort · Kharia Thar · Magahi · Maithili · Majhi · Mal Paharia · Nahari · Oriya · Rajbanshi · Rohingya · Sadri · Sylheti Northern Garhwali · Kumaoni · Nepali (Palpa) · Potwari North western Punjabi Saraiki · Majhi Others Aer · Derawali · Dogri · Hindko · Kangri · Kutchi · Sindhi Southern Dhivehi · Konkani · Mahal · Marathi · Sinhala Western Bhil Bhili · Gamit Rajasthani Bagri · Goaria · Gojri · Jaipuri · Malvi · Marwari · Mewari · Dhatki (sociolect) Others Domari · Gujarati · Kalto · Khandeshi · Parkari Koli · Romani · Saurashtra   Iranian   Old · Middle Old Western Old Persian · Median Eastern Avestan · Old Scythian Middle Western Middle Persian · Parthian Eastern Bactrian · Khwarezmian · Ossetic (Jassic) · Sakan (Sacian) · Scythian · Sogdian   Modern Western South (Persid) Persian (variants: Dari · Tajik)  · Luri · Caucasian Tat · Larestani · Laki · Bashkardi · Kumzari North Old Azari · Balochi · Central Iran · Zoroastrian Dari · Fars · Gilaki · Gorani · Kurdic: (Kermanshahi · Kurmanji · Soranî)  · Mazandarani · Semnani · Taleshi · Tati · Zazaki Eastern Pamir Ishkashimi · Munji · Roshani · Shughni · Sarikoli · Wakhi · Yazgulami · Yidgha Others Ossetic · Pashto · Yaghnobi · Ormuri · Parachi   Other Indo-Iranian languages Dardic Dameli · Domaaki · Gawar-Bati · Kalami · Kalash · Kashmiri · Khowar · Kohistani · Nangalami · Palula · Pashayi · Shina · Shumashti · Torwali · Ushoji Nuristani Kamkata-viri Kamviri · Kata-vari · Mumviri Others Askunu · Kalasha-ala · Kamkata-viri · Tregami language · Vasi-vari Italics indicate extinct languages.