Hi,

I wish to learn some Telugu and get a basic understanding of the language. Would help me a lot in enjoying telugu film music as well as Carnatic krithis.

Evaru unnaara ? bibhaas-gaaru ..... sahaayyaam cheysaava ?

(Anyone willing to teach) ?

Vivek

Endaro (HF-lo) Mahaanubhaavulu
Andariki Vandanamulu

Me seconding Vivek's request............. Evaaru Sahaayyaam cheysaava???? I am especially serious about it.....after getting a nice 'wake-up' call from Vivek......saying how he expected me to know Telugu, being trained in Carnatic music..........Well....high time I start off...... Dunno anything in the language.........but remember having heard a few words ...something like... "Teeskonti".........."Jeskonti"......."Jaampalli"......."Chappaalante" etc....something like that........on my trip to Hyderabad........

Waiting for the take-off......

Nee peru yemi? = what is your name?

Naa peru Rajan = My name is Rajan

Oh the universal master is here too !!

Welcome Welcome ----- Randi Randi (anything more suited for 'welcome' ?)

Originally conceived for Hits, but equally applicable to you too
Woh Kaunsi Mehfil Hai Jahaan Tu Nahin Maujood !

Btw, is 'Adhyapak' the right word for teacher in Telugu ?

Sept 5th is drawing close ..... Shyam humaari HF ke guruon ko kya dakshina dein ?

Vivek

Vivek, Shyam,
Kshaminchandi, ee thread koncham aalasyam gaa choosaanu. Meeku telugu nerpadaaniki tappaka prayatnam chestanu.
(Sorry, saw this thread a little late. I will certainly try to teach you telugu).

Bibhas

p.s. Randi is certainly the most apt word to say "welcome or aaiye". It's important to realize that this word in telugu ends in a short "e" at the end and not a deergha "ee" as in that word in Hindi that makes you uncomfortable.

ok, let me start off correcting the errors you guys made so far on this thread.


Vivek, here you want to say "Is there anyone ? Bibhas ji, will you help ? ", isn't it? The way to say it correctly in telugu is: (caps for deergha and hard sound, small letters for laghu and soft sound)

"evarainA unnArA ? Bibhas gAru, sahAyam chEstArA ?"

evarainA = Is anyone. evaru= who
sahAyam= help
chEsAvA (cheysaava) = did you (singular, as in thou) do ?
chEstArA = will you (plural, to go with gAru, the term of respect in telugu, eqv of "ji") do ?


Shyam,
"Teeskonti" : The correct word is tIsukOnDi (tee-su-kOnDi, O as in Oprah, D as in Dad). It means "leejiye", "take it (with respect)".
"Jeskonti": There isn't a word like this, the closest match in my mind is chEsukOnDi. It means "kar lijiye". Note that this is different from "kijiye" which would be "cheyyanDi" in telugu.
"Jaampalli": Again draws a blank. Since you heard it in Hyderabad, it was probably a reference to an area called "nAmpalli" which is the area near the Hyderabad Rly Stn.
"Chappaalante": The correct word is cheppAlanTE. Means "kehna hai to".


Wah Mandrake (or should I say Rajan ?), the linguist ! What you wrote is accurate, except that the word "yemi" in this context is not used in commonspeak. The way you wrote it is kinda old language spoken in the raja-maharaja zamaana.

nI pEru EmiTi ? = what is your name. The phrase is commonly said in sandhi as "nI pErEnTi ?".


The word adhyApak is not used in telugu although you will find it as "adhyApakulu" in the dictionary, telugu having retained most of its sanskrit origins. The commonly used words for teacher in telugu are "guruvu" (=guru) and "pantulu" (colloq. for "panDitulu"). These days you will hear people saying "teacharu" and "mAsTAru" more commonly, derived obviously from the english words teacher and master.

Thanks bibhas ... 'Thanks'iki emu cheptAnu ? Dhanyavaadam !!

Wow.. managed to understand 90% of that sentence without having to resort to the translation ! (except 'nerpadaaniki' and 'tappaka' : most imp parts of that sentence though )

A few queries / comments though:

Aalasyam : seems to be related to 'aalas' in Hindi .. meaning lazy ... does it have the same connotation in Telugu too ?

Meeku : I suppose its plural for 'neeku' ? does telugu have a dual case ('dwitiya' case) as in Sanskrit ? Actually, I dont find any language that has a special reservation for 'dual' cases except Sanskrit.... maybe Im wrong

Aargh.. its so frustrating when similar words mean different things in different languages .... "Tappu" means wrong / incorrect in Tamil ... on first reading, it felt like u'd teach Telugu incorrectly !!
Maybe the pronunciation is different ---- how is 't' in 'tappaka' pronounced ? as in 'train' or as in 'there' ?

Nerpadaaniki : 'd' as in 'day' or as in hindi for day .. 'din' ?

Vivek

Quite a few doubts here !!



'ChEstAra' is for second person or third person ?.. as in 'will you do this' as opposed to 'will he / they do this' ? What I'm trying to get at is : what is for 'will he do this' without any connotation of respect 'gaaru' involved ... and what is for 'will you do this' with a connotation of respect ?



Could you give an example on the usage of both 'chEsukOndi' and 'cheyyandi'
(Actually I cant even come up with a decent usage to point out the difference between 'kijiye' and 'kar lijiye')

ippudu idhe samshayaalu. reypu vochhi choostaanu.

Vivek

yep, although "Thanks" has completely replaced it in common usage. Small point: "dhanyavAdam" is "Thank", "dhanyavAdamulu" or "dhanyavAdAlu" is "Thanks".

The word is "Emi" and not "emu".
"cheptAnu" means "I will say (future tense).
The sentence you wrote should be "Thanks anaDAniki Emi cheppanu ? " This would mean "what I should I say to say "thanks". If you write "thanks ki Emi cheppanu ?" it would translate as "what should I say to Thanks" as in personifying "thanks".
An easier way to say this would be "(telugu lo) thanks ni EmanTAru ? ". What's is the word for "thanks" (in telugu) ? Note that we have used sandhi to make EmanTAru from Emi + anTAru.


I don't know the origin but I can guess. Alasyam means "late" or "delay". Guess since being lazy always ends up in a delay, in a way it might have the same origin.


Yes, mIku is plural for nIku. telugu does not have a dual case.


Well, the word for wrong in telugu is also "tappu", the only difference from the tamil "tappu" being the "u" at the end is pronounced fully instead of the abbreviated sound that tamilians use.

The "t" in "tappaka" is pronounced just as the "t" in "tappu" (of both tamil and telugu descent). (for a sound as in "Train" I will use "T"). The root "tappa" is used in connection with missing something. So an accurate translation of "tappaka" would be "without missing", implying certainly. Other uses of this root (all in the same connotation) :
nuvvu dAri tappAvA ? Did you lose your way ? (or are you lost /)



No, it's pronounced nErpaDAniki. E as in tamil "pEsu" or "pEru"; D as in tamil "eppaDi".

Bibhas
p.s. A lot of your confusion arose because I didn't write pronunciation cues in my first post, I apologise.

will you do this (no respect): nuvvu chEstAvA ?
will he do this (no respect): vADu/atanu chEstADA ?
{Note: there is a difference in the degree of respect between vADu/atanu/Ayana: none/moderate/high respect. The eqv for fem. gender wd be adi/Ame/AviDa}

will you do this (respect): mIru chEstArA ?
will he do this (respect): Ayana chEstArA ?

Does that clarify it ?



You're right, it's fairly interchangeable in Hindi depending on context. In telugu too, the difference is quite thin. I am not sure I'll succeed but let me attempt.

You do your work (respect or plural)/aap apna kaam kar lijiye : mIru mI pani chEsukOndi

Do this work (respect or plural)/ aap yeh kaam kijiye: ee pani cheyyandi


ippudu = now. ippatiki = for now
idE = this . ivE = these

ippatiki ivE samshayAlu. (God samshayAlu sounds like such an ancient word, no one uses it any more - "doubts" has taken over. Could also use "prashnalu" = questions ).


accurate !
For ease of pronunciation: rEpu vachhi chUstAnu.

Give me some time before I catch-up with the lessons that took place in my absence........

A few points to raise after reading your first set of lessons Bibhas:-

"JAAMPALLI" : This 'term' was heard by me at Hyderabad, while we were in a bus, and a small girl selling Perus (Guavas) was shouting this term "Jaampalli.....Jaampalli".......And I really found that word very amusing......(Nothing to do with 'disrespect to the language or anything of that sort......Just found the way she shouted the term very amusing......) And I really irritated my parents throughout the trip in the next few days by screaming that term the same way....HEHEHHEE..... Fond childhood memories.......

PS: I'm very well aware of Hyderabad station's name being "Naampalli", and that has got nothing to do with my question on "JAAMPALLI"...

And as far as I know, I don't think Mandrake's name is Rajan, and guess he just gave that as an example here. As far as the question on his actual name, I would rather let him answer that.

Hope to hear from you soon.....Will post more..after catching up on the lessons...... DhanyavAdAlu ......

Its "Nampally", and there is a famous telugu song with that station's name.
Nampally Station kaada ramalingooooooooooooooooooooooooo
lol funny one.

Does anyone have that song, "Rimjhim Rimjhim Hyderabad"?

That clarifies it Shyam The correct word is "jAmpaLLu" or "jAmapaLLu", means "guava fruits". The L is the hard "La" sound, as in the sanskrit word "kaLa" or the marathi word "taLamaLala" from Veer Savarkar's "sAgarA prAna taLamaLala". The "I" at the end of "JAAMPALLI" must have been the weird accent all these sellers have ( I am sure you're familiar with the "soupey, soupey" and "chaiey chaiey" on trains).

Guava fruit (singular) = jAma panDu.

Bibhaasgaaru, naa samshayAliki vistAranga uttarAlu ivvaDAniki dhanyavAdamulu.

mIku thamizh 'aata hai' ? (telugulo 'zh' lEdu kadA ?) nAku telugu rAlEdu :-( (is rAOdu correct ?)



spashTangA arthamAindi :-)

taravAta vachhi 'post continue' chEdAm (or is it chEstAnu ?)

Vivek

Oh great.......that was really some good clarification.... Yes, pretty familiar with the 'soupey' & 'chayey' in trains....

So in sigular its 'PanDu' & plural its 'PaLLu'???

sarE .... oka telugu pATa cheptAnu ... E pATa endhuku 'by heart' (manapATham ?)chEstAnu (wrong useage for 'did') anTe taravAta cheptAnu ..

Film : Ninne Pelladatha (Will marry u only?) (1996)
Singer : Rajesh (sounds so much like SPB!)
Cast : Nagarjuna, Tabu
Music : Sandeep Chowtha

eto velli poIndi manasu
ila onta raIndi vayasu
O challa gaali, A chooki teesi
kaburIyalEva EmaIndo ?

eto velli poIndi manasu
ETallindi adi nIku telusu
O challa gaali, A chooki teesi
kaburIyalEva EmaIndo ?

E snEhamO kAvAlani innALugA teliyalEdu
ichhEnduke manasundani nAkEvvaru cheppalEdu
chelimi chirunAma telusukogAnE rekkalocchAyO EviDu ?

kaLalannavE kuluvundani kaNalundi Em lAbhamandi
E kadalika kaNipinchani silalAnti braTukendukandi
tOdu okarunTe jIvitam Ento veDukavutundi vaddu

eto velli poIndi manasu
ila onta raIndi vayasu
O challa gaali, A chooki teesi
kaburIyalEva EmaIndo ?... EmaIndo ?... EmaIndo ?....

manapATham chEdAniki kAraNam avashyanga kAvAla ? (saw Nimii using smilies at another thread ..so breaking my 'vrat' )

konjam shabdAlanu artham 'or' sandhi kAvAli ..

blue --- meanings
green -- sandhi

heck.... pUrNa pATE anuvAdam cheyyaNDi

Vivek

Yaar Vivek.....I'm damn scared after reading your posts........Each time......I gather 'some' courage and come here......I see that you have bombarded the place......with some mind-boggling post(s)........Is the language damn tough????

And you never told me you knew the language 'this' well..........

PS1: (That "Yaar" was the HINDI "Yaar" )

PS2: Nimii used Smileys???? Where??? Where????? Plss tell......

Vivek,
Call me Bibhas (nannu Bibhas ani piluvu), no gaaru. That's a great leap in a short time. You're picking up Telugu really well. ok, now for the errors in that sentence. The corrected words are in italics.
nA samshayAlaki vistAranga uttarAlu icchinanduku dhanyavAdamulu

ivvaDAniki= to give
icchinanduku = for having given


Ennakku thamizh avalao azhaga teriyaadu, edo koncham koncham pesuven. you're right, telugu lo "zh" lEdu.
nAku telugu rAlEdu is incorrect. It should be nAku telugu rAdu. The difference is the same as
"mujhe telugu nahiin aaya" and "mujhe telugu nahiin aata".
rAlEdu= didn't come.
rAdu = doesn't come. Implied to mean don't know (in this context). In other contexts, it could mean "won't come".
rAOdu should be written rAoddu. It means "don't come", so obviously can't be used there.


Perfect ! You got it absolutely right !



chEstAnu is correct. If you want to say "Let's continue the post later", you can use chEddAm.

Bibhas

Yes, it is. No Shyam, telugu anta kashTamEmi kAdu. It's like learning any other language. Keep at it and you'll soon be kicking Vivek's B*tt.

Vivek,
I copied the lyrics from a website and am posting here so you can get the sandhi right. For translation, I'll do it once I have a bit of time on hand (and of course after I learn the why ). Please don't make up a lame reason like I have to sing this on stage. I know it involves "Suja"

by heart = baTTI and not manapATham.
yep, chEstAnu is future tense. Did is chEsÅnu. Å is pronounced as A in BAD, MAD etc. Rest of that sentence is accurate. ok, back to the song for Suja.

eTO veLLipOyindi manasu
eTO vELLipOyindi manasu
ilaa onTarayyindi vayasu
O challa gaali aachooki teesi kabureeyalEvaa EmayindO

eTO veLLipOyindi manasu
eTeLlindO adi neeku telusu
O challa gaali aachooki teesi kabureeyalEvaa EmayindO EmayindO EmayindO..

E snEhamo kaavaalani innaaLLuga teliyalEdu
icchEndukE manasundani naakevvaru cheppalEdu
chelimi chirunaama telusukOgaanE rekkalochaayO EviTO..

eTO veLLipOyindi||

kalalannavE kOluvunDani kanulunDi Em laabhamundi
E kadalika kanipinchani SilalaanTi bratukendukandi
tODu okarunTe jeevitam entO vEDukoutundi anTu..

eTO veLLipOyindi||



Where, When, How and all those things Shyam said. Link please.


konni shabdAlaku artham kAni, sandhi kAni, kAvAli.
Difference between koncham and konni is tough to explain in english. Let's say koncham is used to describe a small lump of rice while konni is used to describe the few grains of rice that makeup that lump. Does that make sense ?



pUrti pATE anuvAdam cheyyaNDi

nu ishhtam ... ninnu bibhaasE piluvAnu (piluvu ....root ? usage ?)
--- difference between ani and anTE ?



ippuDu arthamAinda nAku telugu 'to an extent' elA telusu aNTE ? ;-) nA hrudayam Ee bhAshAlu unnAnu (wrong usage :-( ... my heart was set in the language...) .. Oka ammAyilo 'impress' cheyi ('karne') kosam Ee bhAshAlo 'taste' 'develop' chEsAnu .... 'but' .... AmmAyi nahin mili.. bhaasha seekh raha hoon :-D (Is that reason convincing enough ?) : blink blink :

In fact, Im not even so fluent in my mother tongue, Tamil !! I cant understand many words in aaj kal ke tamil gaane (I mean the proper tamil words.. not some weird rap / slang words) .... puraane tamil gaane / dialogues samajhna to dooooooooooooooooooooor ki baat hai ..... :-( Maybe its got to do with Tamil being the 'farthest' away from sanskrit, in my opinion.



roots seem so different ... my ingenuity didnt work there :-(



And I thought rAdu was a sandhi of rAodu !! ingenuity fails again :-(



heres the link : http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...ndpost&p=125347

Unfortunately, only myself and Mandrake noticed it .... by that time, she edited the smileys out ! :-( .. so me back on my 'vrat' ... : P

Is mIku thamizh telusa correct ?
Words (and difference) for
know - telusu
understand - arthamAindi
what does kanipaDatundi mean ? something like 'understanding' ... root ? usage?



'I do' in all tenses :
Past : chEsAnu
Present : chEstunu (is that right ?) ive heard 'em chestunu --- what are you doing' .... : unsure :
Future : chEstAnu



Another dexample for differnce between konni and koncham, if possible. Then it shd be clearer .....
egs and usage for kAni ?

Sorry for bugging you so much.. wish there were more telugu ppl here at the forum.. but seems like you are the only one around :-(
Take yr time to reply to my queries .... after all, shyam needs to some time to catch up and kick someone's b*tt ! ;-)



Shyam, I just gave u the secret to learn any language ..!! bas us language ki kisi ladki pe fida ho jao.. language apne aap seekh loge : P.

Vivek

Wow!!!! Great idea Vivek.........Kal se Telugu ladkiyon ka peecha karna shuru....

Vivek,
I'll take the usual approach of correcting what you wrote and then explaining it. Hope you don't mind.

[quote]
nu ishhtam ... ninnu bibhaasE piluvAnu (piluvu ....root ? usage ?)[/quote]

nI ishTam, ninnu bibhAs anE pilustAnu.

The word "nu" doesn't exist, it is "nuvvu". The "v" is a bit soft so in fast speak it may sound as nuUu causing the confusion.
nuvvu = you (tum)
nI = your (tumhArA/tErA)

pilu/piluvu = call
pilustAnu = (I) will call
pilichÅnu = (I) had called

[QUOTE]difference between ani and anTE ?[/QUOTE]
Tough one.
atanini shyAm ani pilu = usE shyAm kehkar pukArO
shyAm antE krishnudu = shyAm ka matlab krishna hai.

arTHam ayyindA ?

[quote] ippuDu arthamAinda nAku telugu 'to an extent' elA telusu aNTE ? [/quote]
ippuDu arthamAinda nAku telugu elA vachhO ?

[QUOTE] nA hrudayam Ee bhAshAlu unnAnu (wrong usage :-( ... my heart was set in the language...) [/QUOTE]
nA hrudayam Ee bhAshAlO undi = my heart is set in this language

[QUOTE].. Oka ammAyilo 'impress' cheyi ('karne') kosam Ee bhAshAlo 'taste' 'develop' chEsAnu[/QUOTE]

oka ammAyini 'impress' cheyyaDam kosam Ee bhAshAlo ruchi penchukunnAnu.
ammAyilo = ladki mein
ammAyini = ladki ko
ruchi penchukunnAnu = (literally) grew taste.

[QUOTE]'but' .... AmmAyi nahin mili.. [/QUOTE]

pch... pApam. So sad.

[QUOTE]bhaasha seekh raha hoon :-D (Is that reason convincing enough ?) [/QUOTE]

Next ammAyi ke liye ?


[QUOTE]Is mIku thamizh telusa correct ?[/QUOTE]

Yep, although mIku thamizh vachhA ? is better. Same difference as
ungalukku thamizh teriyuma vs ungalukku thamizh varuma .

[QUOTE]
what does kanipaDatundi mean ? something like 'understanding' ... root ? usage?[/QUOTE]

correct word is kanapaDutundi. It means "visible".
Root (guess) : kanapaDaDam: to see, literally, to fall in the eye. Kannu=eye, paDu=fall.
Usage: nAku mI illu kanapaDutundi. Your house is visble to me.

[quote]
'I do' in all tenses :
Past : chEsAnu
Present : chEstunu (is that right ?) ive heard 'em chestunu --- what are you doing' .... : unsure :
Future : chEstAnu[/quote]

Past and Future tenses are correct. Present tense mein gadbad hai. It is chEstunnAnu (I am doing).
What are you doing= nuvvu Emi chEstunnAvu ?

[QUOTE]Another dexample for differnce between konni and koncham, if possible. Then it shd be clearer .....[/QUOTE]

Let me put it this way. konni is plural, koncham is singular.
nAku koncham annam kAvAli: I want a little rice.
nAku konni laDDUlu kAvAli: I want a few laddoos.

[QUOTE]egs and usage for kAni ?[/QUOTE]

kAni = but.
nEnu venTanE javAbu ichhÅnu kAni nuvvu chUdalEdu : I (nEnu) replied (javAbu ichhÅnu) immediately (venTanE) but (kAni) you (nuvvu) didn't see (chUdalEdu).

[QUOTE]wish there were more telugu ppl here at the forum.. but seems like you are the only one around :-([/QUOTE]

Me too, for more reasons than teaching telugu.

Don't know why the quote function doessn't work, hope it's clear despite that. Happy learning.