Why would you need Kannada in Bangalore, soon to be BengaLuru?
For the little fun of learning the easiest-to-learn South Indian language, that's all, and to know a little more than just knowing "Kannada gottilla."
You can get by in most places knowing Hindi, or English. But there's always going to be the ever-friendly auto driver, the boy in the shop, or the little old lady who will not know Hindi, or English.
All Indian languages tread upon a common grammar. Questions begin with the subject and end with the interrogatory. Answers begin with the subject and end with the.. well, answer :) If you know Hindi, you know at least 50 percent of Kannada grammar and 50 percent of its vocabulary. I use the Sanskritised version of Hindi to illustrate the similarities.
Some examples:
Hindi
"Woh kya (hai)?"
Kannada
"Adu yenu ( )?"
So adu - woh, kya - yenu? Just a sec. Kannada's grammar has a neuter gender, unlike Hindi. So adu translates in English to 'it', while woh in English can be 'it' or 'him' or 'her'!
And the Kannada answer to the above question if I was pointing at a book would be "Adu pustaka." Note the 'a' at the end. Many words in Hindi turn Kannada with a vowel like 'a' or 'u' or 'e'.
Now I go near the pustaka, and find something. Now, don't waste time guessing, ask :)
"Idu yenu?"
Ye kya hai - idu?
Precisely. You got the answer. Idu = ye.
"Idu lEkhani" (pronounce: laykhani = pen)
And this is not all. Continuing with books and education in general, shaale, vidyaarthi, vishaya, laykhani.. are all words common to both Hindi and Kannada, with the rule above added - though people who know both languages use their English equivalents.
Ok, so where is the school?
"School kahan hai?"
"School elli iday?" (the d here is the d in Eid Mubarak)
kahan - elli, hai - iday.
You have just learnt one of the most basic, most common phrases in Kannada. Spoken quite often, its often pronounced 'ellide'.
"School wahan hai"
"School alli iday"
"School yahan hai"
"School illi iday"
wahan - alli. Most often used words are often combined, so alli iday becomes 'allide'.
yahan - illi. Yahan hai - illide.
If you didn't realise, ellide is very handy when you're out on a new road in BengaLuru. "Bus stop ellide?" "100 ft road ellide?" "Chinmaya Hospital ellide?"
Ok, you are trying to look for your friend's house in Koramangala. He's near Forum Mall. You come to an auto driver and ask him:
"Saar", (yes, thats how 'sir' is pronounced in Kannada :)
"Saar, Forum ellide?"
The auto driver says, "heege seeda hogi left togoLi. Allinda right togoLi. Opposite nimge Forum sigatte."
Ooh, thats a lot of Kannada! But just wait, don't we know a few words here?
"Aise hi seedey jaake left lena. Wahan se right lena. Opposite aapko Forum milega."
seeda = seeday, am sure you'd have guessed. heege? togoLi? allinda? nimge? sigatte? what on earth?
heege = aise. togoLi = lelo. allinda = alli + inda. Remember, alli is wahan. inda = se.
You are now bewildered at the directions, and want to know whether its walkable.
"Walkableaaa?"
Amazing, isnt it? Sing an aaa.. at the end of an English word, and it becomes a Kannada word with a question: "Ee Tableaaa? Ee chairaa?"
So you say "thanks Saar" and turn.
Kannada
"Saar, haagalla, heegay!" shouts the autodriver.
Hindi
"Sir, waise nahin, aise!"
haagalla = haage + alla. Adding an "alla" after a word that points to:
- an object "adu (woh)", "idu (ye)"
- a direction "alli (wahan)", "illi (yahan)"
- a way "haage (aise)", "heegey (waise)"
negates the meaning.
So, adu + alla = adalla (woh nahin), idu + alla = idalla (ye nahin)
alli + alla = allalla (wahan nahin), illi + alla = illalla (yahan nahin)
Note that the last letter in each of the first words above is replaced by "alla" to negate their meaning.
Kannada to the people who hear for the first time seems to have a profusion of words ending with "alla", "illa", and "ella." Actually, there's an interesting anecdote on how these words have entered the Kannada vocabulary, and from where. I don't vouch for its authenticity, and just mention it in passing:
When the Moghuls invaded Karnataka (then Bijapur), their soldiers tried to converse with the locals in Kannada, but only ended up saying "..jaane allah", "jaane bism-illah" and shook their heads. When the locals heard them and saw them, they took the illa, and alla as words that meant negation, and the practise has continued since :)
Thats about alla and illa, which mean nahin with a little subtlety. But whats with ella?
ella is 'sab' in Hindi. So, mixing up ella with what the Kannada we know so far, just for practice:
what does "ella school allide" translate to?
So now, tell me: what are the Kannada equivalents for "aise nahin" and "waise nahin"?
Back to the autodriver..
You now realise that you were turning in a different direction, thanks to him sounding you. But you've also come a little far ahead. As you try to recall directions, the autodriver comes to you.
If you don't know Kannada, autodrivers try to take you for a ride and seduce you into getting in their ricks - unless you know the place pretty well. But this one seems like a good fellow.
Kannada
"Saar, naanu aa kaDe hogtidini. Banni, parvaagilla.."
Hindi
"Sir, main usi konay jaa raha hoon. Aao, parva nahin"
You spoke his language, and he appreciates you for it! Autodrivers are usually friendly, but this one's nice!
Now,
naanu = main. aa kaDe = usi konay. Just a sec. Isn't wahan = alli? Can the autodriver not use "naanu alli.." whatever?
Yes he could have, but thats like saying he's just going there. What is important here is he's saying that he's going in that direction, the direction you are interested in.
Wait a sec, what does hogtidini mean?
hogtidini = hogta iddini = jaaraha hoon.
hogta alone is present continuous - something like "jaate" - a difference in context. So if you wanted to ask a friend in Kannada what he did while he was going to office - "jaate jaate tumne kya kiya" becomes "hogta hogta neevu yenu maadidri?"
You know you don't have to pay him - he's said parvagilla (parva + illa).
Illa is a bit like alla - append it to any word and it negates the word. For the moment, you can assume that illa and alla can be used interchangeably.
But you are wondering if its too far to hitch a free ride.
Kannada
"Yeshtu doora?"
Hindi
"Kitna door?"
And he replies
Kannada
"Ille ide, saar"
Hindi
"Yahan hi hai, sir"
The ille here is a special case of illi, yahan. Add an 'e' to any pointer word, and you stress it.
illi+e = ille (yahan hi), alli+e = alle (wahan hi), adu + e = ade (woh hi)
This is incomplete - it doesn't take even 10 minutes to know the amount of Kannada in here!
And you'd probably know this much if you've been staying amidst people who speak Kannada.
I'll have more for you, the guy who wants more of Kannada - all in a while!
You're welcome to comment on this post.
