Kannada is the pride of Bengaluru city. This language is said to have originated in India between 500 and 700 A.D. The Kannada script came to be known around 1500 A.D. At present, Kannada, a primarily Dravidian language, is the official language of Karnataka.
Being a metropolitan city, a lot of the people in the city have a problem when it comes to conversing with the localities here. A main barrier is language. As a language, Kannada is quite simple to pick up and learn. Here is a short tutorial that will help you converse in the language and blend in in this city better.
To start off with, let’s start with simple things. How do you greet a person in Kannada?
‘Hello’ is ‘Namaskara’.
Moving on, we’ll take up a simple commonplace conversation.
| I am Bhoomika | Naanu Bhoomika |
| What is your name? | Nimma hesaru yenu? |
| He is Ramu, my friend | Avaru Ramu , nanna sneehitra |
| How are you? | Hege iddira? |
| I am doing well/I am fine | Chennage Iddini |
As you want to sound polite and nice, it is always best to keep some soft words in your bag.
| Please | Dayavittu |
| Thank You | Dhanyavadu |
| Sorry | Kshamisi |
| Welcome | Susvaagatha |
| Congratulations | Shubhasheyagalu |
To answer simple questions with a yes or a no,
Yes Howdhu
No Illa
Pronouns form an integral part of all sentences. However, in Kannada, unlike English, you have a respectful form and a colloquial form of most pronouns. So, here is how you refer to different people in different manners.
| I | Naanu |
| My | Nanna |
| You | Neenu |
| You (respect) | Neevu |
| He | Avanu |
| She | Avalu |
| Your | Ninna |
| He/She(respect), they | Avaru |
| His | Avana |
| Her | Avala |
| His/her(respect), their | Avara |
| We, I(respect) | Naavu |
| Our | Namma |
| It/This | Idu |
| That | Adu |
| Mother | Taayi |
| Father | Tande |
| Friend | Sneehitru |
| Younger sister | Tangi |
| Elder sister | Akka |
| Younger brother | Tamma |
| Elder brother | Anna |
| Child | Maga |
Now that we’ve got the main parts of sentences in place, let’s move on into some sentence structure and verbs. These verbs are generally added as suffixes to other words to give them a tense.
| Is | –Ide |
| Was | –Ittu |
| I Will | –Ini |
| He Will/She will | –Ane/-Ale |
| They will | -Are |
These were the suffixes for tenses. Now, here are some frequently used verbs
| Come | Baa |
| Go | Hogu |
| Sit | Kulithuko |
| Walk | Nadee |
| Eat | Thinnu |
| Drink | Kudee |
| Run | Odu |
| Do | Madu |
| Take | Thogo |
| Give | Kogu |
| Listen | Kelu |
| Tell | Helu |
| Stop | Nillu |
| Wait | Iru |
| Easy | Sarala |
| Hard | Kathina |
You can combine the two to give you verbs of different tenses.
The questioning words are:
| What | Yenu |
| Why | Yaake |
| When | Yevag |
| Where | Yelli |
| Who | Yaaru |
| How | Hege |
Some of the other commonly used words that will come in handy are
| Book | Pustakaa |
| Money | Kaasu |
| Food | Ootaa |
| House | Mane |
| Good | Chennaga/Olle |
| Bad | Ketta |
| Breakfast | Tindi |
| Big | Dodda |
| Small | Chikka |
| Today | Ivattu |
| Tomorrow | Naale |
| Yesterday | Nenne |
| Much | Tumba |
| Fast | Bega |
| Don’t know | Gothilla |
| Now | Eega |
| Read | Odu |
| Girl | Hudugi |
| Boy | Huduga |
To end with, here are some sentences translated from English to Kannada to give you a better idea
| I don’t know Kannada | Nannige Kannada gothilla |
| What is your name? | Ninna hesaru yenu? |
| This is a book | Idu Pustakaa |
| Where is the food? | Oota yelli? |
| When are you going? | Yevag hogtira? |
| I don’t want it | Idu Nannige Beda |
| I am from Bengaluru | Nanna ooru Bengaluru |
| I am a good girl | Naanu olle hudugi |
Additionally, the numbers in Kannada are
| One | Ondu |
| Two | Yeradu |
| Three | Mooru |
| Four | Naalku |
| Five | Aidhu |
| Six | Aaru |
| Seven | Aylu |
| Eight | Entu |
| Nine | Ombattu |
| Ten | Hattu |
| Twenty | Ipattu |
| Thirty | Moovattu |
| Forty | Nalvattu |
| Fifty | Aivattu |
| Sixty | Arvattu |
| Seventy | Epattu |
| Eighty | Embattu |
| Ninety | Thombattu |
| Hundred | Nooru |
You can form the rest of the numbers from this. For example,
Twenty two is ipattyerdu, forty nine is nalvattombattu and so on.
If you keep the above in mind, you should be able to survive in almost any part of this state and converse with everyone in their native language. Of course, fluency comes only with practice. Keep this in mind and catch hold of a person who knows Kannada well and begin conversing. This will help you blend in with the culture of the place.
Feel free to post any queries for any sort of help that you happen to need while learning the language. But, I will say this for sure- Kannada is a language worth learning, although it may take some time and effort.