Doing things
🎯 Speak in the present, and ask questions.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- ನಾನು ಹೋಗ್ತೀನಿ — naanu hogteeni 🔊 NAA-nu HOG-tee-ni I am going / I will go. Written Kannada: ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇನೆ hoguttene. Spoken Kannada shortens it, as Tamil does.
- ನೀವು ಬರ್ತೀರಾ? — neevu barteeraa? 🔊 NEE-vu BAR-tee-raa Are you coming? -ಆ at the end makes the question — the Dravidian pattern again.
- ಅವರು ತಿಂತಾರೆ — avaru tintaare 🔊 a-va-RU TIN-taa-re He/she eats (respectfully). ಅವನು he, ಅವಳು she, ಅವರು he or she with respect.
- ನನಗೆ ಬೇಕು — nanage beku 🔊 na-na-GAY BAY-ku I want it. ಬೇಡ beda = I don't want. Learn both before your first meal.
- ಏನು ಮಾಡ್ತಾ ಇದ್ದೀರಾ? — enu maadtaa iddeeraa? 🔊 AY-nu MAAD-taa id-DEE-raa What are you doing? ಮಾಡು maadu = to do.
- ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಇರಿ — svalpa iri 🔊 SVAL-pa i-RI Please wait a moment. Heard in every shop and on every phone call.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 Spoken and written Kannada are not the same
Like Tamil, Kannada has a literary form taught in school and a spoken form used everywhere else. A learner who studies only the written form will be understood but will not understand.
- written ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇನೆ → spoken ಹೋಗ್ತೀನಿ (I go)
- written ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ → spoken ಮಾಡ್ತಾರೆ (they do)
- written ಏನು → spoken ಏನ್ (what)
- Newspapers and school books use the written form; nobody speaks it.
🌍 Among the people
The auto-rickshaw is where most visitors first meet real Kannada. ಎಷ್ಟು? (how much) and ಸರಿ (fine) will take you a long way.
🔁 Practise today
- Turn five statements into questions with -ಆ.
- Learn ಬೇಕು and ಬೇಡ properly.
- Say five things you are doing right now.
