The verb “to come” in Telugu
వచ్చు vattsu “to come” is an irregular verb in Telugu and here I will explain all its irregularities. Examples in modern Telugu will be given, as well as the historical reasons why it is like this. The historical data will be traced back to Proto-Dravidian, with comparative data given in other Dravidian languages. The comparative data will be taken from the Dravidian etymological dictionary (DED), with extra info added as needed.
As a learner of Telugu, I assume other learners are reading this, so first I will give all the forms of vattsu in its tenses, as well as participle forms. Firstly, the conjugation of “to come” in all tenses. From left to right: past, future/ non-past, present continuous.
నేను nēnu "I" - వచ్ఛాను vacchæːnu - వస్తాను vastānu - వస్తున్నాను vastunnānu
నువ్వు nuvvu "thou/ you" - వచ్ఛావు vacchæːvu - వస్తావు vastāvu - వస్తున్నావు vastunnāvu
వాడు vāɖu "he" - వచ్ఛాడు vacchæːɖu - వస్తాడు vastāɖu - వస్తున్నాడు vastunnāɖu
అది adi "she, it" - వచ్చింది vacchindi - వస్తుంది vastundi - వస్తున్నది vastunnadi
మేము mēmu/ మనము manamu "we" - వచ్ఛాము vacchæːmu - వస్తాము vastāmu - వస్తున్నాము vastunnāmu
మీరు mīru "you"/ వారు vāru "they" - వచ్ఛారు vacchæːru - వస్తారు vastāru - వస్తున్నారు vastunnāru
అవి avi "they" - వచ్ఛాయి vacchæːyi - వస్తాయి vastāyi - వస్తున్నాయి vastunnāyi
The simple non-past negative, which can also be used for future, conjugates for all persons.
నేను nēnu "I" - రాను rānu
నువ్వు nuvvu "thou/ you" - రావు rāvu
వాడు vāɖu "he" - రాడు rāɖu
అది adi "she, it" - రాదు rādu
మేము mēmu/ మనము manamu "we" - రాము rāmu
మీరు mīru "you"/ వారు vāru "they" - రారు rāru
అవి avi "they" - రావు rāvu
The past negative is రాలేదు rālēdu "did not come" and it applies to all pronouns. Similarly, the negative continuous is రావటంలేదు rāvaʈamlēdu "is not coming".
The imperative is used when giving orders or requests. It is as follows:
రా rā (singular), రాండి~ రండి ra(a)ɳɖi (plural) “come”
negative imp. - రాకు rāku (singular), రాకంది rākaɳɖi (plural) “do not come”
“vattsu” is the dictionary form but it takes the form రా rā in some contexts. In Telugu, the root came from *var-cc-, with *-cc- being a past tense suffix (Krishnamurti, 2003, p. 298). The suffix is also attached to verbs ending in -yu in the past tense; చేశాను cēśæːnu "I did", వ్రాశాను vrāśæːnu "I wrote". Which is why the suffix does not feature in non-past tenses, like రా rā (imperative, infinitive), రాను (negative) "I will/do not come", రాలేదు rālēdu (past negative, made with infinitive +lēdu) "did not come", as they came from *var-a.
Now that the forms of the verb have been established, I will go over more of the linguistic details. Firstly, I took the entry from the DED and enhanced it with adding the scripts of each language, along with Proto-Dravidian info where found.
DED 5270 *vaH-r- "to come" > Ta. வா vā, வரு- varu-, Ma. വരിക varika, Ka. ಬರ್ bar, Te. వచ్చు vaccu, Go. waiānā, Kui vāva
This is because Telugu undergoes a rule of CVCV > CCVV, though it mainly applies when the second consonant turns to -r-. And in modern Telugu, for most words the consonant clusters are simplified so the -r- just disappears, unless it is vr- which becomes r-. More examples below:
DED 5372 "to live", *vāʐ > Ta. வாழ் vāʐ, Ma. വാഴുക vāʐuka, Ka. ಬಾಳು bāɭu, ಬದುಕು baduku, OKa. ಬೞ್ದುಂಕು baʐdunku, Te. బ్రతుకు bratuku "to live, life" (I think the Telugu word is a Kannada borrowing as v- > b- is a Kannada sound change, not Telugu)
DED 5263 *vari- > Ta. வரி vari-, வரை varai- "to draw", Te. వ్రాయు~ రాయు (v)rāyu "to write", Go. rasāna "writer", Kui vrīsa scratch, mark
DED 2149 *koʐ-V "tender, young” > Ta. கொழுந்து koʐuntu "tender twigs, leaves, shoots", கொழுமை koʐumai "beauty, fertility, plumpness", Ka. ಕೊಡ koɖa tender, Te. క్రొత్త~ కొత్త k(r)otta "new", Go. kōɽsānā to sprout, grow, Kui koɽgi newly sprouted, green, immature
DED 2559 *cil "not" > Ta. இல்லை illai "no", Ka. ಇಲ್ಲ illa "no, does not exist, there is not", Te. లే- lē "is not", లేదు lēdu "no", Go. sile, hill- "not be", Kui siɖa
DED 474 *ira-ɳʈ 2 > Ta. இரண்டு iraɳʈu, Ma. രണ്ടു raɳʈu, Ka. ಎರಡು eraɖu, Te. రెండు reɳɖu, Go. ranɖ(u), Kui rī
DED 502 *iʐi- "to descend" > Ta. இழி iʐi, Ma. ഇഴിക iʐika, Ka. ಇಳಿ iɭi, Te. ɖigu, Go. ḍigānā, Kui dīva
I added Gondi and Kui data since they are in the same branch as Telugu but so far I am inconclusive about the sound changes in them. I have not studied any Dravidian language apart from Telugu to be confident about saying things about them. Languages used:
South-Central Dravidian aka South Dravidian II
I used just “v” for the Proto-Dravidian and modern languages. It does get annoying that different books alternate v vs w, but I settled on using v. And they are supposed to make the same sound anyways, so it does not really matter.
The consonants ḻ, r̤, ẓ, which I wrote as ʐ correspond to the consonants in Tamil ழ, Malayalam ഴ, Old Kannada ೞ. Different sources write these in different ways, so I just wrote what aesthetically satisfies me.
B. Krishnamurti. (2003). The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge University Press.
B. Krishnamurti, & J. P. L. Gwynn. (1985). A Grammar of Modern Telugu. Oxford University Press.
Burrow, T., and M. B. Emeneau. (1984). A Dravidian etymological dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Clarendon Press. https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/burrow/.
Fabricius, Johann Philipp (1972). J. P. Fabricius's Tamil and English dictionary. 4th ed., rev.and enl. Tranquebar: Evangelical Lutheran Mission Pub. House.
N.Učida, B.B.Rajapurohit & J. Takashima. (2013). Kannada-English Etymological Dictionary. Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Reconstruction:Proto-Dravidian/wāẓ. (2022, August 18). In Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Dravidian/wāẓ
ಬೞ್ದುಂಕು. (2022, July 5). In Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ಬೞ್ದುಂಕು
