12 Lesson Eleven

Lesson Number: 11 Title: Sending Little Brother to the Market Source Page References: Print pages 205–224; PDF pages 151–168

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Lesson 11 Vocabulary List

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Reading Practice

• Visual Pattern Recognition: Past Tense Markers
  • In Malayalam, the present tense suffix -ന്നു is replaced by various past tense markers such as -ി, -തു, or -ന്നു (depending on the verb class).
  • വന്നു (came)
  • തന്നു (gave)
  • പറഞ്ഞു (said)
  • വാങ്ങി (bought)
  • പോയി (went)
  • ആയി (became)
• Graphic Units and Word Grouping
  • ചന്തയിൽപ്പോയി (Went to the market)
  • സാധനങ്ങൾവാങ്ങി (Bought things)
  • ലിസ്റ്റ് കൊടുത്തു (Gave the list)
  • പൈസവാങ്ങി (Took the money)

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Lesson 11 Conversation

അമ്മ: അനിയൻ എവിടെ? അവൻ ചന്തയിൽ പോയോ? Mother: Where is little brother? Did he go to the market?

ചേട്ടൻ: അവൻ പോയി. ഞാൻ അവനെ ചന്തയിലേക്ക് അയച്ചു. Older Brother: He went. I sent him to the market.

അമ്മ: നീ അവന് ലിസ്റ്റ് കൊടുത്തോ? Mother: Did you give him the list?

ചേട്ടൻ: ഉവ്വ്, ഞാൻ ലിസ്റ്റും പൈസയും കൊടുത്തു. Older Brother: Yes, I gave (him) the list and the money.

അമ്മ: അവൻ എന്തൊക്കെ വാങ്ങി? Mother: What all did he buy?

ചേട്ടൻ: അവൻ പച്ചക്കറിയും മീനും വാങ്ങി. അവൻ ഇപ്പോൾ വന്നു. Older Brother: He bought vegetables and fish. He just came now.

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Detailed Grammar Notes

11.1 The Simple Past Tense Form of the Verb

The simple past tense in Malayalam signifies a completed action in the past. Unlike the present tense, which utilizes the uniform suffix -ന്നു (-nnu) across nearly all verb stems, the past tense formation is complex and determined by the morphological class of the verb stem. Linguistically, these are categorized into three primary patterns of suffixation:

1. The -ി (-i) Suffix: Typical of many weak verbs, especially those ending in -ുക (-uka) in their citation form. Examples: വാങ്ങുക (to buy) becomes വാങ്ങി (bought); അയക്കുക (to send) becomes അയച്ചു (sent—note the palatalization of the consonant).
2. The -തു (-tu) Suffix and its Variants: This often undergoes phonological assimilation with the stem-final consonant. Examples: ചെയ്യുക (to do) becomes ചെയ്തു (did); പറയുക (to say) becomes പറഞ്ഞു (said).
3. The -ന്നു (-nnu) Suffix: Common in verbs of motion and certain stems. Examples: വരിക (to come) becomes വന്നു (came); ഇരിക്കുക (to sit) becomes ഇരുന്നു (sat).

As a “Reference Grammar” note, students should observe that while the citation form ends in -ുക, the past tense form provides the necessary base for many subsequent derived forms, such as the conditional and the perfective.

11.2 The Cleft Sentence as a Means of Focus

Clefting is a syntactic operation used to provide emphasis or “focus” to a specific constituent of a sentence, such as the subject, the object, or a locative expression. This structure is more emphatic than the simple reordering of elements discussed in Lesson Two (Section 2.5).

The cleft construction is formed by:

1. Moving the element to be focused to the position immediately preceding the copula.
2. Attaching the copula ആണ് (is) to that element.
3. Changing the main verb of the sentence into its verbal noun (nominalized) form by adding the suffix -അത് (-atŭ).

• Unemphatic: അവൻ ചന്തയിൽ പോയി. (He went to the market.)
• Focus on Subject: അവനാണ് ചന്തയിൽ പോയത്. (It is he who went to the market.)
• Focus on Location: ചന്തയിലേക്കാണ് അവൻ പോയത്. (It is to the market that he went.)

11.3 The Compound Verb with the Completive Meaning

The completive aspect indicates that an action has been carried out thoroughly, to completion, or sometimes implies that the action was accidental or has an air of finality. This is achieved through a compound verb construction using the main verb’s past participle followed by the auxiliary verb കളയുക (kaḷayuka—literally “to throw away/lose”).

• Example: അവൻ അത് പറഞ്ഞു കളഞ്ഞു. (He said it [outright/completely].)
• Example: പൈസ പോയിക്കളഞ്ഞു. (The money got lost [completely].)

11.4 Irregular Past Forms

While most verbs follow the patterns in 11.1, certain high-frequency verbs exhibit irregular past tense morphology that must be memorized:

• പോകുക (to go): The expected form would be പോയി, which is indeed used. However, it is considered irregular as it does not follow the standard weak or strong stem rules perfectly.
• ആകുക (to become/to be): The past tense is ആയി (became).
• വാങ്ങിക്കൊടുക്കുക (to buy and give): This is a complex verb. In Malayalam, when two actions are linked, the first verb takes the participial form. The past tense is formed by inflecting the final element: വാങ്ങിക്കൊടുത്തു (bought and gave).

11.5 The Past Tense of Desiderative Forms

The desiderative marker വേണം (vēṇam—want/need) is an impersonal construction requiring a dative subject. To shift this desire into the past tense (“wanted” or “needed”), the past copula ആയിരുന്നു (āyirunnu) is appended.

• Present: എനിക്ക് പൈസ വേണം. (I want money.)
• Past: എനിക്ക് പൈസ വേണമായിരുന്നു. (I wanted/needed money.)
• Negative Past: The negative desiderative വേണ്ട (vēṇṭa) becomes വേണ്ടായിരുന്നു (vēṇṭāyirunnu—did not want/need).

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Exercises

1. Translation: Translate the following into Malayalam.
   • Did you go to the shop?
   • I bought five eggs.
   • Mother sent the list.
2. Substitution Drill: Model: ഞാൻ ചന്തയിൽ പോയി.
   • അവൻ
   • അനിയൻ
   • അമ്മ
3. Transformation Drill (Present to Past): Model: വരുന്നു -> വന്നു
   • വാങ്ങുന്നു -> _________
   • അയക്കുന്നു -> _________
   • കൊടുക്കുന്നു -> _________
4. Reading Comprehension: Read the following passage and answer who went to the market. അനിയൻ ചന്തയിൽ പോയി. അവൻ മീൻ വാങ്ങി. ചേട്ടൻ വീട്ടിൽ ഇരുന്നു.
5. Clefting Exercise: Emphasize the underlined word using the cleft construction.
   • അമ്മ മീൻ വാങ്ങി.
   • അനിയനാണ് ചന്തയിൽ പോയത്.
6. Past Desiderative: Change the following to the past tense.
   • എനിക്ക് പൈസ വേണം.
   • നിങ്ങൾക്ക് ചായ വേണോ?
7. Writing Practice: Join the following words correctly according to the rules of sandhi.
   • ചന്ത + -ഇൽ =
   • മീൻ + ഉം =
8. Response Drill: Answer the question in the past tense based on the prompt in parentheses.
   • അവൻ എവിടെ പോയി? (ചന്ത)
   • അനിയൻ എന്തൊക്കെ വാങ്ങി? (മീനും മുട്ടയും)
9. Irregular Verbs: Provide the past tense of the following verbs:
   • പോകുക: _________
   • ആകുക: _________
10. Completive Verbs: Transform the following into the completive aspect using the auxiliary കളയുക.
    • അവൻ അത് വാങ്ങി. -> _________
    • ഞാൻ അത് പറഞ്ഞു. -> _________