The grammar of the Gujarati language is the study of the word order, case marking, verb conjugation, and other morphological and syntactic structures of the Gujarati language, an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken by the Gujarati people. This page overviews the grammar of standard Gujarati, and is written in a romanization (see Gujarati script#Romanization). Hovering the mouse cursor over forms will reveal the appropriate English translation.
Nominals Nouns Gujarati has three genders, two numbers, and three cases (nominative, oblique/vocative, and to a certain extent, locative). Nouns may be divided into declensional subtypes: marked nouns displaying characteristic declensional vowel terminations, and unmarked nouns which do not. These are the paradigms for the termination —
Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc. Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.Masc. -ઓ o -આ ā -એ eNeut. -ઉં ũ -આં ā̃ -આ ā -આં ā̃Fem. -ઈ ī
Two things must be noted about the locative case and its limited nature. First, it only exists as a case for masculines and neuters, which is why the corresponding feminine cell has been blanked out. Rather, for marked feminine and unmarked nouns the locative is a postposition, an issue addressed later in the article. Second, there is no distinction of gender.
Furthermore, there also exists in Gujarati a plural marker -ઓ (o). Unlike the English plural it is not mandatory, and may be left unexpressed if plurality is already expressed in some other way: by explicit numbering, agreement, or the above declensional system (as is the case with nominative marked masculines and neuters). And yet despite the declensional system, ઓ (o) often gets tacked onto nominative marked masculine and neuter plurals anyway. This redundancy is called the double plural. Historically, the origin of this suffix is murky, but it is certainly morphological rather than lexical. It is new (18th century) and it is not attested in Old Gujarati, Middle Gujarati, and Old Western Rajasthani literature. It may simply be the case that it spread from an unrepresented dialect.
Thus combining both the declensional and plural suffixes, the following table outlines all possible Gujarati noun terminations —
Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc. Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl. M'd. Masc. -ઓ o -આ(ઓ) ā(o) -આ ā -આઓ āo -એ eNeut. -ઉં ũ -આં(ઓ) ā̃(o) -આં(ઓ) ā̃(o)Fem. -ઈ ī -ઈઓ īo -ઈ ī -ઈઓ īo unM'd. -ઓ o -ઓ o
There are also several forms of feminines derived from masculine nouns that do not end in -ઓ (o). +Masc. (Sg.)Fem. (Sg.)ExamplesMasc.Fem.-ઇયો iyo-ઇયેણ iyeṇભાગિયો bhāgiyoભાગિયેણ bhāgiyeṇ-ઇયણ iyaṇવાણિયો vāṇiyoવાણિયણ vāṇiyaṇ-ઇયાણી iyāṇīવાણિયાણી vāniyāṇī -ઈ ī-ણી ṇīહાથી hāthīહાથણી hāthaṇī-એણ eṇ-અણ aṇધોબી dhobīધોબણ dhobaṇ -ઉ u-વ-(Fem. suffix) -v-સાધુ sādhuહિંદુ hĩduસાધ્વી sādhvīહિંદવાણી hĩdvāṇīunM'd.-આ -āપંડિત pãḍitપંડિતા pãḍitā-ઈ -īદેવ devદેવી devī-ડી -ḍīભીલ bhīlભીલડી bhīlaḍī-ણી -ṇīપિશાચ piśācપિશાચણી piśācaṇī-આણી -āṇīરજપૂત rajpūtરજપૂતાણી rajpūtāṇī-એણ -eṇવાઘ vāghવાઘેણ vāghēṇ-ણ -ṇસિંહ sĩhસિંહણ sĩhaṇ-વી -vīનટ naṭનાટવી naṭavī The next table, of noun declensions, shows the above suffix paradigms in action. Words: છોકરો (chokro) "boy", ડાઘો (ḍāgho) "stain", મહિનો (mahino) "month", કચરો (kacro) "rubbish", છોકરું (chokrũ) "child", કારખાનું (kārkhānũ) "factory", બારણું (bārṇũ) "door", અંધારું (andhārũ) "dark", છોકરી (chokrī) "girl", ટોપી (ṭopī) "hat", બાટલી (bāṭlī) "bottle", વીજળી (vījḷī) "electricity", વિચાર (vichār) "thought", રાજા (rājā) "king", ધોબી (dhobī) "washerman", બરફ (baraf) "ice", ઘર (ghar) "house", બહેન (bahen) "sister", મેદાન (medān) "field", પાણી (pāṇī) "water", બાબત (bābat) "matter", નિશાળ (niśāl) "school", ભાષા (bhāṣā) "language", ભક્તિ (bhakti) "devotion".
Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc. Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl. M'd. Masc.છોકરો chokroડાઘો ḍāghoમહિનો mahinoકચરો kacroછોકરા(ઓ) chokrā(o)ડાઘા(ઓ) ḍāghā(o)મહિના(ઓ) mahinā(o)છોકરા chokrāડાઘા ḍāghāમહિના mahināકચરા kacrāછોકરાઓ chokrāoડાઘાઓ ḍāghāoમહિનાઓ mahināoમહિને mahineNeut.છોકરું chokrũકારખાનું kārkhānũબારણું bārṇũઅંધારું andhārũછોકરાં(ઓ) chokrā̃(o)કારખાનાં(ઓ) kārkhānā̃(o)બારણાં(ઓ) bārṇā̃(o)છોકરા chokrāકારખાના kārkhānāબારણા bārṇāઅંધારા andhārāછોકરાં(ઓ) chokrā̃(o)કારખાનાં(ઓ) kārkhānā̃(o)બારણાં(ઓ) bārṇā̃(o)કારખાને kārkhāneFem.છોકરી chokrīટોપી ṭopīબાટલી bāṭlīવીજળી vījḷīchokrīoṭopīobāṭlīochokrīṭopībāṭlīvījḷīchokrīoṭopīobāṭlīo unM'd. Masc.વિચાર vichārરાજા rājāધોબી dhobīબરફ barafvichārorājāodhobīovichārrājādhobībarafvichārorājāodhobīo Neut.ઘર gharબહેન bahenમેદાન medānપાણી pāṇīgharobahenomedānogharbahenmedānpāṇīgharobahenomedāno Fem.બાબત bābatનિશાળ niśāḷભાષા bhāṣāભક્તિ bhaktibābatoniśāḷobhāṣāobābatniśāḷbhāṣābhaktibābatoniśāḷobhāṣāo
The last entry of each gender category is a mass noun. Some count nouns are averse to taking the plural marker: bhāg "portion(s), દાંત dā̃t "tooth(/teeth)", પગ pag "foot(/feet)", ચણા caṇā "chick peas", etc. Regarding nouns that terminate in ī: Rather than marking femininity, ī can sometimes denote vocation or attribute, most often in indicating (male) persons: ādmī "man" (lit. "of Ādam"), baṅgāḷī "Bengali", śāstrī "scholar" (lit. "scripture-ist"), ṭapālī "postman". Some male relations end in āī: bhāī "brother", jamāī "daughter's husband", vevāī "child's father-in-law". Some derive from male Sanskrit -in : hāthī "elephant", or neuter Sanskrit -iyam, -ījam, etc.: pāṇī "water", marī "black pepper", bī "seed". Many feminine Sanskrit loanwords end in ā. i.e. bhāṣā "language", āśā "hope", icchā "intention". Many Sanskrit loanwords orthographically end in i, though in Gujarati there is now no phonetic difference between i and ī, so those words could just as well be held as marked feminines. In the end, unmarked nouns probably outnumber marked ones, though many marked nouns are highly frequent. Marked or not, the bases of the gender of nouns are these — Biological: animates. Thus a chokrī "girl" is feminine, a baḷad "bull" is masculine, etc. Perceived: animates. Some animals have the propensity to be addressed and cast as being of one gender over the others, across the board, regardless of the biological gender of the specific organism being referred to. Thus spiders are masculine: karoḷiyo, cats feminine: bilāṛī, and rabbits neuter: saslũ. These three can be cast into other genders if such specificity is desired, but as explained that would be deviation from the default rather than a scenario of three equally valid choices. Size. An object can come in differently gender-marked versions, based on size. Masculine is big, getting smaller down through neuter and then feminine; neuter can sometimes be pejorative. Hence, camco "big spoon" and camcī "small spoon", and vāṛko "big bowl" and vāṛkī "small bowl". The same can apply to animates (animals) that fall under the second rule just above. One would think saslo to be "male rabbit", but it's more so "big rabbit". For the rest there is no logic to gender, which must simply be memorized by the learner. irādo "intention (m)", māthũ "head (n)", and mahenat "effort (f)" are neither animates possessing biological gender nor a part of a set of differently-sized variants; their gender is essentially inexplicable.
Adjectives Adjectives may be divided into declinable and indeclinable categories. Declinables are marked, taking the appropriate declensional termination for the noun they qualify. One difference from nouns however is that adjectives do not take the plural marker -o. Neut. nom. sg. (-ũ) is the citation form. Indeclinable adjectives are completely invariable. All adjectives can be used either attributively, predicatively, or substantively.
Examples of declinable adjectives: moṭũ "big", nānũ "small", jāṛũ "fat", sārũ "good", kāḷũ "black", ṭhaṇḍũ "cold", gā̃ṛũ "crazy". Examples of indeclinable adjectives: kharāb "bad", sāf "clean", bhārī "heavy", sundar "beautiful", kaṭhaṇ "hard", lāl "red".
+Declinable adjective sārũ "good" in attributive use Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc. Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl. M'd. Masc.sāro chokrosārā chokrā(o)sārā chokrāsārā chokrāosāre mahineNeut.sārũ chokrũsārā̃ chokrā̃(o)sārā chokrāsārā̃ chokrā̃(o)sāre kārkhāneFem.sārī chokrīsārī chokrīosārī chokrīsārī chokrīo unM'd. Masc.sāro vichārsāro rājāsāro dhobīsāro barafsārā vichārosārā rājāosārā dhobīosārā vichārsārā rājāsārā dhobīsārā barafsārā vichārosārā rājāosārā dhobīo Neut.sārũ gharsārũ medānsārũ pāṇīsārā̃ gharosārā̃ medānosārā gharsārā medānsārā pāṇīsārā̃ gharosārā̃ medāno Fem.sārī bābatsārī niśāḷsārī bhāṣāsārī bhaktisārī bābatosārī niśāḷosārī bhāṣāosārī bābatsārī niśāḷsārī bhāṣāsārī bhaktisārī bābatosārī niśāḷosārī bhāṣāo
+Indeclinable adjective kharāb "bad" in attributive use Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc. Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl. M'd. Masc.kharāb chokrokharāb ḍāghokharāb mahinokharāb kacrokharāb chokrā(o)kharāb ḍāghā(o)kharāb mahinā(o)kharāb chokrākharāb ḍāghākharāb mahinākharāb kacrākharāb chokrāokharāb ḍāghāokharāb mahināokharāb mahineNeut.kharāb chokrũkharāb kārkhānũkharāb bārṇũkharāb andhārũkharāb chokrā̃(o)kharāb kārkhānā̃(o)kharāb bārṇā̃(o)kharāb chokrākharāb kārkhānākharāb bārṇākharāb andhārākharāb chokrā̃(o)kharāb kārkhānā̃(o)kharāb bārṇā̃(o)kharāb kārkhāneFem.kharāb chokrīkharāb vījḷīkharāb chokrīokharāb chokrīkharāb vījḷīkharāb chokrīo unM'd. Masc.kharāb vicārkharāb rājākharāb dhobīkharāb barafkharāb vicārokharāb rājāokharāb dhobīokharāb vicārkharāb rājākharāb dhobīkharāb barafkharāb vicārokharāb rājāokharāb dhobīo Neut.kharāb gharkharāb bahenkharāb medānkharāb pāṇīkharāb gharokharāb bahenokharāb medānokharāb gharkharāb bahenkharāb medānkharāb pāṇīkharāb gharokharāb bahenokharāb medāno Fem.kharāb bābatkharāb niśāḷkharāb bhāṣākharāb bhaktikharāb bābatokharāb niśāḷokharāb bhāṣāokharāb bābatkharāb niśāḷkharāb bhāṣākharāb bhaktikharāb bābatokharāb niśāḷokharāb bhāṣāo
Comparatives and superlatives Comparisons are made by using "than" (the postposition thī; see below) or "instead of" (nā kartā̃), and "more" (vadhu, vadhāre, etc.) or "less" (ochũ). The word for "more" is optional, while "less" is required, denoting that in the absence of either it's "more" than will be inferred.
Gujarati Literal MeaningGītā Gautamthī ū̃cī cheGita is tall than GautamGita is taller than GautamGītā Gautam kartā̃ ū̃cī cheGita is tall instead of GautamGītā Gautamthī vadhāre ū̃cī cheGita is more tall than GautamGītā Gautamthī ochī ū̃cī cheGita is less tall than Gautam
In the absence of an object of comparison ("more" of course is now no longer optional):
Gujarati Literal Meaningvadhu moṭo kūtroThe more big dogThe bigger dogkūtro vadhu moṭo cheThe dog more big isThe dog is bigger
Superlatives are made through comparisons with "all" (sau).
Gujarati Literal Meaningsauthī sāf orṛoThe clean than all roomThe cleanest roomorḍo sauthī sāf cheThe room is clean than allThe room is the cleanest
Or by leading with mā̃ "in" postpositioned to the same adjective.
Gujarati Literal Meaningnīcāmā̃ nīcī chokrīThe short in the short girlThe shortest girl
Postpositions The sparse Gujarati case system serves as a springboard for Gujarati's grammatically functional postpositions, which parallel English's prepositions. It is their use with a noun or verb that is what necessitates the noun or verb taking the oblique case. There are six, one-syllable primary postpositions. Orthographically, they are bound to the words they postposition.
નું (nũ) – genitive marker; variably declinable in the manner of an adjective. X નો(no)/નું(nũ)/ની(nī)/ના(nā)/નાં(nā̃)/ને(ne) Y has the sense "X's Y", with નો(no)/નું(nũ)/ની(nī)/ના(nā)/નાં(nā̃)/ને(ne) agreeing with Y. એ (e) – ergative marker; applied to subjects of transitive perfective verbs. ને (ne) – marks the indirect object (hence named "dative marker"), or, if definite, the direct object. થી (thī) – has a very wide range of uses and meanings: "from"; બરોડાથી (Baroṛāthī) "from Baroda". "from, of"; તારાથી ડરવું (tārāthī ḍarvũ) "to fear of you, to fear you". "since"; બુધવારથી (budhvārthī) "since Wednesday". "by, with"; instrumental marker. "by, with, -ly"; adverbial marker. "than"; for comparatives.