Bengali grammar ( Bangla bêkôrôn) is the study of the morphology and syntax of Bengali, an Indo-European language primarily spoken in the Bengal region of South Asia. Given that Bengali has two forms, চলিত ভাষা (cholito bhasha) and সাধু ভাষা (shadhu bhasha), the grammar discussed below applies fully only to the চলিত (cholito) form. Shadhu bhasha is generally considered outdated and no longer used either in writing or in normal conversation. Although Bengali is typically written in the Bengali script, a romanization scheme is also used here to outline the pronunciation.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns Bengali personal pronouns are somewhat similar to English pronouns, having different words for first, second, and third person, and also for singular and plural (unlike for verbs, below). Bengali pronouns do not differentiate for gender; that is, the same pronoun may be used for "he" or "she". However, Bengali has different third-person pronouns for proximity. The first are used for someone who is present in the discussion, and the second are for those who are nearby but not present in the discussion. The third are usually for those who are not present. In daily speech, speakers may often ignore some of these distinctions. Additionally, each of the second- and third-person pronouns have different forms for the familiar and polite forms; the second person also has a "very familiar" form (sometimes called "despective"). It may be noted that the "very familiar" form is used when addressing particularly close friends or family as well as for addressing subordinates or in abusive language.
In the following tables, the abbreviations used are as follows:
VF = very familiar,
F = familiar,
P = polite (honor);
H = here,
T = there,
E = elsewhere (proximity),
I = inanimate.
The nominative case is used for pronouns that are the subject of the sentence, such as "I already did that" or "Will you please stop making that noise?" + Personal pronouns (nominative case) Subject Proximity Honor Singular Plural1N/AN/Aআমি (ami, I)আমরা (amra, we)2VFতুই (tui, you)তোরা (tora, you) F তুমি (tumi, you) তোমরা (tomra, you) P আপনি (apni, you) আপনারা (apnara, you) 3 H F এ (e, he/she) এরা (era, they) P ইনি (ini, he/she) এঁরা/এনারা/ইনারা (ẽra/enara/inara, they)Iএটি/এটা (eţi/eţa, it)এগুলো (egulo, these) T Fও (o, he/she) ওরা (ora, they) P উনি (uni, he/she) ওঁরা/ওনারা/উনারা (õra/onara/unārā, they)Iওটি/ওটা (oţi/oţa, it)ওগুলো (ogulo, those) E Fসে (she, he/she) তারা (tara, they) Pতিনি (tini, he/she) তাঁরা (tãra, they)Iসেটি/সেটা (sheţi/sheţa, it)সেগুলো (shegulo, those)
The objective case is used for pronouns serving as the direct or indirect objects, such as "I told him to wash the dishes" or "The teacher gave me the homework assignment". The inanimate pronouns remain the same in the objective case.
+ Personal pronouns (objective case) Subject Proximity Honor Singular Plural1N/AN/Aআমাকে/রে (amake/re, to me)আমাদেরকে (amaderke, to us)2VFতোকে/রে (toke/re, to you)তোদেরকে (toderke, to you)Fতোমাকে/রে (tomake/re, to you)তোমাদেরকে (tomaderke, to you)Pআপনাকে/রে (apnake/re, to you)আপনাদেরকে (apnaderke, to you) 3 H F একে/রে (eke/re, to him/her) এদেরকে (ederke, to them) P এঁকে/রে (ẽke/re, to him/her) এঁদেরকে (ẽderke, them)Iএটিকে/এটাকে (eţike/eţake, to it)এগুলোকে (eguloke, to these) T Fওকে/রে (oke/re, to him/her) ওদেরকে (oderke, to them) P ওঁকে/রে (õke/re, to him/her) ওঁদেরকে (õderke, to them)Iওটিকে/ওটাকে (oţike/oţake, to it)ওগুলোকে (oguloke, to those) E Fতাকে/রে (take/re, to him/her) তাদেরকে (taderke, to them) Pতাঁকে/রে (tãke/re, to him/her) তাঁদেরকে (tãderke, to them)Iসেটিকে/সেটাকে (sheţike/sheţake, to it)সেগুলোকে (sheguloke, to those)
The genitive case is used to show possession, such as "Where is your coat?" or "Let's go to our house". In addition, sentences such as "I have a book" (আমার একটি বই আছে) or "I need money" (আমার টাকা দরকার) also use the genitive (the literal translation of the Bengali versions of these sentences would be "There is my book" and "There is my need for money" respectively).
+ Personal pronouns (genitive case) Subject Proximity Honor Singular Plural1N/AN/Aআমার (amar, my/mine)আমাদের (amader, our)2VFতোর (tor, your)তোদের (toder, your)Fতোমার (tomar, your)তোমাদের (tomader, your)Pআপনার (apnar, your)আপনাদের (apnader, your) 3 H F এর (er, his/her) এদের (eder, their) P এঁর (ẽr, his/her) এঁদের (ẽder, their)Iএটির/এটার (eţir/eţar, its)এগুলোর (egulor, of these) T Fওর (or, his/her) ওদের (oder, their) P ওঁর (õr, his/her) ওঁদের (õder, their)Iওটির/ওটার (oţir/oţar, its)ওগুলোর (ogulor, of those) E Fতার (tar, his/her) তাদের (tader, their) Pতাঁর (tãr, his/her) তাঁদের (tãder, their)Iসেটির/সেটার (sheţir/sheţar, its)সেগুলোর (shegulor, of those)
Indefinite and negative pronouns Bengali has no negative pronouns (such as no one, nothing, none). These are typically represented by adding the negative particle না (na) to indefinite pronouns, which are themselves derived from their corresponding question words. Common indefinite pronouns are listed below. Question wordIndefinite pronounIndefinite negative pronounকে (ke, who)কেউ (keu, someone)কেউ না (keu na, no one)কার (kar, whose)কারও (karo, someone's)কারও না (karo na, no one's)কাকে/রে (kake/re, to whom)কাউকে/রে (kauke/re, to someone)কাউকেরে না (kauke/re na, to no one)কোন (kon, which)কোনো (kono, any)কোনো না (kono na, none)কি (ki, what)কিছু (kichu, some/something)কিছু না (kichu na, nothing)
Relative pronouns The relative pronoun যে (je) and its different variants, as shown below, are commonly employed in complex sentences. The relative pronouns for animate objects change for number and honor, but those for inanimate objects can stay the same. Animacy Case Honor Singular PluralAnimateNominativeFযে (je)যারা (jara)Pযিনি (jini)যাঁরা (jãra)ObjectiveFযাকে/রে (jake/re)যাদের (jader)Pযাঁকে/রে (jãke/re)যাঁদের (jãder)GenitiveFযার (jar)যাদের (jader)Pযাঁর (jãr)যাঁদের (jãder)InanimateNominativeN/Aযা/যেটা (ja্/jeţa)যা/যেগুলো (ja/jegulo)GenitiveN/Aযার/যেটার (jar/jeţar)যার/যেগুলোর (jar/jegulor)LocativeN/Aযাতে/যেটাতে (jate/jeţate)যাতে/যেগুলোতে (jate/jegulote)
Nouns
Case Nouns are also inflected for case, including nominative, objective (accusative), genitive (possessive), and locative. The marking pattern for each noun being inflected depends on the noun's degree of animacy. The objective case cannot be inflected upon nouns that are inanimate, and the locative case cannot be inflected upon nouns that are animate. When a definite article such as -ţa (টা, for singular nouns) or -gulo (গুলো, for plural nouns) is added, nouns are also inflected for number. In formal contexts, especially in writing, the definite article -ţa is replaced by -ţi (টি). There is also an alternative way of using the plural definite article, -gulo, by making it -guli (গুলি). For animate nouns, -gulo/-guli are often replaced by -ra (রা) Below are two tables that show the inflections of an animate noun, ছাত্র chhatrô (student), and an inanimate noun, জুতা juta (shoe). +Noun inflectionCaseAnimacySingular Plural NominativeAnimate Objective Genitive Nominative InanimateGenitiveLocative All the inflected nouns above have a definite article preceding their case markers. There are some basic rules to keep in mind about the cases, apart from the "default" nominative.
For the objective case, the ending -রে -re is mostly used in Bangladesh both in standard use and across Eastern Bengali dialects. Whilst the ending -কে -ke is mostly used in West Bengal.
For the genitive case, the ending may change, though never with a definite article attached. A noun (without an article) that ends in a consonant or the inherent vowel, অ ô, is inflected by adding – ের -er to the end of the word (and deleting the inherent vowel if applicable). An example of this would be the genitive of মাংস mangshô "meat" being মাংসের "of meat" or "(the) meat's". A noun that ends in any vowel apart from the inherent vowel will just have a -র -r following it, as in the genitive of ছেলে being ছেলের "(the) boy's". The genitive ending is also applied to verbs (in their verbal noun forms), which is most commonly seen when using postpositions (for example: শেখার জন্য shekhar jonno, "to/for learning").
For the locative case, the marker also changes in a similar fashion to the genitive case, with consonants having their own ending, – ে -e, and all other vowels having another ending, -তে -te, with one exception. If a noun ends with – া -a, then its locative case marker would be -য় -y, as in কলকাতায় Kolkata-y "to Kolkata". However, this exception for -a ending nouns is sometimes ignored, and colloquially many will say কলকাতাতে Kolkata-te instead of the proper Kolkata-y.
Measure words When counted, nouns must also be accompanied by the appropriate measure word. As in many East Asian languages (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc.), nouns in Bengali cannot be counted directly by adding the numeral directly adjacent to the noun. The noun's measure word (MW) must be used in between the numeral and the noun. Most nouns take the generic measure word ţa, although there are many more specific measure words, such as jon, which is only used to count humans.
+Measure words Bengali
Measuring nouns in Bengali without their corresponding measure words (e.g., aţ biŗal instead of aţ-ţa biŗal "eight cats") would typically be considered ungrammatical. However, omitting the noun and preserving the measure word is grammatical and not uncommon to hear. For example, Shudhu êk-jon thakbe. (lit. "Only one-MW will remain.") would be understood to mean "Only one person will remain.", since jon can only be used to count humans. The word lok "person" is implied.
Adjectives Adjectives do not inflect for case, gender, or number in Bengali and are placed before the noun they modify.
Some adjectives form their opposites by prefixing অ- (before consonants) or অন- (before vowels): for example, the opposite of সম্ভব (sômbhôb, "possible") is অসম্ভব (ôsômbhôb, "impossible").
Demonstrative adjectives – this and that – correspond to এই ei and ওই oi, respectively, with the definite article attached to the following noun. Their plural forms (these/those) remain the same, with the plurality denoted by the definite article or the classifier. Thus, this book would translate to এই বইটি ei boiṭi, while those books would translate to ওই বইগুলো oi boigulo.
Comparatives and superlatives Bengali adjectives form their comparative forms with আরও (aro, "more"), and their superlative forms with সবচেয়ে (shôbcheye, "than all"). Comparisons are formed by using the genitive form of the object in comparison, followed by the postposition চেয়ে (cheye, "than") and then by আরও (aro, "more") or একটু কম (ekṭu kôm, "little less"). Sometimes speakers change the postposition following the genitive form of the object of comparison from চেয়ে (cheye, "than") to থেকে (theke, "from"), which is not considered correct by the written standard. The word for "more" is optional, but the word for "less" is required, so in its absence "more" is inferred. Adjectives can be additionally modified by using অনেক (ônek, "much") or অনেক বেশি (ônek beshi, "much more"), which are especially useful for comparing quantities. To refer to two things as being the same, চেয়ে (cheye, "than") is not used after the genitive form of the object. Rather, the postpositions মতো (môto, "like") or সমান (shôman, "equal") are used.
Bengali
Verbs