Bengali grammar

Bengali grammar ( _bn. বাংলা ব্যাকরণ) is the study of the morphology and syntax of Bengali, an Indo-European language spoken in South Asia. Although Bengali uses a separate alphabet (see Bengali script), a Romanization scheme is used here to suggest the pronunciation.

Pronouns

Bengali 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, unlike their English counterparts, 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 nearby, and the second are for those who are a little further away. The third are usually for those who are not present. In addition, 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"). In the following tables, the abbreviations used are as follows: VF=very familiar, F=familiar, and P=polite (honor); H=here, T=there, and E=elsewhere (proximity).

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?"

Nouns

Case

Nouns are also inflected for case, including nominative, objective, genitive (possessive), and locative. The case marking pattern for each noun being inflected depends on the noun's degree of animacy.

Measuring nouns in Bangla 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.

Verbs

Bengali verbs are highly inflected and are regular with only few exceptions. They consist of a stem and an ending; they are traditionally listed in Bengali dictionaries in their "verbal noun" form, which is usually formed by adding "-a" to the stem (for instance, "rakha" = "to put or place"). The stem can end in either a vowel or a consonant. Verbs are conjugated for tense and person by changing the endings, which are largely the same for all verbs. However, the stem vowel can often change as part of the phenomenon known as "vowel harmony", whereby one vowel can be influenced by other vowels in the word to sound more harmonious. An example would be the verb "to write", with stem "lekh-": "tomra lekho" (you [pl.] write) but "amra likhi" (we write). In general, the following transformations take place: "ô" → "o", "o" → "u", "ê" → "e", "e" → "i", and "a" → "e", where the verbal noun features the first vowel but certain conjugations use the second. In addition, the verbs "dêoa" (to give) and "nêoa" (to take) switch between "e", "i", "a", and "ê". If verbs are classified by stem vowel and if the stem ends in a consonant or vowel, there are nine basic classes in which most verbs can be placed; all verbs in a class will follow the same pattern. A prototype verb from each of these classes will be used to demonstrate conjugation for that class; bold will be used to indicate mutation of the stem vowel.

Non-finite forms

The Bengali verb can occur in six non-finite forms: by definition, they do not offer any information on tense (whether the event is in the present, past, or future) or person (whether the event involves one or more subjects). They do, however, indicate other information - these are shown below using the verbal root "jan-" "know":

*আঁকা "ãka" - verbal noun ("act of drawing")
*আঁকতে "ãkte" - verbal infinitive ("to draw")
*আঁকতে-আঁকতে "ãkte-ãkte" - progressive participle ("while drawing")
*আঁকলে "ãkle" - conditional participle ("if X draws")
*এঁকে "ẽke" - perfect participle ("having drawn")
*এঁকে-এঁকে "ẽke-ẽke" - iterative participle ("having drawn many times")

Person

Verbs are inflected for person and honour, but not for number. There are five forms: first person, second person (very familiar), second person (familiar), third person (familiar), and second/third person (polite). The same sample subject pronouns will be used for all the example conjugation paradigms: "ami" (Bengali:আমি), "tui" (তুই), "tumi" (তুমি), "she" (সে) and "apni" (আপনি). These have the following plurals respectively "amra" (আমরা), "tora" (তোরা), "tomra" (তোমরা), "tara" (তারা) and "apnara" (আপনারা).

Mood

There are two moods for Bengali verbs: the indicative and the imperative. The imperative mood is used to give commands. The indicative mood is used for statements of fact; its various tenses are given below.

Aspect

There are three aspects for Bengali verbs: simple aspect, the progressive/continuous aspect, and the perfect aspect. These are combined with the different tenses described below to form the various verbal conjugations possible.

Tense

Bengali has four simple tenses: the present tense, the past tense, the conditional or habitual past tense, and the future tense. These combine with mood and aspect to form more complex conjugations, such as the past progressive, or the present perfect.

imple present tense

The present tense in Bengali is similar to that of English: I eat, you run, he reads. The endings are "-i", "-(i)sh", "-o", "-e", and "-(e)n".

Future Tense

Postpositions

Whereas English features "pre"positions, Bengali typically uses "post"positions. That is, while these modifying words occur before their object in English (beside him, inside the house), they typically occur after their object in Bengali ("or pashe", "baŗir bhitore"). Some postpositions require their object noun to take the "possessive case", while others require the "objective case" (which is unmarked for inanimate nouns); this distinction must be memorized. Most postpositions are formed by taking nouns referring to a location and inflecting them for "locative case".

Postpositions that require Genitive/Possessive Case

*"age" 'before': "shôkal-er age" 'before the morning'
*"upore" 'on top of', 'above': "bichhana-r upore" 'on top of the bed'
*"oi pare" 'across': "nodi-r oi pare" 'across the river'
*"kôtha" 'about': "sheţa-r kôtha" 'about that'
*"kachhe" 'near': "janala-r kachhe" 'near the window'
*"jonno" 'for': "shikkhôk-er jonno" 'for the teacher'
*"koch theke" 'from' (people): "baba-r theke" 'from father'
*"dike" 'towards': "basha-r dike" 'towards the house'
*"niche" 'below', 'under': "boi-er niche" 'under the book'
*"pôre" 'after': "shondha-r pôre" 'after the evening'
*"pashe" 'beside': "chula-r pashe" 'beside the stove'
*"pichhone" 'behind': "almari-r pichhone" 'behind the cupboard'
*"baire" 'outside': "desh-er baire" 'outside the country'
*"bhitor die" 'through': "shôhorer bhitor die" 'through the city'
*"bhitore" 'inside': "dokan-er bhitore" 'inside the store'
*"môto" 'like': "tom-ar môto" 'like you'
*"moddhe" 'in the middle of': "shomudr-er moddhe" 'in the middle of the ocean'
*"shôngge" 'with': "am-ar shôngge" 'with me'
*"shômmondhe" 'about': "itihash-er shômmondhe" 'about history'
*"shathe" 'with': "ma-er shathe" 'with mother'
*"shamne" 'in front of': "gaŗi-r shamne" 'in front of the car'

Postpositions that require Accusative/Object Case

*"kore" 'by means of': "ţêksi kore" 'by taxi'
*"chhaŗa" 'without', 'aside from': "ama-ke chhaŗa" 'aside from me'
*"theke" 'from' (places): "Bangladesh theke" 'from Bangladesh'
*"die" 'by': "ta-ke die" 'by him'
*"dhore" 'for' (time): "dudin dhore" 'for two days'
*"nie" 'including', 'with': "toma-ke nie" 'including you'
*"porjonto" 'until': "dôshţa porjonto" 'until ten o' clock'
*"shôho" 'with', 'including': "ţaka shôho" 'along with the money'
*"hoe" 'via': "Kolkata hoe" 'via Kolkata'

Prepositions that require Locative Case

*"bina" 'without': "bina onumoti-te" 'without permission'

ee also

References

*Chatterji, Suniti Kumar. "Bengali Self-Taught." Calcutta: Rupa & Co., 1991.
*Radice, William. "Teach Yourself Bengali." Chicago: NTC Publishing Group, 1994.