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Gujarati grammar

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.

Morphology

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. -o -ā -e
Neut. -ũ -ā̃ -ā -ā̃
Fem. -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 left blanked out. Rather, for marked feminine and unmarked nouns the locative is a postposition, which are explained on later in the article. Second, there is no distinction of gender.

Furthermore, there also exists in Gujarati a plural marker -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, o often gets tacked on to 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. -o -ā(o) -ā -āo -e
Neut. -ũ -ā̃(o) -ā̃(o)
Fem. -ī -īo -ī -īo
unM'd.

-o -o

The next table, of noun declensions, shows the above suffix paradigms in action. Words: chokro "boy", ḍāgho "stain", mahino "month", kacro "rubbish", chokrũ "child", kārkhānũ "factory", bārṇũ "door", andhārũ "darkness", chokrī "girl", ṭopī "hat", bāṭlī "bottle", vījḷī "electricity", vicār "thought", rājā "king", dhobī "washerman", baraf "ice", ghar "house", bahen "sister", medān "field", pāṇī "water", bābat "matter", niśāḷ "school", bhāṣā "language", bhakti "devotion".

Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
M'd. Masc. chokro
ḍāgho
mahino
kacro
chokrā(o)
ḍāghā(o)
mahinā(o)

chokrā
ḍāghā
mahinā
kacrā
chokrāo
ḍāghāo
mahināo


mahine
Neut. chokrũ
kārkhānũ
bārṇũ
andhārũ
chokrā̃(o)
kārkhānā̃(o)
bārṇā̃(o)

chokrā
kārkhānā
bārṇā
andhārā
chokrā̃(o)
kārkhānā̃(o)
bārṇā̃(o)

kārkhāne

Fem. chokrī
ṭopī
bāṭlī
vījḷī
chokrīo
ṭopīo
bāṭlīo

chokrī
ṭopī
bāṭlī
vījḷī
chokrīo
ṭopīo
bāṭlīo

unM'd. Masc. vicār
rājā
dhobī
baraf
vicāro
rājāo
dhobīo

vicār
rājā
dhobī
baraf
vicāro
rājāo
dhobīo

Neut. ghar
bahen
medān
pāṇī
gharo
baheno
medāno

ghar
bahen
medān
pāṇī
gharo
baheno
medāno

Fem. bābat
niśāḷ
bhāṣā
bhakti
bābato
niśāḷo
bhāṣāo

bābat
niśāḷ
bhāṣā
bhakti
bābato
niśāḷo
bhāṣāo

  • The last entry of each gender category is a mass noun.
  • Some count nouns are averse to taking the plural marker: bhāg "portion(s), dā̃t "tooth(/teeth)", pag "foot(/feet)", 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"), hāthī "elephant" (lit. "hand-y"), ṭapālī "postman".
    • Some male relations end in āī: bhāī "brother", jamāī "daughter's husband", vevāī "child's father-in-law".
    • Some derive from neuter Sanskrit -iyam, -ījam, etc.: pāṇī "water", marī "pepper", "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 basis' of the gender of nouns are these —
    1. Biological: animates. Thus a chokrī "girl" is feminine, a baḷad "bull" is masculine, etc.
    2. 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.
    3. 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 moreso "big rabbit".
    4. 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. () 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 chokro
sāro ḍāgho
sāro mahino
sāro kacro
sārā chokrā(o)
sārā ḍāghā(o)
sārā mahinā(o)

sārā chokrā
sārā ḍāghā
sārā mahinā
sārā kacrā
sārā chokrāo
sārā ḍāghāo
sārā mahināo


sāre mahine
Neut. sārũ chokrũ
sārũ kārkhānũ
sārũ bārṇũ
sārũ andhārũ
sārā̃ chokrā̃(o)
sārā̃ kārkhānā̃(o)
sārā̃ bārṇā̃(o)

sārā chokrā
sārā kārkhānā
sārā bārṇā
sārā andhārā
sārā̃ chokrā̃(o)
sārā̃ kārkhānā̃(o)
sārā̃ bārṇā̃(o)

sāre kārkhāne

Fem. sārī chokrī
sārī ṭopī
sārī bāṭlī
sārī vījḷī
sārī chokrīo
sārī ṭopīo
sārī bāṭlīo

sārī chokrī
sārī ṭopī
sārī bāṭlī
sārī vījḷī
sārī chokrīo
sārī ṭopīo
sārī bāṭlīo

unM'd. Masc. sāro vicār
sāro rājā
sāro dhobī
sāro baraf
sārā vicāro
sārā rājāo
sārā dhobīo

sārā vicār
sārā rājā
sārā dhobī
sārā baraf
sārā vicāro
sārā rājāo
sārā dhobīo

Neut. sārũ ghar
sārũ bahen
sārũ medān
sārũ pāṇī
sārā̃ gharo
sārā̃ baheno
sārā̃ medāno

sārā ghar
sārā bahen
sārā medān
sārā pāṇī
sārā̃ gharo
sārā̃ baheno
sārā̃ medāno

Fem. sārī bābat
sārī niśāḷ
sārī bhāṣā
sārī bhakti
sārī bābato
sārī niśāḷo
sārī bhāṣāo

sārī bābat
sārī niśāḷ
sārī bhāṣā
sārī bhakti
sārī bābato
sārī niśāḷo
sārī bhāṣāo

Indeclinable adjective kharāb "bad" in attributive use
Nom. Obl./Voc. Loc.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
M'd. Masc. kharāb chokro
kharāb ḍāgho
kharāb mahino
kharāb kacro
kharāb chokrā(o)
kharāb ḍāghā(o)
kharāb mahinā(o)

kharāb chokrā
kharāb ḍāghā
kharāb mahinā
kharāb kacrā
kharāb chokrāo
kharāb ḍāghāo
kharāb mahināo


kharāb mahine
Neut. kharāb chokrũ
kharāb kārkhānũ
kharāb bārṇũ
kharāb andhārũ
kharāb chokrā̃(o)
kharāb kārkhānā̃(o)
kharāb bārṇā̃(o)

kharāb chokrā
kharāb kārkhānā
kharāb bārṇā
kharāb andhārā
kharāb chokrā̃(o)
kharāb kārkhānā̃(o)
kharāb bārṇā̃(o)

kharāb kārkhāne

Fem. kharāb chokrī
kharāb ṭopī
kharāb bāṭlī
kharāb vījḷī
kharāb chokrīo
kharāb ṭopīo
kharāb bāṭlīo

kharāb chokrī
kharāb ṭopī
kharāb bāṭlī
kharāb vījḷī
kharāb chokrīo
kharāb ṭopīo
kharāb bāṭlīo

unM'd. Masc. kharāb vicār
kharāb rājā
kharāb dhobī
kharāb baraf
kharāb vicāro
kharāb rājāo
kharāb dhobīo

kharāb vicār
kharāb rājā
kharāb dhobī
kharāb baraf
kharāb vicāro
kharāb rājāo
kharāb dhobīo

Neut. kharāb ghar
kharāb bahen
kharāb medān
kharāb pāṇī
kharāb gharo
kharāb baheno
kharāb medāno

kharāb ghar
kharāb bahen
kharāb medān
kharāb pāṇī
kharāb gharo
kharāb baheno
kharāb medāno

Fem. kharāb bābat
kharāb niśāḷ
kharāb bhāṣā
kharāb bhakti
kharāb bābato
kharāb niśāḷo
kharāb bhāṣāo

kharāb bābat
kharāb niśāḷ
kharāb bhāṣā
kharāb bhakti
kharāb bābato
kharāb niśāḷo
kharāb 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 Meaning
Gītā Gautamthī ū̃cī che Gita is tall than Gautam Gita is taller than Gautam
Gītā Gautam kartā̃ ū̃cī che Gita is tall instead of Gautam
Gītā Gautamthī vadhāre ū̃cī che Gita is more tall than Gautam
Gītā Gautamthī ochī ū̃cī che Gita is less tall than Gautam

In the absence of an object of comparison ("more" of course is now no longer optional):

Gujarati Literal Meaning
vadhu moṭo kūtro The more big dog The bigger dog
kūtro vadhu moṭo che The dog is more big The dog is bigger

Superlatives are made through comparisons with "all" (sau).

Gujarati Literal Meaning
sauthī sāf orṛo The clean than all room The cleanest room
orṛo sauthī sāf che The room is clean than all The room is the cleanest

Or by leading with mā̃ "in" postpositioned to the same adjective.

Gujarati Literal Meaning
nīcāmā̃ nīcī chokrī The short in the short girl The 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.

  • genitive marker; variably declinable in the manner of an adjective. X no/nũ/nī/nā/nā̃/ne Y has the sense "X's Y", with no/nũ/nī/nā/nā̃/ne agreeing with Y.
  • eergative marker; applied to subjects of transitive perfective verbs.
  • ne – marks the indirect object (hence named "dative marker"), or, if definite, the direct object.
  • thī – has a very wide range of uses and meanings:
    • "from"; Baroṛāthī "from Baroda".
    • "from, of"; tārāthī ḍarvũ "to fear of you".
    • "since"; budhvārthī "since Wednesday".
    • "by, with"; instrumental marker.
    • "by, with, -ly"; adverbial marker.
    • "than"; for comparatives.
  • e – a general locative, specifying senses such as "at", "during", etc. It is also used adverbially. As detailed previously, for the masculine and neuter genders it is a case termination, however to marked feminine and unmarked nouns it is a postpositional addition.
  • par – "on".
  • mā̃ – "in".

Postpositions can postposition other postpositions. For example, thī (as "from") suffixing the two specific locatives can help to specify what type of "from" is meant (parthī "from off of", mā̃thī "from out of").

Beyond this are a slew of compound postpositions, composed of the genitive primary postposition plus an adverb.

  • nā aṅge "with regard to, about"; nī andar "inside"; nī āgaḷ "in front (of)"; nī upar "on top (of), above"; nā kartā̃ "rather than"; ne kāraṇe "because of"; nī joḍe "with"; nī taraph "towards"; nī tarīke "as, in the character of"; ne darmiyān "during"; nī najīk "near, close to"; etc.

The genitive bit is often optionally omissible with nouns, though not with pronouns (specifically, not with first and second person genitive pronouns, because, as will be seen, they have no outward, distinct, separable ).

Pronouns

Personal

Gujarati has personal pronouns for the first and second persons, while its third person system uses demonstrative bases, categorized deictically as proximate and distal.

The language has a T-V distinction in and tame. The latter "formal" form is also grammatically plural. A similar distinction also exists when referring to someone in the third person.

Lastly, curious among New Indo-Aryan languages, Gujarati has inclusive and exclusive we's with āpṇe and ame.

Personal Demonstrative Relative Interrogative
1st pn. 2nd pn. 3rd pn.
Sg. Pl. Sg. &
Inf.
Pl./
Form.
Prox. Dist.
Inc. Exc. Inf. Form. Inf. Form. Inf. Form. Anim. Inan.
Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
Nominative

rowspan="2"|āpṇe ame

rowspan="2"|tame ā āo te teo je jeo
Ergative mɛ̃ tɛ̃ āṇe āoe āmṇe tɛṇe teoe tɛmṇe jɛṇe jeoe jɛmṇe kɔṇe
Dative mane āpaṇne amne tane tamne āne āone āmne tɛne teone tɛmne jɛne jeone jɛmne kɔne śɛne
Genitive

ānũ āonũ āmnũ tɛnũ teonũ tɛmnũ jɛnũ jeonũ jɛmnũ śɛnũ

  • teo is quite rarely spoken. Moreso it's te loko (lit. those people).
  • loko can be used to emphasize plurality elsewhere: āpṇe loko, ame loko, tame loko.
  • The initial t in distal forms is mostly dropped in speech; e, ɛnũ, ɛmnũ, etc.
  • Second person formal āp is borrowed from Hindi and might be used in rare, ultra-formal occasions (i.e. addressing a crowd).

  • The system is regular for the remaining three postpositions (mā̃, par, thī), which suffix to an obliqued genitive base (invariably to ā): mārā, āpṇā, amārā, tārā, tamārā, ānā, āonā, āmnā, tɛnā, teonā, tɛmnā, jɛnā, jeonā, jɛmnā, kɔnā, śɛnā. For inanimates with mā̃, the genitive bit gets omitted: āmā̃, emā̃, jemā̃, śemā̃.
  • ame, amne, tame, tamne, tɛṇe, tɛmṇe, tɛne, tɛmne, jɛṇe, jɛmṇe, jɛne also occur with murmured vowels.
  • In speech śũ is most often not variable with regards to gender and number. It does have obliques śɛ and śā.
  • Derivates

    Interrogative Relative Demonstrative
    Dist. Prox.
    Time

    Place

    Quantity

    Size

    Quality kevũ jevũ tevũ āvũ
    Manner kɛm jɛm tɛm ām

    There is a form kayũ which means "which?".

    kɛm doesn't mean "how" as would be expected; rather it means "why". It does however mean "how" in the greeting kɛm cho "how are you?". "How" is expressed in these ways: kevī rīte (lit. "in what kind of way"), kayī rīte (lit. "in which way"), kɛmnũ.

    kyāre, jyāre, tyāre, atyāre are the adverbial locative postpostion e plus the bases kyār, jyār, tyār, atyār

    Verbs

    Overview

    The Gujarati verbal system is largely structured around a combination of aspect and tense/mood. Like the nominal system, the Gujarati verb involves successive layers of (inflectional) elements to the right of the lexical base.

    Gujarati has 2 aspects: perfective and imperfective, each having overt morphological correlates. These are participle forms, inflecting for gender, number, and case by way of a vowel termination, like adjectives. The perfective forms from the verb stem, followed by -y-, capped off by the agreement vowel. The imperfective forms with -t-.

    Derived from hɔvũ "to be" are five copula forms: present, subjunctive, past, contrafactual (aka "past conditional"), and presumptive. Used both in basic predicative/existential sentences and as verbal auxiliaries to aspectual forms, these constitute the basis of tense and mood.

    Non-aspectual forms include the infinitive, the imperative, and the agentive. Mentioned morphological conditions such the subjunctive, contrafactual, etc. are applicable to both copula roots for auxiliary usage with aspectual forms and to non-copula roots directly for often unspecified (non-aspectual) finite forms.

    Finite verbal agreement is with the nominative subject, except in the transitive perfective, where it is with the direct object, with the erstwhile subject taking the ergative construction -e (see postpositions above). The perfective aspect thus displays split ergativity. The infinitive's agreement is also with its direct object, if paired with one.

    Tabled just below on the left are the paradigms for the major Gender and Number agreement termination (GN), nominative case. Oblique paradigms differ from those introduced in #Nouns, being either thoroughly or -ā̃. Locative -e is found in attributive adjectival function only in fixed expressions. To the right are the paradigms for the Person and Number agreement termination (PN), used by the subjunctive and future. Yellow fields: -e following C, u, ū; -ī following o, ɔ; -y following ā.

    (GN) Sg. Pl.
    Masc. -o -ā
    Neut. -ũ -ā̃
    Fem. -ī
    (PN) Subj. Fut.
    Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
    1st -ũ -īe -ũ
    2nd -o -o
    3rd -e

    Forms

    The example verb is intransitive hālvũ "to shake", with various sample inflections. Much of the below chart information derives from .

    Non-aspectual Aspectual
    Non-finite
    Inflection: neut. nom. sg.
    (GN = ũ, the citation form).
    Root

    *
    Infinitive/
    Desiderative

    *-v-GN
    Obl. Infinitive

    *-v-ā hālvā
    Conjunctive

    *-ī(ne)
    Agentive

    *-nār-GN
    Gerund/
    Prospective/
    Obligatory

    *-v-ā-n-GN
    Adjectivals. Inflection: neut. nom. sg. (GNC = ũ).
    Perfective

    *-el-(GN)
    Imperfective

    *-t-GN
    Adverbials. Obl. of adjectivals.
    Perfective

    *-y-ā̃ hālyā̃
    Imperfective

    *-t-ā̃ hāltā̃
    Finite
    Inflection: 2nd. pl.
    (PN = o, Pron. = ).
    Contingent Future

    *-PN hālo
    Definite Future

    *-(ī)ś-PN
    Inflection: all forms.
    2nd pn. 1st pn.
    Imperative

    Future Imp.

    Aspectuals plotted against copulas.
    Inflection: 3rd. masc. sg. (GN = o, PN = e, Pron. = te).
    Perfective Imperfective
    *-y-GN *-t-GN
    Present
    Subjunctive hɔ-PN hālyo hɔī hālto hɔī
    Past
    Contrafactual hɔ-t
    Presumptive
    Unspecified hālto
    Unsp. Contra.

    *-(a)t hālat

    Notes

    • The negation particles are na and nahi with the former standing before the copula (or if no copula, the aspectual form) and the latter generally after. A negation particle combines with present ch-PN however for the invariable nathī. An alternative to the past na hat-GN is nahot-GN.

    Aff ch-PN hɔ-PN ha-t-GN hɔ-t ha-(ī)ś-PN
    Neg nathī na hɔ-PN na ha-t-GN na hɔ-t ha-(ī)ś-PN nahi na, nahi

    • Gujarati retains an aspectually unmarked form (*-PN) in the function of the Present Imperfective, although a marked form replaces it in the negative.
    • Gujarati does not distinguish between habitual and continuous.
    • When GN = ī then y is omitted. hālyo, but hālī.
    • Some roots show vowel alternation:
      • ā/a : jā/ja "go", thā/tha "become, occur".
      • e/ɛ/a/ø : le/lɛ/la/l "take", de/dɛ/da/d "give".
      • o/u : jo/ju "see, look, watch", dho/dhu "wash".
      • ɔ/a/ø : hɔ/ha/h "be".
    • In northern and central Gujarat, roots in regularly have -a- before -īś- of future forms.
    • Certain verb forms show suppletion in their perfective roots: ga- ( "go"), kī- (kar "do" [in some dialects]), dī- (jo "see, look, watch" [in some dialects]).
    • Instead of the general affix -y- in their perfectives a few vowel-terminating roots take dh and s-terminating roots ṭh.
      • dh : khā-dh- (khā "eat"), dī-dh- (de "give"), pī-dh- ( "drink"), lī-dh- (le "take"), bī-dh- ( "fear"), kī-dh- (kahe "say" [in addition to kah-y-]), kī-dh- (kar "do" [in addition to kar-y-]).
      • ṭh : nā-ṭh- (nās "flee"), pɛ-ṭh- (pɛs "enter"), bɛ-ṭh- (bɛs "sit"), dī-ṭh- (jo "see, look, watch" [in addition to jo-y-]).
      • t : sū-t- ( "sleep").
    • The ha in the past auxiliary ha-t-GN is omitted in speech after aspectual forms and negative na.
    • Flexible order: hālto nathī ←→ nathī hālto.
    • The future imperative is politer than the imperative, and using the future tense (questioningly: "will you...?") is politer still.

    Causatives

    Gujarati causatives are morphologically contrastive. Verbs can be causativized up to two times, to a double causative.
    Single
    Causatives are made by two main schemes involving alteration of the root.

    • Lengthening of final vowel; shortening of a preceding vowel (if ū is the only vowel, then → o).
    • Final .

    or

    • Suffix v if ending in vowel or h.
    • Shortening of vowel(s).
    • Suffix: āv, āḍ, v, vḍāv, or eḍ.
    • Sometimes nasalisation (anusvāra).

    If the causativization is of a transitive, then the secondary agent, whom the subject "causes to" or "gets to" do whatever, is marked by the postposition nī pāse.

    Double
    Furthermore, that causative can be causativized again, for a double causative ("to cause to cause... "), with a possible tertiary agent.

    • ḍāv suffixed to 1st causative suffix of āv.
    • āv suffixed to 1st causative suffixes of āḍ and eḍ.
    • Beyond this are irregular forms that must be memorized.

    Passives

    The passive has both periphrastic and morphological means of expression. The former has -mā̃ āvvũ postpositioned to infinitive; the latter has ā added to root, with certain phonological processes as work as well: if the root vowel is ā then it becomes a (See Gujarati phonology#a-reduction) and if the root ends in a vowel then h or v is suffixed (See Gujarati phonology#.CA.8B-insertion). Thus lakhvũ "to write" → lakhvāmā āvvũ, lakhāvũ "to be written". The post-position thī marks the agent, As in other New Indo-Aryan languages, formation of passives is not restricted to transitive verbs and has a restricted domain of usage except in special registers. Both intransitive and transitive may be grammatically passivized to show capacity, in place of compounding with the modal śakvũ "to be able". Lastly, intransitives often have a passive sense, or convey unintentional action.

    Numerals

    Cardinal

    Gujarati numbers are somewhat irregular compared to English. The following look to be the standard spellings, though pronunciation varies.

    0 mīṇḍuṃ
    1 ek
    2 be
    3 traṇ
    4 cār
    5 pāṃc
    6 cha
    7 sāt
    8 āṭh
    9 nav
    10 das
    11 agiyār
    12 bār
    13 ter
    14 caud
    15 pandar
    16 soḷ
    17 sattar
    18 aḍhār
    19 ogaṇīs

    20 vīs
    21 ekvīs
    22 bāvīs
    23 trevīs
    24 covīs
    25 paccīs
    26 chavīs
    27 sattāvīs
    28 aṭhṭhāvīs
    29 ogaṇtrīs
    30 trīs
    31 ekatrīs
    32 betrīs
    33 tetrīs
    34 cotrīs
    35 pāṃtrīs
    36 chatrīs
    37 sāḍatrīs
    38 āḍatrīs
    39 ogaṇcāḷīs

    40 cāḷīs
    41 ektāḷīs
    42 betāḷīs
    43 tetāḷīs
    44 cummāḷīs
    45 pistāḷīs
    46 cheṃtāḷīs
    47 suḍtāḷīs
    48 aḍtāḷīs
    49 ogaṇpacās
    50 pacās
    51 ekāvan
    52 bāvan
    53 trepan
    54 copan
    55 pañcāvan
    56 chappan
    57 sattāvan
    58 aṭhṭhāvan
    59 ogaṇsāṭh

    60 sāṭh
    61 eksaṭh
    62 bāsaṭh
    63 tresaṭh
    64 cosaṭh
    65 pāṃsaṭh
    66 chāsaṭh
    67 saḍsaṭh
    68 aḍsaṭh
    69 ogaṇoter
    70 sitter
    71 ekoter
    72 boṃter
    73 toṃter
    74 cummoter
    75 pañcoter
    76 choṃter
    77 sītoter
    78 īṭhoter
    79 ogaṇeṃsī

    80 eṃsī
    81 ekyāsī
    82 byāsī
    83 tyāsī
    84 coṃrāsī
    85 pañcyāsī
    86 chyāsī
    87 satyāsī
    88 aṭhyāsī
    89 nevvāsī
    90 nevuṃ
    91 ekṇuṃ
    92 bāṇuṃ
    93 trāṇuṃ
    94 corāṇuṃ
    95 pañcāṇuṃ
    96 chāṇṇuṃ
    97 sattāṇuṃ
    98 aṭhṭhāṇuṃ
    99 navāṇuṃ

    After one hundred, numbers are regular and strung together in the same order as English, except that there is no "and". After one thousand, groupings are in hundreds. In gender, cardinals below nineteen are masculine, and nineteen and above are feminine.

    100 so
    1 000 hajār
    1 00 000 lākh
    1 00 00 000 kroḍ
    1 00 00 00 000 abaj

    Ordinal

    1st pahelũ
    2nd bījũ
    3rd trījũ
    4th cothũ
    6th chaṭhṭhũ

    For everything else it's the cardinal appended with .

    Fractions

    Gujarati has a colloquial set of fractions. For precision and mathematics, the Sanskritic system is used.

    Fraction Alone Attributive modification of
    1, 2 3-99 so, hajār, lākh Non-number
    0.25 25%
    ardhũ 0.50 50%
    poṇũ -0.25 -25%
    savā colspan="2"
    0.25
    +25%
    sāṛā +0.50
    doṛh 1.5 150%
    aṛhī 2.5 250%

    Sample Text

    References

    Bibliography

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