Malayalam grammar

2021-10-17T15:42:08Z

74.102.2.221: /* Dvitva Sandhi or "Rule of doubling" */ fixed spelling of gemination /* Cases */ fixed typos in tables

{{Short description|Grammar of Malayalam Language}}
[[Malayalam]] is one of the [[Dravidian languages]] and as such has an [[Agglutinative languages|agglutinative]] grammar. The word order is generally [[subject–object–verb]], although other orders are often employed for reasons such as emphasis. [[Noun]]s are inflected for [[Grammatical case|case]] and [[Grammatical number|number]], whilst [[verb]]s are conjugated for [[Grammatical tense|tense]], [[Grammatical mood|mood]] and [[Causative|causativity]] (and also in archaic language for [[Grammatical person|person]], [[Grammatical gender|gender]], number and [[Grammatical polarity|polarity]]). Malayalam adjectives, adverbs, postpositions and conjunctions do not undergo any inflection; they are invariant. Being the linguistic successor of the [[Macaronic language|macaronic]] [[Manipravalam]], '''Malayalam grammar''' is based on Sanskrit too.

==Nouns==
The [[declension]]al paradigms for some common nouns and pronouns are given below. As Malayalam is an agglutinative language, it is difficult to delineate the cases strictly and determine how many there are, although seven or eight is the generally accepted number. [[Alveolar plosive]]s and [[Alveolar nasal|nasals]] (although the modern [[Malayalam script]] does not distinguish the latter from the [[dental nasal]]) are marked with a [[macron below]], following the convention of the [[National Library at Kolkata romanization]].

===Pronouns===
There are three [[Grammatical_person|persons]] - first, second and third. The first person has three forms - singular, [[Clusivity|inclusive plural]] (i.e. speaker, listener, and possibly others) and exclusive plural (i.e. speaker and others, but not the listener). The second person has three forms - singular [[T-V distinction|informal]], singular formal and plural. Of these, the singular formal and plural forms are similar. A fourth form ('respectful' or 'official') is sometimes used in certain official documents and announcements.

The third person has eight forms - proximal and distal forms of singular masculine, singular feminine, singular neutral and plural. The masculine and feminine genders are used for humans and anthropomorphised non-humans. Non-living objects, plants and most animals take the neutral gender. The plural form is used for multiple objects of any gender. The plural form can also be used for a single person, either to show respect, or because the gender is unknown or irrelevant.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Personal Pronoun
|-
! colspan="3" |
! singular
! plural
|-
! rowspan="2" | 1st person
! colspan="2" | Exclusive
| rowspan="2" | {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|ഞാൻ|ñjān|I}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|ഞങ്ങൾ|ñaṅṅaḷ|we}}
|-
! colspan="2" | Inclusive
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|നാ൦ / നമ്മൾ|nām / nammaḷ|we}}
|-
! rowspan="3" | 2nd person
! colspan="2" | Informal
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|നീ|nī|you}}
| rowspan="3" | {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|നിങ്ങൾ|niṅṅaḷ |you (all)}}
|-
! colspan="2" | Formal
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|നിങ്ങൾ|niṅṅaḷ |you}}
|-
! colspan="2" | 'Respectful' / 'Official'
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|താങ്കൾ|thāngal|you}}
|-
! rowspan="6" | 3rd person
! rowspan="3" | Proximal
! Masculine
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|ഇവൻ|ivan|(this) he}}
| rowspan="3" | {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|ഇവർ|ivar|(that) it}}
|-
! Feminine
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|ഇവൾ|ival|(this) she}}
|-
! Neutral
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|ഇത്|ithu|(this) it}}
|-
! rowspan="3" | Distal
! Masculine
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൻ|avan|(that) he}}
| rowspan="3" | {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവർ|avar|(that) they}}
|-
! Feminine
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൾ|avaḷ|(that) she}}
|-
! Neutral
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അത്|athu|(that) it}}
|}

===Cases===
[[Vocative case|Vocative]] forms are given in parentheses after the [[nominative]], as the only pronominal vocatives that are used are the third person ones, which only occur in compounds.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Singular
|-
! rowspan="2" | Case
വിഭക്തി
! rowspan="2" | 1st person
! colspan="2" | 2nd person
! colspan="3" | 3rd person (distal)<ref name="prox" group="note">For proximal form, replace the initial 'a' with an 'i'.</ref>
|-
! informal || formal
! masculine || feminine || neutral
|-
! Nominative
സംബോധന
| ഞാൻ
''ñān''
| നീ
''nī''
| നിങ്ങൾ
''niṅṅaḷ''
| അവൻ
''avan'' (voc. ''avanē'')
| അവൾ
''avaḷ'' (voc. ''avaḷē'')
| അത്
''athu'' (voc. ''athinē'')
|-
! [[Accusative case|Accusative]]
പ്രതിഗ്രാഹിക
| എന്നെ
''enne''
| നിന്നെ
''ninne''
| നിങ്ങളെ
''niṅṅaḷe''
| അവനെ
''avane''
| അവളെ
''avaḷe''
| അതിനെ
''athine''
|-
! [[Genitive case|Genitive]]
സംബന്ധിക
| എന്റെ/എൻ/എണ്റ്റെ
''enṭe/en/ennuṭe''
| നിന്റെ/നിൻ/നിന്നുടെ
''ninṭe/nin/ninnuṭe''
| നിങ്ങളുടെ
''niṅṅaḷuṭe''
| അവന്റെ/അവണ്റ്റെ
''avanṭe/avanuṭe''
| അവളുടെ
''avaḷuṭe''
| അതിന്റെ
''athinṭe''
|-
! [[Dative case|Dative]]
ഉദ്ദേശിക
| എനിക്ക്
''enikku''
| നിനക്കു
''ninakku''
| നിങ്ങൾക്കു
''niṅṅaḷkku''
| അവന്
''avanu''
| അവൾക്കു
''avaḷkku''
| അതിന്
''athinu''
|-
! [[Instrumental case|Instrumental]]
പ്രായോജിക
| എന്നാൽ
''ennāl''
| നിന്നാൽ
''ninnāl''
| നിങ്ങളാൽ
''niṅṅaḷāl''
| അവനാൽ
''avanāl''
| അവളാൽ
''avaḷāl''
| അതിനാൽ
''athināl''
|-
! [[Locative case|Locative]]
ആധാരിക
| എന്നിൽ
''ennil''
| നിന്നിൽ
''ninnil''
| നിങ്ങളിൽ
''niṅṅaḷil''
| അവനിൽ
''avanil''
| അവളിൽ
''avaḷil''
| അതിൽ
''athil''
|-
! [[Sociative case|Sociative]]
സംയോജിക
| എന്നോട്
''ennōṭu''
| നിന്നോട്
''ninnōṭu''
| നിങ്ങളോട്
''niṅṅaḷōṭu''
| അവനോട്
''avanōṭu''
| അവളോട്‌
''avaḷōṭu''
| അതിനോട്
''athinōtu''
|-
! colspan="7" | Notes:
{{reflist|group=note}}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Plural
|-
! rowspan="2" | Case
വിഭക്തി
! colspan="2" | 1st person
! rowspan="2" | 2nd person
! rowspan="2" | 3rd person
|-
! [[Clusivity|exclusive]]
! inclusive
|-
! Nominative
സംബോധന
| ഞങ്ങൾ
''ñaṅṅaḷ''
| നാം/നമ്മൾ
''nām/nammaḷ''
| നിങ്ങൾ
''niṅṅaḷ''
| അവർ
''avar'' (voc. ''avarē'')
|-
! [[Accusative case|Accusative]]
പ്രതിഗ്രാഹിക
| ഞങ്ങളെ
''ñaṅṅaḷe''
| നമ്മളെ
''nammale''
| നിങ്ങളെ
''niṅṅaḷe''
|അവരെ

''avare''
|-
! [[Genitive case|Genitive]]
സംബന്ധിക
| ഞങ്ങളുടെ/ഞങ്ങുടെ
''ñaṅṅaḷuṭe/ñaṅuṭe''
| നമ്മുടെ
''nammuṭe''
| നിങ്ങളുടെ
''niṅṅaḷuṭe''
| അവരുടെ
''avaruṭe''
|-
! [[Dative case|Dative]]
ഉദ്ദേശിക
| ഞങ്ങൾക്ക്/നമ്മൾക്ക്
''ñaṅṅaḷkk/ñammaḷkku''
| നമ്മക്ക്
''namukku''
| നിങ്ങൾക്കു
''niṅṅaḷkku''
| അവർക്കു
''ava<u>r</u>kku''
|-
! [[Instrumental case|Instrumental]]
പ്രായോജിക
| ഞങ്ങളാൽ/ഞങ്ങൾ
''ñaṅṅaḷāl''/''ñaṅṅaḷ''
| നമ്മളാൽ
''nammaḷāl''
| നിങ്ങളാൽ
''niṅṅaḷāl''
| അവരാൽ
''avarāl''
|-
! [[Locative case|Locative]]
ആധാരിക
| ഞങ്ങളിൽ
''ñaṅṅaḷil''
| നമ്മളിൽ
''nammaḷil''
| നിങ്ങളിൽ
''niṅṅaḷil''
| അവരിൽ
''avaril''
|-
! [[Sociative case|Sociative]]
സംയോജിക
| ഞങ്ങളോട്
''ñaṅṅaḷōṭu''
| നമ്മളോട്
''nammaḷōṭu''
| നിങ്ങളോട്
''niṅṅaḷōṭu''
| അവരോട്
''avarōṭu''
|}

The mnemonic 'നിപ്രസം ഉപ്രസം ആ' created by combining the first sounds of the case names is used.

=== Number ===
The suffix -കൾ (-''kaḷ''), which changes to -ങ്ങൾ (-''ṅṅaḷ'') when the nouns ends in -അം (-''aṁ''), is the most common suffix for denoting plural nouns. It is used by all inanimate nouns, concrete or abstract, and most animate, non-gendered nouns. Two other suffixes, -മാർ (-''mār'') and അർ (-''ar''), are used exclusively by a few animate nouns. All suffixes follow the ''sandhi'' (സന്ധി) rules where applicable, and are not used when preceded by numeral adjectives. The following are a few examples.
{| class="wikitable"
!Word
!Singular
!Plural
|-
|''book''
|പുസ്തകം (pustakaṁ)
|പുസ്തകങ്ങൾ (pustakaṅṅaḷ)
|-
|''umbrella''
|കുട (kuṭa)
|കുടകൾ (kuṭakaḷ)
|-
|''child''
|കുട്ടി (kuṭṭi)
|കുട്ടികൾ (kuṭṭikaḷ)
|-
|''dog''
|നായ (nāya)
|നായ്ക്കൾ (nāykkaḷ)
|-
|''mother''
|അമ്മ (amma)
|അമ്മമാർ (ammamār)
|-
|''human''
|മനുഷ്യൻ (manuṣyan)
|മനുഷ്യർ (manuṣyar)
|}

===Other nouns===
The following are examples of some of the most common declensional patterns.

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="1" | Word
! colspan="2" | '''''tree'''''
! colspan="2" | '''''elephant'''''
! colspan="2" | '''''human'''''
! colspan="2" | '''''dog'''''
|-
! colspan="1" | '''Case'''
! colspan="1" | '''Singular'''
! colspan="1" | '''Plural'''
! colspan="1" | '''Singular'''
! colspan="1" | '''Plural'''
! colspan="1" | '''Singular'''
! colspan="1" | '''Plural'''
! colspan="1" | '''Singular'''
! colspan="1" | '''Plural'''
|-
! '''Nominative'''
| maram || marangaḷ || āaṉa || āaṉakaḷ || maṉuṣyaṉ || maṉuṣyar || paṭṭi || paṭṭikaḷ
|-
! '''Vocative'''
| maramē || marangaḷē || āaṉē || āaṉakaḷē || maṉuṣyā || maṉuṣyarē || paṭṭī || paṭṭikaḷē
|-
! '''Accusative'''
| marattiṉe || maraṅṅaḷe || āaṉaye || āaṉakaḷe || maṉuṣyaṉe || maṉuṣyare || paṭṭiye || paṭṭikaḷe
|-
! '''Genitive'''
| marathiṉṯe|| maraṅgalude || āaṉayude || āaṉakaḷude || maṉuṣyaṉṯe || maṉuṣyarude || paṭṭiyude || paṭṭikaḷude
|-
! '''Dative'''
| marathinu || maraṅgaḷkku || āaṉaykku || āaṉakaḷkku || maṉuṣyaṉu || maṉuṣya<u>r</u>kku || paṭṭiykku || paṭṭikaḷkku
|-
! '''Instrumental'''
| marathāl || maraṅgaḷāl || āaṉayāl || āaṉakaḷāl || maṉuṣyaṉāl || maṉuṣyarāl || paṭṭiyāl || paṭṭikaḷāl
|-
! '''Locative'''
| marathil || maraṅgaḷil || āaṉayil || āaṉakaḷil || maṉuṣyaṉil || maṉuṣyaril || paṭṭiyil || paṭṭikaḷil
|-
! '''Sociative'''
| marathōdu|| maraṅgaḷōdu || āaṉayōdu || āaṉakaḷōdu || maṉuṣyaṉōdu || maṉuṣyarōdu || paṭṭiyōdu || paṭṭikaḷōdu
|-
|}

== Adjectives ==
Malayalam is thought to have no semantic category for adjectives, and instead relies heavily on using participial relative clauses for modifying nouns.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mathew|first=Rosmin|title=SIMPLy Malayalam Participials|url=https://www.hum2.leidenuniv.nl/pdf/lucl/sole/console14/console14-mathew.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> There are two classes of words that typically act as adjectives.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Menon|first=Mythili|title=The grammatical life of property concept roots in Malayalam|url=https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/sub/index.php/sub/article/view/318/251|url-status=live}}</ref>

# Native roots + ''a'': This includes words such as നല്ല (''nalla'', good), വലിയ (''valiya'', big), and ചെറിയ (''cheṟiya'', short). All such words can be directly used as adjectives, without further modification. The conventional view regarding this category of words is that they typically encode the possession of the property they signify in the participial marker (-''a'') attached to them, meaning a word such as നല്ല (''nalla'') would actually mean "''having goodness''". For instance: ഇതൊരു നല്ല പുസ്തകമാണ് (''ithoru nalla pustakamāṇ''), translating to "this is a good book", could be thought to mean "this is a goodness-having book". Note that when used in typical relative clauses, the marker -''a'' can be inflected for tense, but not when used here in an adjectival sense.
# Borrowed roots + ''am'': This includes words such as സങ്കടം (''saṅkaṭaṁ'', sadness), സന്തോഷം (''santōṣaṁ'', happiness), and ഉയരം (''uyaraṁ'', height/tallness). The -''am'' at the end signifies the word's quality as a noun, which means that to use it as an adjective it has to be modified. This is in the form of -ഉള്ള (''uḷḷa''), the suffix for the non-finite existential copula. For instance: അവൻ ഉയരമുള്ള കുട്ടിയാണ് (''avan uyaramuḷḷa kuṭṭiyāṇ'', translating to "he is a tall child") could be thought to mean "he is a tallness-having child". Since the suffix is non-finite it does not vary with tense or person.

All adjectives in Malayalam must be used with succeeding nouns or noun phrases, i.e., they cannot be used as predicate adjectives (e.g.: good in "this book is good"), which are not typically used in Malayalam. Certain suffixes do exist that help create similar constructions that don't require specifying the entire noun. For example, the suffixes -വൻ (-''van'') and വൾ (-''vaḷ'') denote males and females respectively, so the sentence "she is tall" could be translated as അവൾ ഉയരമുള്ളവൾ ആണ് (''avaḷ uyaramuḷḷavaḷ āṇ''), where the noun for "girl" was replaced by its corresponding suffix.

== Verbs ==
Inflection of Malayalam verbs occurs for [[Tense–aspect–mood|tense, aspect, and mode (TAM)]], and not for number (plurality) or gender. The verb stem, combined with a consonant and the ending -<big>ഉ</big>ക (-''uka''), forms the dictionary form of verbs.<ref>{{cite web|author=Jiang, Haowen|title=Malayalam: a Grammatical Sketch and a Text|url=https://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~hj3/pub/Malayalam.pdf}}</ref>

===Tenses===
Broadly, there are three tenses in Malayalam language: present, past and future. Verb forms in different tenses are created by either simply replacing the infinitive ending -<big>ഉ</big>ക (for present and future tense), or by suffixing the verb stem with a special marker depending on the class of the verb (for past tense). Verb conjugations for the verb "പോകുക" (''pōkuka'', to go) based on the commonly recognized aspects in Malayalam are given below. <ref>{{Cite journal|year=2015|title=Difficulties in Processing Malayalam Verbs for Statistical Machine Translation|url=https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Difficulties-in-Processing-Malayalam-Verbs-for-EYWORDS/20b24825bb889056b298dd108cd531ae4bf28911/figure/1|journal=International Journal of Artificial Intelligence & Applications|volume=6|issue=3|pages=13-24|doi=10.5121/ijaia.2015.6302|doi-access=free}}</ref>The past tense marker in this case is -ഇ (''-i'').

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Tenses
|-
! colspan="1" |

! colspan="1" | Past
! colspan="1" | Present
! colspan="1" | Future
|-
! Simple
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോയി|pōyi|}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോകുന്നു|pōkunnu|}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോകും|pōkum|}}
|-
! Continuous
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോവുകയായിരുന്നു|pōvukayāyirunnu|}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോവുകയാണ്|pōvukayāṇ|}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കും|pōyikkoṇṭirikkum|}}
|-
! Perfect
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോയിട്ടുണ്ടായിരുന്നു|pōyiṭṭuṇṭāyirunnu|}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോയിട്ടുണ്ട്|pōyiṭṭuṇṭ|}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോയിട്ടുണ്ടാകും|pōyiṭṭuṇṭākum|}}
|-
! Perfect continuous
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നുണ്ടായിരുന്നു|pōyikkoṇṭirikkunnuṇṭāyirunnu|}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നുണ്ട്|pōyikkoṇṭirikkunnuṇṭ|}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോയിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നുണ്ടാകും|pōyikkoṇṭirikkunnuṇṭākum|}}
|-
! Habitual
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോകാറുണ്ടായിരുന്നു|pōkāṟuṇṭāyirunnu|}}
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|പോകാറുണ്ട്|pōkāṟuṇṭ|}}
| -
|}

=== Copula ===
Malayalam employs two defective verbs as its [[Copula (linguistics)|copulas]]. The first, -ആക് (''āk''), is the plain equative copula. The second, -ഉണ്ട് (''uṇṭŭ''), is the locative copula and also used to indicate possession (with the subject/possessor in the dative case). These verbs change forms in different tenses and are usually suffixed to the noun phrases that are specified by the copula. The table below lists some examples.

{| class="wikitable"
!Example
!Notes
|-
! colspan="2" |Equative
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനാണ്|avan santuṣṭanāṇŭ|He is happy}}
| Present tense form of ആക് is ആണ് (āṇŭ)
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനായിരുന്നു|avan santuṣṭanāyirunnu|He was happy}}
| Past tense form of ആക് is ആയിരുന്നു (āyirunnu)
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനാകും|avan santuṣṭanākuṁ|He will be happy}}
| Future tense form of ആക് is അകും (ākuṁ)
|-
! colspan="2" |Locative
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൻ വീട്ടിലുണ്ട്|avan vīṭṭiluṇṭŭ|He is in the house}}
| ഉണ്ട് stays the same in the present tense
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൻ വീട്ടിൽ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു|avan vīṭṭil uṇṭāyirunnu|He was in the house}}
| Past tense form of ഉണ്ട് is ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു (uṇṭāyirunnu)
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൻ വീട്ടിൽ ഉണ്ടാകും|avan vīṭṭil uṇṭākuṁ|He will be in the house}}
| Future tense form of ഉണ്ട് is ഉണ്ടാകും (uṇṭākuṁ)
|-
! colspan="2" |Possessive
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൾക്ക് ഒരു പുസ്തകമുണ്ട്|avaḷkkŭ oru pustakamuṇṭ|She has a book}}
|
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൾക്ക് ഒരു പുസ്തകം ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു|avaḷkkŭ oru pustakaṁ uṇṭāyirunnu|She had a book}}
|
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൾക്ക് ഒരു പുസ്തകം ഉണ്ടാകും|avaḷkkŭ oru pustakaṁ uṇṭākuṁ|She will have a book}}
|
|}

=== Negation ===
Standard negation is expressed through the use of the negative particle/suffix -ഇല്ല (-''illa'', literally "no"), regardless of tense.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lindblom|first=Camilla|title=Negation in Dravidian languages|url=http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:772967/FULLTEXT01.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The equative copula -ആക്, however, is negated by the negative suffix -അല്ല (-''alla'') in the present tense; in all other tenses -ഇല്ല is used. When these particles are suffixed to their corresponding noun phrases, ''sandhi'' (സന്ധി) rules must be obeyed.

{| class="wikitable"
!Example
!Notes
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനല്ല|avan santuṣṭanalla||He is not happy}}
| Equative copula negated by -അല്ല (-alla) in the present tense
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനായിരുന്നില്ല|avan santuṣṭanāyirunnilla|He was not happy}}
| Equative copula negated by -ഇല്ല (-illa) in any tense other than the present tense
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൾക്ക് ഒരു പുസ്തകമില്ല|avaḷkkŭ oru pustakamilla|She does not have a book}}
| rowspan="3" | All other negations use -ഇല്ല (-illa)
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവൾ പോകുന്നില്ല|avaḷ pōkunnilla|She is not going}}
|-
| {{fs interlinear|lang=ml|അവർ ഇവിടെയില്ല|avar iviṭeyilla|They are not here}}
|}

== Sandhi (സന്ധി) ==
Malayalam is an agglutinative language, and words can be joined in many ways. These ways are called sandhi (literally 'junction'). There are basically two genres of Sandhi used in Malayalam - one group unique to Malayalam, and the other one common with Sanskrit. Thus, we have the "Malayala Sandhi" and "Samskrita Sandhi".

=== Sandhi unique to Malayalam ===
There are basically four Sandhi types unique to Malayalam - the "lōpa sandhi", "dvitva sandhi", "āgama sandhi" and "ādēśa sandhi".

==== Lōpa sandhi or "[[Elision]]"(ലോപ സന്ധി) ====
The Lopa sandhi occurs when the varna (vowel) at the end of a word is lost when it merges with another word. In most cases, the varna is the "samvr̥tōkāram". (the "closed u sound").

{{fs interlinear|number=ex:
|കണ്ടു + ഇല്ല {{=}} കണ്ടില്ല
|athŭ + illa {{=}} athilla|}}

{{fs interlinear|number=ex:
|അത്‌ + ആയതു {{=}} അതായത്
|nannu + alla {{=}} nannalla|}}

==== Dvitva Sandhi or "Rule of doubling" ====
In Malayalam, gemination is more in tense consonants and less in lax consonants. When two words combine in which the first is the qualifier and the qualified, the tense consonants initial to the second word geminates.

{{fs interlinear|number=ex:
|പോയി + പറഞ്ഞു {{=}} പോയിപ്പറഞ്ഞു
|pōyi + paraññu {{=}} pōyipparaññu|}}

{{fs interlinear|number=ex:
|മര + കൊമ്പ് {{=}} മരക്കൊമ്പ്
|mara + komb {{=}} marakkombu|}}

{{fs interlinear|number=ex:
|എന്നെ + കുറിച്ച് {{=}} എന്നെക്കുറിച്ച്
|enne + kurich {{=}} ennekkurich|}}

==== Āgama sandhi or "Rule of arrival" (ആഗമ സന്ധി)====
When two vowels undergo Sandhi, a consonant ("y" or "v") is added to avoid the pronunciation difficulty.

{{fs interlinear|number=ex:
|വഴി + അമ്പലം {{=}} വഴിയമ്പലം
|vazhi + ampalam {{=}} vazhi'''y'''ampalam.|}}

{{fs interlinear|number=ex:
|ഭാഷ + ഉടെ {{=}} ഭാഷയുടെ (യ)
|Bhasha + ude {{=}} bhasha'''y'''ude (y)|}}Nimishathil

==== Ādēśa Sandhi or "Rule of substitution" ====
In this Sandhi, one letter is substituted by another during concatenation.

{{fs interlinear|number=ex:
|വിൺ + തലം {{=}} വിണ്ടലം
|viṇ + thalam {{=}} viṇṭalam
|c2= (th replaced by ṭ)|}}

This sandhi also includes Sanskrit Sandhi forms like vi + '''s'''amam = vi'''ṣ'''amam.

=== Sandhi common with Sanskrit ===
These Sandhi rules are basically inherited from Sanskrit, and are used in conjunction with Sanskrit vocabulary which forms approximately 80% of Modern Standard Malayalam (the entire Sanskrit vocabulary is also usable with appropriate changes).<ref>https://aircconline.com/ijaia/V6N3/6315ijaia02.pdf</ref><ref>Malayalam Literary Survey, Volume 27, Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 2005</ref> The rules like savarṇadīrgha sandhi, yaṇ sandhi, guṇa sandhi, vr̥ddhi sandhi and visarga sandhis are used without changes.

== Samāsam (സമാസം) ==
All the Sanskrit samāsa rules are adapted to Malayalam compounds. In Malayalam, the tatpurusha compounds are classified according to the vibhakti they are based on, during compounding. The "alaṅkāraṁ" is also used to classify tatpurusha compounds. There are 4 types of samasam-1)aavyayi bhavan 2) thathpurusha 3) dvandan 4) bahuvrihi

== Vr̥ttaṁ (വൃത്തം) ==
The vr̥ttaṁ consists of metres of Malayalam prosody. Like Sandhi, there are specific vr̥ttaṁs unique to Malayalam apart from the metres common with Sanskrit. As in case of Sandhi, the Malayalam vrittams are also named in Sanskrit.

== Alaṅkāram (അലങ്കാരം) ==
Alaṅkāraṁ or "ornamentation" is also based on Sanskritic grammarian classification. It consists of the different [[Figures of Speech|figures of speech]] used in Malayalam poetry. Being successor to Sanskrit and Manipravalam, most of Sanskrit alankaras are used in Malayalam. Thus, the common figures of speech in poems are rūpakaṁ, utprēkṣā, upamā etc.

=== Words adopted from Sanskrit ===
When words are adopted from Sanskrit, their endings are usually changed to conform to Malayalam norms:

==== Nouns ====
# Masculine [[Sanskrit]] nouns with a [[Word stem]] ending in a short "a" take the ending "an" in the nominative singular. For example, [[Krishna|Kr̥ṣṇa]] -> Kr̥ṣṇan. The final "n" is dropped before masculine surnames, honorifics, or titles ending in "an" and beginning with a consonant other than "n" – e.g. Krishna Menon, Krishna Kaniyaan etc., but Krishnan Ezhutthachan. Surnames ending with "ar" or "aḷ" (where these are plural forms of "an" denoting respect) are treated similarly – Krishna Pothuval, Krishna Chakyar, but Krishnan Nair, Krishnan Nambiar, as are Sanskrit surnames such "Varma(n)", "Sharma(n)", or "Gupta(n)" (rare) – e.g. Krishna Varma, Krishna Sharman. {{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} If a name is a compound, only the last element undergoes this transformation – e.g. Kr̥ṣṇa + dēva = Kr̥ṣṇadēvan, not Kr̥ṣṇandēvan.
# Feminine words ending in a long "ā" or "ī" are changed so that they now end in a short "a" or "i", for example [[Sita|Sītā]] -> Sīta and [[Lakshmi|Lakṣmī]] -> Lakṣmi. However, the long vowel still appears in compound words, such as Sītādēvi orLakṣmīdēvi. The long ī is generally reserved for the [[vocative case|vocative]] forms of these names, although in Sanskrit the vocative actually takes a short "i". There are also a small number of nominative "ī" endings that have not been shortened – a prominent example being the word "strī" "woman".
# Nouns that have a stem in -an and which end with a long "ā" in the masculine nominative singular have a "vŭ" added to them, for example[[Brahmā]] (stem Brahman) -> Brahmāvŭ. When the same nouns are declined in the neuter and take a short "a" ending in Sanskrit, Malayalam adds an additional "m", e.g. Brahma (neuter nominative singular of [[Brahman]]) becomes Brahmam. This is again omitted when forming compounds.{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}}
# Words whose roots end in -an but whose nominative singular ending is -a – for example, the Sanskrit root of "[[Karma]]" is actually "Karman" –are also changed. The original root is ignored and "Karma" (the form in Malayalam being "Karmam" because it ends in a short "a") is taken as the basic form of the noun when declining.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Varma |first=A.R. Rajaraja |title=Keralapanineeyam |publisher=D C Books |year=2005 |isbn=81-7130-672-1 |location=Kottayam |pages=303}}</ref> However, this does not apply to all consonant stems, as "unchangeable" stems such as "manasa" ("mind") and "suhr̥ta (friend)" are identical to the Malayalam nominative singular forms (although the regularly derived "manam" sometimes occurs as an alternative to "manasa").
# Sanskrit words describing things or animals rather than people with a stem in short "a" end with an "m" Malayalam. For example, [[Ramayana|Rāmāyaṇa]] -> Rāmāyaṇam. In most cases, this is actually the as the Sanskrit ending, which is also "m" (or allophonically anusvara due to Sandhi) in the neuter nominative. However, "things and animals" and "people" are not always differentiated based on whether or not they are sentient beings – for example [[Narasimha]] becomes Narasiṃham and not Narasiṃhan, whereas [[Ananta Shesha|Ananta]] becomes Anantan even though both are sentient.
# Nouns with short vowel stems other than "a", such as "[[Vishnu|Viṣṇu]]", "[[Prajapati|Prajāpati]]" etc. are declined with the Sanskrit stem acting as the Malayalam nominative singular (the Sanskrit nominative singular is formed by adding a visarga, e.g. Viṣṇuḥ) {{Citation needed|date=July 2007}}
# The original Sanskrit vocative is often used in formal or poetic Malayalam, e.g. "Harē" (for [[Hari]]) or "Prabhō" (for "Prabhu" – "lord"). This is restricted to certain contexts – mainly when addressing deities or other exalted individuals, so a normal man named Hari would usually be addressed using a Malayalam vocative such as "Harī". The Sanskrit genitive is also occasionally found in Malayalam poetry, especially the personal pronouns "mama" (my/ mine) and "tava" (thy/ thine). Other cases are less common and generally restricted to the realm of Maṇipravāḷam.
# Along with these [[tatsama]] borrowings, there are also many [[tadbhava]] words in common use. These were borrowed into Malayalam before it became distinct from Tamil. As the language did not then accommodate Sanskrit phonology as it now does, words were changed to conform to the Old Tamil phonological system. For example: Kr̥ṣṇa -> Kaṇṇan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Varma |first=A.R. Rajaraja |title=Keralapanineeyam |publisher=D C Books |year=2005 |isbn=81-7130-672-1 |location=Kottayam |pages=301–302}}</ref>

== References ==
<references /> 3. Ravi Sankar S Nair 2012 A Grammar of Malayalam http://www.languageinindia.com/nov2012/ravisankarmalayalamgrammar.pdf

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