Malayalam adjectives, adverbs, postpositions, and conjunctions do not undergo any inflection; they are invariant.
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.
The plural form can also be used for a single person to show respect or because the gender is unknown or irrelevant.
ഞാൻñān̠ഞാൻñān̠Iഞങ്ങൾñaṅṅaḷഞങ്ങൾñaṅṅaḷweനാംnām//നമ്മൾnammaḷനാം / നമ്മൾnām / nammaḷweനീnīനീnīyouനിങ്ങൾniṅṅaḷനിങ്ങൾniṅṅaḷyou (all)നിങ്ങൾniṅṅaḷനിങ്ങൾniṅṅaḷyouതാങ്കൾtāṅkaḷതാങ്കൾtāṅkaḷyouഇവൻivan̠ഇവൻivan̠(this) heഇവർivar̠ഇവർivar̠(this) theyഇവൾivaḷഇവൾivaḷ(this) sheഇത്itŭഇത്itŭ(this) itഇവivaഇവiva(this) theseഅവൻavan̠അവൻavan̠(that) heഅവർavar̠അവർavar̠(that) theyഅവൾavaḷഅവൾavaḷ(that) sheഅത്atŭഅത്atŭ(that) itഅവavaഅവava(that) thoseതാൻtān̠താൻtān̠himselfതാങ്കൾtāṅkaḷതാങ്കൾtāṅkaḷthemselfതങ്ങൾtaṅṅaḷതങ്ങൾtaṅṅaḷthemselfVocative 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.
atiṉē) പ്രതിഗ്രാഹിക eṉṉe niṉṉe niṅṅaḷe avaṉe avaḷe atiṉe സംബന്ധിക eṉṟe/eṉṉuṭe/eṉ niṉṟe/niṉṉuṭe/niṉ niṅṅaḷuṭe avaṉṟe/avaṉuṭe avaḷuṭe atiṉṟe ഉദ്ദേശിക eṉikkŭ niṉakkŭ niṅṅaḷkkŭ avaṉŭ avaḷkkŭ atiṉŭ പ്രായോജിക eṉṉāl niṉṉāl niṅṅaḷāl avaṉāl avaḷāl atiṉāl ആധാരിക eṉṉil niṉṉil niṅṅaḷil avaṉil avaḷil atil സംയോജിക eṉṉōṭŭ niṉṉōṭŭ niṅṅaḷōṭŭ avaṉōṭŭ avaḷōṭŭ atiṉōtŭ വിഭക്തി നിർദ്ദേശിക ñaṅṅaḷ nammaḷ/nām niṅṅaḷ avaṟ (voc.
avarē) പ്രതിഗ്രാഹിക ñaṅṅaḷe nammaḷe/namme niṅṅaḷe avare സംബന്ധിക ñaṅṅaḷuṭe nammaḷuṭe/nammuṭe niṅṅaḷuṭe avaruṭe ഉദ്ദേശിക ñaṅṅaḷkkŭ nammaḷkkŭ/namukkŭ niṅṅaḷkkŭ avaṟkkŭ പ്രായോജിക ñaṅṅaḷāl nammaḷāl/nammāl niṅṅaḷāl avarāl ആധാരിക ñaṅṅaḷil nammaḷil/nammil niṅṅaḷil avaril സംയോജിക ñaṅṅaḷōṭŭ nammaḷōṭŭ/nammōṭŭ niṅṅaḷōṭŭ avarōṭŭ The mnemonic 'നിപ്രസം ഉപ്രസം ആ' created by combining the first sounds of the case names is used.
All suffixes follow the sandhi (സന്ധി) rules where applicable, and are not used when preceded by numeral adjectives.
Malayalam is thought to have no semantic category for adjectives, and instead relies heavily on using participial relative clauses for modifying nouns.
[3] Inflection of Malayalam verbs occurs for tense, aspect, and mode (TAM), and not for number (plurality) or gender.
[4] Broadly, there are three tenses in Malayalam language: present, past and future.
Verb forms in different tenses are created by either simply replacing the citation form ending (for present and future tense), or by suffixing the verb stem (obtained by removing the citation form ending and the preceding consonant) with a special marker depending on the class of the verb (for past tense).
For example, the future tense form of നടക്കുക (naṭakkuka, 'to walk') is നടക്കും (naṭakkum).
These verbs change forms in different tenses and are usually suffixed to the noun phrases that are specified by the copula.
അവൻavaṉസന്തുഷ്ടനല്ലsantuṣṭaṉallaഅവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനല്ലavaṉ santuṣṭaṉallaHe is not happyഅവൻavaṉസന്തുഷ്ടനായിരുന്നില്ലsantuṣṭaṉāyirunnillaഅവൻ സന്തുഷ്ടനായിരുന്നില്ലavaṉ santuṣṭaṉāyirunnillaHe was not happyഅവൾക്ക്avaḷkkŭഒരുoruപുസ്തകമില്ലpustakamillaഅവൾക്ക് ഒരു പുസ്തകമില്ലavaḷkkŭ oru pustakamillaShe does not have a bookഅവൾavaḷപോകുന്നില്ലpōkunnillaഅവൾ പോകുന്നില്ലavaḷ pōkunnillaShe is not goingഅവർavaṟഇവിടെയില്ലiviṭeyillaഅവർ ഇവിടെയില്ലavaṟ iviṭeyillaThey are not hereProhibitive Malayalam is an agglutinative language, and words can be joined in many ways.
There are basically two genres of Sandhi used in Malayalam – one group unique to Malayalam (based originally on Old Tamil phonological rules, and in essence common with Tamil), and the other one common with Sanskrit.
മരmara++കൊമ്പ്kombŭ==മരക്കൊമ്പ്marakkombŭമര + കൊമ്പ് = മരക്കൊമ്പ്mara + kombŭ = marakkombŭകൈkai++കൂലിkūli==കൈക്കൂലിkaikkūliകൈ + കൂലി = കൈക്കൂലിkai + kūli = kaikkūliWhen two vowels undergo Sandhi, a consonant ("y" or "v") is added to avoid the pronunciation difficulty.
വഴിvaḻi++അമ്പലംampalam==വഴിയമ്പലംvaḻiyampalam.വഴി + അമ്പലം = വഴിയമ്പലംvaḻi + ampalam = vaḻiyampalam.പൊതുpotu++ആയിāyi==പൊതുവായിpotuvāyiപൊതു + ആയി = പൊതുവായിpotu + āyi = potuvāyiIn this Sandhi, one letter is substituted by another during concatenation.
Like Sandhi, there are specific vr̥ttaṁs unique to Malayalam apart from the metres common with Sanskrit.