My mother tongue contains no 'to be' - e-prime

Chinmay · 02-29-2008, 06:07 AM

My mother tongue, Kannada, does not contain the verb 'to be' in any form.We just add some suffixes at the end of a verb.It might seem impossible to narrate what I want to say clearly, since I think none of you know about it.
For example, to Illustrate my point,

1.English:Who are you?
Kannada:neenu yaaru?(Literal translation would read 'you who?')
2.English:My name is Chinmay
Kannada:nanna hesaru Chinmay(Literal translation: my name Chinmay)
3.English:They were standing.
Kannada:avaru nintiddaru.
4.English:She will be coming.
Kannada:avalu baruttaale.(Literal translation:She will come)
Note that there appears no option for you to insert the unwanted 'be' in between will and come.
Also,Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam and most Indian(if not all) do not contain 'to be'.
Visit A Grammar of Spoken Kannada for more details on Kannada grammar.
But Hindi contains the verb such as:
English:He is coming
Hindi:voh aa raha hai
The bold word indicates a conjugation of 'to be' in Hindi.
In 1st person singular:
main hoon don.(I am Don)

I feel proud that I belong to India and speak a very good(in terms of e-primers) language like Kannada.SIRIGANNADAM GELGE.

.Reply for more information.Cheers till then.