Bengali grammar

Bengali grammar (Bengali: বাংলা ব্যাকরণ Bangla Bækôrôn) is the study of the morphology and syntax of Bengali, an Indo-European language spoken in the Indian subcontinent. Although Bengali is typically written in the 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"). It may be noted that the "very familiar" form is used when addressing particularly close friends or family as well as for addressing subordinates, or in abusive language. In the following tables, the abbreviations used are as follows: VF=very familiar, F=familiar, and P=polite (honor); H=here, T=there, E=elsewhere (proximity), and I=inanimate.

Given that Bengali has two forms, চলিত ভাষা cholito bhasha and সাধু ভাষা shadhu bhasha, it is important to note that the pronouns before are given in the চলিত cholito form.

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?"

Personal pronouns (nominative case)

Subject	Proximity	Honor	Singular	Plural
1			ami (I)	amra (we)
2		VF	tui (you)	tora (you)
		F	tumi (you)	tomra (you)
		P	apni (you)	apnara (you)
3	H	F	e (he/she)	era (they)
		P	ini (he/she)	ẽra (they)
		I	eţi/eţa (it)	egulo (these)
	T	F	o (he/she)	ora (they)
		P	uni (he/she)	õra (they)
		I	oţi/oţa (it)	ogulo (those)
	E	F	she (he/she)	tara (they)
		P	tini (he/she)	tãra (they)
		I	sheţi/sheţa (it)	shegulo (those)

The objective case is used for pronouns serving as the direct or indirect objects, such as "I told him to wash the dishes" or "The teacher gave me the homework assignment." The inanimate pronouns remain the same in the objective case.

Personal pronouns (objective case)

Subject	Proximity	Honor	Singular	Plural
1			amake (me)	amaderke (us)
2		VF	toke (you)	toderke (you)
		F	tomake (you)	tomaderke (you)
		P	apnake (you)	apnaderke (you)
3	H	F	eke (him/her)	ederke (them)
		P	ẽke (him/her)	ẽderke (them)
		I	eţi/eţa (it)	egulo (these)
	T	F	oke (him/her)	oderke (them)
		P	õke (him/her)	õderke (them)
		I	oţi/oţa (it)	ogulo (those)
	E	F	take (him/her)	taderke (them)
		P	tãke (him/her)	tãderke (them)
		I	sheţi/sheţa (it)	shegulo (those)

The possessive case is used to show possession, such as "Where is your coat?" or "Let's go to our house." Note that the plural forms are identical to those for the objective case.

Personal pronouns (possessive case)

Subject	Proximity	Honor	Singular	Plural
1			amar (my)	amader (our)
2		VF	tor (your)	toder (your)
		F	tomar (your)	tomader (your)
		P	apnar (your)	apnader (your)
3	H	F	er (his/her)	eder (their)
		P	ẽr (his/her)	ẽder (their)
		I	eţir/eţar (its)	egulor (of these)
	T	F	or (his/her)	oder (their)
		P	õr (his/her)	õder (their)
		I	oţir/oţar (its)	ogulor (of those)
	E	F	tar (his/her)	tader (their)
		P	tãr (his/her)	tãder (their)
		I	sheţir/sheţar (its)	shegulor (of those)

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. The objective case cannot be inflected upon nouns which are inanimate, and the locative case cannot be inflected upon nouns which are animate. When a definite article such as -ţa (singular) or -gulo (plural) is added, nouns are also inflected for number. In formal contexts, especially in writing, the definite article -ţa is replaced by -ţi. There is also an alternative way of using the plural definite article, -gulo, by making it -guli. Below are two tables which show the inflections of an animate noun, ছাত্র chhatrô (student), and an inanimate noun, জুতা juta (shoe).

Noun Inflection

	Animate		Inanimate
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ছাত্রটি/ছাত্রটা chhatrô-ţi/chhatrô-ţa the student	ছাত্ররা chhatrô-ra the students	জুতাটি/জুতাটা juta-ţi/juta-ţa the shoe	জুতাগুলো juta-gulo the shoes
Objective	ছাত্রটিকে/ছাত্রটাকে chhatrô-ţi-ke/chhatrô-ţa-ke (to) the student	ছাত্রদেরকে chhatrô-der-ke (to) the students	–	–
Genitive	ছাত্রটির/ছাত্রটার chhatrô-ţi-r/chhatrô-ţa-r the student's	ছাত্রদের chhatrô-der the students'	জুতাটির/জুতাটার juta-ţi-r/juta-ţa-r the shoe's	জুতাগুলোর juta-gulo-r the shoes'
Locative	–	–	জুতাটিতে/জুতাটায় juta-ţi-te/juta-ţa-y on/in the shoe	জুতাগুলোতে juta-gulo-te on/in the shoes

It should be noted that all of the inflected nouns above have an indefinite article preceding their case markers. There are some basic rules to keep in mind about the cases, apart from the "default" nominative.

For the objective case, the ending -রে -re may be used in certain non-standard dialects of Bengali. For example, the non-standard ছাত্রটারে chhatrô-ţa-re may be used instead of the standard ছাত্রটাকে chhatrô-ţa-ke.

For the genitive case, the ending may change, though never with a definite article attached. A noun (without an article) which ends in a consonant or the inherent vowel, অ ô, is inflected by adding - ের -er to the end of the word (and deleting the inherent vowel if applicable). An example of this would be the genitive of মাংস mangshô "meat" being মাংসের mangsher "of meat" or "(the) meat's". A noun which ends in any vowel apart from the inherent vowel will just have a -র -r following it, as in the genitive of ছেলে chhele being ছেলের chheler "(the) boy's".

For the locative case, the marker also changes in a similar fashion to the genitive case, with consonants and the inherent vowel having their own ending, - ে -e, and all other vowels having another ending, -তে -te, with one exception. If a noun ends with - া -a, then it's locative case marker would be -য় -y, as in কলকাতায় Kolkata-y "to Kolkata". However, this special exception for -a ending nouns is often ignored, and colloquially many will say কলকাতাতে Kolkata-te instead of the proper Kolktata-y.

Measure words

When counted, nouns must also be accompanied by the appropriate measure word. As in many East Asian languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc.), nouns in Bengali cannot be counted directly by adding the numeral directly adjacent to the noun. The noun's measure word (MW) must be used in between the numeral and the noun. Most nouns take the generic measure word ţa, although there are many more specific measure words, such as jon, which is only used to count humans.

Measure Words

Bengali	Literal translation
Nôy-ţa ghoŗi	Nine-MW clock	Nine clocks
Kôy-ţa balish	How many-MW pillow	How many pillows
Ônek-jon lok	Many-MW person	Many people
Char-pañch-jon shikkhôk	Four-five-MW teacher	Four or five teachers

Measuring nouns in Bengali 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-: লেখো lekho (you all write) but লিখি likhi (we write). In general, the following transformations take place: ô → o, o → u, æ → 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 æ. 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 number (whether the event involves one or more subject). They do, however, indicate other information – these are shown below using the verbal root jan- "know":

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. These are combined with the different tenses described below to form the various verbal conjugations possible.

• 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")

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.

Simple 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. In most Eastern Dialects, the Very Familiar forms drop the final vowel from the original verb without instead of adding -(i)sh for most verbs that end with la and add -(o)s for most verbs that end with na.

Verb	1	2 (VF)	2 (F)	3 (F)	2/3 (P)
bôla	ami boli	tui bolish	tumi bôlo	she bôle	apni bôlen
বলা	আমি বলি	তুই বলিস	তুমি বল	সে বলে	আপনি বলেন
khola	ami khuli	tui khulish	tumi kholo	she khole	apni kholen
খোলা	আমি খুলি	তুই খুলিস	তুমি খোল	সে খোলে	আপনি খোলেন
khêla	ami kheli	tui khelish	tumi khêlo	she khêle	apni khêlen
খেলা	আমি খেলি	তুই খেলিস	তুমি খেল	সে খেলে	আপনি খেলেন
chena	ami chini	tui chinish	tumi cheno	she chene	apni chenen
চেনা	আমি চিনি	তুই চিনিস	তুমি চেন	সে চেনে	আপনি চেনেন
jana	ami jani	tui janish	tumi jano	she jane	apni janen
জানা	আমি জানি	তুই জানিস	তুমি জান	সে জানে	আপনি জানেন
hôoa	ami hoi	tui hosh	tumi hôo	she hôe	apni hôn
হওয়া	আমি হই	তুই হোস	তুমি হও	সে হয়	আপনি হন
dhoa	ami dhui	tui dhush	tumi dhoo	she dhoe	apni dhon
ধোয়া	আমি ধুই	তুই ধুস	তুমি ধোও	সে ধোয়	আপনি ধোন
khaoa	ami khai	tui khash	tumi khao	she khae	apni khan
খাওয়া	আমি খাই	তুই খাস	তুমি খাও	সে খায়	আপনি খান
deoa	ami dii	tui dish	tumi dao	she dêe	apni dên
দেওয়া	আমি তরে দিই	তুই তারে দিস	তুমি দাও	সে দেয়	আপনি দেন

Simple past tense

The (simple) past tense differs from its use in English in that it is usually reserved for events that have occurred recently; for instance, less than a day ago. It would be translated into the English simple past tense: I ate, you ran, he read. The endings are -lam, -li, -le, -lo, -len (notice that the vowels for the second and third [familiar] persons are the reverse of those in the present tense). For example: ami dekhlam, tui dekhli, tumi dekhle, se dekhlo, apni dekhlen. In Eastern varieties of Bengali, "a" is substituted for "e" in second-person familiar forms; thus "tumi bolla, khulla, khella," etc.

Verb	1	2 (VF)	2 (F)	3 (F)	2/3 (P)
bôla	ami bollam	tui bolli	tumi bolle	she bollo	apni bollen
বলা	আমি বললাম	তুই বললি	তুমি বললে	সে বলল	আপনি বললেন
khola	ami khullam	tui khulli	tumi khulle	she khullo	apni khullen
খোলা	আমি খুললাম	তুই খুললি	তুমি খুললে	সে খুলল	আপনি খুললেন
khêla	ami khellam	tui khelli	tumi khelle	she khello	apni khellen
খেলে	আমি খেললাম	তুই খেললি	তুমি খেললে	সে খেলল	আপনি খেললেন
chena	ami chinlam	tui chinli	tumi chinle	she chinlo	apni chinlen
চেনা	আমি চিনলাম	তুই চিনলি	তুমি চিনলে	সে চিনল	আপনি চিনলেন
jana	ami janlam	tui janli	tumi janle	she janlo	apni janlen
জানা	আমি জানলাম	তুই জানলি	তুমি জানলে	সে জানল	আপনি জানলেন
hôoa	ami holam	tui holi	tumi hole	she holo	apni holen
হওয়া	আমি হলাম	তুই হলি	তুমি হলে	সে হল	আপনি হলেন
dhooa	ami dhulam	tui dhuli	tumi dhule	she dhulo	apni dhulen
ধোওয়া	আমি ধুলাম	তুই ধুলি	তুমি ধুলে	সে ধুল	আপনি ধুলেন
khaoa	ami khelam	tui kheli	tumi khele	she khelo	apni khelen
খাওয়া	আমি খেলাম	তুই খেলি	তুমি খেলে	সে খেল	আপনি খেলেন
dêoa	ami dilam	tui dili	tumi dile	she dilo	apni dilen
দেওয়া	আমি দিলাম	তুই দিলি	তুমি দিলে	সে দিল	আপনি দিলেন

Habitual past tense

The habitual past tense has a few different uses. It is used for events that happened regularly, such as "I used to eat out every day" or "He wrote poems when he was young", the equivalent of an imperfect. It may also be used as a sort of conditional, such as the following: "If you asked I would come" or "If you had asked I would have come". It is easy to form the habitual past tense: simply start with the simple past tense and change the l to t (except in the tui [2 VF] form). The endings are -tam, -tish, -te, -to, -ten. For example: ami dekhtam, tui dekhtish, tumi dekhte, she dekhto, apni dekhten. In less standard varieties of Bengali, "a" is substituted for "e" in second-person familiar forms; thus "tumi bolta, khulta, khelta," etc.

Verb	1	2 (VF)	2 (F)	3 (F)	2/3 (P)
bôla	ami boltam	tui boltish	tumi bolte	she bolto	apni bolten
বলা	আমি বলতাম	তুই বলতিস	তুমি বলতে	সে বলত	আপনি বলতেন
khola	ami khultam	tui khultish	tumi khulte	she khulto	apni khulten
খোলা	আমি খুলতাম	তুই খুলতিস	তুমি খুলতে	সে খুলত	আপনি খুলতেন
khêla	ami kheltam	tui kheltish	tumi khelte	she khelto	apni khelten
খেলে	আমি খেলতাম	তুই খেলতিস	তুমি খেলতে	সে খেলত	আপনি খেলতেন
chena	ami chintam	tui chintish	tumi chinte	she chinto	apni chinten
চেনা	আমি চিনতাম	তুই চিনতিস	তুমি চিনতে	সে চিনত	আপনি চিনতেন
jana	ami jantam	tui jantish	tumi jante	she janto	apni janten
জানা	আমি জানতাম	তুই জানতিস	তুমি জানতে	সে জানত	আপনি জানতেন
hôoa	ami hotam	tui hotish	tumi hote	she hoto	apni hoten
হওয়া	আমি হতাম	তুই হতিস	তুমি হতে	সে হত	আপনি হতেন
dhooa	ami dhutam	tui dhutish	tumi dhute	she dhuto	apni dhuten
ধোওয়া	আমি ধুতাম	তুই ধুতিস	তুমি ধুতে	সে ধুত	আপনি ধুতেন
khaoa	ami khetam	tui kheltish	tumi khete	she kheto	apni kheten
খাওয়া	আমি খেতাম	তুই খেতিস	তুমি খেতে	সে খেত	আপনি খেতেন
dêoa	ami ditam	tui ditish	tumi dite	she dito	apni diten
দেওয়া	আমি দিতাম	তুই দিতিস	তুমি দিতে	সে দিত	আপনি দিতেন

Future tense

In less standard varieties of Bengali, "a" is substituted for "e" in second-person familiar forms; thus "tumi bolba, khulba, khelba," etc. The তুমি tumi and সে she conjugations are identical in this tense.

Verb	1	2 (VF)	2 (F)	3 (F)	2/3 (P)
bôla	ami bolbo	tui bolbi	tumi bolbe	she bolbe	apni bolben
বলা	আমি বলব	তুই বলবি	তুমি বলবে	সে বলবে	আপনি বলবেন
khola	ami khulbo	tui khulbi	tumi khulbe	she khulbe	apni khulben
খোলা	আমি খুলব	তুই খুলবি	তুমি খুলবে	সে খুলবে	আপনি খুলবেন
khêla	ami khelbo	tui khelbi	tumi khelbe	she khelbe	apni khelben
খেলে	আমি খেলব	তুই খেলবি	তুমি খেলবে	সে খেলবে	আপনি খেলবেন
chena	ami chinbo	tui chinbi	tumi chinbe	she chinbe	apni chinben
চেনা	আমি চিনব	তুই চিনবি	তুমি চিনবে	সে চিনবে	আপনি চিনবেন
jana	ami janbo	tui janbi	tumi janbe	she janbe	apni janben
জানা	আমি জানব	তুই জানবি	তুমি জানবে	সে জানবে	আপনি জানবেন
hôoa	ami hobo	tui hobi	tumi hobe	she hobe	apni hoben
হওয়া	আমি হব	তুই হবি	তুমি হবে	সে হবে	আপনি হবেন
dhooa	ami dhubo	tui dhubi	tumi dhube	she dhube	apni dhuben
ধোওয়া	আমি ধুব	তুই ধুবি	তুমি ধুবে	সে ধুবে	আপনি ধুবেন
khaoa	ami khabo	tui khabi	tumi khabe	she khabe	apni khaben
খাওয়া	আমি খাব	তুই খাবি	তুমি খাবে	সে খাবে	আপনি খাবেন
dêoa	ami dibo	tui dibi	tumi dibe	she dibe	apni diben
দেওয়া	আমি দিব	তুই দিবি	তুমি দিবে	সে দিবে	আপনি দিবেন

Postpositions

Whereas English features prepositions, Bengali typically uses postpositions. 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 memorised. Most postpositions are formed by taking nouns referring to a location and inflecting them for locative case.

Postpositions that require genitive (possessive) case

• আগে age 'before': সকালের আগে shôkal-er age 'before the morning'
• পরে pôre 'after': সন্ধ্যার পরে shondha-r pôre 'after the evening'
• উপরে upore 'on top of', 'above': বিছানার উপরে bichhana-r upore 'on top of the bed'
• নিচে niche 'below', 'under': বইয়ের নিচে boi-er niche 'under the book'
• পিছনে pichhone 'behind': আলমারির পিছনে almari-r pichhone 'behind the cupboard'
• সামনে shamne 'in front of': গাড়ির সামনে gaŗi-r shamne 'in front of the car'
• ওই পারে oi pare 'across': নদীর ওই পারে nodi-r oi pare 'across the river'
• কাছে kachhe 'near': জানালার কাছে janala-r kachhe 'near the window'
• পাশে pashe 'beside': চুলার পাশে chula-r pashe 'beside the stove'
• জন্য jonno 'for': শিক্ষকের জন্য shikkhôk-er jonno 'for the teacher'
• কাছ থেকে kach theke 'from' (people): বাবার কাছ থেকে baba-r kach theke 'from father'
• দিকে dike 'towards': বাসার দিকে basha-r dike 'towards the house'
• বাইরে baire 'outside': দেশের বাইরে desh-er baire 'outside the country'
• ভিতরে bhitore 'inside': দোকানের ভিতরে dokan-er bhitore 'inside the store'
• মধ্যে moddhe 'in the middle of': সমুদ্রের মধ্যে shomudr-er moddhe 'in the middle of the ocean'
• ভিতর দিয়ে bhitor die 'through': শহরের ভিতর দিয়ে shôhorer bhitor die 'through the city'
• মতো môto 'like': তোমার মতো tom-ar môto 'like you'
• সঙ্গে shôngge 'with': আমার সঙ্গে am-ar shôngge 'with me'
• কথা kôtha 'about': সেটার কথা sheţa-r kôtha 'about that'
• সম্মন্ধে shômmondhe 'about': ইতিহাসের সম্মন্ধে itihash-er shômmondhe 'about history'
• সাথে shathe 'with'(animate): মায়ের সাথে ma-er shathe 'with Mother'

Postpositions that require accusative (objective) case

• করে kore 'by means of': টেকসই করে ţêksi kore 'by taxi'
• ছাড়া chhaŗa 'without', 'aside from': আমাকে ছাড়া ama-ke chhaŗa 'aside from me'
• থেকে theke 'from' (places): বাংলাদেশ থেকে Bangladesh theke 'from Bangladesh'
• দিয়ে diye 'by': তাকে দিয়ে ta-ke diye 'by him'
• ধরে dhore 'for' (time): দুদিন ধরে dudin dhore 'for two days'
• নিয়ে niye 'including'(animate+inanimate), 'with'(inanimate): তোমাকে নিয়ে toma-ke niye 'including you'
• পর্যন্ত porjonto 'until': দশটা পর্যন্ত dôshţa porjonto 'until ten o' clock'
• সহ shôho 'with', 'including': টাকা সহ ţaka shôho 'along with the money'
• হয়ে hoe 'via': কলকাতা হয়ে Kolkata hoe 'via Kolkata'
• তে te 'to': মাঠেতে mathete 'to the temple'

Prepositions that require locative case

• বিনা bina 'without': বিনা অনুমতিতে bina onumoti-te 'without permission'

References

• Chatterji, Suniti Kumar. Bengali Self-Taught. Calcutta: Rupa & Co., 1991.
• Radice, William. Teach Yourself Bengali. Chicago: NTC Publishing Group, 1994.
• Bonazzi, Eros. Grammatica Bengali. Bologna (Italy): Libreria Bonomo Editrice, 2008. ISBN 978-88-6071-017-8

Further reading

• Thompson, Hanne-Ruth (2012). Bengali. Volume 18 of London Oriental and African Language Library. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 9027273138.