Pronouns in Telugu

 In this lesson, we are going to learn about Pronouns in Telugu.

Pronouns are used instead of nouns.

You have studied about the pronouns in English.

There are three persons, and each person has both singular and plural.

Similarly, in Telugu also, there are pronouns for three types of persons. But, the main difference is that in English, each person singular and plural has a single word, whereas it has different words in Telugu.

The following are the pronouns in Telugu:

నేను (Naenu) (I) is first person singular and మేము (maemu) or మనము (manamu) (we) is first person plural.

నీవు/నువ్వు (Neevu/nuvvu) (you) is second person singular and మీరు (meeru) (you) is the plural.

అతడు (Athadu) / ఆయన (aayana) / వాడు (vaadu) / వీడు (veedu) - (he), ఆమె (aame) / ఆవిడ (aavida) / (adhi) / idhi - (she) and అది / ఇది (adhi / idhi) - (it) are third person singulars. వారు / వీరు / అవి / ఇవి (Vaaru / veeru / avi / ivi) – they - are the third person plurals.

Here is the description of the usage of each word:

Naenu (నేను) (I) is used as the first person singular by both male and female.

Maemu (మేము) (we) is used as the first person plural when spoken by the speaker, excluding the listener.

Manamu (మనము) (we) is used as the first person plural when spoken by the speaker, including the listener.

Neevu (నీవు) or nuvvu (నువ్వు) (you) are used as the second person singular but nuvvu is used more in the colloquial language. Neevu is used more in the language of books. In other words, nuvvu is used in spoken language, whereas neevu is used in written language.

Meeru (మీరు) (you) is used as the second person plural.

Athadu (అతడు) (he) is used more in written or classic language. Aayana (ఆయన) is used to show respect towards older people, i.e., the word is used to show politeness. 

Vaadu (వాడు) and veedu (వీడు) (he) is used in informal situations or when speaking to men younger than you. Vaadu is used to speak about the men who are far away or at distance and veedu is used to speak about the people who are nearby or close to you.

Aame (ఆమె) (she) is used more in written or classic language. Aavida (ఆవిడ) is used to show respect for older women. Adhi (అది) and idhi (ఇది) are used to talk about women younger than you. Adhi is used to speak about the women who are far away, and idhi is used to speak about the women who are near to you.

Adhi and idhi are also used to denote ‘it,’ i.e., the things or objects.

Vaaru (వారు) and veeru (వీరు) (they) are used as third person plural for both masculine and feminine genders. Vaaru denotes the people that are far away, and veeru denotes the people who are nearby. Similarly, avi (అవి) denotes the distant objects, and ivi (ఇవి) indicates nearby things.

Personal Pronouns - Summary

I	Naenu (నేను)
We	Maemu (మేము) – excluding listener
	Manamu (మనము) – including listener
You – Singular	Neevu (నీవు) or nuvvu (నువ్వు) – singular - informal – use it for a person younger than you.
You – Plural	Meeru (మీరు) / తమరు (Tamaru) – plural / It can also be used for a person (singular) to show respect – formal
He	Athadu (అతడు) – General use – far
	Ithadu (ఇతడు) – General use – near
	Aayana (ఆయన) – Formal (to show respect) – far
	Eeyana (ఈయన) – Formal (to show respect) – near
	Vaadu (వాడు) - Very informal – far
	Veedu (వీడు) - Very informal – near
She	Aame (ఆమె) (she) – general – far
	Eeme (ఈమె) (she) – general – near
	Aavida (ఆవిడ) – formal - far
	Aavida (ఈవిడ) – formal - near
	Adhi (అది) - very informal - far
	Idhi (ఇది) - very informal - near
It	Adhi (అది) - general - far
	Idhi (ఇది) - general - near
They	Vaaru (వారు) – formal – far – people
	Veeru (వీరు) – formal – near – people
	Vaallu (వాళ్ళు) – general – far - people
	Veellu (వీళ్ళు) – general – near – people
	Avi (అవి)  - far - Non-living things, birds, animals, etc
	Ivi (ఇవి)  - near - Non-living things, birds, animals, etc