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Nepali grammar is the study of the morphology and syntax of Nepali language, an Indo-European language spoken in South Asia.
Overall, in terms of grammatical gender, among Indo-Aryan languages, Nepali possesses an "attenuated gender" system, in which "gender accord typically is restricted to female animates (so that the system is essentially restructured as zero/+Fem), optional or loose even then …, and greatly reduced in syntactic scope. … In Nepali, the declensional ending is a neutral -o, changeable to -ī with Personal Feminines in more formal style."
Nepali distinguishes two numbers, with a common pluralizing suffix for in -harū (e.g. mitra "friend" : mitraharū "friends"). Unlike the English plural it is not mandatory, and may be left unexpressed if plurality is already indicated in some other way: e.g. by explicit numbering, or agreement. further notes that the suffix "rarely indicates simple plurality: it often means that other objects of the same or a like class are also indicated and may be translated as 'and other things'."
"Masculine", or rather "neutral" -o is the citation form and the otherwise overwhelmingly more encountered declension, as previously noted, gender in Nepali is attenuated and accord "typically is restricted to female animates", and "optional or loose even then". However, "In writing, there has been a strong tendency by some to extend the use of feminine markers beyond their use in speech to include the consistent marking of certain adjectives with feminine endings. This tendency is strengthened by some Nepali grammars and may be reinforced by the influence of Hindi upon both speech and writing."
Indeclinable adjectives are completely invariable, and can end in either or (except -o).
Beyond this come compound postpositions, composed of a primary postposition (most likely ko or bhandā) plus an adverb.
The first person singular pronoun is म , and the first person plural is हामी . The following table lists the second and third person singular forms.
and have and as plurals, while other pronouns pluralize (including , for emphasis, but excluding ) with the common suffix . Also, bracketed beside of a number of forms in the above chart are their [[oblique|Oblique case]] counterparts, used when they (as demonstrative pronouns) or that which they qualify (as demonstrative determiners) are followed by a [[postposition]]. However, the need to oblique weakens the longer distance between demonstrative and postposition gets. Also, one exception which does not require obliquing is "with".
Possibly the most important verb in Nepali, as well as the most irregular, is the verb हुनु hunu 'to be, to become'. In the simple present tense, there are at least three conjugations of हुनु hunu, only one of which is regular. The first, the ho-conjugation is, broadly speaking, used to define things, and as such its complement is usually a noun. The second, the cha-conjugation is used to describe things, and the complement is usually an adjectival or prepositional phrase. The third, the huncha-conjugation, is used to express regular occurrences or future events, and also expresses 'to become' or 'to happen'.
They are conjugated as follows:
| +Simple Present conjugation of the verb हुनु hunu !!!हो ho !छ cha !हुन्छ huncha |
हुनु hunu also has two suppletive stems in the simple past, namely भ- bha- (the use of which corresponds to the huncha-conjugation) and थि- thi- (which corresponds to both the cha and ho-conjugations) which are otherwise regularly conjugated. भ- bha- is also the stem used in the formation of the various .
The finite forms of regular verbs are conjugated as follows (using गर्नु garnu 'to do' as an example):
| + Finite forms of गर्नु garnu 'to do' !!!Simple Present/Future !Probable Future !Simple Past !Past Habitual !Injunctive !Imperative |
As well as these, there are two forms which are infinitival and participial in origin, but are frequently used as if they were finite verbs. Again using गर्नु garnu as an example, these are गरेको gareko 'did' and गर्ने garne 'will do'. Since they are simpler than the conjugated forms, these are often overused by non-native speakers, which can sound stilted.
The eko-participle is also the basis of perfect constructions in Nepali. This is formed by using the auxiliary verb हुनु hunu (usually the cha-form in the present tense and the thi-form in the past) with the eko-participle. So, for example, मैले काम गरेको छु maile kām gareko chu means 'I have done (the) work'.
The second infinitive is formed by adding -न na to the verb stem. This is used in a wide variety of situations, and can generally be used where the infinitive is used in English. For example, म काम गर्न रामकहाँ गएको थिएँ ma kām garna rāmkahā̃ gaeko thiẽ 'I had gone to Ram's place to do work'.
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