⭐⭐ Intermediate⏱ 20 minutes📊 Lesson 97 of 121
Telugu verbs carry more information than English ones. A single word can tell you who is acting, when, and how politely. The good news is that the endings are regular, so once you know the pattern for one verb you know it for most. This page gives you the twenty verbs that appear in almost every conversation, plus the endings that turn them into real sentences.
The Twenty Verbs You Need First
These are dictionary forms — the base you attach endings to.
చేయు
cēyu
to do
వెళ్ళు
veḷḷu
to go
రా
rā
to come
తిను
tinu
to eat
తాగు
tāgu
to drink
చూడు
cūḍu
to see
విను
vinu
to hear
మాట్లాడు
māṭlāḍu
to speak
చదువు
caduvu
to read / study
రాయు
rāyu
to write
ఇవ్వు
ivvu
to give
తీసుకో
tīsukō
to take
నేర్చుకో
nērcukō
to learn
పడుకో
paḍukō
to sleep
లే
lē
to get up
కూర్చో
kūrcō
to sit
నడువు
naḍuvu
to walk
పరుగెత్తు
parugettu
to run
కొను
konu
to buy
అమ్ము
ammu
to sell
How Endings Work
Telugu is subject-object-verb, so the verb always lands at the end. The ending changes for person and tense while the stem stays put.
నేను చేస్తాను
nēnu cēstānu
I do / I will do
నేను చేశాను
nēnu cēśānu
I did
నేను చేస్తున్నాను
nēnu cēstunnānu
I am doing
నేను చేయను
nēnu cēyanu
I will not do
మీరు చేస్తారా
mīru cēstārā
Will you do it?
చేయండి
cēyaṇḍi
Please do it
The pattern with cēyu (to do):
- -tānu — I (present/future): cēstānu
- -tāvu — you, informal: cēstāvu
- -tāru — you, respectful / they: cēstāru
- -tāḍu / -tundi — he / she-it: cēstāḍu, cēstundi
- -āmu — we: cēsāmu
Swap the stem and the same endings apply: veḷtānu (I will go), tiṇṭānu (I will eat), cūstānu (I will see).
Pronunciation and Mistakes
💬 Pronunciation Tips
- veḷḷu has a doubled retroflex ḷḷ — hold it, or it becomes a different word.
- māṭlāḍu packs three retroflex sounds together; slow it down to māṭ-lā-ḍu.
- The polite ending -aṇḍi is unstressed and glides: cēy-aṇḍi.
- parugettu doubles the t: paru-get-tu.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
- Putting the verb in the middle of the sentence, English-style. In Telugu it goes last.
- Using the -tāvu ending with an elder — always -tāru with mīru.
- Forgetting -aṇḍi on requests, which turns a polite ask into an order.
- Confusing cūḍu (see) with cēyu (do) in fast speech.
🌴 Culture Note
- Respect is grammatical, not optional. Using the plural ending for a single elder is standard courtesy.
- Telugu speakers often drop the pronoun entirely, because the verb ending already says who is acting.
- tīsukō and ivvu appear constantly in hospitality — offering and accepting food is a daily ritual.
Practice
- Conjugate tinu (eat) for I, you-polite, and they.
- Turn “I am going” into a question addressed to an elder.
- Make five polite requests using -aṇḍi.
- Say what you did yesterday using three past-tense verbs.
- Rewrite an English sentence putting the verb last, Telugu-style.