Assamese Grammar 101

Welcome to Assamese Grammar 101, your quick guide to the fundamental structure of the Assamese language. If you’re learning Assamese or using our translator, understanding some basic grammar can significantly improve your experience. Assamese grammar shares similarities with other Indo-Aryan languages like Bengali and Hindi, but it also has its unique twists.

In this guide, we’ll cover the essentials: pronouns, sentence structure, tense, and a few special features of Assamese. Don’t worry – we’ll keep it simple and provide examples. Think of this as a cheat sheet to get a feel for how Assamese “works” as a language. Let’s dive in!

Personal Pronouns (I, You, We, etc.)

Knowing pronouns helps you form basic sentences. Here are the Assamese personal pronouns:

• মই (moi) – I
• তুমি (tumi) – You (informal)
• আপুনি (apuni) – You (formal/respectful)
• সেয়ে (seye) – He/She (informal; actually Assamese often uses the person’s name or a kinship term instead of a direct pronoun in many cases, but for learning, seye works for third person)
• তেওঁ (tenew) – He/She (formal or respectful, literally means “that person”)
• আমি (ami) – We
• তহঁত / আপোনালোকে (tohôt / apunaloke) – You all / You (plural) [তহঁত is informal plural “you all” among friends; আপোনালোকে is formal plural].
• তেওঁলোকে (tenwoloke) – They

Example:
– মই স্কুললৈ যাওঁ (moi skul-loi zaó) – “I go to school.”
– তুমি কি কৰিছা? (tumi ki koricha?) – “What are you doing?” (informal you)
– আপুনি ভালনে? (apuni bhal ne?) – “Are you well/okay?” (formal you)

Notice Assamese distinguishes levels of respect with pronouns (similar to tu/tum/apan in some languages). As a learner, if unsure, err on the side of polite (আপুনি).

Sentence Structure – SOV Order

As mentioned in earlier guides, Assamese typically follows Subject-Object-Verb word order. The verb comes at the end. This is different from English (which is SVO). Let’s break down a simple sentence:

• English: “Ram (subject) ate (verb) an apple (object).”
• Assamese: “Ram an apple ate” -> ৰাম এটা আপেল খাল (Ram eta apel khaal).
  • ৰাম (Ram) – subject
  • এটা আপেল (eta apel) – an apple (object)
  • খাল (khaal) – ate (verb, past tense)

Another example:

• English: “The child is playing in the field.”
• Assamese: শিশুটি খেলি আছে মাঠত (shishu-ti kheli ase mathot).
  • শিশুটি (shishu-ti) – the child (ti is a suffix here meaning “the specific one”)
  • মাঠত (mathot) – in the field (মাঠ = field, -ত marks location “in”)
  • খেলি আছে (kheli ase) – is playing (literally “playing is”).

So, subject first, then object or other info, then verb at end. It might take practice to reorder your thoughts this way from English, but with enough exposure it becomes second nature.

The Verb “To Be” and Basic Tenses

In Assamese, the verb “to be” (am/is/are) in present tense is often understood rather than always stated explicitly. Assamese uses আছে (ase) for “is/are (in existence somewhere)” and হয় (hoy) for “is (equals)”. This can get a bit nuanced, but here’s a simple view:

• Present Tense:
  • I am a student. – মই ছাত্ৰ। (Moi chatro.) Technically just “I student.” The “am” is implied. You could say মই ছাত্ৰ হৈছে (moi chatro hoyse) but it’s not usually needed for equating nouns. However, if describing location or condition, use আছে.
  • I am at home. – মই ঘৰত আছোঁ (Moi ghorot asoŋ). Here আছোঁ (asoŋ) is the first-person present form of আছে, indicating existence at a place: “I (am) at home.”
• Past Tense: Assamese often adds -sil or uses forms of আছিল (asil) for was/were. Verbs often take suffixes:
  • He was happy. – তেওঁ সুখী আছিল (tenew sukhi asil). (Literally “he happy was.”)
  • I went – মই গেলোঁ (Moi gélõ). The verb “go” যোৱা (jowa) in past first person became গেলোঁ (geloŋ). Many verbs in past tense take an “-il” or similar change (this is something to pick up gradually).
• Future Tense: Often adds -bo or -iba.
  • She will come. – তেওঁ আহিব (tenew ahibo) – “She will come.”
  • I will eat. – মই খাবোঁ (moi khaboŋ). Notice the “boŋ” ending indicating future for first person.

There are also compound tenses (present continuous uses “আছে” with a participle, as in খেলি আছে above for is playing). But broadly: present often uses the root or simple form (sometimes with hon/han for continuous), past uses -sil/-il forms, future uses -bo. Thankfully, Assamese verbs do not change with gender (unlike some languages where “he went” and “she went” might differ – in Assamese both would be similar form).

Negation

To make a sentence negative, Assamese typically adds নাই (nai) or নহয় (nohoy) depending on context, or the word ন’ (no) before a verb.

• I don’t have money. – মোৰ টকা নাই (Mor toka nai). Literally “My money is not.” (Assamese often uses “nai” to indicate non-existence or not having.)
• He is not coming. – তেওঁ আহি থকা নাই (tenew ahi thoka nai) or a simpler conversational form তেওঁ নাহে (tenew nahe). The first is like “He is not in the process of coming,” the second “He doesn’t come/isn’t coming.” Context usually clarifies tense when you say “না—” form.
• This is not good. – এটা ভাল নহয় (eta bhal nohoy) meaning “This is not good.” Here নহয় (literally “is not”) is used for negating a state or equation.

So remember, “nai” is a general not/no (especially for possession or existence), and “nohoy” is like saying “is not” for descriptive sentences.

Postpositions (Case Markers)

Instead of separate preposition words (in, at, to), Assamese often attaches a suffix to a noun to indicate those relationships:

• -ত (-t) or -ত্’e (-te): at/in. e.g., ঘৰত (ghorot) – at home, স্কুলত (skulot) – at school.
• -লৈ (-loi): to/towards. e.g., বাজাৰলৈ (bazar-loi) – to the market, ত্যাহলৈ (tyah-loi) – to there.
• -ৰ (-r): of (possession). e.g., ৰামের (Ramer) – Ram’s, গছৰ পাত (gosor paat) – tree’s leaf (leaf of the tree).
• -কে (-ke): marks a definite direct object, similar to Hindi “-ko”. e.g., মই বইখন পঢ়িলোঁ (Moi boi-khon porhilõ) – I read the book (here -khon is a classifier for book, and adding -ke if it were just boike could indicate specifically “the book” as object – this is a bit advanced, but just note objects sometimes get a suffix when specific).

These are called case markers or postpositions. They attach to nouns. It’s a different concept from English, but it’s very regular in Assamese. When using our translator or reading Assamese, recognizing these endings will help. For instance, if you see a word ending in “-ত”, likely it means “in/at (that word)”. Example: “Assamত” (Oxomot) means “in Assam.”

Plurals and Classifiers

Assamese doesn’t always require a change to make a noun plural – often the noun stays the same and plurality is understood by context or by adding words like “many” (বহুত bahut). However, Assamese often uses classifiers (counters) when numbering or specifying nouns. For example:

• এটা বই (eta boi) – one book (এটা = one [of a non-living item] + boi = book).
• দুটি মানুহ (duti manuh) – two people (note: “মানুহ” itself could mean person or people, but with a number, you use the classifier টি ti).
• কিছু মানুহ (kisu manuh) – some people (still manuh, no plural marker).
  There is a plural suffix -বিলাক (-bilak) which can indicate “(the) plural ones” in some cases, e.g., ছাত্ৰবিলাক (chatra-bilak) means “the students”. You might also see -বোৰ (-bur) used similarly. But these are optional and used for emphasis or specificity.

Special Feature – No Gender Conjugation

Unlike Hindi or many gendered languages, Assamese verbs and adjectives do not change based on gender of the subject. For example, “He is tall” and “She is tall” would use the same word for tall, no change for male/female. Nouns of course have gender (a man vs a woman are different words), but grammatically you don’t worry about making agreement in adjectives or verbs for gender. This simplifies some aspects of grammar for learners!

Example Sentences Bringing It All Together:

• আমি অসমীয়া ভাষা শিকিম (Ami asomiya bhasha shikim). – “We will learn Assamese language.”
  
  • আমि (ami) = we (subject),
  • অসমীয়া ভাষা (asomiya bhasha) = Assamese language (object),
  • শিকিম (shikim) = will learn (verb, first person plural future).
  • Note: The verb root is শিকা (shika, to learn). In future tense for “we”, it became শিকিম.
• তেওঁলোকে খেল ধৰি থাকে (Tenwoloike khel dhori thake). – “They keep playing games.”
  
  • তেওঁলোকে = they (plural, as subject),
  • খেল (khel) = game/play,
  • ধৰি থাকে (dhori thake) = literally “hold and remain” which is an idiomatic way to say “continue doing”. So together meaning “continue playing”.
  • This shows present continuous nuance.
• ৰাহুলে ঘৰলৈ দৌৰিল (Rahule ghor-loi douril). – “Rahul ran home.”
  
  • Here, ৰাহুলে (Rahule) is Rahul with an -e suffix indicating he is the doer (subject in a transitive verb sentence),
  • ঘৰলৈ = towards home (ঘৰ +লৈ),
  • দৌৰিল (douril) = ran (verb in past).

You can see how suffixes attach and verb comes last.

Conclusion

This was a whirlwind tour of Assamese grammar basics. We touched on pronouns, word order, tenses, negation, and some unique elements like postpositions. Don’t worry if you can’t remember all of this at once – grammar is best absorbed gradually and through practice. Use our translator to see grammar in action: input simple sentences you know in English, observe how Assamese output is structured.

Over time, you’ll notice patterns, like that handy verb-at-end rule or the way “-ত” and “-লৈ” pop up. With these fundamentals in mind, you have a framework to build on. Assamese will start to feel less like a mystery and more like a puzzle you know how to solve. Keep this Grammar 101 as a reference, and happy learning – অসমীয়া ভাষা আপোনাৰ বাবে সহজ হব লাগিব! (Asomiya bhasha apunar babe sohoj hobo lagib) – “Assamese language will become easy for you!”