-അവൻ

Malayalam

Etymology

From അവൻ (avaṉ, “he”). In its grammatical function as a suffix, it converts a relative participle into a masculine pronominal noun (agent noun).

Suffix

-അവൻ • (-avaṉ)

  1. he who; the one (masculine) who...
    • Creates a pronominal noun from a relative participle. Its role as the "doer" (subject) or the "receiver" (object) depends on the preceding words and the verb's tense.

Examples of Syntactic Flexibility

The suffix -അവൻ identifies a person based on an action.

  • As Subject (The Doer):
  1. നിന്നെ തല്ലിയവൻ ഇതിൽ ആരാണ്?
    ninne talliyavaṉ itil ārāṇŭ?
    Who among these is the one who hit you?
    സത്യം പറയുന്നവൻ ആരെയും പേടിക്കില്ല.
    satyaṁ paṟayunnavaṉ āreyuṁ pēṭikkilla.
    The one who says (speaks) the truth fears no one.
  • As Object (The Receiver):
  1. നീ തല്ലിയവൻ ഇതിൽ ആരാണ്?
    nī talliyavaṉ itil ārāṇŭ?
    Who among these is the one [that] you hit?
    നീ പറഞ്ഞവൻ ഇപ്പോൾ ഇവിടെയുണ്ട്.
    nī paṟaññavaṉ ippōḷ iviṭeyuṇṭŭ.
    The one [that] you mentioned (spoke about) is here now.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.