Nouns

Plural formation is decided by how a noun ends. If an inanimate noun ends in a vowel, plural is formed by adding -kal. Those ending in -am end in -anŋal in plural.

If the noun is human, plural is formed by adding  -márr

amma (mother)                                   ammamárr  

puθrran (son)                                                 puθrranmárr

Cases 

Malayalam, like other Dravidian languages and Sanskrit, does not have prepositions, instead uses a set of cases to bring in senses such as location or transfer of an action.

Before delving into declensions, let me give an overview of what it will be like.

There are five main cases in Malayalam. All other cases can be derived from these five.

1. Possessive

It is Anna’s cat.

2. Objective case (direct object of a transitive verb)

This case is used when the noun is the object of some action.

She likes me.

There are two accusative cases in Malayalam, which I will call accusative and parlative (pardon me, I coined this word – etymology parlare , Latin, to speak)

3. Accusative

Indirect object of a transitive verb

I gave her a pen

4. Parlative

This is used when the transitive verb is

to speak, to tell, to ask, to shout etc.

I am speaking to her.

5. Dative

This case is used when the noun is given something.

I gave him a nice book.

Objective, Parlative, Dative, Locative and Possessive

Basic rules

Ending in a, i.

Objective   + ye

Parlative     + yódë

Dative        + kkë

Locative     + yil     

Possessive  + yude

Example

kada (shop)

Objective        kadaye

Parlative          kadayódë

Dative             kadakkë

Locative          kadayil

Possessive       kadayude

kili  (bird)

Objective        kiliye

Parlative          kiliyódë

Dative             kilikkë

Locative          kiliyil  

Possessive       kiliyude

Kai (hand)

Objective        kaiyye

Parlative          kaiyyinóde (those ending in ai takes this form)

Dative             kaikkë

Locative          kaiyyil

Possessive       kaiyyude (+yinte instead of +yude in some cases)

Ending in u, ë

Objective       + ine

Parlative         + inódë

Dative            + inë

Locative         + il     

Possessive      + inte

Example 

vídë (house)

Objective vídine 

Parlative vídinódë

Dative vídinë  

Locative víttil

Possessive vítinte

puzhu (worm)

Objective    puzhuvine

Parlative      puzhuvinódë

Dative         puzhuvinë  

Locative      puzhuvil

Possessive   puzhuvinte

Accusative

Accusative case is same as nominative (the noun without declension) if the noun is inanimate. Otherwise it is same as objective case.

ñán avanë oru pattikuttiye koduθu. (pattikutti puppy ; noun ending in 'i'. Accusative is same as objective as puppy is a living creature)

I gave him a puppy.

avan enikkë oru bukkë θaňňu. (bukkë book; noun ending in 'ë'. Accusative is same as nominative as book is inanimate)

He gave me a book.

You might wonder why 'ë' disappeared in the first case and a 'v' appeared in the second. This is a result of liason.

Ablative

Ablative case is used to indicate moving away from something. In English this sense is brought by the preposition 'from'.

eg:- I came from Trivandrum.

In Malayalam this case can be formed by adding 'ňiňňë' to the locative case.

ñán víttil ňiňňë varuvá.

I am coming from the house.