Grammar and Language Usage (Vyakaranam)
Scope
Vyakaranam questions are application questions: split or join a word (sandhi), name a compound (samasam), identify the case and its suffix (vibhakti), and transform a sentence (voice, direct/indirect speech, affirmative/negative, simple/compound). Marks come from naming the category and showing the operation, so write both forms.
Core rules
- Sandhi: savarna-deerga (ആ + അ → ആ): വിദ്യാ + ആലയം → വിദ്യാലയം. Guna (അ + ഇ → ഏ): ദേവ + ഇന്ദ്രൻ → ദേവേന്ദ്രൻ.
- Samasam: tatpurusha (മഴയുടെ കാലം → മഴക്കാലം), karmadharaya (വിശേഷണം + നാമം: ചെമ്പരത്തി), dvandva (അമ്മയും അച്ഛനും → അമ്മയച്ഛൻ), bahuvrihi (ദശാനനൻ = ten-faced, Ravana), avyayibhava (യഥാശക്തി).
- Vibhakti: the eight cases taught in Kerala Panineeyam - nirdeshika, prathigrahika (-എ), samyojika (-ആൽ/-കൊണ്ട്), uddeshika (-ന്/-നു), prayojika (-ഇൽനിന്ന്), sambandhika (-ന്റെ), aadharika (-ഇൽ), sambodhana (ഹേ/ഓ).
- Transformation: meaning stays constant; only structure changes. In the passive, the subject takes -ആൽ and the verb takes -പ്പെട്ടു.
Worked example
Is "മഴ + കാലം" a sandhi? No. The sense is മഴയുടെ കാലം and what disappears is a case ending, so it is a shashti tatpurusha samasam: write "മഴക്കാലം - ഷഷ്ഠി തത്പുരുഷൻ". Sandhi would fuse two words by sound alone with no case relation, as in വിദ്യാ + ആലയം.
Traps
Treating every joined word as sandhi; naming the vibhakti without its suffix; passive transformations that silently shift tense; rewriting a sentence instead of transforming it.