Telugu Transliteration Guide: Immediate Family
To read immediate-family Telugu transliteration, first separate labels from sentence-length examples. The set includes standalone terms for mother, father, and siblings, a possessive phrase meaning “my mother,” and complete statements about a parent being at home or a sister’s name. Match the English meaning before treating an item as a sentence.
Start with these expressions
| English | Transliteration | Native script |
|---|---|---|
| Mother | amma | అమ్మ |
| Father | naanna | నాన్న |
| Older sister | akka | అక్క |
| Younger brother | tammudu | తమ్ముడు |
| My mother | naa amma | నా అమ్మ |
| My mother is at home. | naa amma intlo undi. | నా అమ్మ ఇంట్లో ఉంది. |
| My father is at home. | naa naanna intlo unnaru. | నా నాన్న ఇంట్లో ఉన్నారు. |
| My older sister's name is Rama. | naa akka peru rama. | నా అక్క పేరు రమ. |
Separate the family word from the whole statement
Use the standalone entries when you are identifying a relative by name or meaning. The evidence directly records the entries for mother, father, and older sister with those meanings [1] [2] [3]. The other standalone sibling entries in the selected set are also useful for recognising age distinctions in the English gloss.
Then check whether the item says only who someone is, or whether it gives extra information. The example meaning “my mother” is a possessive noun phrase: it identifies a person but does not state what she is doing or where she is. By contrast, the examples about a parent being at home and an older sister’s name contain a complete message. This is the practical distinction to apply today: if the English meaning stops at a family relationship, treat it as vocabulary or a noun phrase; if it tells you a location or a name, treat it as a sentence. Do not assume that one sentence example automatically gives you a rule for building every other family sentence.
[1] Source: dsal.uchicago.edu.
[2] Source: dsal.uchicago.edu.
[3] Source: dsal.uchicago.edu.
Try it
You are telling a relative that your father is at home. Which example should you choose?
Choose your answer before reading on.
Check your answer:
Use expression 7 in the table above.
Choose the example whose English meaning includes both the father relationship and the information that he is at home. A standalone father term would identify the person but would not communicate the location.
Review the selected examples once by English meaning, then cover the meanings and identify whether each item is a family term, a possessive phrase, or a complete statement.
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