Nepali grammar
Nepali grammar is the study of the morphology and syntax of Nepali, an Indo-European language spoken in South Asia. Phonology. In matters of script, Nepali uses Devanagari. On this grammar page Nepali is written in "standard orientalist" transcription as outlined in . Being "primarily a system of transliteration from the Indian scripts, [and] based in turn upon Sanskrit" (cf. IAST), these are its salient features: subscript dots for retroflex consonants; macrons for etymologically, contrastively long vowels; "h" denoting aspirated plosives. Tildes denote nasalized vowels. Vowels and consonants are outlined in the tables below. Hovering the mouse cursor over  them will reveal the appropriate IPA symbol, while in the rest of the article hovering the mouse cursor over forms will reveal the appropriate English translation. Like Bengali, Assamese, and Marathi and unlike Hindustani, Nepali may retain the final schwa in a word. The following rules can be followed to figure out whether or not Nepali words retain the final schwa. 1) Schwa is retained if the final syllable is a conjunct consonant. (, 'end'), (, 'relation'), (, 'greatest'/a last name). Exceptions: conjuncts such as in (, 'stage') (, 'city') and occasionally the last name (/). 2) For any verb form the final schwa is always  retained unless the schwa-cancelling halanta is present. (, 'it happens'), (, 'in happening so; therefore'), (, 'he apparently went'), but (, 'they are'), (, 'she went'). Meanings may change with the wrong orthography: (, 'she didn't go') vs (, 'she went'). 3) Adverbs, onomatopoeia and postpositions usually maintain the schwa and if they don't, halanta is acquired: ( 'now'), (, 'towards'), (, 'today') ( 'drizzle') vs (, 'more'). 4) Few exceptional nouns retain the schwa such as: (, 'suffering'), (, 'pleasure'). Note: Schwas are often retained in music and poetry to facilitate singing and recitation. Morphology. Nouns. Nepali nouns that denote male and female beings are sometimes distinguished by suffixation or  through pairs of lexically differing terms. Thus one pattern involves masculine "-o/ā" vs feminine "-ī" suffixes (e.g. "chorā" "son" : "chorī" "daughter", "buṛho" "old man" : "buṛhī" "old woman"), while another such phenomenon is that of the derivational feminine suffix "-nī" (e.g. "chetrī" "Chetri" : "chetrīnī" "Chetri woman", "kukur" "dog" : "kukurnī" "female dog"). Beyond this, nouns are otherwise not overtly marked (i.e. inanimate nouns, abstract nouns, all other animates). Overall, in terms of grammatical gender, among Indo-Aryan languages, Nepali possesses an "attenuated gender" system, in which "gender accord typically is restricted to female animates (so that the system is essentially restructured  as "zero/+Fem"), optional or loose even then […], and greatly reduced in syntactic scope. […] In Nepali, the [declensional] ending is a neutral "-o", changeable to "-ī" with Personal Feminines in more formal style." Nepali distinguishes two numbers, with a common pluralizing suffix for nouns in "-harū" (e.g. "mitra" "friend" : "mitraharū" "friends"). Unlike the English plural it is not mandatory, and may be left unexpressed if plurality is already indicated in some other way: e.g. by explicit numbering, or agreement. further notes that the suffix "rarely indicates simple plurality: it often means that other objects of the same or a like class  are also indicated and may be translated as 'and other things'." Adjectives. Adjectives may be divided into declinable and indeclinable categories. Declinables are marked, through termination, for the gender and number of the nouns they qualify. The declinable endings are "-o" for the "masculine" singular, "-ī" for the feminine singular, and "-ā" for the plural. e.g. "sāno kitāb" "small book", "sānī keṭī" "small girl", "sānā kalamharū" "small pens". "Masculine", or rather "neutral" "-o" is the citation form and the otherwise overwhelmingly more encountered declension, as previously noted, gender in Nepali is attenuated and accord "typically is restricted to female animates , and optional or loose even then". However, "In writing, there has been a strong tendency by some to extend the use of feminine markers beyond their use in speech to include the consistent marking of certain adjectives with feminine endings. This tendency is strengthened by some Nepali grammars and may be reinforced by the influence of Hindi upon both speech and writing." Indeclinable adjectives are completely invariable, and can end in either consonants or vowels (except "-o"). Postpositions. In Nepali the locus of grammatical function or "case-marking" lies within a system of agglutinative suffixes or particles known as postpositions , which parallel English's prepositions. There is a number of such one-word primary postpositions: Beyond this come compound postpositions, composed of a primary postposition (most likely "ko" or "bhandā") plus an adverb. Pronouns. Nepali has personal pronouns for the first and second persons, while third person forms are of demonstrative origin, and can be categorized deictically as proximate and distal. The pronominal system is quite elaborate, by reason of its differentiation on lines of sociolinguistic formality. In this respect it has three levels or grades of formality/status: low, middle, and high (see T-V distinction for further clarification ). Pronouns do not distinguish gender. The first person singular pronoun is "ma" म, and the first person plural is "hāmī" हामी. The following table lists the second and third person singular forms. "yo" and "tyo" have "yī" and "tī" as plurals, while other pronouns pluralize (including "hāmī", for emphasis, but excluding "ū") with the common suffix "-harū". Also, bracketed beside of a number of forms in the above chart are their oblique counterparts, used when they (as demonstrative pronouns) or that which they qualify (as demonstrative determiners) are followed by a postposition. However, the need to oblique weakens the longer  distance between demonstrative and postposition gets. Also, one exception which does not require obliquing is "-sãga" "with". Verbs. Verbs in Nepali are quite highly inflected, agreeing with the subject in number, gender, status and person. They also inflect for tense, mood, and aspect. As well as these inflected finite forms, there are also a large number of participial forms. Possibly the most important verb in Nepali, as well as the most irregular, is the verb हुनु "hunu" 'to be, to become'. In the simple present tense, there are at least three conjugations of हुनु "hunu", only one of which is  regular. The first, the "ho"-conjugation is, broadly speaking, used to define things, and as such its complement is usually a noun. The second, the "cha"-conjugation is used to describe things, and the complement is usually an adjectival or prepositional phrase. The third, the "huncha"-conjugation, is used to express regular occurrences or future events, and also expresses 'to become' or 'to happen'. They are conjugated as follows: हुनु "hunu" also has two suppletive stems in the simple past, namely भ- "bha-" (the use of which corresponds to the "huncha"-conjugation) and थि- "thi-" (which corresponds to both the "cha" and "ho"-conjugations) which  are otherwise regularly conjugated. भ- "bha-" is also the stem used in the formation of the various participles. The finite forms of regular verbs are conjugated as follows (using गर्नु "garnu" 'to do' as an example): As well as these, there are two forms which are infinitival and participial in origin, but are frequently used as if they were finite verbs. Again using गर्नु "garnu" as an example, these are गरेको "gareko" 'did' and गर्ने "garne" 'will do'. Since they are simpler than the conjugated forms, these are often overused by non-native speakers, which can sound stilted. The "eko"-participle  is also the basis of perfect constructions in Nepali. This is formed by using the auxiliary verb हुनु "hunu" (usually the "cha"-form in the present tense and the "thi"-form in the past) with the "eko"-participle. So, for example, मैले काम गरेको छु "maile kām gareko chu" means 'I have done (the) work'. Infinitives. Nepali has two infinitives. The first is formed by adding -नु "nu" to the verb stem. This is the citation form of the verb, and is used in a number of constructions, the most important being the construction expressing obligation. This is formed by combining the "nu"-infinitive  with the verb पर्नु "parnu" 'to fall'. This is an impersonal construction, which means that the object marker -लाई "lāī" is often added to the agent, unless the verb is transitive, in which case the ergative/instrumental case marker -ले "le" is added. So, for example, "I have to do work" would be translated as मैले काम गर्नुपर्छ "maile kām garnuparcha". It is also used with the postposition -अघि "aghi" 'before'. गर्नुअघि "garnuaghi", then, means 'before doing'. The second infinitive is formed by adding -न "na" to the verb stem. This is used in a wide variety of situations, and  can generally be used where the infinitive is used in English. For example, म काम गर्न रामकहाँ गएको थिएँ "ma kām garna rāmkahā̃ gaeko thiẽ" 'I had gone to Ram's place to do work'.