Infinitive Clauses: um...zu, ohne...zu, statt...zu
ప్రయోజన/మినహాయింపు ఉప వాక్యాలు
German expresses purpose, exception, and substitution with a three-part frame — um/ohne/statt ... zu + infinitive — pushing the verb to the end one more time, in a construction Telugu handles with compact suffixes riding on its own verbal-noun form.
Grammar Comparison
వ్యాకరణ పోలిక
um...zu ≈ Telugu's dative-marked purpose infinitive -డానికి
Ich lerne Deutsch, um in Deutschland zu arbeiten. (I learn German [in order] to work in Germany)
జర్మనీలో పని చేయడానికి నేను జర్మన్ నేర్చుకుంటున్నాను. (Germany-in work-do-for, I German learning-am)
Telugu turns a verb into a noun with the suffix -డం (చేయడం, 'the doing'), then puts that verbal noun in the dative case with -కి/-కు to get -డానికి ('for the purpose of doing / in order to') — the same general dative postposition Telugu uses everywhere else for 'to/for' targets, just riding on a verbal noun here. German instead wraps the goal verb in a three-piece frame: um at the start of the clause, zu directly before the infinitive, and the infinitive itself pushed to the very end. The underlying meaning matches Telugu's -డానికి closely — both are, at bottom, a dative-marked purpose clause — but German spreads that single compact suffix's job across three separate words positioned around the sentence.
Vocabulary
పదజాలం
- Telugu
- ...డానికి...daaniki
- English
- in order to
- Telugu
- ...కుండా...kunda
- English
- without ...ing
- Telugu
- ...కు బదులు...ku badulu
- English
- instead of ...ing
- Telugu
- పని చేయడానికి నేర్చుకుంటున్నాను.pani cheyadaniki nerchukuntunnaanu.
- English
- I learn in order to work.
- Telugu
- వాడు డబ్బు చెల్లించకుండా వెళ్ళిపోయాడు.vaadu dabbu chellinchakunda vellipoyaadu.
- English
- He left without paying.