Nominalization

Verb-to-noun suffixes, different toolkits

German leans on one highly regular tool for this job: the -ung suffix (untersuchen → Untersuchung) or, for a smaller set of older verbs, a vowel-changing pattern (ankommen → Ankunft) — almost any verb can be nominalized this way, predictably. Telugu gets to the same compressed noun phrase through two different routes at once. Native verbs often have a matching vowel-final or -ిక-suffixed deverbal noun built right off the root, the way రా ('to come') gives రాక ('the arrival') or కదులు ('to move') gives కదలిక ('the movement'). But just as often, especially for more abstract or technical ideas, Telugu reaches past its own verb entirely and borrows a ready-made Sanskrit tatsama noun — వెతుకు ('to search') doesn't stretch into a suffixed noun of its own; instead Telugu uses అన్వేషణ ('investigation/search'), a separate Sanskrit-derived word functioning exactly like an -ung noun. So where German's rule is 'add -ung and you're done', Telugu nominalization is really two overlapping strategies: derive natively, or swap in a borrowed abstract noun.