Editing Telugu language (section)

==== Noun classes (gender) ====
As with other Dravidian languages, gender in Telugu follows a semantic system,<ref name=":2">{{cite book|title=Gender|last=Corbett, Greville G.|date=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-32939-6|location=Cambridge [England]|pages=151–154|oclc=21227561}}</ref> in the sense that it is mostly the meaning of the word which defines the noun class to which it belongs. There are three noun classes: masculine (human males, ''he-''gender), feminine (human females, ''she''-gender), and neuter (all non-humans, ''it-gender''). The gender of most nouns is encoded through agreement/indexation in pronominal suffixes rather than overtly on the noun.<ref name=":0" />

{{interlinear
| lang = tel
| indent = 3|anna vaccā'''ḍu'''|older.brother come-past-'''MASC'''|The older brother came
}}

{{interlinear
| lang = tel
| indent = 3|amma vacc-in'''di'''|mother come-past-'''FEM'''|Mother came
}}

In terms of the verbal agreement system, genders in marking on the Telugu verb only occur in the third person.<ref name=":0" />

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Third person
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!Masculine
|{{interlinear
| lang = tel|tericā-'''ḍu'''|He opened
}}
|{{interlinear
| lang = tel|tericā-'''ru'''|They opened
}}
|-
!Feminine
|{{interlinear
| lang = tel|tericin-'''di'''|She opened
}}
|{{interlinear
| lang = tel|tericā-'''ru'''|They opened
}}
|-
!Neuter
|{{interlinear
| lang = tel|tericin-'''di'''|It opened
}}
|{{interlinear
| lang = tel|tericā-'''yi'''/tericina-'''vi'''|They (non-human) opened
}}
|}

The Telugu gender system differs from other Dravidian languages such as [[Tamil language|Tamil]] in that the Telugu feminine shares indexation morphemes with the masculine plural (''-ru'') and with the neuter singular (''-di''). What characterises the three-gender system is then the individual behaviour of the singular-plural ''pairs'' of suffixes.<ref name=":2" />

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Gender
|Verbal suffixes<br/>(singular : plural)
|-
!''Masculine''
| -ḍu : -ru
|-
!''Feminine''
| -di : -ru
|-
!''Neuter''
| -di : -yi/-vi
|}