Kannada Question Words: Yaru, Yenu, Ellige, Yavaaga, Yaake

What do you ask the moment you arrive somewhere unfamiliar? Where is the bus stop? What time does the office open? Why is this lane blocked? Questions are not advanced grammar — they are day-one survival language. In Kannada, a small set of question words handles almost everything you need to ask, and their placement in a sentence follows a clear rule that differs fundamentally from English.

English puts the question word first: "Where are you going?" Kannada puts the verb last, and the question word slots in wherever the corresponding answer word would sit. ನೀವು ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗುತ್ತೀರಾ? (Nīvu elli hōguttīrā? — "Where are you going?") literally arranges as: you — where — going? The question word sits mid-sentence, between the subject and verb, not at the front. Get that position right and Kannadigas will follow your question immediately; put the question word at the front and you sound like a textbook that translated from English word-by-word.

The Core Five Question Words

These five words cover the vast majority of questions you will form in everyday Kannada.

Question	Kannada Script	Romanization	Notes
Who	ಯಾರು	yāru	/jaːɾu/
What	ಏನು	ēnu	/eːnu/
Where	ಎಲ್ಲಿ	elli	/ɛlːɪ/
When	ಯಾವಾಗ	yāvāga	/jaːˈvaːɡɐ/
Why	ಯಾಕೆ	yāke	/jaːke/

A sixth word belongs in any complete set: ಹೇಗೆ (hēge, /heːɡe/) — "how." It appears slightly less often than the other five in beginner-level interactions but becomes essential fast.

The initial y- sound in ಯಾರು, ಯಾವಾಗ, and ಯಾಕೆ is the palatal approximant /j/ — closer to the English y in "yes" than to an English y when it sits before a consonant. Kannada dictionaries romanize this sound as y-, and the Kannada script character ಯ (ya) represents it consistently.

Yaru: Asking About People

ಯಾರು (yāru) asks about a person or identity. It appears wherever the answer "a person" would appear in the sentence.

ಇವರು ಯಾರು? Ivaru yāru? "Who is this person?" (formal/respectful — ivaru is the honorific form of "this person")

ನಿಮ್ಮ ಹೆಸರು ಯಾರು? Nimma hesaru yāru? Literally: "Your name is who?" — a natural Kannada phrasing that maps oddly to English but is the standard way to ask someone's name in informal contexts. More formal: ನಿಮ್ಮ ಹೆಸರು ಏನು? (Nimma hesaru ēnu? — "What is your name?") is also widely used and arguably more elegant.

Q&A pairs:

ಬಾಗಿಲು ತೆರೆದವರು ಯಾರು? — Bāgilu teredavaru yāru? — "Who opened the door?" ನಮ್ಮ ಅಪ್ಪ. — Namma appa. — "My father."

ನಿನ್ನ ತರಗತಿ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರು ಯಾರು? — Ninna taragati śikṣakaru yāru? — "Who is your class teacher?" ಅವರ ಹೆಸರು ರಮೇಶ್. — Avara hesaru Ramēś. — "Their name is Ramesh."

Notice that both questions put yāru at the end, after the rest of the question is set up. That is the default position for a question word in Kannada — not mandatory by strict grammar, but standard in natural speech.

Enu: Asking About Things

ಏನು (ēnu) asks about objects, facts, situations, and abstract things. It is probably the highest-frequency question word you'll use, because it also forms the backbone of several polite conversation openers.

ಇದು ಏನು? — Idu ēnu? — "What is this?" ಅದು ರಾಗಿ ಮುದ್ದೆ. — Adu rāgi mudde. — "That is ragi mudde."

ನೀವು ಏನು ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತೀರಾ? — Nīvu ēnu kelasa māḍuttīrā? — "What work do you do?" (the standard Karnataka question for asking someone's profession — notably specific about "what work" rather than just "what do you do") ನಾನು ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರ್. — Nānu injiniyar. — "I am an engineer."

ಅಡುಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಏನು ಹಾಕಿದ್ದೀರಾ? — Aḍugeyalli ēnu hākiddīrā? — "What have you put in the cooking?" ತೆಂಗಿನಕಾಯಿ ಮತ್ತು ಕೊಥಂಬರಿ. — Tenginakāyi mattu kothambari. — "Coconut and coriander."

ಏನು also combines with other words to form compound questions. ಏನಾಯಿತು? (ēnāyitu?) — "What happened?" — is one of the first compound question words learners encounter, and it's worth learning as a phrase whole.

Elli: Asking About Places

ಎಲ್ಲಿ (elli) asks about location. It corresponds to both "where?" and "at/in what place?"

ನಿಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಇದೆ? — Nimma mane elli ide? — "Where is your house?" ಕೋರಮಂಗಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದೆ. — Koramaṅgaladalli ide. — "It's in Koramangala."

ಬಸ್ ಸ್ಟ್ಯಾಂಡ್ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ? — Bas styāṇḍ ellide? — "Where is the bus stand?" ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಇದೆ, ನೇರ ಹೋಗಿ. — Alli ide, nēra hōgi. — "It's over there, go straight."

A related word worth learning alongside elli: ಎಲ್ಲಿಂದ (ellinda, "from where?"). The suffix -inda means "from" in Kannada — it attaches to elli the same way it attaches to place names. ನೀವು ಎಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಬಂದಿರಿ? (Nīvu ellinda bandiri? — "Where have you come from?") is the question; ನಾನು ದೆಹಲಿಯಿಂದ ಬಂದೆನು (Nānu Dehliyinda bandenu — "I came from Delhi") is the answer structure.

Ellige — which appears in the title of this post — is the dative or directional form: "to where," "where to." ನೀವು ಎಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತೀರಾ? (Nīvu ellige hōguttīrā? — "Where are you going to?") The suffix -ge marks direction or goal; elli + -ge = ellige.

Yavaaga: Asking About Time

ಯಾವಾಗ (yāvāga) asks when something happened, is happening, or will happen.

ಆಫೀಸ್ ಯಾವಾಗ ತೆರೆಯುತ್ತದೆ? — Āphīs yāvāga tereyuttade? — "When does the office open?" ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ಒಂಭತ್ತು ಘಂಟೆಗೆ. — Beḷigge ombaththu ghaṇṭege. — "At nine in the morning."

ನೀವು ಯಾವಾಗ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿಗೆ ಬಂದಿರಿ? — Nīvu yāvāga Bengaḷūrige bandiri? — "When did you come to Bangalore?" ಎರಡು ವರ್ಷದ ಹಿಂದೆ. — Eraḍu varṣada hinde. — "Two years ago."

ಮದುವೆ ಯಾವಾಗ? — Maduve yāvāga? — "When is the wedding?" ಮುಂದಿನ ತಿಂಗಳು. — Mundina tingaḷu. — "Next month."

The third example demonstrates an important feature of Kannada: the verb can be dropped entirely when context is clear. ಮದುವೆ ಯಾವಾಗ? is grammatically complete as a question even without any form of "to be" — the question word and the noun are enough.

Yaake: Asking Why

ಯಾಕೆ (yāke) is the question word that causes the most social variation, because why questions can sound blunt or even accusatory in many cultures, and Karnataka is no exception.

ನೀವು ಯಾಕೆ ತಡ ಮಾಡಿದಿರಿ? — Nīvu yāke taḍa māḍidiri? — "Why did you make us wait?" (a polite-ish formal question, but still pointed)

In real conversation, Kannadigas often soften yāke questions by adding ಯಾಕೆ ಅಂತ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ (yāke anta gottilla — "I don't know why") as a way of asking without accusation. Or they front the question with ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ (svalpa, "a little/please") to soften the register.

ನೀವು ಯಾಕೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಕಲಿಯುತ್ತೀರಾ? — Nīvu yāke Kannada kaliyuttīrā? — "Why are you learning Kannada?" ಯಾಕಂದರೆ ನಾನು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತೇನೆ. — Yākandare nānu Bengaḷūrinalli kelasa māḍuttēne. — "Because I work in Bangalore."

The answer uses ಯಾಕಂದರೆ (yākandare, "because") — the causal connector for yāke questions. Learn them as a pair.

Hege: Asking How

ಹೇಗೆ (hēge) covers manner, method, and condition. It is also the root of the standard wellbeing question you likely already know: ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರಾ? (hēgiddīrā? — "How are you?" formal) is literally hēge + iddīrā (are/were you).

ಮೆಟ್ರೋ ಸ್ಟೇಶನ್ ಹೇಗೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು? — Meṭrō ṣṭeśan hēge hōgabēku? — "How do I get to the Metro station?" ನೇರ ಹೋಗಿ, ಮತ್ತೆ ಎಡಕ್ಕೆ ತಿರುಗಿ. — Nēra hōgi, matte eḍakke tirugi. — "Go straight, then turn left."

ಬಿಸಿ ಬೇಳೆ ಬಾತ್ ಹೇಗೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ? — Bisi bēḷe bāth hēge māḍuttāre? — "How is bisi bele bath made?"

ಅದು ಹೇಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದರು? — Adu hēge hēḷidaru? — "How did they say that?"

Yes/No Questions: Two Methods

Not every question needs a question word. Kannada forms yes/no questions in two ways.

Method 1: The -ā suffix. Attach -ಆ (-ā) to the verb to signal a yes/no question. This is the written-language and formal-speech method.

Statement	Question	English
ಅವರು ಬಂದರು (avaru bandaru — they came)	ಅವರು ಬಂದರಾ? (avaru bandarā?)	Did they come?
ನೀವು ಕನ್ನಡ ಮಾತಾಡುತ್ತೀರಾ (nīvu Kannada mātāḍuttīrā)	ನೀವು ಕನ್ನಡ ಮಾತಾಡುತ್ತೀರಾ? (nīvu Kannada mātāḍuttīrā?)	Do you speak Kannada?
ಕಾಫಿ ಇದೆ (kāphi ide — there is coffee)	ಕಾಫಿ ಇದೆಯಾ? (kāphi ideyā?)	Is there coffee?

Method 2: Rising intonation. In casual Bangalore speech, a statement with rising intonation becomes a question without any grammatical change. ನೀನು ಊಟ ಮಾಡಿದೆ? (Nīnu ūṭa māḍide? — "You ate?" said with a rising lilt) is a perfectly natural yes/no question among friends. This is not lazy grammar — it is how spoken Kannada works in informal contexts, the same way English speakers say "You finished?" rather than "Have you finished?"

Answers to yes/no questions: ಹೌದು (haudu, /ˈhɐudu/) for yes, ಇಲ್ಲ (illa, /ɪlːɐ/) for no. These two words are themselves worth internalizing as reflexes before you work on anything else. ಹೌದು and ಇಲ್ಲ carry more weight than most beginners expect — Kannadigas use them crisply and often without additional words. A plain haudu is confirmation enough.

Question Word Position: The Rule

English: [Question word] + [auxiliary] + [subject] + [verb] Kannada: [Subject] + [Question word slot] + [rest of sentence] + [verb]

The question word occupies the position where the answer would naturally sit. Since Kannada is a verb-final language — something explained in depth in the post on Kannada verb tenses — the verb always lands last, and the question word slots into the middle of the sentence.

Three examples demonstrating the position consistently:

ಅವರು ಯಾಕೆ ಹೋದರು? — Avaru yāke hōdaru? — "Why did they go?" (subject — why — verb)

ಅವರು ಯಾವಾಗ ಬರುತ್ತಾರೆ? — Avaru yāvāga baruttāre? — "When will they come?" (subject — when — verb)

ಅವರು ಆಫೀಸಿಗೆ ಹೇಗೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾರೆ? — Avaru āphīsige hēge hōguttāre? — "How do they go to the office?" (subject — object — how — verb)

In the third example, when there is an object or destination, the question word comes after it. The verb stays last throughout.

One exception: topic-fronting for emphasis. A speaker who wants to emphasize why specifically might say ಯಾಕೆ ಅವರು ಹೋದರು? (Yāke avaru hōdaru? — "WHY did they go?"). This is grammatical and used for emphasis or surprise, not the default word order.

20 Q&A Pairs for Drilling

Question	Romanization	Answer	Romanization	English
ನಿಮ್ಮ ಹೆಸರು ಏನು?	Nimma hesaru ēnu?	ನನ್ನ ಹೆಸರು ಪ್ರಿಯಾ.	Nanna hesaru Priyā.	What is your name? / My name is Priya.
ನೀವು ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದೀರಾ?	Nīvu elli iddīrā?	ನಾನು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದೇನೆ.	Nānu Bengaḷūrinalli iddēne.	Where do you live? / I live in Bangalore.
ಇದು ಎಷ್ಟು?	Idu eṣṭu?	ನೂರು ರೂಪಾಯಿ.	Nūru rūpāyi.	How much is this? / One hundred rupees.
ನೀವು ಯಾರು?	Nīvu yāru?	ನಾನು ರಮೇಶ್ನ ಗೆಳೆಯ.	Nānu Ramēśna geḷeya.	Who are you? / I am Ramesh's friend.
ಬಸ್ ಯಾವಾಗ ಬರುತ್ತದೆ?	Bas yāvāga baruttade?	ಹತ್ತು ನಿಮಿಷದಲ್ಲಿ.	Hattu nimiṣadalli.	When does the bus come? / In ten minutes.
ನೀವು ಯಾಕೆ ಬಂದಿರಿ?	Nīvu yāke bandiri?	ಕೆಲಸ ಇದೆ ಅಂತ.	Kelasa ide anta.	Why did you come? / (Because) There's work.
ಅಡುಗೆ ಮನೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ?	Aḍuge mane ellide?	ಒಳಗಡೆ ಇದೆ.	Oḷagaḍe ide.	Where is the kitchen? / It's inside.
ಅವರು ಯಾರು?	Avaru yāru?	ಅವರು ನಮ್ಮ ಅಮ್ಮ.	Avaru namma amma.	Who is that? / That is our mother.
ಊಟ ಯಾವಾಗ ಆಗುತ್ತದೆ?	Ōṭa yāvāga āguttade?	ಇನ್ನು ಅರ್ಧ ಘಂಟೆಯಲ್ಲಿ.	Innu ardha ghaṇṭeyalli.	When will the meal be ready? / In half an hour.
ನೀನು ಕನ್ನಡ ಯಾಕೆ ಕಲಿಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀಯ?	Nīnu Kannada yāke kaliyuttiddīya?	ಯಾಕಂದರೆ ನನಗೆ ಇಷ್ಟ.	Yākandare nanage iṣṭa.	Why are you learning Kannada? / Because I like it.
ಮೆಟ್ರೋ ಹೇಗೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು?	Meṭrō hēge hōgabēku?	ಎಡಕ್ಕೆ ತಿರುಗಿ.	Eḍakke tirugi.	How do I get to the Metro? / Turn left.
ನೀವು ಏನು ತಿನ್ನುತ್ತೀರಾ?	Nīvu ēnu tinnuttīrā?	ನಾನು ದೋಸೆ ತಿನ್ನುತ್ತೇನೆ.	Nānu dōse tinnuttēne.	What are you eating? / I am eating dosa.
ಆಫೀಸ್ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ?	Āphīs ellide?	ಎಂ.ಜಿ ರೋಡ್ ಹತ್ತಿರ.	Em.Ji rōḍ hattira.	Where is the office? / Near MG Road.
ಇದು ಏನು?	Idu ēnu?	ಅದು ಇಡ್ಲಿ.	Adu iḍli.	What is this? / That is idli.
ನೀನು ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀಯ?	Nīnu hēgiddīya?	ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದ್ದೇನೆ.	Chennaagiddēne.	How are you? (informal) / I am fine.
ದಿನ ಯಾವುದು?	Dina yāvudu?	ಇಂದು ಮಂಗಳವಾರ.	Indu maṅgaḷavāra.	What day is it? / Today is Tuesday.
ಅವರು ಎಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಬಂದರು?	Avaru ellinda bandaru?	ಮೈಸೂರಿನಿಂದ.	Maisūrininda.	Where did they come from? / From Mysore.
ಫೋನ್ ಯಾವಾಗ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದೀರಾ?	Phōn yāvāga māḍiddīrā?	ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾಡಿದೆ.	Beḷigge māḍide.	When did you call? / I called in the morning.
ನೀವು ಹೇಗೆ ಬಂದಿರಿ?	Nīvu hēge bandiri?	ಮೆಟ್ರೋದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದೆ.	Meṭrōdalli bande.	How did you come? / I came by metro.
ಆಟ ಯಾಕೆ ಇಲ್ಲ?	Āṭa yāke illa?	ಮಳೆ ಅಂತ.	Maḷe anta.	Why is there no game? / (Because) rain.

A Note on Eṣṭu: The Missing Question Word

ಎಷ್ಟು (eṣṭu, /eˈʂʈu/) — "how much / how many" — appears constantly in everyday Kannada. Strictly it is a quantitative pronoun rather than an interrogative, but treating it as a seventh question word works fine in practice.

ಇದು ಎಷ್ಟು? (Idu eṣṭu? — "How much is this?") is the universal market phrase. ಎಷ್ಟು ಮಂದಿ ಬರ್ತಾರೆ? (Eṣṭu mandi bartāre? — "How many people are coming?") uses it for count. If you're shopping, bargaining, or booking anything in Karnataka, eṣṭu belongs on day one.

What Makes Questions Hard in Kannada

The vocabulary itself is not the obstacle. Five question words — yāru, ēnu, elli, yāvāga, yāke — can be memorized in an afternoon. Two things are harder.

First, verb-final word order. Every English speaker's instinct is to put the question word first, because that is how English structures questions. Kannada structures the question word exactly where the answer would go, and the verb always comes last. That instinct needs to be overridden at the sentence-formation level, not just memorized as a rule. The way to build this reflex is to practice producing full sentences rather than just learning the question word in isolation. Write ten questions using yāvāga this week. Speak them aloud. The word-order instinct shifts faster than you expect.

Second, the formal/informal verb forms attached to questions. The Kannada pronouns and honorific system post covers this fully — the short version is that ನೀವು ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದೀರಾ? (formal) and ನೀನು ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದೀಯ? (informal) both mean "where are you?", but the register choice matters. Learn both forms of each question you use regularly.

The greetings post on essential Kannada phrases for daily use has these question-and-answer patterns in real dialogue — reading it alongside this guide will show how the question words function in full exchanges, not just isolated sentences.

The Brightwood Apps Learn Kannada app covers the question word system in Unit 3, with exercises that drill the word-order rule through real-conversation practice rather than isolated fill-in-the-blank tasks. If the verb-final instinct is taking time to build, working through those exercises with the native audio playing will help more than re-reading this guide a second time.