Basics
learnsanskrit.org November 25, 2012
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How Sanskrit Works Learning Sanskrit is like building a massive house. Our materials are the various Sanskrit soun sounds ds,, whic hich we combi ombin ne and blen blend d to make ake new mater ateria ials ls.. Our techn echniq ique uess are are the rules ules of gra grammar, whic hich start tart out out quit quitee sim simply ply but soon soon be beco com me much more subt subtle le and and int interes eresti ting ng.. And our approach approach is a practical practical one: build a basic basic shelter before before expanding further. further. But without a steady foundation, the house cannot stand. If we have even a basic unde unders rsta tand ndin ing g of how how Sans Sanskr krit it gene genera rall lly y work works, s, we can can grea greatl tly y redu reduce ce our our prob proble lems ms late laterr on. on. Moreover, this basic understanding will also help us put Sanskrit's different parts in perspective. So before we begin with Sanskrit itself, let's quickly discuss what the language is like.
Word order Here is a basic English sentence: Elephants eat fruits. Let's see how this sentence appears in Sanskrit:
गजाः फिलान खािद
gajāḥ phalāni khādanti
Elephants fruit eats. ("Elephants eat fruits.") As you can see, the came concepts appear in different orders in both languages. But surprisingly, the word order does not matter much in Sanskrit:
गजाः खािद फिलान
gajāḥ khādanti phalāni
Elephants eat fruits. ("Elephants eat fruits.")
फिलान खािद गजाः
phalāni khādanti gajāḥ
Fruits eat elephants. ("Elephants eat fruits.")
खािद फिलान गजाः
khādanti phalāni gajāḥ
Eat fruits elephants. ("Elephants eat fruits.")
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How Sanskrit Works Learning Sanskrit is like building a massive house. Our materials are the various Sanskrit soun sounds ds,, whic hich we combi ombin ne and blen blend d to make ake new mater ateria ials ls.. Our techn echniq ique uess are are the rules ules of gra grammar, whic hich start tart out out quit quitee sim simply ply but soon soon be beco com me much more subt subtle le and and int interes eresti ting ng.. And our approach approach is a practical practical one: build a basic basic shelter before before expanding further. further. But without a steady foundation, the house cannot stand. If we have even a basic unde unders rsta tand ndin ing g of how how Sans Sanskr krit it gene genera rall lly y work works, s, we can can grea greatl tly y redu reduce ce our our prob proble lems ms late laterr on. on. Moreover, this basic understanding will also help us put Sanskrit's different parts in perspective. So before we begin with Sanskrit itself, let's quickly discuss what the language is like.
Word order Here is a basic English sentence: Elephants eat fruits. Let's see how this sentence appears in Sanskrit:
गजाः फिलान खािद
gajāḥ phalāni khādanti
Elephants fruit eats. ("Elephants eat fruits.") As you can see, the came concepts appear in different orders in both languages. But surprisingly, the word order does not matter much in Sanskrit:
गजाः खािद फिलान
gajāḥ khādanti phalāni
Elephants eat fruits. ("Elephants eat fruits.")
फिलान खािद गजाः
phalāni khādanti gajāḥ
Fruits eat elephants. ("Elephants eat fruits.")
खािद फिलान गजाः
khādanti phalāni gajāḥ
Eat fruits elephants. ("Elephants eat fruits.")
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Inflection Sans Sanskr krit it is so flex flexib ible le beca becaus usee its its word wordss carr carry y ext extra ra informat information ion with with them. We take a basic word, like gaja ("elephant"), and somehow mark somehow mark it to show two things: • There are multiple elephants. • These elephants are eating (but the fruits are not). And likewise for phala ("fruit"): • There are multiple fruits. • These fruits are being eaten (but the elephants are not). We add this extra information by changing part of the word: gaja becomes becomes gajāḥ , and phala becomes phalāni . When we change a word to add information like this, we say that we inflect the word. Words are inflected in English, too, but not very much. For example, we say "I play" and "you play," but we say "he plays, plays," not "he play." If we see just the word "plays," we can guess that the the per person doin doing g the the play playin ing g is "he" "he" or "sh "she," e," but but prob probab ably ly not "I" or "you. you."" This his is be beccaus ause the word has been inflected to inflected to show who is doing the playing. As another example, we say "I play" and "I will play," but we say "I played." played." The The word ord "pla play" chan change gess to show show that that the the play playin ing g has has alre alread ady y happ happen ened ed.. We can can work work back backwa ward rd from from the the word word "played" and figure that out. Sanskrit words are inflected much more than English words. Even complex ideas can be represented as single words:
्बालौ ामान ् बालौ िजगिमयिष grāmān bālau jigamayiṣanti
They want to make the two boys go to the villages. There are also uninflected words, uninflected words, which always remain the same:
स एव गित
sa eva gacchati Only he goes.
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Making words One One of Sans Sanskr krit it's 's rich riches estt and and most most rewa reward rdin ing g feat featur ures es is the the abil abilit ity y to make make yo your ur own own word words s . Star Startting ing from from bas basic soun ounds and syll yllabl ables, es, we can quic quickl kly y creat reatee word ords of gre great subt ubtlety lety and and nuance:
भज ् भग →
→
् भागवत भगवत ् →
bhaj → bhaga → bhagavat → bhāgavata
ador adore, e, love love → adora adoratio tion, n, love love concerning the blessed Lord
ु य ुज ् योग →
→
→
glo gloriou riouss, fortu ortuna nate te;; the bless lessed ed one one, Lord ord
→
् ियोगन ्
yuj → yoga → yogin
connect, bind, prepare → concentration, exertion ( yoga) yoga) → yogin Jus Just as many branc anches hes gro grow from from the the same ame trunk runk,, many any words ords can grow grow from the same ame bas basic elements. By learning these elements and some basic rules, we can quickly understand thousands of new words.
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Present Tense Verbs Actions Generally, every Sanskrit sentence is just some action. The simplest sentences are just actions and nothing else:
गित
gacchati He goes. Words that describe actions are called verbs. gacchati is a verb. So is the word below:
गतः
gacchataḥ The two of them go.
gacchati and gacchataḥ both start the same way, with gaccha . This part of the verb is called the stem; just as many flowers bloom from the same plant stem, many verbs are formed from the same verb stem. We add an ending to a stem to make a complete word:
ग + ित
गित
→
gaccha + ti → gacchati He goes.
ग + तः
→
गतः
gaccha + taḥ → gacchataḥ The two of them go.
ग + ि
→
गि
gaccha + nti → gacchanti They go.
ित + ित
→
ितित
tiṣṭha + ti → tiṣṭhati He stands.
ित + तः
→
िततः
tiṣṭha + taḥ → tiṣṭhataḥ The two of them stand.
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ित + ि
िति
→
tiṣṭha + nti → tiṣṭhanti They stand.
पय + ित
→
पियत
paśya + ti → paśyati He sees.
पय + तः
→
पयतः
paśya + taḥ → paśyataḥ The two of them see.
पय + ि
→
पिय
paśya + nti → paśyanti They see.
And of course, we can talk about other sorts of people. We can talk about you:
गिस
gacchasi You go.
गथः
gacchathaḥ The two of you go.
गथ
gacchatha You all go.
ितिस
tiṣṭhasi You stand.
ितथः
tiṣṭhathaḥ The two of you stand.
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ितथ
tiṣṭhatha You all stand.
पियस paśyasi
You see.
पयथः
paśyathaḥ The two of you see.
पयथ
paśyatha You all see. And we can talk about me:
गािम
gacchāmi I go.
गावः
gacchāvaḥ The two of us go.
गामः
gacchāmaḥ We all go.
ितािम
tiṣṭhāmi I stand.
ितावः
tiṣṭhāvaḥ The two of us stand.
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ितामः
tiṣṭhāmaḥ We all stand.
पियाम
paśyāmi I see.
पयावः
paśyāvaḥ The two of us see.
पयामः
paśyāmaḥ We all see. In this way, Sanskrit lets us talk about some action and the people who perform it.
The present tense The verbs above let us describe what is happening right now . In English, these verbs are called present tense verbs.
गित
gacchati He goes.
पयावः
paśyāvaḥ The two of us see.
ितिस
tiṣṭhasi You stand.
पयामः
paśyāmaḥ We all see.
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गतः
gacchataḥ The two of them go.
ितथ
tiṣṭhatha You all stand.
ितथः
tiṣṭhathaḥ The two of you stand.
गि
gacchanti They go.
पियाम
paśyāmi I see. These Sanskrit verbs have a broader meaning than their English counterparts:
गित
gacchati He is going.
िततः
tiṣṭhataḥ The two of them are standing.
पिय paśyanti
They are seeing. And they have many others too. As much as possible, we should focus on Sanskrit words and sentences, not their counterparts in English. The more we rely on English, the less we learn about Sanskrit itself. The forms of this verb are often presented in a table, like the one below:
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[3s] [2s] [1s]
[3d] [2d] [1d]
[3p] [2p] [1p]
But we have seen all of these forms already, and there is no need to linger on a table like this.
In the wild Our goal is to read Sanskrit texts. So along the way, we will study many examples of real Sanskrit. As we read these examples, we see new concepts in a real setting. And we can measure how much we have learned so far. So consider the text below. We know enough to pronounce it correctly. But how much can we understand?
अा योगस ंििस ंका ं िगत ं क ृ गित
aprāpya yogasaṃsiddhiṃ kāṃ gatiṃ kṛṣṇa gacchati If he has not attained perfection in yoga, Krishna, on which path does he go?— Bhagavad Gita 6.37 Focus on the highlighted words above; the rest of the example is too difficult right now. But even this difficult example teaches us something about Sanskrit. Note that gacchati appears at the end of the sentence. Most verbs do. Note, too, that the anusvāra appears in yogasaṃsiddhim without a space after it. This indicates that the anusvāra can appear within a word, not just at the end of it. We can also recognize some familiar words, like yoga and kṛṣṇa . These words appear throughout the Bhagavad Gita, and we will see them many times.
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Ātmanepada The verbs we just studied are called parasmaipada verbs. The verbs we will study below are called ātmanepada verbs. But what makes one verb different from another? And just what do parasmaipada and ātmanepada mean, anyway? Both questions have roughly the same answer. Traditionally, ātmanepada verbs are used when the action benefits the person who performs it (ātmane , "for the self"; pada just means "word"), and parasmaipada verbs are used everywhere else ( parasmai , "for another"). We show this difference in meaning by using different verb endings:
पिचत
pacati He cooks.
े पचत
pacate He cooks for himself. (He's cooking himself a meal.)
पचतः
pacataḥ The two of them cook.
े त े पच
pacete The two of them cook for themselves.
पिच
pacanti They cook.
े पच
pacante They cook for themselves. The stem is the same, but the endings are different. Just as two different flowers can sometimes grow from the same stalk, so too can parasmaipada and ātmanepada forms grow from the same verb stem.
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Endings The ātmanepada endings are closely related to the parasmaipada endings. They follow similar patterns:
पिचत
pacati He cooks.
े पचत
pacate He cooks for himself. (He's cooking himself a meal.)
पिच
pacanti They cook.
े पच
pacante They cook for themselves.
पिचस
pacasi You cook.
े पचस
pacase You cook for yourself. Even when these patterns are not immediately clear:
पचतः
pacataḥ The two of them cook.
े त े पच
pacete The two of them cook for themselves.
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पचथः
pacathaḥ You two cook
े थ े पच
pacethe You two cook for yourselves.
पचावः
pacāvaḥ The two of us cook.
े पचावह
pacāvahe The two of us cook for ourselves.
पचामः
pacāmaḥ We all cook.
े पचामह
pacāmahe We all cook for ourselves. But in two instances, there is no pattern at all:
पचथ
pacatha You all cook.
े पच
pacadhve You all cook for yourselves.
पिचाम
pacāmi I cook.
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े पच
pace I cook for myself.
Weak distinctions The distinction between parasmaipada and ātmanepada is not always strong. Some ātmanepada verbs act just like the ones we have seen so far, without any strong sense of acting "for the self":
े लभत
labhate He obtains.
े ेत लभ
labhete The two of them obtain.
े लभ
labhante They obtain.
े लभस
labhase You obtain.
े थ े लभ
labhethe The two of you obtain.
े लभ
labhadhve You all obtain.
े लभ
labhe I obtain.
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े लभावह
labhāvahe The two of us obtain.
े लभामह
labhāmahe We all obtain. But generally these verbs do describe things that affect us, like being born, enjoying something, dying, or simply thinking:
े मत
manyate He thinks.
े मावह
manyāvahe The two of us think.
े म
manyadhve You all think.
े ेत म
manyete The two of them think.
े थ े म
manyethe The two of you think.
े मामह
manyāmahe We all think.
े मस
manyase You think.
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े म
manye I think.
े म
manyante They think. Traditionally, verbs are presented in a table, like the one below: [3s] [2s] [1s]
[3d] [2d] [1d]
[3p] [2p] [1p]
But we have already seen all of these forms, and there is no need to linger on a table like this.
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Nouns in Case 1 Generally, every Sanskrit sentence is just some action. The simplest sentences are just actions and nothing else:
पियत paśyati
He sees.
े थ े लभ
labhethe The two of you obtain.
े मामह
manyāmahe We all think.
ितिस
tiṣṭhasi You stand. Unfortunately, these sentences tell us very little. If we see just paśyati , how can we tell who sees, or what is seen? And how and where does this "seeing" happen? To fill these gaps, we use nouns. Nouns describe ideas as simple as elephants and fruits, and as complex as places and concepts. Just like verbs, nouns are inflected :
गजः पियत gajaḥ paśyati
The elephant sees.
गजौ पयतः
gajau paśyataḥ The two elephants see.
गजाः पिय gajāḥ paśyanti
The elephants see.
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And just like verbs, nouns have a stem. Here, the stem is gaja . Just as many flowers bloom from the same plant stem, many nouns are formed from the same noun stem. And as with verbs, we add an ending to a noun to make a complete word:
गजः पियत gajaḥ paśyati
The elephant sees.
गजौ पयतः
gajau paśyataḥ The two elephants see.
गजाः पिय gajāḥ paśyanti
The elephants see.
े नरः पचत
naraḥ pacate The man cooks for himself.
े त े नरौ पच
narau pacete The two men cook for themselves.
े नराः पच
narāḥ pacante The men cook for themselves.
अस ्ितित (अः ितित) aśvas tiṣṭhati (aśvaḥ tiṣṭhati) The horse stands.
अौ िततः
aśvau tiṣṭhataḥ The two horses stand.
अास ्िति (अाः िति) aśvās tiṣṭhanti (aśvāḥ tiṣṭhanti) The horses stand.
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Note the blending that occurs in aśvas tiṣṭhati and aśvās tiṣṭhati . Now that our sentences have multiple words, we have to be mindful of how the sounds in the two words affect each other.
Noun roles In each example above, the noun defines what performs the verb action. But nouns can define other parts of the action, too. With paśyati , for example, we can define what is seen:
गजः पियत नरम ् gajaḥ paśyati naram
The elephant sees the man. Or where the elephant sees:
े गजः पियत ाम
grāme gajaḥ paśyati The elephant sees in the village. Or what the elephant sees with:
नयन ेन गजः पियत
nayanena gajaḥ paśyati The elephant sees with his eye. Here, the role of the noun changes when we change the noun ending. So in addition to showing the number of items involved, the noun ending shows the noun's role. Generally, these roles are called cases. Still, roles and cases are not quite the same thing.
Case 1 Case 1 usually defines what performs the action:
गजः पियत gajaḥ paśyati
The elephant sees.
गजौ पयतः
gajau paśyataḥ The two elephants see.
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गजाः पिय gajāḥ paśyanti
The elephants see.
paśyati implies that only one thing sees. gajaḥ implies that only one elephant performs the action. Each word implies the same number of things (one), so they are used together. A verb and a word in case 1 must always imply the same number of things.
Blended sounds Recall that visarga blends with the sounds that follow it:
अिरत
aśvaścarati The horse walks.
अौ चरतः
aśvau carataḥ The two horses walk.
अािर aśvāścaranti
The horses walk.
गिजित gajastiṣṭhati
The elephant stands.
गजौ िततः
gajau tiṣṭhataḥ The two elephants stand.
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गिजाि gajāstiṣṭhanti
The elephants stand. In these examples, the consonant that comes after the visarga is not voiced. What if the consonant is voiced instead?
े नरः लभत
naraḥ labhate The man obtains.
े नराः लभ
narāḥ labhante The men obtain. Try repeating these entences ten or twenty times. Eventually it will become tiresome to transition between the unvoiced visarga in naraḥ and narāḥ and the voiced l in labhate and labhante . It is much easier to blend the two words. For the first sentence, this blending is against all of our intuitions. It is the sort of change we must just accept.
े नरः लभत
→
े नरो लभत
naraḥ labhate → naro labhate The man obtains. The -aḥ ending became o . This happens in front of voiced consonants of any kind. For the second sentence, the blending is much more reasonable:
े नराः लभ
→
े नरा लभ
narāḥ labhante → narā labhante The men obtain.
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Here the troublesome visarga is simply removed. Sometimes the best solution to a problem is the easiest one. With these changes in mind, we can now write many more sentences:
े नरो मत
naro manyate The man thinks.
नरौ पयतः
narau paśyataḥ The two men see.
े नरा म
narā manyante The men think.
े गजो लभत
gajo labhate The elephant obtains.
े त े गजौ लभ
gajau labhete The two elephants obtain.
े गजा लभ
gajā labhante The elephants obtain.
अो गित aśvo gacchati
The horse goes.
अौ िततः
aśvau tiṣṭhataḥ The two horses stand.
अा गि aśvā gacchanti The horses go.
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Case 2 Using the Sanskrit we know already, we can write a variety of sentences:
िति
tiṣṭhanti They stand.
े म
manye I think.
े पच
pacadhve You all cook. By using nouns, we can describe the things involved with this action. We just learned about case 1, which generally describes who performs the action:
गजश ्चिरत gajaś carati
The elephant walks.
े त े नरौ लभ
narau labhete The two men obtain.
अा गि aśvā gacchanti The horses go. Meanwhile, case 2 usually defines the "object" of the action:
े गज ं लभ
gajaṃ labhadhve You all obtain an elephant. (m blends with p to form ṃ .)
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गजौ पियस
gajau paśyasi You see two elephants. (gajau is the same in case 1 and case 2!)
गजान ्पयथः
gajān paśyathaḥ The two of you see elephants. With verbs that imply movement (like "go" and "walk"), case 2 also defines the destination:
नर ं गथ
naraṃ gacchatha You all go to the man.
नरौ चिराम
narau carāmi I walk to the two men.
अान ्गावः
aśvān gacchāvaḥ The two of us go to the horses. And of course, we can use multiple cases at once:
वीरो गज ं रित
vīro gajaṃ rakṣati The hero protects the elephant.
वीरौ नरान ्गतः
vīrau narān gacchataḥ The two heroes go to the men.
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वीर ् vīr
You see two elephants.
Ambiguity Above, we saw that gajau appears in case 1 and case 2. This can create ambiguities in Sanskrit, where multiple meanings are possible:
े त े गजौ लभ
gajau labhete (a) The two of them obtain the two elephants. (b) The two elephants obtain.
वीरौ नरौ रतः
vīrau narau rakṣataḥ (a) The two heroes protect the two men. (b) The two men protect the two heroes These ambiguities disappear if we know more about this sentence's context. If we do not have enough context, then there is nothing we can do. But fortunately, these sorts of ambiguities are also quite rare. They go away if the verb changes even slightly:
े थ े गजौ लभ
gajau labhethe The two of you obtain the two elephants.
े गजौ लभ
gajau labhante They obtain the two elephants.
Table of forms No Sanskrit textbook is complete without putting the different noun forms in a table: [1s] [2s]
[1d] [2d]
[1p] [2p]
But we have already seen all of these forms, and there is no need to linger on a table like this.
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Cases 3 and 4 By using nouns, we can describe the things involved with an action. We have just learned about case 1 and case 2
नरो वीर ं पियत
naro vīraṃ paśyati The man sees the hero. Case 1 and case 2 define very basic relationships between nouns and verbs. But the next few cases are more interesting.
Case 3 Case 3 has two important senses. More commonly, case 3 defines how something is done: [1]
ेन गािम ामम ् गज
gajena gacchāmi grāmam I go by means of the elephant to the village.
गथो ामान ्अााम ्
gacchatho grāmān aśvābhyām The two of you go by means of the two horses to the villages.
े नर अ ं लभ ैः
aśvaṃ labhante naraiḥ They obtain a horse by means of the men. Less commonly, case 3 defines who is with the performer:
ेन ितावः अ
aśvena tiṣṭhāvaḥ The two of us stand with the horse.
े त े वीराा ं म
vīrābhyāṃ manyete The two of them think with the two heroes.
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े बाल ैः पच
bālaiḥ pacadhve You all cook with the boys. This second sense can be reinforced by using saha , an uninflected word :
ेन सह गािम ामान ् गज
gajena saha gacchāmi grāmān I go with the elephant to the villages.
सहााा ं िति
sahāśvābhyāṃ tiṣṭhanti They stand with the two horses. And it can be reversed by vinā . It shows who is not with the performer:
इि िवना वीरैः icchanti vinā vīraiḥ
They want without the heroes.
saha and vinā should be very close to the word in case 3. Usually, they appear right after.
Blended sounds In the examples above, notice the visarga in naraiḥ , bālaiḥ , and vīraiḥ . Each visarga follows a vowel that is neither a nor ā . When this occurs, the visarga becomes r in front of voiced sounds.
े गज ैः लभ
→
े गज ै र ्लभ
gajaiḥ labhadhve → gajair labhadhve You all obtain with the elephants.
वीरैः गतः
→
वीरै र ्गतः
vīraiḥ gacchataḥ → vīrair gacchataḥ The two of them go with the heroes.
बालैः इथ
→
बालै र ्इथ
bālaiḥ icchatha → bālair icchatha You all want with the boys.
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This change is against all of our intuitions. It is the sort of change we must just accept. Note, though, that the result sounds a little prettier than before. In all other circumstances, these sorts of visarga s act normally.
बालैश ्चोरयामः bālaiś corayāmaḥ
We steal with the boys.
गज ैस ्ितािम gajais tiṣṭhāmi
I stand with the elephants.
वीर ैः पिय vīraiḥ paśyanti
We see with the heroes.
Case 4 Case 4 expresses two important ideas. The first is purpose, as in "I broke the coconut for [2] some water":
बालश ्चोरय ं नराय
bālaś corayatyaśvaṃ narāya The boy steals the horse for the man.
गतो नरौ ाम ं गजााम ्
gacchato narau grāmaṃ gajābhyām The two men walk to the village for (two) elephants.
ेः बालः पिचत गज
bālaḥ pacati gajebhyaḥ The boy cooks for elephants. The second defines the person meant to benefit from the cation, as in "I broke the coconut for a friend" or "I gave the money to my brother":
वीरा नराय िस ंह ं पिय
vīrā narāya siṃhaṃ paśyanti The heroes look at the lion for the man.
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अ ं बालोरियत नरााम ्
aśvaṃ bālaścorayati narābhyām The boy steals the horse for the two men.
ेः चोरियाम ाम
corayāmi grāmebhyaḥ I steal for the villages. Compared to the other noun cases, case 4 is uncommon.
े बालाय गज ं पच
bālāya gajaṃ pace I cook the elephant for the boy. Oh, the poor elephant! But this is just an example sentence, not real life.
वीरााम ्अाा ं ाम ं गथः
vīrābhyām aśvābhyāṃ grāmaṃ gacchathaḥ The two of you go with (two) horses to the village for the two heroes.
ेो ाम ं गित िस ंहो नर
siṃho narebhyo grāmaṃ gacchati The lion goes to the village for men.
Stem-ending blending: n to ṇ Consider the examples below.
ेन नर
narena with the man
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ेन वीर
vīrena with the hero Try repeating the first word ten or twenty times. Eventually it will become tiresome to pronounce the retroflex r right before shifting to the non-retroflex n . It is much easier to blend the two sounds by using the same point of pronunciation for both:
ेन नर
→
ेण नर
narena → nareṇa with the man
ेन वीर
→
ेण वीर
vīrena → vīreṇa with the hero
With this in mind, we can understand the sentences below:
ेणाान ्पियाम सह नर
saha nareṇāśvān paśyāmi I see the horses with the man.
ेण िवना ितिस वीर vīreṇa vinā tiṣṭhasi
You stand without the hero.
े ण ेित गजम ् नर
nareṇecchati gajam They want the elephant with the man. Note the blending in the last example: nareṇa ṛcchati becomes nareṇarcchati .
Ambiguities Recall that gajau , narau , and other such words are ambiguous:
े त े गजौ लभ
gajau labhete (a) The two of them obtain the two elephants. (b) The two elephants obtain. 30
Words like gajābhyām and narābhyām are ambiguous, too:
नराा ं पिच
narābhyāṃ pacanti (a) They cook for the two men. (b) They cook with the two men. Usually, common sense is enough to tell what a word should mean.
गजाा ं पिच
gajābhyāṃ pacanti They cook for the two elephants. It is unlikely that an elephant would be cooking.
Table of forms [1s] [2s] [3s] [4s]
[1d] [2d] [3d] [4d]
[1p] [2p] [3p] [4p]
We have already seen all of these forms, and there is no need to linger on a table like this.
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Cases 5 and 6 After studying case 1 and case 2, we studied two more interesting cases: case 3 and case 4. Now let's study two more cases. After these two, there are two more to go!
Case 5 Case 5 represents the abstract idea of movement away from something.
[3]
् गािम ग ृहम ् ामाद
grāmād gacchāmi gṛham I go from the village to the house.
ामाा ं गिस ग ृहान ्
grāmābhyāṃ gacchasi gṛhān You go from the two villages to the houses.
ेाः गि नर ं ाम
gacchanti naraṃ grāmebhyāḥ They go from the villages to the man. When used in verbless sentences, case 5 defines part of a comparison. If you like, you can imagine that the noun in case 5 is left behind because it is less beautiful, less black, less white, and so on.
नरः िस ंहात ् स ुरः
naraḥ siṃhāt sundaraḥ The man is more beautiful than the lion.
अौ गजाा ं क ृ ः
aśvau gajābhyāṃ kṛṣṇaḥ The two horses are blacker than the two elephants.
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ेः ेताः गजा अ
gajā aśvebhyaḥ śvetāḥ The elephants are whiter than the horses. Case 5 is usually used for places and fixed objects:
ग ृहाच ्चिरत िस ंहः gṛhāc carati siṃhaḥ
The lion walks from the house.
नराा ं चिर
narābhyāṃ caranti They walk from the two men.
ग ृ ेह ो ाम ं वीराव ृतः
gṛhebhyo grāmaṃ vīrāvṛcchataḥ The two heroes go from the houses to the village. Note the many sandhi changes in the examples above. We have seen all of these before.
Case 6 Each of the cases we have seen so far define a part of the verb action:
नरिरत
naraścarati The man walks.
गज ं चिरत
gajaṃ carati He walks to the elephant.
बाल ैिरत
bālaiścarati He walks with the boys.
वीराय चिरत vīrāya carati
He walks for the hero.
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ामाच ्चिरत grāmāc carati
He walks from the village. Case 6 does not. Instead, case 6 shows that there is a connection between one noun and another:
नर ुपस ्ितित
narasya putras tiṣṭhati The man's son stands.
े त े ामयोर ्वीरौ म
grāmayor vīrau manyete The two heroes of the two villages think.
वीराणाम ् ुपा भवामः
vīrāṇām putrā bhavāmaḥ We are sons of heroes. Note the sandhi change in vīrāṇām . vīrānām becomes vīrāṇām for the same reason that vīrena becomes vīreṇa — because vīrāṇāṃ is easier to say. Case 6 has a special meaning when used in a verbless sentence:
नर ुपः
narasya putraḥ The man has a son.
े ामयोः स ुरा गजा वत
grāmayoḥ sundarā gajā vartante The village has beautiful elephants.
क ृ ा बालानाम ्अा भिव kṛṣṇā bālānām aśvā bhavanti The boys have black horses. Remember, verbless sentences optionally have verbs like vartante and bhavanti . Notice what varte does in the second example.
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Sandhi review We have seen and used so many kinds of sandhi so far that the process is starting to feel more natural. But sometimes it is good to review.
Review of visarga sandhi Here we review only the changes involved for words like narayoḥ and naraiḥ :
गज ैः पियस
gajaiḥ paśyasi You see with the elephants.
गजयोः ुपो भिवत
gajayoḥ putro bhavati The two elephants have a son.
बालैरथ
bālaiścaratha You all walk with the boys.
नरयोोरियाम गजान ् narayoścorayāmi gajān
I steal the two men's elephants.
वीरैिावः
vīraistiṣṭhāvaḥ The two of us stand with the heroes.
वीरियोतः ुपौ
vīrayostiṣṭhataḥ putrau The sons of the two heroes stand.
अैग थः
aśvairgacchathaḥ The two of you go with the horses.
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नरयोरो वत त े
narayoraśvo vartate The two men have a horse. But remember what happens when the next word ends in r :
े नरै रमत
narai ramate He enjoys with the men.
Review of t sandhi This sandhi is easy. t matches the voice of the letter that comes next:
ामािस
grāmādṛcchasi You go from the village. And it matches the point of pronunciation, too:
ामािराम
grāmāccarāmi I walk from the village.
े अााय aśvājjāyante
They are born from the horse.
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Cases 7 and 8 Now we bring our study of the eight cases to a close, for the time being. The Sanskrit cases are powerful and expressive, and we will learn more about them later on.
Case 7 Case 7 defines the location of the action.
े िति गजा बालााम ् ाम grāme tiṣṭhanti gajā bālābhyām
The elephants stand with the two boys in the village.
ामयोर ्भिव िस ंहाः
grāmayor bhavanti siṃhāḥ Lions are in the two villages.
े ष ु चराः स ुराः ाम
grāmeṣu carantyaśvāḥ sundarāḥ The beautiful horses walk in the villages. When the case 1 noun refers to just one entity, the sense of case 7 changes slightly:
ग ृहयोस ्िति श ूरौ gṛhayos tiṣṭhanti śūrau
The two warriors stand in the two houses.
ग ृहयोस ्ितित श ूरः gṛhayos tiṣṭhati śūraḥ
The warrior stands between the two houses.
ग ृ ेह ष ु िति श ूराः
gṛheṣu tiṣṭhanti śūrāḥ The warriors stand in the houses.
ग ृ ेह ष ु ितित श ूरः
gṛheṣu tiṣṭhati śūraḥ The warrior stands among the houses.
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e sandhi The letter e is simple enough:
े ग ृ ेह पच
gṛhe pacadhve You all cook for yourselves in the house
े त े नर ुपौ ग ृ ेह जाय
gṛhe jāyete narasya putrau The man's two sons are born in the house.
े ग ृ ेह मामह
gṛhe manyāmahe We are thinking in the house. Still, what happens when e is near vowels? This, too, is familiar to us already: a sentence like grāme icchanti will become grāmayicchanti . But when this blending occurred between two words, Sanskrit speakers went one step further. They thought y was a tiresome letter to have to say between these two words, so they removed it entirely:
े इि ाम
→
ाम इि
grāme icchanti → grāma icchanti They want in the village.
े ऋि ाम
→
ाम ऋि
grāme ṛcchanti → grāma ṛcchanti
They go (while being) in the village. But recall a sentence like kṛṣṇaḥ aśvaḥ , which becomes kṛṣṇo 'śvaḥ . Just as aḥ overwhelms the a in aśvaḥ and destroys it entirely, leaving the avagraha as a reminder of what used to be there, e does the same.
े अाः िति ाम
→
े ऽास ्िति ाम
grāme aśvāḥ tiṣṭhanti → grāme 'śvās tiṣṭhanti Horses stand in the village.
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ग ृ ेह अः भिवत
→
ग ृ ेह ऽो भिवत
gṛhe aśvaḥ bhavati → gṛhe 'śvo bhavati A horse is in the house. These changes make sense. But here is a devious change that is difficult to explain: If the e is at the end of a word implying two things, no blending occurs.
े अः चिरत ाम
→
े ऽश ्चिरत ाम
grāme aśvaḥ carati → grāme 'śvaś carati A horse walks in the village.
े अान ् लभत े ऽान ् लभत →
labhate aśvān → labhate 'śvān He obtains horses.
े ेत अान ् लभ े ेत अान ् लभ →
labhete aśvān → labhete aśvān The two of them obtain horses.
This change is unusual and against our Sanskrit intuition. In part, it occurs because it reduces ambiguity. We will see examples of this soon.
Case 8 Apart from case 6, the cases we have seen so far all define different parts of a given action. But case 8 steps beyond this action and defines the person who hears the sentence. We could also say that it defines the person we refer to with the word "you."
ुप वीरो भिवस
putra vīro bhavasi Son, you are a hero.
नरौ िस ंह ं पियाम
narau siṃhaṃ paśyāmi Oh you (two) men, I see a lion.
े चिरत बालाः श ूर गजो ाम bālāḥ śūrasya gajo grāme carati
Oh boys, the warrior's elephant is walking in the village. 39
The forms of case 8 are largely identical to the forms of case 1. But instead of naraḥ , we have nara . This means that nara can blend with the words that follow it:
नरा ं चोरियत
narāśvaṃ corayati Hey man, he is stealing a horse.
The 24 forms of gaja Over the course of the past few lessons, we have seen all of the forms of the nouns whose stems end in a , like gaja , nara , and bāla . These forms appear in eight cases. Apart from case 6 and case 8, these cases define the roles that certain nouns play in the verb action:
् अै र ्ामान ्बालाय श ूरा गि ग ृहाद śūrā gacchanti gṛhād aśvair grāmān bālāya
The heroes go with their horses from the house to the villages for the boy. Case 6 connects two nouns.
नर गजम ्पयामः
narasya gajam paśyāmaḥ We see the man's elephant. And case 8 addresses the listener.
नर पियाम बालम ् nara paśyāmi bālam
Hey man, I see a boy. Usually, these forms are assembled in a table, like so: [1s] [2s] [3s] [4s] [5s] [6s] [7s] [8s]
[1d] [2d] [3d] [4d] [5d] [6d] [7d] [8d]
[1p] [2p] [3p] [4p] [5p] [6p] [7p] [8p]
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You know all of these forms already. But for the sake of practice, learn to recite these forms in order, from gajaḥ and gajau all the way to gajāḥ in case 8. Doing so will fix these forms in your mind.
Ambiguity Tables are not a fun way to study Sanskrit, but they can make certain trends very clear. Here, for example, we see all of the forms that are used multiple times:
गजौ
gajau (a) The two elephants (case 1) (b) The two elephants (case 2) (c) The two elephants (case 8)
गजाः gajāḥ
(a) The elephants (case 1) (b) The elephants (case 8)
गजााम ् gajābhyām
(a) With the two elephants (case 3) (b) For the two elephants (case 4) (c) From the two elephants (case 5)
ेः गज
gajebhyaḥ (a) For the elephants (case 4) (b) From the elephants (case 5)
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गजयोः
gajayoḥ (a) Of the two elephants (case 6) (b) In the two elephants (case 7) As always, we should rely on context and common sense to help us:
ाम ऋित grāma ṛcchati
He goes in the village. It makes no sense for a village to "go", so it is likely that we are "in the village."
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Neuter Nouns
43
Adding Emphasis
44
The tatpuruṣa
45
Review
46
