basics of sanskrit

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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

sounds, which we combine and blend to make new materials. Our techniques are the rules of

grammar, which start out quite simply but soon become much more subtle and interesting.

And our approach is a practical one: build a basic shelter before expanding further.

But without a steady foundation, the house cannot stand. If we have even a basic

understanding of how Sanskrit generally works, we can greatly reduce our problems later 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 खािदgajāḥ 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 फिलानgajāḥ khādanti phalāni Elephants eat fruits. ("Elephants eat fruits.")

फिलान खािद गजाःphalāni khādanti gajāḥ Fruits eat elephants. ("Elephants eat fruits.")

खािद फिलान गजाःkhādanti phalāni gajāḥ Eat fruits elephants. ("Elephants eat fruits.")

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Inflection

Sanskrit is so flexible because its words carry extra information with them. We take a basic

word, like gaja ("elephant"), and 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 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," not "he play." If we see just the word "plays," we can guess that

the person doing the playing is "he" or "she," but probably not "I" or "you." This is because the

word has been inflected to show who is doing the playing.

As another example, we say "I play" and "I will play," but we say "I played." The word "play"

changes to show that the playing has already happened. We can work backward from the word

"played" and figure that out.

Sanskrit words are inflected much more than English words. Even complex ideas can be

represented as single words:

ामान ब्ालौ िजगिमयिषgrāmān bālau jigamayiṣanti They want to make the two boys go to the villages.

There are also uninflected words, which always remain the same:

स एव गितsa eva gacchati Only he goes.

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Making words

One of Sanskrit's richest and most rewarding features is the ability to make your own words

. Starting from basic sounds and syllables, we can quickly create words of great subtlety and

nuance:

भज →् भग→ भगवत →् भागवतbhaj → bhaga → bhagavat → bhāgavata adore, love → adoration, love → glorious, fortunate; the blessed one, Lord →

concerning the blessed Lord

य जु →् योग → ियोगन ्yuj → yoga → yogin

connect, bind, prepare→

concentration, exertion ( yoga)→

yogin

Just as many branches grow from the same trunk, many words can grow from the same basic

elements. By learning these elements and some basic rules, we can quickly understand

thousands of new words.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga



Present Tense Verbs

Actions

Generally, every Sanskrit sentence is just some action. The simplest sentences are just actions

and nothing else:

गितgacchati He goes.

Words that describe actions are calledverbs. gacchati is a verb. So is the word below:

गतःgacchataḥ 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 → गितgaccha + ti → gacchati He goes.

ग + तः → गतःgaccha + taḥ → gacchataḥ The two of them go.

ग + ि→ गिgaccha + nti → gacchanti They go.

ित + ित → ितितtiṣṭha + ti → tiṣṭhati He stands.

ित + तः → िततःtiṣṭha + taḥ → tiṣṭhataḥ The two of them stand.

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ित + ि → ितिtiṣṭha + nti → tiṣṭhanti They stand.

पय + ित→ पियतpaśya + ti → paśyati He sees.

पय + तः→ पयतःpaśya + taḥ → paśyataḥ The two of them see.

पय + ि→ पियpaśya + nti → paśyanti They see.

And of course, we can talk about other sorts of people. We can talk about you:

गिसgacchasi You go.

गथःgacchathaḥ The two of you go.

गथgacchatha You all go.

ितिसtiṣṭhasi You stand.

ितथःtiṣṭhathaḥ The two of you stand.

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ितथtiṣṭhatha You all stand.

पियसpaśyasi You see.

पयथःpaśyathaḥ The two of you see.

पयथpaśyatha You all see.

And we can talk about me:

गिामgacchāmi I go.

गावःgacchāvaḥ The two of us go.

गामःgacchāmaḥ We all go.

ितिामtiṣṭhāmi I stand.

ितावःtiṣṭhāvaḥ The two of us stand.

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ितामःtiṣṭhāmaḥ We all stand.

पियामpaśyāmi I see.

पयावःpaśyāvaḥ The two of us see.

पयामःpaśyāmaḥ 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.

गितgacchati He goes.

पयावःpaśyāvaḥ The two of us see.


पयामःpaśyāmaḥ We all see.

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गतःgacchataḥ The two of them go.

ितथtiṣṭhatha You all stand.

ितथःtiṣṭhathaḥ The two of you stand.

गिgacchanti They go.

पियामpaśyāmi I see.

These Sanskrit verbs have a broader meaning than their English counterparts:

गितgacchati He is going.

िततःtiṣṭhataḥ The two of them are standing.

पियpaśyanti 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] [3d] [3p]

[2s] [2d] [2p]

[1s] [1d] [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 ृ गितaprāpya 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:

पिचतpacati He cooks.

पचत ेpacate He cooks for himself. (He's cooking himself a meal.)

पचतःpacataḥ The two of them cook.

पच ते ेpacete The two of them cook for themselves.

पिचpacanti 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:

पिचतpacati He cooks.

पचत ेpacate He cooks for himself. (He's cooking himself a meal.)

पिचpacanti They cook.

पच ेpacante They cook for themselves.

पिचसpacasi You cook.

पचस ेpacase You cook for yourself.

Even when these patterns are not immediately clear:

पचतःpacataḥ The two of them cook.

पच ते ेpacete The two of them cook for themselves.

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पचथःpacathaḥ You two cook

पच थे ेpacethe You two cook for yourselves.

पचावःpacāvaḥ The two of us cook.

पचावह ेpacāvahe The two of us cook for ourselves.

पचामःpacāmaḥ We all cook.

पचामह ेpacāmahe

We all cook for ourselves.

But in two instances, there is no pattern at all:

पचथpacatha You all cook.

पच ेpacadhve You all cook for yourselves.

पिचामpacāmi I cook.

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पच ेpace I cook for myself.

Weak distinctionsThe 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.

लभ ते ेlabhete The two of them obtain.

लभ ेlabhante They obtain.

लभस ेlabhase You obtain.

लभ थे े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.

म ते ेmanyete The two of them think.

म थे े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] [3d] [3p]

[2s] [2d] [2p]

[1s] [1d] [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:

पियतpaśyati He sees.

लभ थे ेlabhethe The two of you obtain.

मामह ेmanyāmahe We all think.


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 पियतgajaḥ paśyati The elephant sees.

गजौ पयतःgajau paśyataḥ The two elephants see.

गजाः पियgajāḥ 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:



गजाः पियgajāḥ paśyanti

The elephants see.

नरः पचत ेnaraḥ pacate The man cooks for himself.

नरौ पच ते े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 िततःaśvau 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 defineother 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:

ाम े गजः पियतgrāme gajaḥ paśyati The elephant sees in the village.

Or what the elephant sees with:

नयन ने गजः पियतnayanena gajaḥ paśyati The elephant sees with his eye.

Here, the role of the noun changes when we change the noun ending. So in addition toshowing 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:



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गजाः पियgajāḥ 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:

अिरतaśvaścarati The horse walks.

अौ चरतःaśvau carataḥ The two horses walk.

अािरaśvāścaranti The horses walk.

गिजितgajastiṣṭhati The elephant stands.

गजौ िततःgajau tiṣṭhataḥ The two elephants stand.

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http://guide/sounds/anusvara-and-visarga

http://guide/sounds/anusvara-and-visarga



गिजािgajāstiṣṭhanti 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 पयतःnarau paśyataḥ The two men see.

नरा म ेnarā manyante The men think.

गजो लभत ेgajo labhate The elephant obtains.

गजौ लभ ते ेgajau labhete The two elephants obtain.

गजा लभ ेgajā labhante The elephants obtain.

अो गितaśvo gacchati The horse goes.

अौ िततःaśvau tiṣṭhataḥ The two horses stand.

अा गिaśvā gacchanti The horses go.

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Case 2

Using the Sanskrit we know already, we can write a variety of sentences:

ितिtiṣṭhanti 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 च्िरतgajaś carati The elephant walks.

नरौ लभ ते ेnarau labhete The two men obtain.

अा गिaśvā 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 पियसgajau paśyasi You see two elephants.

(gajau is the same in case 1 and case 2!)

गजान प्यथःgajān paśyathaḥ The two of you see elephants.

With verbs that imply movement (like "go" and "walk"), case 2 also defines thedestination:

नर ं गथnaraṃ gacchatha You all go to the man.

नरौ चिरामnarau carāmi I walk to the two men.

अान ग्ावःaśvān gacchāvaḥ The two of us go to the horses.

And of course, we can use multiple cases at once:

वीरो गज ं रितvīro gajaṃ rakṣati The hero protects the elephant.

वीरौ नरान ग्तःvīrau 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:

गजौ लभ ते ेgajau labhete (a) The two of them obtain the two elephants.

(b) The two elephants obtain.

वीरौ नरौ रतःvīrau 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:

गजौ लभ थे े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] [1d] [1p]

[2s] [2d] [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 ं पियतnaro 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]

गज ने गिाम ामम ्gajena gacchāmi grāmam I go by means of the elephant to the village.

गथो ामान अ्ााम ्gacchatho grāmān aśvābhyām

The two of you go by means of the two horses to the villages.

अ ं लभ े नर ःैaśvaṃ labhante naraiḥ They obtain a horse by means of the men.

Less commonly, case 3 defines who is with the performer:

अ ने ितावःaśvena tiṣṭhāvaḥ The two of us stand with the horse.

वीराा ं म ते े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 :

गज ने सह गिाम ामान ्gajena saha gacchāmi grāmān I go with the elephant to the villages.

सहााा ं ितिsahāśvābhyāṃ tiṣṭhanti They stand with the two horses.

And it can be reversed by vinā . It shows who is not with the performer:

इि िवना वीरःैicchanti 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 रै ल्भ ेgajaiḥ labhadhve → gajair labhadhve You all obtain with the elephants.

वीरःै गतः → वीररै ्गतःvīraiḥ gacchataḥ → vīrair gacchataḥ The two of them go with the heroes.

बालःै इथ→ बालरै इ्थbālaiḥ 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.

बालशै च्ोरयामःbālaiś corayāmaḥ We steal with the boys.

गज सै ि्तिामgajais tiṣṭhāmi I stand with the elephants.

वीर ःै पियvīraiḥ 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

some water":[2]

बालश च्ोरय ं नरायbālaś 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 हं ं पियvīrā 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 अ्ाा ं ाम ं गथःvīrābhyām aśvābhyāṃ grāmaṃ gacchathaḥ The two of you go with (two) horses to the village for the two heroes.

िस हंो नर ेो ाम ं गितsiṃho narebhyo grāmaṃ gacchati The lion goes to the village for men.

Stem-ending blending: n to ṇ

Consider the examples below.

नर नेnarena with the man

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वीर नेvīrena 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:

नर ने→ नर णेnarena → nareṇa with the man

वीर ने→ वीर णेvīrena → vīreṇa with the hero

With this in mind, we can understand the sentences below:

सह नर णेाान प्ियामsaha nareṇāśvān paśyāmi I see the horses with the man.

वीर णे िवना ितिसvīreṇa vinā tiṣṭhasi You stand without the hero.

नर णे ेित गजम ्nareṇecchati gajam They want the elephant with the man.

Note the blending in the last example: nareṇa ṛcchati becomes nareṇarcchati .

AmbiguitiesRecall that gajau , narau , and other such words are ambiguous:

गजौ लभ ते ेgajau labhete (a) The two of them obtain the two elephants.

(b) The two elephants obtain.

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Words like gajābhyām and narābhyām are ambiguous, too:

नराा ं पिचnarābhyāṃ 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 ं पिचgajābhyāṃ pacanti They cook for the two elephants.

It is unlikely that an elephant would be cooking.

Table of forms

[1s] [1d] [1p]

[2s] [2d] [2p]

[3s] [3d] [3p]

[4s] [4d] [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]

ामाद ्गिाम ग हृम ्grāmād gacchāmi gṛham I go from the village to the house.

ामाा ं गिस ग हृान ्

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 हंात स् ुरःnaraḥ 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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गजा अ ेः तेाःgajā aśvebhyaḥ śvetāḥ The elephants are whiter than the horses.

Case 5 is usually used for places and fixed objects:

ग हृाच च्िरत िस हंःgṛhāc carati siṃhaḥ The lion walks from the house.

नराा ं चिरnarābhyāṃ caranti They walk from the two men.

ग हृ ेो ाम ं वीराव ृतःgṛhebhyo 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:

नरिरतnaraścarati The man walks.

गज ं चिरतgajaṃ carati He walks to the elephant.

बाल ैिरतbālaiścarati He walks with the boys.

वीराय चिरतvīrāya carati He walks for the hero.

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ामाच च्िरतgrāmāc 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 प ुस ि्तितnarasya putras tiṣṭhati The man's son stands.

ामयोर व्ीरौ म ते ेgrāmayor vīrau manyete The two heroes of the two villages think.

वीराणाम प् ुा भवामःvīrāṇām 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 प ुःnarasya putraḥ The man has a son.

ामयोः स ुरा गजा वत ेgrāmayoḥ sundarā gajā vartante The village has beautiful elephants.

क ृ ा बालानाम अ्ा भिवkṛṣṇā 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 ःै पियसgajaiḥ paśyasi You see with the elephants.

गजयोः प ुो भिवतgajayoḥ putro bhavati The two elephants have a son.

बालैरथbālaiścaratha You all walk with the boys.

नरयोोरियाम गजान ्narayoścorayāmi gajān I steal the two men's elephants.

वीरिैावःvīraistiṣṭhāvaḥ The two of us stand with the heroes.

वीरियोतः प ुौvīrayostiṣṭhataḥ putrau The sons of the two heroes stand.

अगै थःaśvairgacchathaḥ 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:

ामािसgrāmādṛcchasi You go from the village.

And it matches the point of pronunciation, too:

ामािरामgrāmāccarāmi 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.

ाम े िति गजा बालााम ्grāme tiṣṭhanti gajā bālābhyām The elephants stand with the two boys in the village.

ामयोर भ्िव िस हंाःgrāmayor bhavanti siṃhāḥ Lions are in the two villages.

ाम षे ु चराः स ुराःgrāmeṣu 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 हृयोस ि्ति श रूौgṛhayos tiṣṭhanti śūrau The two warriors stand in the two houses.

ग हृयोस ि्तित श रूःgṛhayos tiṣṭhati śūraḥ The warrior stands between the two houses.

ग हृ षे ु िति श रूाःgṛheṣu tiṣṭhanti śūrāḥ The warriors stand in the houses.

ग हृ षे ु ितित श रूःgṛheṣu tiṣṭhati śūraḥ The warrior stands among the houses.

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e sandhi

The letter e is simple enough:

ग हृ े पच ेgṛhe pacadhve You all cook for yourselves in the house

ग हृ े जाय ते े नर प ुौgṛhe jāyete narasya putrau The man's two sons are born in the house.

ग हृ े 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:

ाम े इि→ ाम इिgrāme icchanti → grāma icchanti They want in the village.

ाम े ऋि→ ाम ऋिgrāme 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.

ाम े अाः िति→ ाम े ऽास ि्तिgrāme aśvāḥ tiṣṭhanti → grāme 'śvās tiṣṭhanti Horses stand in the village.

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ग हृ े अः भिवत→ ग हृ े ऽो भिवतgṛhe 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.

ाम े अः चिरत→ ाम े ऽश च्िरतgrāme aśvaḥ carati → grāme 'śvaś carati A horse walks in the village.

लभत े अान →् लभत े ऽान ्labhate aśvān → labhate 'śvān

He obtains horses.

लभ ते े अान →् लभ ते े अान ्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 भिवसputra vīro bhavasi Son, you are a hero.

नरौ िस हं ं पियामnarau siṃhaṃ paśyāmi Oh you (two) men, I see a lion.

बालाः श रू गजो ाम े चिरतbālāḥ śūrasya gajo grāme carati Oh boys, the warrior's elephant is walking in the village.

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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 ं चोरियतnarāśvaṃ 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:

श रूा गि ग हृाद ्अरै ्ामान ब्ालायśūrā 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 प्यामःnarasya 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] [1d] [1p]

[2s] [2d] [2p]

[3s] [3d] [3p]

[4s] [4d] [4p][5s] [5d] [5p]

[6s] [6d] [6p]

[7s] [7d] [7p]

[8s] [8d] [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:

गजौgajau (a) The two elephants (case 1)

(b) The two elephants (case 2)

(c) The two elephants (case 8)

गजाःgajāḥ (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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गजयोःgajayoḥ (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 ऋितgrāma 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

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Adding Emphasis

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The tatpuruṣa

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Review

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End matter

Footnotes

1. ^ Ashtadhyayi 1.4.42 : sādhakatamaṃ karaṇam "What is most useful is called karaṇa ,"

or "instrument." This is one of the roles that case 3 expresses.

2. ^ Ashtadhyayi 1.4.32 : karmaṇā yam abhipraiti sa saṃpradānam "What the agent has in

mind when performing the action is called saṃpradāna ," or "presentation." This is one

of the roles that case 4 expresses.

3. ^ Ashtadhyayi 1.4.24 : dhruvam apāye 'pādānam "When moving away, the fixed point is

called apādāna ," or "separation." This is the most important role of case 5.

basics of sanskrit

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