Sanskrit Basic Grammar

Introduction:

Sanskrit language has scripts or alphabets for writing, and grammaticalrules for sentence formation, just like any other language (English for example). Inthis chapter we will get an overview of this. The details with their grammatical ruleswill be covered in subsequent chapters.

Alphabets & Their Classification:

In Sanskrit language

Devanagari Script

is the mostlyused script for writing. Most of the Sanskrit literature are in this script. Following isthe list of the alphabets in their correct order.

अ

a

आ

aa

इ

i

ई

ii

उ

u

ऊ

uu

ऋ

RRi

ॠ

RRI

ए

e

ऐ

ai

ओ

o

औ

au

क

k

ख

kh

ग

g

घ

gh

ङ

N^

च

ch

छ

chh

ज

j

झ

jh

ञ

JN

ट

T

ठ

Th

ड

D

ढ

Dh

ण

N

त

t

थ

th

द

d

ध

dh

न

n

प

p

फ

ph

ब

b

भ

bh

म

m

य

y

र

r

ल

l

व

v

श

sh

ष

Sh

स

s

ह

h



ksh



dny

All these alphabets are classified into two major groups i.e.,

•

Vowels or

वरवणवरवणवरवणवरवण

(svaravarNa):

Alphabets starting from

अ

(a) till

औ

(au) are thevowels. These are further classified into

व

(hrasva) and

दघ

(diirgha). The

दघ

(diirgha) are pronounced double the length (or time) of

व

(hrasva).

व

hrasva

अ

a

आ

aa

इ

i

उ

u

ए

e

ऐ

ai

ओ

o

औ

au

दघ

diirgha

ई

ii

ऊ

uu

ऋ

RRi

ॠ

RRI

•

Consonants or

यजनवणयजनवणयजनवणयजनवण

(vyaJNjanavarNa):

Alphabets starting from

क

(k) till



(dny) are the consonants. Some of the consonants are further classified intodifferent groups called

वग

(varga). Following table has this classification.Some of the gramatical rules for

Euphonic Combination

or

सिध

(sandhi) and

Compound Words

or

समास

(samaasa) are based on these

वग

(varga).

कवग

kavarga

क

k

ख

kh

ग

g

घ

gh

ङ

N^

चवग

chaavarga

च

ch

छ

chh

ज

j

झ

jh

ञ

JN

टवग

Taavarga

ट

T

ठ

Th

ड

D

ढ

Dh

ण

N

तवग

त

थ

द

ध

न

tavarga t th d dh n

पवग

pavarga

प

p

फ

ph

ब

b

भ

bh

म

m

We will refere these classifications, while covering the

Euphonic Combination

or

सिध

(sandhi) and

Compound Words

or

समास

(samaasa).

Sentence Formation Overview:

In Sanskrit just like any other language (English forexample) a sentence is made of different elements. The elements are "Subject","Object", and "Verb". A sentence may or may not have an Object in it.Lets study the following English sentence to understand these basic elements better.

The boy is reading a book.

In the sentence "boy" is the "Subject", "reading" is "Verb" and the "book" is the"Object".

The boy is reading a book.--- ------- -----| | |Subject Verb Object

•

If we ask the question "who is reading?", the answer that comes is "the boy".So, the "boy" here is the Subject. It is also called the "Noun".

•

The answer that comes in response to question "what is the boy doing?" is"reading". The "reading" here is the "Verb".

•

Similarly the answer to "what is the boy reading?" is "book". The "book"becomes the "Object".Now study the following statement.

The boy is laughing.

In the sentence "boy" is the "Subject", "laughing" is "Verb". But, there is no "Object"in this sentence.

The boy is laughing.--- -------| |Subject Verb

•

If we ask the question "what is the boy laughing?", no answer comes fromthis. So, laughing becomes an "Intranstive Verb".

•

However in the first sentence "what is the boy reading?" gives answer "book".In this case the "reading" becomes a "Transitive Verb".Now that we have understood the basic elements of a sentence, we will begin withmore details of Sanskrit language.In Sanskrit:

•

Subject is called ->

कता

/ kartaa

•

Object is called ->

कम

/ karma

•

Verb is called ->

या

/ kriyaa

•

Transitive Verb is called ->

सकमक

/ sakarmaka

•

Intransitive Verb is called ->

अकमक

/ akarmaka

So, in the above statements:

The boy is reading a book.--- ------- -----| | |Subject Verb Object| | |

कता

/kartaa

या

/kriyaa(

सकमक

/ sakarmaka)

कम

/karmaThe boy is laughing.--- -------| |Subject Verb| |

कता

/kartaa

या

/kriyaa (

अकमक

/ akarmaka)

Words & Their Classification:

In any language a sentence is madeup of multiple wordscomposed in a well defined structure giving a sensible meaning to the sentence.These words can be categorised into three different types viz.,

•

Noun

•

Verb

•

IndeclinableBesides the above classifications nouns and verbs can also be part of followingcategories with minor derivations like addition of 'ility', 'ily', 'tion', 'ing' etc., as wellas based on their usage and grammatical rules:

•

Pronoun

•

Adjective

•

AdverbIn Sanskrit also words are classified into similar categories. Following is arepresentation of the important classifications. We can see the classification is almostsame as any other language. Each classification has been described in the comingchapters.

|--------------- Noun Root (

शद

/ shabda)| || ------------------------------| | ||

सवतपद ु

ततपद

| suvantapadataddhitapada