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Basics - Learn Sanskrit Org
Basics - Learn Sanskrit Org
learnsanskrit.org
November 25, 2012
Word order
Here is a basic English sentence:
Elephants eat fruits.
Let's see how this sentence appears in Sanskrit:
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 gaj, and phala
becomes phalni. 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:
sa eva gacchati
Only he goes.
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:
gacchati
He goes.
Words that describe actions are called verbs. gacchati is a verb. So is the word below:
gacchata
The two of them go.
gacchati and gacchata 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:
+
gaccha + ti gacchati
He goes.
gaccha + ta gacchata
The two of them go.
+
gaccha + nti gacchanti
They go.
+
tiha + ti tihati
He stands.
+
tiha + ta tihata
The two of them stand.
+
tiha + nti tihanti
They stand.
+
paya + ti payati
He sees.
+
paya + ta payata
The two of them see.
+
paya + nti payanti
They see.
And of course, we can talk about other sorts of people. We can talk about you:
gacchasi
You go.
gacchatha
The two of you go.
gacchatha
You all go.
tihasi
You stand.
tihatha
The two of you stand.
tihatha
You all stand.
payasi
You see.
payatha
The two of you see.
payatha
You all see.
And we can talk about me:
gacchmi
I go.
gacchva
The two of us go.
gacchma
We all go.
tihmi
I stand.
tihva
The two of us stand.
tihma
We all stand.
paymi
I see.
payva
The two of us see.
payma
We all see.
In this way, Sanskrit lets us talk about some action and the people who perform it.
gacchati
He goes.
payva
The two of us see.
tihasi
You stand.
payma
We all see.
gacchata
The two of them go.
tihatha
You all stand.
tihatha
The two of you stand.
gacchanti
They go.
paymi
I see.
These Sanskrit verbs have a broader meaning than their English counterparts:
gacchati
He is going.
tihata
The two of them are standing.
payanti
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:
[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?
10
tmanepada
The verbs we just studied are called parasmaipada verbs. The verbs we will study below are
called tmanepada verbs. But what makes one verb different from another? And just what do
parasmaipada and tmanepada mean, anyway?
Both questions have roughly the same answer. Traditionally, tmanepada verbs are used when
the action benefits the person who performs it (tmane, "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:
pacati
He cooks.
pacate
He cooks for himself. (He's cooking himself a meal.)
pacata
The two of them cook.
pacete
The two of them cook for themselves.
pacanti
They cook.
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 tmanepada forms grow
from the same verb stem.
11
Endings
The tmanepada endings are closely related to the parasmaipada endings. They follow similar
patterns:
pacati
He cooks.
pacate
He cooks for himself. (He's cooking himself a meal.)
pacanti
They cook.
pacante
They cook for themselves.
pacasi
You cook.
pacase
You cook for yourself.
Even when these patterns are not immediately clear:
pacata
The two of them cook.
pacete
The two of them cook for themselves.
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pacatha
You two cook
pacethe
You two cook for yourselves.
pacva
The two of us cook.
pacvahe
The two of us cook for ourselves.
pacma
We all cook.
pacmahe
We all cook for ourselves.
But in two instances, there is no pattern at all:
pacatha
You all cook.
pacadhve
You all cook for yourselves.
pacmi
I cook.
13
pace
I cook for myself.
Weak distinctions
The distinction between parasmaipada and tmanepada is not always strong. Some
tmanepada verbs act just like the ones we have seen so far, without any strong sense of acting
"for the self":
labhate
He obtains.
labhete
The two of them obtain.
labhante
They obtain.
labhase
You obtain.
labhethe
The two of you obtain.
labhadhve
You all obtain.
labhe
I obtain.
14
labhvahe
The two of us obtain.
labhmahe
We all obtain.
But generally these verbs do describe things that affect us, like being born, enjoying
something, dying, or simply thinking:
manyate
He thinks.
manyvahe
The two of us think.
manyadhve
You all think.
manyete
The two of them think.
manyethe
The two of you think.
manymahe
We all think.
manyase
You think.
15
manye
I think.
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.
16
Nouns in Case 1
Generally, every Sanskrit sentence is just some action. The simplest sentences are just actions
and nothing else:
payati
He sees.
labhethe
The two of you obtain.
manymahe
We all think.
tihasi
You stand.
Unfortunately, these sentences tell us very little. If we see just payati, 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:
gaja payati
The elephant sees.
gajau payata
The two elephants see.
gaj payanti
The elephants see.
17
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:
gaja payati
The elephant sees.
gajau payata
The two elephants see.
gaj payanti
The elephants see.
nara pacate
The man cooks for himself.
narau pacete
The two men cook for themselves.
nar pacante
The men cook for themselves.
( )
avas tihati (ava tihati)
The horse stands.
avau tihata
The two horses stand.
( )
avs tihanti (av tihanti)
The horses stand.
18
Note the blending that occurs in avas tihati and avs tihati. 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 payati, for example, we can define what is seen:
Case 1
Case 1 usually defines what performs the action:
gaja payati
The elephant sees.
gajau payata
The two elephants see.
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gaj payanti
The elephants see.
payati implies that only one thing sees. gaja 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:
avacarati
The horse walks.
avau carata
The two horses walk.
avcaranti
The horses walk.
gajastihati
The elephant stands.
gajau tihata
The two elephants stand.
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gajstihanti
The elephants stand.
In these examples, the consonant that comes after the visarga is not voiced. What if the
consonant is voiced instead?
nara labhate
The man obtains.
nar labhante
The men obtain.
Try repeating these entences ten or twenty times. Eventually it will become tiresome to
transition between the unvoiced visarga in nara and nar 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.
21
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:
naro manyate
The man thinks.
narau payata
The two men see.
nar manyante
The men think.
gajo labhate
The elephant obtains.
gajau labhete
The two elephants obtain.
gaj labhante
The elephants obtain.
avo gacchati
The horse goes.
avau tihata
The two horses stand.
av gacchanti
The horses go.
22
Case 2
Using the Sanskrit we know already, we can write a variety of sentences:
tihanti
They stand.
manye
I think.
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:
gaja carati
The elephant walks.
narau labhete
The two men obtain.
av gacchanti
The horses go.
gaja labhadhve
You all obtain an elephant.
(m blends with p to form .)
23
gajau payasi
You see two elephants.
(gajau is the same in case 1 and case 2!)
gajn payatha
The two of you see elephants.
With verbs that imply movement (like "go" and "walk"), case 2 also defines the destination:
nara gacchatha
You all go to the man.
narau carmi
I walk to the two men.
avn gacchva
The two of us go to the horses.
And of course, we can use multiple cases at once:
24
vr
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:
gajau labhete
(a) The two of them obtain the two elephants.
(b) The two elephants obtain.
gajau labhethe
The two of you obtain the two elephants.
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.
25
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
Case 3
Case 3 has two important senses. More commonly, case 3 defines how something is done:
[1]
avena tihva
The two of us stand with the horse.
vrbhy manyete
The two of them think with the two heroes.
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blai pacadhve
You all cook with the boys.
This second sense can be reinforced by using saha, an uninflected word:
sahvbhy tihanti
They stand with the two horses.
And it can be reversed by vin. It shows who is not with the performer:
Blended sounds
In the examples above, notice the visarga in narai, blai, and vrai. Each visarga follows a
vowel that is neither a nor . When this occurs, the visarga becomes r in front of voiced
sounds.
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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 visargas act normally.
blai corayma
We steal with the boys.
gajais tihmi
I stand with the elephants.
vrai payanti
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]
28
coraymi grmebhya
I steal for the villages.
Compared to the other noun cases, case 4 is uncommon.
Stem-ending blending: n to
Consider the examples below.
narena
with the man
29
vrena
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:
narena narea
with the man
vrena vrea
with the hero
nareecchati gajam
They want the elephant with the man.
Note the blending in the last example: narea cchati becomes narearcchati.
Ambiguities
Recall that gajau, narau, and other such words are ambiguous:
gajau labhete
(a) The two of them obtain the two elephants.
(b) The two elephants obtain.
30
narbhy 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.
gajbhy 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.
31
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]
avau gajbhy ka
The two horses are blacker than the two elephants.
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narbhy caranti
They walk from the two men.
Case 6
Each of the cases we have seen so far define a part of the verb action:
naracarati
The man walks.
gaja carati
He walks to the elephant.
blaicarati
He walks with the boys.
vrya carati
He walks for the hero.
33
grmc carati
He walks from the village.
Case 6 does not. Instead, case 6 shows that there is a connection between one noun and
another:
narasya putra
The man has a son.
k blnm av bhavanti
The boys have black horses.
Remember, verbless sentences optionally have verbs like vartante and bhavanti. Notice what
varte does in the second example.
34
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.
gajai payasi
You see with the elephants.
blaicaratha
You all walk with the boys.
narayocoraymi gajn
I steal the two men's elephants.
vraistihva
The two of us stand with the heroes.
vrayostihata putrau
The sons of the two heroes stand.
avairgacchatha
The two of you go with the horses.
35
narayoravo vartate
The two men have a horse.
But remember what happens when the next word ends in r:
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:
grmdcchasi
You go from the village.
And it matches the point of pronunciation, too:
grmccarmi
I walk from the village.
avjjyante
They are born from the horse.
36
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.
ghayos tihati ra
The warrior stands between the two houses.
gheu tihanti r
The warriors stand in the houses.
gheu tihati ra
The warrior stands among the houses.
37
e sandhi
The letter e is simple enough:
ghe pacadhve
You all cook for yourselves in the house
ghe manymahe
We are thinking in the house.
Still, what happens when e is near vowels? This, too, is familiar to us already: a sentence like
grme icchanti will become grmayicchanti. 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:
grme icchanti grma icchanti
They want in the village.
grme cchanti grma cchanti
They go (while being) in the village.
But recall a sentence like ka ava, which becomes ko 'va. Just as a overwhelms the
a in ava and destroys it entirely, leaving the avagraha as a reminder of what used to be
there, e does the same.
grme av tihanti grme 'vs tihanti
Horses stand in the village.
38
grme ava carati grme 'va carati
A horse walks in the village.
labhate avn labhate 'vn
He obtains horses.
labhete avn labhete avn
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."
The forms of case 8 are largely identical to the forms of case 1. But instead of nara, we have
nara. This means that nara can blend with the words that follow it:
narva corayati
Hey man, he is stealing a horse.
nara paymi blam
Hey man, I see a boy.
[1d]
[2d]
[3d]
[4d]
[5d]
[6d]
[7d]
[8d]
[1p]
[2p]
[3p]
[4p]
[5p]
[6p]
[7p]
[8p]
40
You know all of these forms already. But for the sake of practice, learn to recite these forms in
order, from gaja and gajau all the way to gaj 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:
gajau
(a) The two elephants (case 1)
(b) The two elephants (case 2)
(c) The two elephants (case 8)
gaj
(a) The elephants (case 1)
(b) The elephants (case 8)
gajbhym
(a) With the two elephants (case 3)
(b) For the two elephants (case 4)
(c) From the two elephants (case 5)
gajebhya
(a) For the elephants (case 4)
(b) From the elephants (case 5)
41
gajayo
(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:
grma cchati
He goes in the village.
It makes no sense for a village to "go", so it is likely that we are "in the village."
42
Neuter Nouns
43
Adding Emphasis
44
The tatpurua
45
Review
46
End matter
Footnotes
1. ^ Ashtadhyayi 1.4.42 : sdhakatama karaam "What is most useful is called karaa,"
or "instrument." This is one of the roles that case 3 expresses.
2. ^ Ashtadhyayi 1.4.32 : karma yam abhipraiti sa sapradnam "What the agent has in
mind when performing the action is called sapradna," or "presentation." This is one
of the roles that case 4 expresses.
3. ^ Ashtadhyayi 1.4.24 : dhruvam apye 'pdnam "When moving away, the fixed point is
called apdna," or "separation." This is the most important role of case 5.
47