Indeclinable - AVYAYA

Words which do not change with the three genders, three numbers and all eight cases are
called अव्यय. व्यय (and व्यर्थ) both come from the same root. They mean to decay, perish, pass
away. So Avyaya means that which unlikely to change and is used for indeclinable words -
literally those which do not change. So far we have focused on endings of words - which change
with gender, number, case, person - all very bewildering till you get used to it. (As yet we
haven't looked at endings that change with voice and mood...) So it's always a pleasant relief to
study avyayas. Hindi speakers will be familiar with quite a few of these. 

अव्ययपद is a word that never varies, except when affected by sandhi rules. At this time we
should familiarise ourselves with the क् -य ्-त ् series.  क् leads to interrogative statements, i.e.
questions like who? what? where? when? why? The य ् gives us relative sentences - the Hindi
equivalent being जो and the त ् gives us the corelative - independent clauses that complete
relative clauses to form complex sentences. That is just grammar for a sentence Like:

All (जो) who wish to leave, they ( वह) can go. All क् s and य ्s are marked by corresponding
correlatives. Groupings will soon become obvious. Avyayas belonging tothe क् -य ्-त ् series are
adverbs with a variety of meanings:

The ending थम ्/था is an adverb of manner and is best remembered by कथम ्? which means
'HOW'

 The ending तः gives you SOURCE-origin, (time place) etc. 

 The ending दा indicates TIME
 And the ending त्र indicates PLACE.

Let us look at some examples:

Place:

 अत्र - here
 यत्र - where; in which place
 तत्र  - there
 कुत्र - where?
 अन्यत्र - somewhere else
  सर्वत्र - everywhere

Source:

 कुतः - whence? why?

 ततः - from that, therefore
 यतः - since, from the point that
 इतः - from this, from here 

Time:

 कदा - when?
 यदा - when; Repeated twice (यदा यदा) it means whenever
 तदा - then
 Manner:
 कथम ्  - how, in what way, in what manner?
 यथा - just as, in the manner mentioned
 तथा - thus, in that way

Along with these, we should learn the following relative-correlative correspondences:

 यदि if, तर्हि then

 यावत ् as long as, तावत ् so long, that long

These help us to build complex sentences easily.

Besides the क् -य ्-त ् series the adverbial endings we saw above can be added to noun and
pronoun stems to form adverbs with the same general meaning:

 अन्यथा - otherwise
 सर्वथा - every which way
 अन्यतः- from another source
 एकतः-from one side, on the one hand
 सर्वतः- from all sides
  अन्यदा - another time
 एकदा - one time, once
 अन्यत्र - else where
 एकत्र - in one place
 परत्र - in another place (often means in the next world)

Other than, there is a standard list of avyayas which can be found in any class IX or X text book.
The most commonly used and important ones are:

 अपि - also
 अथ - and now
 अधुना - now, at this time
 अचिरे ण - soon
 इव - like
 इह - here
 इति - direct speech marker
 एव - to add stress, to strengthen an idea 
 एवम ् - in this manner
 क्व - where?
 खलु - certainly, indeed
 मा - indicates prohibition, and is used with the imperative
 यदि - if
 विना - without
 सह - with, accompanied by
 सहसा  - suddenly
 तु - but, on the contrary, used for emphasis sometimes
 प्रति - towards
 पुरा - in olden times, formerly
 नूनम ् - certainly, indeed
  पुनः - again (when repeated twice, it means बार बार)

There are many more - and you will be able to identify them, because there will be no
'agreement' as we have seen so far - for instance between noun and adjective. The avyaya will
remain itself, unless it is affected by sandhi. That will have to wait till we do sandhi together.

More AVYAYAPADA for reference:

 बहुधा - frequently, diversely

 बहिः- outside
 नीचैः - low, down
 नित्यं - always, daily
 निकटे - close by
 नक्तम ् - in the night, by night
 दिवा  - in the day, by day
 सत्यम ् - truly, indeed
 सत्वरम ् - quickly, speedily
 शीघ्रम ् - quickly
 शनैः - slowly
 वथ
ृ ा - useless, meaningless
 मुहुर्मुहुः - over and over again
 मन्दम ् - slowly, faintly
 ऋते - without, except
 उच्चैः - high, loudly
 इदानीम ् - just now, at this moment
 अद्य - today
 अधः - lower, beneath

This list is by no means comprehensive. There are many more avyayas. But these will do for a
start.