SANSKRIT RELATED CONTENT | WIKIPEDIA |
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Sanskrit grammar
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Active | Middle | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Person | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Primary | 1 | mi | vás | más | é | váhe | máhe |
2 | si | thás | thá | sé | ā́the | dhvé | |
3 | ti | tás | ánti, áti | té | ā́te | ánte, áte | |
Secondary | 1 | am | vá | má | í, á | váhi | máhi |
2 | s | tám | tá | thā́s | ā́thām | dhvám | |
3 | t | tā́m | án, ús | tá | ā́tām | ánta, áta, rán | |
Perfect | 1 | a | vá | má | é | váhe | máhe |
2 | tha | áthus | á | sé | ā́the | dhvé | |
3 | a | átus | ús | é | ā́te | ré | |
Imperative | 1 | āni | āva | āma | āi | āvahāi | āmahāi |
2 | dhí, hí,— | tám | tá | svá | ā́thām | dhvám | |
3 | tu | tā́m | ántu, átu | tā́m | ā́tām | ántām, átām |
Primary endings are used with present indicative and future forms. Secondary endings are used with the imperfect, conditional, aorist, and optative. Perfect and imperative endings are used with the perfect and imperative respectively.
Sanskrit is a highly inflected language with three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter)(Sanskrit: पुल्लिंग, स्त्रीलिंग, नपुंसकलिंग) and three numbers (singular, plural, dual) (एकवचनं, द्वीवचनम्, बहुवचनं). It has eight cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, and locative.
The number of actual declensions is debatable. Pāṇini identifies six kārakas corresponding to the nominative, accusative, dative, instrumental, locative, and ablative cases [1]. Pāṇini defines them as follows (Ashtādhyāyi, I.4.24-54):
Genitive (Sambandha) and vocative are absent in Pāṇini's grammar.
In this article they are divided into five declensions. The declension to which a noun belongs to is determined largely by form.
The basic scheme of suffixation is given in the table below—valid for almost all nouns and adjectives. However, according to the gender and the ending consonant/vowel of the uninflected word-stem, there are predetermined rules of compulsory sandhi which would then give the final inflected word. The parentheses give the case-terminations for the neuter gender, the rest are for masculine and feminine gender. Both devanagari script and IAST transliterations are given.
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative (Karta) | -स् -s (-म् -m) | -औ -au (-ई -ī) | -अस् -as (-इ -i) |
Accusative (Karma) | -अम् -am (-म् -m) | -औ -au (-ई -ī) | -अस् -as (-इ -i) |
Instrumental (Karana) | -आ -ā | -भ्याम् -bhyām | -भिस् -bhis |
Dative (Sampradana) | -ए -e | -भ्याम् -bhyām | -भ्यस् -bhyas |
Ablative (Apadana) | -अस् -as | -भ्याम् -bhyām | -भ्यस् -bhyas |
Genitive (Sambandha) | -अस् -as | -ओस् -os | -आम् -ām |
Locative (Adhikarana) | -इ -i | -ओस् -os | -सु -su |
Vocative | -स् -s (- -) | -औ -au (-ई -ī) | -अस् -as (-इ -i) |
A-stems (/ə/ or /aː/) comprise the largest class of nouns. As a rule, nouns belonging to this class, with the uninflected stem ending in short-a (/ə/), are either masculine or neuter. Nouns ending in long-A (/aː/) are almost always feminine. A-stem adjectives take the masculine and neuter in short-a (/ə/), and feminine in long-A (/aː/) in their stems. This class is so big because it also comprises the Proto-Indo-European o-stems.
Masculine (rāma-) | Neuter (āsya- 'mouth') | Feminine (kānta- 'beloved') | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | rā́mas | rā́māu | rā́mās | āsyàm | āsyè | āsyā̀ni | kāntā | kānte | kāntās |
Accusative | rā́mam | rā́māu | rā́mān | āsyàm | āsyè | āsyā̀ni | kāntām | kānte | kāntās |
Instrumental | rā́mena | rā́mābhyām | rā́māis | āsyèna | āsyā̀bhyām | āsyāìs | kāntayā | kāntābhyām | kāntābhis |
Dative | rā́māya | rā́mābhyām | rā́mebhyas | āsyā̀ya | āsyā̀bhyām | āsyèbhyas | kāntāyai | kāntābhyām | kāntābhyās |
Ablative | rā́māt | rā́mābhyām | rā́mebhyas | āsyā̀t | āsyā̀bhyām | āsyèbhyas | kāntāyās | kāntābhyām | kāntābhyās |
Genitive | rā́masya | rā́mayos | rā́mānām | āsyàsya | āsyàyos | āsyā̀nām | kāntāyās | kāntayos | kāntānām |
Locative | rā́me | rā́mayos | rā́meṣu | āsyè | āsyàyos | āsyèṣu | kāntāyām | kāntayos | kāntāsu |
Vocative | rā́ma | rā́mau | rā́mās | ā́sya | āsyè | āsyā̀ni | kānte | kānte | kāntās |
Masc. and Fem. (gáti- 'gait') | Neuter (vā́ri- 'water') | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | gátis | gátī | gátayas | vā́ri | vā́riṇī | vā́rīṇi |
Accusative | gátim | gátī | gátīs | vā́ri | vā́riṇī | vā́rīṇi |
Instrumental | gátyā | gátibhyām | gátibhis | vā́riṇā | vā́ribhyām | vā́ribhis |
Dative | gátaye, gátyāi | gátibhyām | gátibhyas | vā́riṇe | vā́ribhyām | vā́ribhyas |
Ablative | gátes, gátyās | gátibhyām | gátibhyas | vā́riṇas | vā́ribhyām | vā́ribhyas |
Genitive | gátes, gátyās | gátyos | gátīnām | vā́riṇas | vā́riṇos | vā́riṇām |
Locative | gátāu, gátyām | gátyos | gátiṣu | vā́riṇi | vā́riṇos | vā́riṣu |
Vocative | gáte | gátī | gátayas | vā́ri, vā́re | vā́riṇī | vā́rīṇi |
Masc. and Fem. (śátru- 'enemy') | Neuter (mádhu- 'honey') | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | śátrus | śátrū | śátravas | mádhu | mádhunī | mádhūni |
Accusative | śátrum | śátrū | śátrūn | mádhu | mádhunī | mádhūni |
Instrumental | śátruṇā | śátrubhyām | śátrubhis | mádhunā | mádhubhyām | mádhubhis |
Dative | śátrave | śátrubhyām | śátrubhyas | mádhune | mádhubhyām | mádhubhyas |
Ablative | śátros | śátrubhyām | śátrubhyas | mádhunas | mádhubhyām | mádhubhyas |
Genitive | śátros | śátrvos | śátrūṇām | mádhunas | mádhunos | mádhūnām |
Locative | śátrāu | śátrvos | śátruṣu | mádhuni | mádhunos | mádhuṣu |
Vocative | śátro | śátrū | śátravas | mádhu | mádhunī | mádhūni |
ā-stems (jā- 'progeny') | ī-stems (dhī- 'thought') | ū-stems (bhū- 'earth') | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | jā́s | jāú | jā́s | dhī́s | dhíyāu | dhíyas | bhū́s | bhúvāu | bhúvas |
Accusative | jā́m | jāú | jā́s, jás | dhíyam | dhíyāu | dhíyas | bhúvam | bhúvāu | bhúvas |
Instrumental | jā́ | jā́bhyām | jā́bhis | dhiyā́ | dhībhyā́m | dhībhís | bhuvā́ | bhūbhyā́m | bhūbhís |
Dative | jé | jā́bhyām | jā́bhyas | dhiyé, dhiyāí | dhībhyā́m | dhībhyás | bhuvé, bhuvāí | bhūbhyā́m | bhūbhyás |
Ablative | jás | jā́bhyām | jā́bhyas | dhiyás, dhiyā́s | dhībhyā́m | dhībhyás | bhuvás, bhuvā́s | bhūbhyā́m | bhūbhyás |
Genitive | jás | jós | jā́nām, jā́m | dhiyás, dhiyā́s | dhiyós | dhiyā́m, dhīnā́m | bhuvás, bhuvā́s | bhuvós | bhuvā́m, bhūnā́m |
Locative | jí | jós | jā́su | dhiyí, dhiyā́m | dhiyós | dhīṣú | bhuví, bhuvā́m | bhuvós | bhūṣú |
Vocative | jā́s | jāú | jā́s | dhī́s | dhiyāu | dhíyas | bhū́s | bhuvāu | bhúvas |
ṛ-stems are predominantly agental derivatives like dātṛ 'giver', though also include kinship terms like pitṛ́ 'father', mātṛ́ 'mother', and svásṛ 'sister'.
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | pitā́ | pitárāu | pitárah |
Accusative | pitáram | pitárāu | pitrinṝ́n |
Instrumental | pitrā́ | pitṛ́bhyām | pitṛ́bhi |
Dative | pitré | pitṛ́bhyām | pitṛ́bhyah |
Ablative | pitúr | pitṛ́bhyām | pitṛ́bhyah |
Genitive | pitúr | pitrós | pitṝṇā́m |
Locative | pitári | pitrós | pitṛ́ṣu |
Vocative | pítar | pitárāu | pitáras |
The numbers from one to ten are:
The numbers one through four are declined. Éka is declined like a pronominal adjective, though the dual form does not occur. Dvá appears only in the dual. Trí and catúr are declined irregularly.
The first and second person pronouns are declined for the most part alike, having by analogy assimilated themselves with one another.
Note: Where two forms are given, the second is enclitic and an alternative form. Ablatives in singular and plural may be extended by the syllable -tas; thus mat or mattas, asmat or asmattas.
First Person | Second Person | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | aham | āvām | vayam | tvam | yuvām | yūyam |
Accusative | mām, mā | āvām, nau | asmān, nas | tvām, tvā | yuvām, vām | yuṣmān, vas |
Instrumental | mayā | āvābhyām | asmābhis | tvayā | yuvābhyām | yuṣmābhis |
Dative | mahyam, me | āvābhyām, nau | asmabhyam, nas | tubhyam, te | yuvābhyām, vām | yuṣmabhyam, vas |
Ablative | mat | āvābhyām | asmat | tvat | yuvābhyām | yuṣmat |
Genitive | mama, me | āvayos, nau | asmākam, nas | tava, te | yuvayos, vām | yuṣmākam, vas |
Locative | mayi | āvayos | asmāsu | tvayi | yuvayos | yuṣmāsu |
The demonstrative ta, declined below, also functions as the third person pronoun.
Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | sás | tāú | té | tát | té | tā́ni | sā́ | té | tā́s |
Accusative | tám | tāú | tā́n | tát | té | tā́ni | tā́m | té | tā́s |
Instrumental | téna | tā́bhyām | tāís | téna | tā́bhyām | tāís | táyā | tā́bhyām | tā́bhis |
Dative | tásmāi | tā́bhyām | tébhyas | tásmāi | tā́bhyām | tébhyas | tásyāi | tā́bhyām | tā́bhyas |
Ablative | tásmāt | tā́bhyām | tébhyam | tásmāt | tā́bhyām | tébhyam | tásyās | tā́bhyām | tā́bhyas |
Genitive | tásya | táyos | téṣām | tásya | táyos | téṣām | tásyās | táyos | tā́sām |
Locative | tásmin | táyos | téṣu | tásmin | táyos | téṣu | tásyām | táyos | tā́su |
One other notable feature of the nominal system is the very common use of nominal compounds, which may be huge (10+ words) as in some modern languages such as German. Nominal compounds occur with various structures, however morphologically speaking they are essentially the same. Each noun (or adjective) is in its (weak) stem form, with only the final element receiving case inflection. Some examples of nominal compounds include:
A compound consisting of the same word repeated twice, but with the first occurrence being accented.[2] Amreditas are used to express repetitiveness; for example, from dív (day) we obtain divé-dive (day after day, daily) and from devá (god) we obtain deváṃ-devam or devó-devas (god after god).[3]
The first member of this type of nominal compounds is an indeclinable, to which another word is added so that the new compound also becomes indeclinable (i.e., avaya). Examples : yathā+śakti, upa+kriṣṇam (near kriṣṇa),etc. In avyayibhāva compounds, first member has primacy (pūrva-pada-pradhāna), i.e., the whole compound behaves like an indeclinable due to the nature of the first part which is indeclinable.
Unlike the avyayibhāva compounds, in Tatpuruṣa compounds second member has primacy (uttara-pada-pradhāna). There are many tatpuruṣas (one for each of the nominal cases, and a few others besides). In a tatpuruṣa, the first component is in a case relationship with another. For example, a doghouse is a dative compound, a house for a dog. It would be called a "caturtitatpuruṣa" (caturti refers to the fourth case—that is, the dative). Incidentally, "tatpuruṣa" is a tatpuruṣa ("this man"—meaning someone's agent), while "caturtitatpuruṣa" is a Karmadhāraya, being both dative, and a tatpuruṣa. An easy way to understand it is to look at English examples of tatpuruṣas: "battlefield", where there is a genitive relationship between "field" and "battle", "a field of battle"; other examples include instrumental relationships ("thunderstruck") and locative relationships ("towndwelling"). All these normal Tatpuruṣa compounds are called vyadhikarana Tatpuruṣa, because the case ending should depend upon the second member because semantically second member has primacy, but actually the case ending depends upon the first member. Literally, vyadhikarana means opposite or different case ending. But when the case ending of both members of a Tatpuruṣa compound are similar then it is called a Karmadhāraya Tatpuruṣa compound, or simply a Karmadhāraya compound.
It is a variety of Tatpuruṣa as shown above, but treated separately. The relation of the first member to the last is appositional, attributive or adverbial, e. g. uluka-yatu (owl+demon) is a demon in the shape of an owl.
In a karmadhāraya compound one part behaves like an adjective for the other. :If the part behaving like an adjective is a number, it is called dvigu. Dvigu itself is a compound : dvau+gāvau. In a dvigu compounds, later part is principal, like a Tatpuruṣa compound.
Example : na + brāhamaṇa = abrāhamaṇa, in which 'n' vanishes and only the 'a' of 'na' remains. But with words beginning with vowel this 'a' becomes 'an' : na+aśva > (na > a > an) anaśva.
These consist of two or more noun stems, connected in sense with 'and'. There are mainly two kinds of dvandva constructions in Sanskrit. The first is called itaretara dvandva, an enumerative compound word, the meaning of which refers to all its constituent members. The resultant compound word is in the dual or plural number and takes the gender of the final member in the compound construction. e.g. rāma-lakşmaņau – Rama and Lakshmana, or rāma-lakşmaņa-bharata-śatrughnāh – Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Satrughna. The second kind is called samāhāra dvandva, a collective compound word, the meaning of which refers to the collection of its constituent members. The resultant compound word is in the singular number and is always neuter in gender. e.g. pāņipādam – limbs, literally hands and feet, from pāņi = hand and pāda = foot. According to some grammarians, there is a third kind of dvandva, called ekaśeşa dvandva or residual compound, which takes the dual (or plural) form of only its final constituent member, e.g. pitarau for mātā + pitā, mother + father, i.e. parents. According to other grammarians, however, the ekaśeşa is not properly a compound at all.
Bahuvrīhi, or "much-rice", denotes a rich person—one who has much rice. Bahuvrīhi compounds refer (by example) to a compound noun with no head—a compound noun that refers to a thing which is itself not part of the compound. For example, "low-life" and "block-head" are bahuvrihi compounds, since a low-life is not a kind of life, and a block-head is not a kind of head. (And a much-rice is not a kind of rice.) Compare with more common, headed, compound nouns like "fly-ball" (a kind of ball) or "alley cat" (a kind of cat). Bahurvrīhis can often be translated by "possessing..." or "-ed"; for example, "possessing much rice", or "much riced".
It is that variety of Karmadhāraya Tatpuruṣa compound in which the middle part vanishes. E.g., devapūjakaḥ+brāhamaṇaḥ = devabrāhamaṇaḥ; Śrīyukta+Rāmaḥ = Śrīrāmaḥ
It is a variety of Tatpuruṣa compound in which nouns make unions with verbs, like Kumbham+karoti = kumbhakāraḥ.
Case endings do not vanish, e.g., ātmane+ padam = ātmanepadam.
Because of Sanskrit's complex declension system the word order is pretty much free (with tendency toward SOV). There are some normative syntax conventions to decrease ambiguity, though.
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