Sanskrit Grammar: Verbs
From Goldman's Introduction to the Sanskrit Language, used for First
Year Sanskrit at the University of Washington.
Verbs start as a "dhaatu", one of 2000 roots (√'s), then they become stems
in 10 different ways, more or less predictable. These then get
conjoined ("conjugated") with "-ti-ending" (verbal) endings from
four of ten L-paradigms for verbs (Ləʈ, Ləŋ,
Loʈ, and Lɪʈ), based on Person, Number, and Voice.
So much for just plain verbs but then there are another
sixteen things you can do with verbs,
like make them passive or turn them into a noun for their agent,
etc.
So, Ganas, Endings, and More.
Ganas First
The Ganas are ten, grouped as thematic and not thematic (apparently
ə is the "theme"). They all have some kind of (present) stem
creation process but the easy ones stop there while the harder ones
also have strong (by guna ("+"), vRddhi ("++"), etc.) and weak (and
sometimes weaker/weakest) forms -- more to remember. Just remember
non-ə-ganas vary by strength, while ə-ganas are fixed, less to
remember.
These are the Ganas of the Present Stems:
| Number | Kind | Sign | Canonical
Example | Derived Form |
| 1,4,6,10 | Easy, ə-Gana,
Thematic | [?]ə | bhuu | bhava |
| 2,3,5,7,8,9 | Non-ə-Gana
Strength-bearing | ¬ə | ad | |
| |
| 1 | ə-Gana | + ə | bhuu | bhavati |
| 4 | ə-Gana | yə | div | diivyati |
| 6 | ə-Gana | ə | tud | tudati |
| 10 | ə-Gana | +, əyə | cur | corayati |
| |
| 2 | Non-ə-Gana | +/strong | ad | atti |
| 3 | Non-ə-Gana | +/strong,2x | hu | juhoti |
| 5 | Non-ə-Gana | nu, + | su | sunoti |
| 7 | Non-ə-Gana | _n[ə/strong]_; | rudh | ruNaddhi |
| 8 | Non-ə-Gana | u, + | tan | tanoti |
| 9 | Non-ə-Gana | naa(strong)|nii | krii | kriiNaati, jaaniimaH |
Notation:
- "+", "Guna": strengthen the preceding vowel.
- "++", "vRddhi": extra-strengthen " " "
- "_x_": infix x within the stem.
- "2x": reduplicate the stem (usu. with changes)
- "¬ p" : NOT p.
- "a/b" : a in those contexts where b applies.
e.g. +/strong: guna in strong cases
|
- Genders: M,Ne,F: Masculine, Neuter, Feminine
- Numbers: Sg,Du,Pl: Singular, Dual, Plural
- Cases:
-1 Nom Nominative Subject, -2 Acc Accusative Object,
-3 Instr Instrumental With/By, -4 Dat Dative To,
-5 Abl Ablative From,
-6 Gen Genitive Of,
-7 Loc Locative At/In, -0 Voc Vocative O|Yo
|
Verbal Dimensions are Person, Number, Voice
So starting from a root verb, we make a stem of it according to its
Gana, then we further add to or modify it according to the Person
and Number of the Subject and according to the verb's Voice.
Person identifies the subject of the verb as speaker (1p), audience (2p), or other (3p):
- 3rd person (प्रथमपुरुष्) as in "he", "she", "it", "they", "their".
- 2nd person (मध्यमपुरुष्) as in "you", "your".
- 1st person (उत्तमपुरुष) as in "I", "me", "my".
Number says the verb subject can be counted as one (singular),
two (dual), or more (plural). What about the uncounted: rice and
furniture?
Voice once identified the beneficiary of the verb: (P): "for
others" (parasmaipada), (A): "for self" (Atmanepada). Maybe in Vedic.
- Some words must be (P), some must be (A), and some can be either (P) or (A).
- When you learn a verb, learn it as (P) or (A), so you know how to conjugate it.
- (P) vs (A) is a formal distinction, necessary in grammar but without meaning.
So let's learn the endings that verbs
Endings to Memorize
Memorize these four sets of verb endings, the Ləʈ,
Ləŋ (which also adds prefix अ-), Loʈ, and
Lɪʈ:
|
|
(P) |
|
(A) |
|
|
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
|
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
लट्
Present (pres) |
|
| "Primary" Suffixes | 3p |
-ति |
-तः
| -(अ)न्ति
|
| -ते
| -एते,आते
| -अन्ते
|
| 2p |
-सि
| -थः
| -थ
|
| -से
| -एथे,-आथे
| -ध्वे
|
| 1p |
-(आ)मि
| -(आ)वः
| -(आ)मः
|
| -ए
| -(आ)वहे
| -(आ)महे
|
लङ्
Imperfect (ipf) |
(These are the suffixes; for the whole imperfect form also add prefix अ-) |
| "Secondary" Suffixes | 3p |
-त्
| -ताम्
| -अन्, उः
|
| -त
| -आताम्
| -अन्त, -अत, -रन्
|
| 2p |
-स्
| -तम्
| -त
|
| -थाः
| -आथाम्
| -ध्वम्
|
| 1p |
-अम
| -अव
| -म
|
| -इ,-ए
| -वहि
| -महि
|
लोट्
Imperative (imp) |
|
| 3p |
-तु
| -ताम्
| -अन्तु, अतु
|
| -ताम्
| -एताम्, आताम्
| -अन्ताम्, अताम्
|
| 2p |
-∅, -धि, -हि
| -तम्
| -त
|
| -स्व
| -आथाम्
| -ध्वम्
|
| 1p |
-आनि
| -आव
| -आम
|
| -ऐ
| -आवहे
| -आमेहे
|
लिट्
Perfect (pf) |
|
| with √ s/w 2x, &c | 3p |
-अ, (-औ)
| -अतुः
| -उः
|
| -ए
| -आते
| -(इ)रे
|
| 2p |
-थ
| -अथुः
| -अ
|
| -से
| -आथे
| -(इ)ध्वे
|
| 1p |
-अ (औ)
| -(इ)व
| -(इ)म
|
| -ए
| -(इ)वहे
| -(इ)महे
|
These paradigms are here to aid memorization. If you are using this
page a lot for lookup and reference all the time, maybe spend some
minutes reciting paradigm rows, to get them into your head for instant
direct access in your own mind. Or tell me to hurry up and put them
into Teachionary so you can just go there.
So much for active verbs past present and imperative, there are also L
Paradigms and Everything Else.
L-Paradigms
Panini gives us a special code of L-syllables as names for nine verb
paradigms, all beginning with L:
- Ləʈ, Ləŋ, Loʈ, Lɪʈ
(present, imperfect (past), imperative, perfect (past), each
with a set of endings, see above), and
- Lɪŋ, Lɚʈ
, Lɚŋ,
Luʈ, Luŋ, the easy ones.
Do you want the English names? Folks who learned Latin grammar in
school made 'em up; sorry for the trouble. I'll put these Latin,
and equally valid Anglo Saxon, names in a column of the Everything
Table:
From Verbs, Everything
| Anglo-Saxon | Latin | Sanskrit Name | Pg | Ch | Formation | Example |
| Doingness | Abstraction | भावे प्रयोग |
p163 |
[ object N | तत् | ∅ ]nom +
[ V intrans ]passive(A) +
[ subject N]instr |
रामेण रक्श्साः हन्यन्ते |
| Doer | Agent Nouns | -तृ ] N | p173-176 |
V Root + [इ] तृ
= V-Agent or Kin |
दातृ कर्तृ दुहितृ पितृ मातृ |
| Get Done |
Passive verbs |
कर्मणि प्रयोग |
p161 |
Subj-Instr Obj-Nom V+य+
(A)-endings |
पण्डितेन मूर्खास् त्यज्यन्ते
By the wise fools are abandoned. |
| Done |
Past-Passive Participles |
भूते कृदन्त |
p176-184 |
V root + weakest + -त = Adj |
बुध+त=बुद्ध awakened
यज्+त = इष्ट sacrificed |
| Can Do |
Possessive Participle |
मतुप् वतुप् |
p191-193 |
N stem + -मन्त् -वन्त् + -अन्त् endings = possessed of N |
भगवान् -वन् -वन्तः, -वन्तम् -वतः -वते -वतः -वत्सु -वन् |
| While doing |
Present Participle,
and Absolute |
वर्तमाने कृदन्त् |
Ch 15 |
C |
D |
| Having Xed |
Gerund |
त्वान्त्, ल्यबन्त् |
p194 |
+ {[ī] tvā | ya} |
gatvā, viditvā, āgamya, pretya |
| -ed |
Past Active Participle |
क्तवतु कृदन्त |
p194 |
PPP + -वन्त् = a past tense |
उक्तवान् said
|
| Oughta |
"Gerundive"
A Prescriptive Passive Participle |
कृत्य |
p281-286 |
V/++ + -य, -तव्य, -अनीय
|
पा>पेय, भू>भव्य,भाव्य, त्यज>त्याज्य, युध>योध्य, भुज>भोक्तव्य, कृ>करणीय गम्य, गन्तव्य् |
| Will Do |
Future Participle |
भविष्यत्काले कृदन्त |
p278 |
C |
D |
| Done did |
Perfect and its Participle |
लिट् |
p293-304, endings p301 |
s/w 2x &c ,[i/weak]vaaMs]Adj |
uvaaca,iti aah, han>jaghaana, kR>cakaara, iS>iyeS|iiSuH,
pat>papaat|petuH, bhuu>babhuuvitha,.. |
| Done doin' |
Perfect Middle Participle |
+अणा |
cf Govinda Dāsa |
C |
D |
| Does did |
Periphrastic Perfect |
|
p?? |
root + आम् + अस् | कृ | भू + लिट्-ending, |
चिन्तयामास् |
| Made Do |
Causative |
प्रेरकः(cause)|
णिजन्त (-aya)
|
p314ff |
stem = root [+ strong(गुण | वृद्दि)] [ + प ] + -अय |
गमयति, स्थापयतु, स्थाप्यते, अपाययत् |
| Wanting to do |
Desiderative |
सन्नन्त् |
p325 |
root + 2x + स | ईष् = verb of wanting |
D |
| Really Do |
Intensive |
यङन्त |
Ch 18.26 |
root + strong + 2x + य = intense or repeated |
D |
|
| May Do |
Optative |
Lɪŋ लिङ् |
p245-249 |
V ++ [ ई/ ī | य / ya ] + secondary suffixes
= ought to, might |
भू + optative =>
भवेत,भवेताम, भवेयुः
भवेः, भवेतम, भवेत
भवेयम,भवेव, भवेम |
| Do |
Simple (unmarked)
Future |
sāmānya Lɚʈ सामान्य लृट् |
p274 |
Just use Present Indicative to mean Future |
paSyAmi/पष्यामि, I (will) see |
| Gon Do, Gonna |
Future |
Lɚʈ लृट् |
p273-ff |
[√,[i/veT|seT],sya]stem,
primary endings |
daasyati, mansyante, kariSyaamaH,gamiSyaami |
| Was Gonna |
Conditional, Counterfactual |
Lɚŋ लृङ् |
p279 |
a + future stem + 2ndary endings |
agamiSyat |
Doer
Does Be | Periphrastic Future |
Luʈ लुट् |
p279 |
√, +, tR]N^^taa, as(be),
0 | primary endings |
kartaa asmi, gantaa asi,
bhavitaa svaH |
| Did |
Aorist |
Luŋ लुङ् |
p?? |
Formation |
Example |
And More Verbal Conjugations:
| अस् : To Be | |
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
| 3p |
अस्ति
| स्तः
| सन्ति
|
| 2p |
असि
| स्थः
| स्थ
|
| 1p |
अस्मि
| स्वः
| स्मः
|
|