Grammatical tradition[edit]

Main article: Vykaran a

The grammatical tradition of Sanskrit (vykaraa, one of the six Vedga disciplines) began in
late Vedic India and culminated in the A dhyyof Pnini, a work which consists of
3990 sutras or aphorisms. Ktyyana composed Vrtikas (explanations) on Pnini's
stras. Patajali, who lived three centuries after Pnini, wrote the Mahbh ya, the "Great
Commentary" on the Ast
dhyy and the Vrtikas. Because of these three ancientSanskrit
grammarians this grammar is called Trimuni Vykarana or 'grammar of three sages'. Jayaditya
and Vmana wrote the commentary named Ksik 600 CE, to elucidate the meaning of the
stras.
Pninian grammar is based on the 14 Shiva sutras. The whole Mtrika (alphabet) is abbreviated
here. This abbreviation is called Pratyhra.[1] Kaiyat a's (12th century AD) commentary on
Patajali's Mahbhsya also exerted much influence on the development of grammar, but more
influential was the Rupvatra of Buddhist scholar Dharmakrti which popularised simplified
versions of Sanskrit grammar.
The most influential work of the Early Modern (Mughal) period was Siddhnta
Kaumudi by Bhat t oji Dksita(17th century) and its various derivate versions by Varadarja.
European grammatical scholarship began in the 18th century with Jean Franois Pons and
others, and culminated in the exhaustive expositions by 19th century scholars such asOtto
Boehtlingk, William Dwight Whitney, Jacob Wackernagel and others.

Verbs[edit]
Main article: Sankrit verb

Claificaio of verb[edit]
Sanskrit has ten classes of verbs (plus one used in the Vedas) divided into two broad
groups: athematic and thematic. The thematic verbs are so called because an a, called thetheme
vowel, is inserted between the stem and the ending. This serves to make the thematic verbs
generally more regular. Exponents used in verb conjugation include prefixes,suffixes, infixes,
and reduplication.

Tee yem[edit]
The verbs tenses (a very inexact application of the word, since more distinctions than simply
tense are expressed) are organized into four 'systems' (as well as gerunds andinfinitives, and
such creatures as intensives/frequentatives, desideratives, causatives, and benedictives derived
from more basic forms) based on the different stem forms (derived from verbal roots) used in
conjugation. There are four tense systems:

Present (Present, Imperfect, Imperative, Optative)

Perfect

Aorist

Future (Future, Conditional)

Pree yem[edit]
The present system includes the present tense and the imperfect (past imperfective),[citation
needed]

the optative and imperative moods, as well as some of the remnant forms of the

old subjunctive. The tense stem of the present system is formed in various ways. The numbers
are the native grammarians' numbers for these classes.
Perfec yem[edit]
The perfect system includes only the perfect. The stem is formed with reduplication as with the
present system.
The perfect system also produces separate "strong" and "weak" forms of the verbthe strong
form is used with the singular active, and the weak form with the rest.

Aori yem[edit]
The aorist system includes aorist proper (with past indicative meaning, e.g. abhh "you were")
and some of the forms of the ancient injunctive (used almost exclusively with m in prohibitions,
e.g. m bhh "don't be"). The principal distinction of the two is presence/absence of
an augment a- prefixed to the stem. The aorist system stem actually has three different
formations: the simple aorist, the sibilant aorist, and the reduplicating aorist, which
is semantically related to the causative verb.
Fuure yem[edit]
The future system is formed with the suffixation of ya or i ya and guna. Verbs then conjugate as
though they were thematic verbs in the present system. The imperfect of the future system is
used as a conditional.

Verb: cojugaio[edit]
Each verb has a grammatical voice, whether active, passive or middle. There also is an
impersonal voice, which can be described as the passive voice of intransitive verbs. Sanskrit
verbs have an indicative, an optative and an imperative mood. Older forms of the language had
a subjunctive, though this had fallen out of use by the time of Classical Sanskrit.
Baic cojugaioal edig[edit]
Conjugational endings in Sanskrit convey person, number, and voice. Different forms of the
endings are used depending on what tense stem and mood they are attached to. Verb stems or
the endings themselves may be changed or obscured by sandhi.

Acive

Pero

Primary

Secodary

Perfec

Imperaive

Sigular

Middle

Dual

Plural

Sigular

Dual

Plural

mi

vh

mh

vhe

mhe

si

thh

th

the

dhv

ti

th

nti, ti

te

nte, te

am

vhi

mhi

tm

th h

thm

dhvm

t m

n, h

tm

nta, ta, rn

vhe

mhe

tha

thuh

the

dhv

tuh

te

ni

va

ma

vahi

mahi

dh, h,

tm

sv

thm

dhvm

tu

t m

ntu, tu

t m

tm

ntm, tm

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.

Nominal inflection[edit]
Main article: Sankrit noun
Sanskrit is a highly inflected language with three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine,
neuter)(Sanskrit: , , ) and three numbers (singular, dual, plural)
(, , ). It has
eight cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive,
and locative.
The number of actual declensions is debatable. Pnini identifies six kraka corresponding to the
nominative, accusative, dative, instrumental, locative, and ablative cases [1].Pnini defines them
as follows (Ashtdhyyi, I.4.24-54):
1. Apdna (lit. 'take off'): "(that which is) firm when departure (takes place)." This is the
equivalent of the ablative case, which signifies a stationary object from which movement
proceeds.
2. Sampradna ('bestowal'): "he whom one aims at with the object". This is equivalent to the
dative case, which signifies a recipient in an act of giving or similar acts.
3. Karan a ("instrument") "that which effects most." This is equivalent to the instrumental
case.
4. Adhikaran a ('location'): or "substratum." This is equivalent to the locative case.
5. Karman ('deed'/'object'): "what the agent seeks most to attain". This is equivalent to the
accusative case.
6. Kart ('agent'): "he/that which is independent in action". This is equivalent to the
nominative case. (On the basis of Scharfe, 1977: 94)
Genitive (Sambandha) and vocative are absent in Pnini's grammar.
In this article they are divided into five declensions. The declension to which a noun belongs to is
determined largely by form.

Baic ou ad adjecive decleio [edit]

The basic scheme of suffixation is given in the table belowvalid 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 andhi 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.
Cae ame

Cae umber

Sigular

Dual

Plural

- -s

- -au

- -as

(- -m)

(- -)

(- -i)

- -am

- -au

- -as

(- -m)

(- -)

(- -i)

- -

- -bhym

- -bhis

- -e

- -bhym

- -bhyas

- -as

- -bhym

- -bhyas

- -as

- -os

- -m

- -i

- -os

- -su

Vocaive

- -s

- -au

- -as

( sambodhaa)

(- -)

(- -)

(- -i)

Nomiaive
( kart)

Accuaive
( karma)

Irumeal
( kara a)

Daive
( samprada)

Ablaive
( apda)

Geiive
( sambadha)

Locaive
( adhikara a)

The final " (s) characters in the above table are theoretical. In Classical Sanskrit, all of them
become "h" when the word is at the end of a sentence, and, if the word is followed by another in
a sentence, the rules of samdhi for final "-h" are applied.

a-em[edit]

A-stems (// or /a/) comprise the largest class of nouns. As a rule, nouns belonging to this class,
with the uninflected stem ending in short-a (//), are either masculine or neuter. Nouns ending in
long-A (/a/) are almost always feminine. A-stem adjectives take the masculine and neuter in
short-a (//), and feminine in long-A (/a/) in their stems. This class is so big because it also
comprises the Proto-Indo-European o-stems.

Maculie (rma-)

Sigul
ar

Nomiai
ve

Accuai
ve

Dual

Daive

ar

Dual

Plural

Sigul
ar

Dual

Plural

rmh

syam sye

syni

knt

knte

knth

rmam rmau

rmn

sym sye

syni

kntm knte

knth

rmih

syn sy bhy
a

syh

kntay kntbhy kntbhi

rmy rmbhy rmebhy sy y sybhy syebhy knty kntbhy kntbh

a

Ablaive rmt

Geiive

Sigul

(kta- 'beloved')

rmah rmau

Irume rmen rmbhy

al

Plural

Femiie

Neuer (sya- 'mouh')

rmas
ya

ah

rmbhy rmebhy
m

rmayoh

ah

syt

rmn syasy
m

ah

syayoh

ah

syn

knty

rmayoh rmesu sye

syayoh syesu

Vocaive rma

rmau

sye

sya

yah

sybhy syebhy knty kntbhy kntbh

Locaive rme

rmh

ai

sy ni

knty
m

knte

kntayoh

yah

kntn
m

kntayoh kntsu

knte

knth

i- ad u-em[edit]
i-em

Mac. ad Fem. (gti- 'gai')

Sigular

Dual

Plural

Neuer (vri- 'waer')

Sigular

Dual

Plural

Nomiaive

gtih

gt

gtayah

v ri

v rin

v rni

Accuaive

gtim

gt

gth

v ri

v rin

v rni

gtibhym

gtibhih

v rin

v ribhym

v ribhih

Irumeal gty

Daive

gtaye, gtyi

gtibhym

gtibhyah

v rine

v ribhym

v ribhyah

Ablaive

gteh, gtyh

gtibhym

gtibhyas

v rinah

v ribhym

v ribhyah

Geiive

gteh, gtyh

gtyoh

gtnm

v rinah

v rinoh

v rinm

Locaive

gtu, gtym

gtyoh

gtisu

v rini

v rinoh

v risu

Vocaive

gte

gt

gtayah

v ri, v re

v rin

v rni

u-em

Mac. ad Fem. (tru- 'eemy')

Neuer (mdhu- 'hoey')

Sigular

Dual

Plural

Sigular

Dual

Plural

Nomiaive

truh

tr

travah

mdhu

mdhun

mdhni

Accuaive

trum

tr

trn

mdhu

mdhun

mdhni

mdhun

mdhubhym mdhubhih

Irumeal trun

trubhym trubhih

Daive

trave

trubhym trubhyah mdhune

mdhubhym mdhubhyah

Ablaive

troh

trubhym trubhyah mdhunas mdhubhym mdhubhyah

Geiive

troh

trvoh

trnm

mdhunah mdhunoh

mdhnm

Locaive

tru

trvoh

trusu

mdhuni

mdhunoh

mdhusu

Vocaive

tro

tr

travah

mdhu

mdhun

mdhni

Log Vowel-em[edit]
-em (j- 'progey')

Sigul
ar

Dual

Plural

j s

-em (dh- 'hough')

Sigul

Plural

dhyu

dhyas

bh s

dhyam dhyu

dhyas

ar

Accuaive j m

Irume j

j bhy j bhis dhiy

js

Sigul

Dual

Nomiaive j s

j s,

-em (bh- 'earh')

dh s

dhbhy

Dual

Plural

bhvu

bhvas

bhvam bhvu

bhvas

ar

dhbhs bhuv

bhbhy

bhbhs

al

j bhy j bhya dhiy,

dhbhy

dhbhy bhuv,

bhbhy

bhbhy

Daive

Ablaive

js

Geiive

js

js

Locaive

js

j su

Vocaive

j s

j s

dhiy

bhuv

j bhy j bhya dhiys, dhbhy

dhbhy bhuvs, bhbhy

bhbhy

dhiy s

j nm, dhiys,
j m

dhiy s

dhiy,
dhiy m

dh s

dhiys

bhuv s m

dhiy m, bhuvs,

bhuvs

dhn m bhuv s

dhiys

dhs

dhiyu

dhyas

bhuv,
bhuv m

bh s

bhuv m,
bhn m

bhuvs

bhs

bhuvu

bhvas

r -em[edit]
r -stems are predominantly agental derivatives like dtr 'giver',
though also include kinship terms

like pitr 'father',

mtr 'mother',
and vr 'sister'.

Sigular

Dual

Plural

Nomiaive

pit

pitru

pitras

Accuaive

pitram

pitru

pitn

Irumeal

pitr

pit bhym

pit bhis

Daive

pitr

pit bhym

pit bhyas

Ablaive

pitr

pit bhym

pit bhyas

Geiive

pitr

pitrs

pitnm

Locaive

pitri

pitrs

pit s u

Vocaive

ptar

pitru

pitras

See alo: Devi inflection and Vrki inflection

Numeral[edit]
The numbers from one to ten are:
1. ka
2. dv
3. trni
4. catvari
5. paca
6. ss
7. sapt, spta
8. ast , st a
9. nva
10.da
All numbers in Sanskrit can be declined in all the cases. ka is declined like a pronominal
adjective, though the dual form does not occur. Dv appears only in the
dual. Tri andcavari are declined irregularly and higher numbers are only declined in the plural.

Personal pronouns and determiners[edit]

Main article: Sankrit pronoun and determiner
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 -ta; thus mat or matta, amator amatta.
Fir Pero

Sigular

Dual

Nomiaive aham

Plural

vm

Daive

Ablaive

Geiive

Locaive

Sigular

Dual

tvam

asmn, nas

tvm, tv yuvm, vm

yusmn, vas

asmbhis

tvay

yusmbhis

mahyam, vbhym,

asmabhyam,

tubhyam, yuvbhym,

yusmabhyam,

me

nau

nas

te

vm

vas

mat

vbhym

asmat

tvat

yuvbhym

yusmat

yuvayos,

yusmkam,

vm

vas

yuvayos

yusmsu

may

vbhym

mama,

vayos, nau

me

mayi

vayos

asmkam,
nas

asmsu

yuvm

Plural

vayam

Accuaive mm, m vm, nau

Irumea

Secod Pero

yuvbhym

tava, te

tvayi

yyam

The demonstrative ta, declined below, also functions as the third person pronoun.
Maculie

Si
gul
ar

Du Plu
al

ral

Neuer

Si
gul
ar

Femiie

Du Plu
al

ral

Si
gul
ar

Du
al

Plural

Nomi
aiv sh t t

tt

t ni s

t h

aiv tm t t n tt

t ni t m t

t s

Accu
e

Ir
ume
al

tn
a

Abla ts
ive

mt

t b
hy
m

th tn
i

t b tb
hy hya
m

ts
mt

t b
hy
m

th ty
i

t b tb
hy hya
m

ts
ys

t b
hy
m

t b
hihi

Da
iv
e

t
s
m
i

t b tb
hy hy
m

as

t
s
m
i

t b tb t t b t b
hy hy sy hy hya
m

as i m

t b t b
hy hy
m

as

Gei ts ty ts ts ty ts ts ty t s
ive

ya

oho m ya

oho m ys oho m

Loca ts ty ts ts ty ts
ive

min oho hu

min oho hu

ts
y
m

ty tes
oho hu

Compounds (samsa)[edit]
Main article: Sankrit compound
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 related languages such asGerman. 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:

Amredia[edit]
A compound consisting of the same word repeated, but with the first occurrence being accented.
[2] Amreditas are used to express repetitiveness; for example, from dv (day) we obtain div-

dive (day after day, daily) and from dev (god) we obtain devm-devam or dev-deva (god after
god).[3]

Avyayibhva[edit]
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 :
yath+akti, upa+krisn am (near krisn a),etc. In avyayibhva compounds, first member has
primacy (prva-pada-pradhna), i.e., the whole compound behaves like an indeclinable due to
the nature of the first part which is indeclinable.

Tapurua (deermiaive)[edit]
Main article: Tatpuru a
Unlike the compound, in Tatpurusa compound econd member ha primacy (uttara-padapradhna). There are many tatpuru a (one for each of the nominal cae, and a few other
beide). In a tatpuru a, the firt component i in a cae relationhip with another. For example,
a doghoue i a dative compound, a houe for a dog. It would be called acaturtitatpurusa (caturti
refer to the fourth caethat i, the dative). Incidentally, "tatpuru a" i a tatpuru a ("thi man"
meaning omeone' agent), while "caturtitatpuru a" i a karmadhraya, being both dative, and a
tatpuru a.
An easy way to understand it is to look at English examples of tatpuru as: "battlefield", where
there is a genitive relationship between "field" and "battle", "a field of battle"; other examples
include instrumental relationships ("thunder-struck") and locative relationships ("town-dwelling").
All these normal tatpurus a compounds are called vyadhikarana tatpurus a, 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
Tatpurusa compound are similar then it is called a karmadhraya tatpurus a compound, or simply
a karmadhraya compound.

Karmadhraya (decripive)[edit]
It is a variety of Tatpurusa 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.

Dvigu[edit]
In a karmadhraya 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+gvau. In a dvigu compounds, later part is principal, like a tatpurus a compound.

a-ama[edit]
Example : na + brhamana = abrhamana, in which 'n' vanishes and only the 'a' of 'na' remains.
But with words beginning with vowel this 'a' becomes 'an' : na+ava > (na > a > an) anava.

Dvadva (co-ordiaive)[edit]
Main article: Dvandva
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. rma-lakmaau Rama and Lakshmana, or rma-lakmaabharata-atrughnh Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Satrughna. The second kind is
called amhra 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. pipdam limbs, literally hands and feet, from pi =
hand and pda = foot. According to some grammarians, there is a third kind of dvandva,
called ekaea dvandva or residual compound, which takes the dual (or plural) form of only its
final constituent member, e.g.pitarau for mt + pit, mother + father, i.e. parents. According to
other grammarians, however, the ekaea is not properly a compound at all.

Bahuvrhi (poeive)[edit]
Main article: Bahuvrhi
Bahuvrhi, or "much-rice", denotes a rich personone who has much rice. Bahuvrhi compounds
refer (by example) to a compound noun with no heada 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 "flyball" (a kind of ball) or "alley cat" (a kind of cat). Bahurvrhis can often be translated by
"possessing..." or "-ed"; for example, "possessing much rice", or "much riced".

Madhyama-pada-lop-ama[edit]
It is that variety of Karmadhraya tatpurusa compound in which the middle part vanishes.
E.g., devapjakah+brhamanah = devabrhamanah; ryukta+Rmah = rrmah

Upapada-ama[edit]
It is a variety of tatpurus a compound in which nouns make unions with verbs, like
Kumbham+karoti = kumbhakrah.

Aluk-ama[edit]
Case endings of the first constituent word do not vanish, e.g., tmane+ padam =
tmanepadam,Parasmaipada,vanechar,yudhishira,sarasija In each of these compound words
the first constituent has retained its case termination.

Phonology[edit]
Further information: ik

Classical Sanskrit distinguishes about 36 phonemes. There is, however, some allophony and the
writing systems used for Sanskrit generally indicate this, thus distinguishing 48sounds. The
sounds are traditionally listed in the
order vowels (Ac), diphthongs (Hal), anusvara and visarga, plosives (Spara)
and nasals (starting in the back of the mouth and moving forward), and finally
the liquids and fricatives, written in IAST as follows:
a i u r l ; e ai o au
m h
k kh g gh ; c ch j jh ; t t h d dh n; t th d dh n; p ph b bh m
y r l v; s s h
An alternate traditional ordering is that of the Shiva Sutra of Pnini.

Vowel[edit]
The vowels of Classical Sanskrit written in Devanagari, as a syllable-initial letter
and as a diacritic mark on the consonant (/p/), pronunciation transcribed
in IPA, IAST, and approximate equivalent in English:

Leer

IPA

IAST

[]

[]

[i]

[i]

[u]

[u]

Eglih equivale (GA ule aed

oherwie)

short near-open central

vowel or schwa: u in bunny

open back unrounded vowel: a in father

(RP)

short close front unrounded

vowel: e in England

long close front unrounded vowel: ee in

feet

short close back rounded vowel: oo in

foot

long close back rounded vowel: oo in

cool

[r] (traditional) or [ri] (modern,

[e]

[j]/[j]

ai

[o]

[w]/[w]

au

North-Central India)

[r] (traditional) or [ri:] (modern,

North-Central India)

[l] (traditional) or [lri], [li]

(modern, North-Central India)

[l:] (traditional) or [lri:], [li:]

(modern, North-Central India)

syllabic alveolar trill: closest to er in

butter in rhotic accents

syllabic alveolar trill: closest to ir in bird in

rhotic accents

syllabic dental lateral approximant: le in

turtle

syllabic dental lateral approximant:

longer le

long close-mid front unrounded

vowel: a in bane (some speakers)

a diphthong: i in ice, i in kite

(US, Canadian, and Scottish English)

close-mid back rounded vowel: o in bone

(Scottish English)

a diphthong: ou in house (Canadian

English)

The long vowels are pronounced twice as long as their short counterparts. Also,
there exists a third, extra-long length for most vowels. This lengthening is
called pluti; the lengthened vowels, called pluta, are used in various cases, but
particularly in the vocative. The pluti is not accepted by all grammarians. The
vowels /e/ and /o/ continue as allophonic variants of Proto-IndoIranian /ai/, /au/ and are categorised as diphthongs by Sanskrit grammarians
even though they are realised phonetically as simple long vowels.

Additional points:

There are some additional signs traditionally listed in tables of

the Devanagari script:

The diacritic called anuvra, (IAST: m ). It is used both to indicate

the nasalisation of the vowel in the syllable [] and to represent the
sound of a syllabic /n/ or /m/; e.g. /p/.

The diacritic called viarga, represents /x/ (IAST: h); e.g. /ph/.
While pronounced as a fricative, it's assimilable into a succeeding stop,

The diacritic called chandrabindu, not traditionally included in

Devanagari charts for Sanskrit, is used interchangeably with
the anuvra to indicate nasalisation of the vowel, primarily in Vedic
notation; e.g. /p/.

If a lone consonant needs to be written without any following vowel, it is

given a halanta/virma diacritic below ().

The vowel /a/ in Sanskrit is realised as being more central and less back
than the closest English approximation, which is //. But the grammarians
have classified it as a back vowel.[2]

The ancient Sanskrit grammarians classified the vowel system

as velars, retroflexes, palatals and plosives rather than as back, central and
front vowels. Hence and are classified respectively as palato-velar (a+i)
and labio-velar (a+u) vowels respectively. But the grammarians have
classified them as diphthongs and in prosody, each is given two mtr.
This does not necessarily mean that they are proper diphthongs, but neither
excludes the possibility that they could have been proper diphthongs at a
very ancient stage. These vowels are pronounced as
long /e/ and /o/ respectively by learned Sanskrit Brahmans and priests of
today. Other than the "four" diphthongs, Sanskrit usually disallows any other
diphthongvowels in succession, where they occur, are converted
to semivowels according to sandhi rules.

The pronunciation of vocalic r is as above: much the same as in English

"butter" and the Hindi "patr", meaning letter. This cause a great deal of
confusion for those who start from the writing systems of West European
and modern Indian languages, which do not recognise the vocalic r as an
allophone of the consonant r, and which therefore require that a vowel be
included in the syllable - "e" in "butter", "i" in "bird", etc. -. Other languages
have writing systems that include vocalic r. In Croatian, for example,
"corner" is written "vrj", the "r" doing double duty as a vowel in addition to a

consonant. Indian descendant languages of Sanskrit lost the vocalic r, and

Indian pandits came to pronounce it as variously "ri" in the North - as in the
name of the god known there as "krishn" -, and "ru" in the South - where the
same god is commonly referred to as "krushna". When vocalic r reappeared
in modern Indian languages due to the loss of final "a" in Sanskrit loan
words such as "patra" > "patr" in Hindi, (which replaced prakrit and
apabramsha "patta", the natural derivative of the Sanskrit) it was not
recognised by modern speakers that this corresponded exactly to the
vocalic r of ancient Sanskrit. The pronunciation remains a bone of
contention even now amongst those who are unfamiliar with the ancient
Indian science of phonetics (discussed above) in which the sound system is
perfectly described.

Cooa[edit]
IAST and Devanagari notations are given, with approximate IPA values in
square brackets.[3]

Labial

Deal

o hya

daya

Reroflex

mrdhay
a

Palaal

Velar

lavya

ka hya

Uapir
aed
p [p b [b t [tt d [dt t [ d [ c [tt j [dt k [k g [

Sop

alpapr
a

par
a

Apira
ed

mahpr

ph bh [ th dh [ t h dh [ ch [ jh [ kh

gh [

[p]

b]

[tt]

dt ]

[]

tt]

dt]

[k]

Naal

auika

m [m]

n [nt ]

n []

( [])

[]

Gloal

Semivowel

v [v]

y [j]

aaha

Liquid

l [l]t

r []

s [st]

s []

drava

Fricaive

h h

[]

[x]

ma

[]

The table below shows the traditional listing of the Sanskrit consonants with the
(nearest) equivalents in English (as pronounced in General
American and Received Pronunciationor the Indian English pronunciation if
specified), French and Spanish. Each consonant shown below is deemed to be
followed by the neutral vowel schwa (//), and is named in the table as such.
Soppara

Apiraed

Uapiraed

Apiraed

Voicele

Voiced

Voiced

mahpra

alpapra

mahpra

va

da

da

/k/;

//;

//; no

//; English:

English: cow

English: game

equivalent

rig

/c/; no

/c/; no

//; no

//; no

equivalent

equivalent

equivalent

equivalent

Uapiraed
Voicele
alpapra va

Velar

ka hya

/k/; English: skip

Palaal
lavya

Reroflex

Naal
auika
da

[]; French:
ageau,
Spanish

mrdhaya //; English: sop

//;

//; English

//; no

English: ime

(Indian): door

equivalent

//; no
English
equivalent

apico-

Deal

/tt/; French,

/tt/;

daya

Spanish: omae

Aspirated /tt/

/p/; English:

/p/;

/b/;

/b/; no

/m/;

spin

English: pork

English: bone

equivalent

English: mine

Labial
o hya

/dt /;
French: dans,
Spanish donde

/dt /;

/nt /;

Aspirated /dt / English ame

No-Ploive/Soora

Palaal

Reroflex

Deal

lavya

mrdhaya

daya

Approxima

aaha

/j/; English: you

//; no equivalent

Sibila/

Fricaive

//; similar to

//; Retroflex

mag

English: hip

form of //

/l/;
t French,
Spanish: la

/st/; English: ame

Acce[edit]
Main article: Vedic accent
Vedic Sanskrit had pitch accent; some syllables had a high tone, and the
following syllable a falling tone, though through ellipsis a falling tone may occur
elsewhere.

Phoology ad adhi[edit]

Labial/
Gloal
o hya

(labio-velar)

/w/; English w

(glottal)
//; English
ahead

The Sanskrit vowels are as discussed in the section above. The long syllabic l ( )
is not attested, and is only discussed by grammarians for systematic reasons. Its
short counterpart l occurs in a single root only, kl p "to order, array". Long syllabic
r () is also quite marginal, occurring in the genitive plural of r-stems
(e.g. mtr "mother"
and pitr"father"
have gen.pl. mtn m and pitn m). i, u, r ,

l are vocalic allophones of consonantal y, v, r, l. There are thus only 5 invariably

vocalic phonemes:a, , , , .
Visarga h is an allophone of r and s, and anusvara m , Devanagari of any
nasal, both in pausa (i.e., the nasalised vowel). The exact pronunciation of the
three sibilants may vary, but they are distinct phonemes. An aspirated voiced
sibilant /z/ was inherited by Indo-Aryan from Proto-Indo-Iranian but lost shortly
before the time of the Rigveda (aspirated fricatives are exceedingly rare in any
language). The retroflex consonants are somewhat marginal phonemes, often
being conditioned by their phonetic environment; they do not continue
a PIE series and are often ascribed by some linguists to the substratal influence
of Dravidian[4] or other substrate languages. The nasal [] is a conditioned
allophone of /n/ (/n/ and // are distinct phonemesanu 'minute', 'atomic' [nom.
sg. neutr. of an adjective] is distinctive from anu 'after', 'along'; phonologically
independent //occurs only marginally, e.g. in pr 'directed forwards/towards'
[nom. sg. masc. of an adjective]). There are thus 31 consonantal or semi-vocalic
phonemes, consisting of four/five kinds of stops realised both with or without
aspiration and both voiced and voiceless, three nasals, four semi-vowels or
liquids, and four fricatives, written in IAST transliteration as follows: k, kh, g, gh;
c, ch, j, jh; t , t h, d, dh; t, th, d, dh; p, ph, b, bh; m, n, n; y, r, l, v; , s, s, hor a total
of 36 unique Sanskrit phonemes altogether.
The phonological rules which are applied when combining morphemes to a
word, and when combining words to a sentence, are collectively
called andhi "composition". Texts are written phonetically, with sandhi applied
(except for the so-called padaptha).

Grammar[edit]
Grammaical radiio[edit]
Main article: Sankrit grammarian
Sanskrit grammatical tradition (vykaran a, one of the six Vedanga disciplines)
began in late Vedic India and culminated in the A tdhyy
of Pnini, which

consists of 3990 sutras (ca. 5th century BCE). About a century

after Pnini (around 400 BCE) Ktyyana composed Vrtikas on Pninian
stras. Patajali, who lived three centuries after Pnini, wrote theMahbh ya,

the "Great Commentary" on the Ast dhyyand Vrtikas. Because of these

three ancient Sanskrit grammarians this grammar is called Trimuni Vykarana.
To understand the meaning of sutras Jayaditya and Vmana wrote the
commentary named Ksik 600 CE. Pninian grammar is based on
14 Shiva sutras (aphorisms). Here whole Mtrika (alphabet) is abbreviated. This
abbreviation is called Pratyhara.[5]

Verb[edit]
Main article: Sankrit verb
Sanskrit has ten classes of verbs divided into two broad
groups: athematic and thematic. The thematic verbs are so called because an a,
called the theme vowel, is inserted between the stem and the ending. This
serves to make the thematic verbs generally more regular. Exponents used in
verb conjugation include prefixes, suffixes, infixes, andreduplication. Every root
has (not necessarily all distinct) zero, guna, and vr ddhi grades. If V is the vowel
of the zero grade, the guna-grade vowel is traditionally thought of as a + V, and
the vr ddhi-grade vowel as + V.
The verb tenses (a very inexact application of the word, since more distinctions
than simply tense are expressed) are organised into four 'systems' (as well
as gerunds andinfinitives, and such creatures
as intensives/frequentatives, desideratives, causatives,
and benedictives derived from more basic forms) based on the different stem
forms (derived from verbal roots) used in conjugation. There are four tense
systems:

Present (Present, Imperfect, Imperative, Optative)

Perfect

Aorist

Future (Future, Conditional)

Nou[edit]
Main article: Sankrit noun
Sanskrit is a highly inflected language with three grammatical
genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and three numbers (singular, plural, dual).
It has
eight cases: nominative,vocative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genit
ive, and locative. The number of actual declensions is
debatable. Pnini identifies six karaka corresponding to the nominative,

accusative, dative, instrumental, locative, and ablative cases.[6] Pnini defines

them as follows (Ashtadhyayi, I.4.24 54):
1. Apadana (lit. 'take off'): "(that which is) firm when departure (takes
place)." This is the equivalent of the ablative case, which signifies a
stationary object from which movement proceeds.
2. Sampradana ('bestowal'): "he whom one aims at with the object". This is
equivalent to the dative case, which signifies a recipient in an act of
giving or similar acts.
3. Karana ("instrument") "that which effects most." This is equivalent to the
instrumental case.
4. Adhikarana ('location'): or "substratum." This is equivalent to the locative
case.
5. Karman ('deed'/'object'): "what the agent seeks most to attain". This is
equivalent to the accusative case.
6. Karta ('agent'): "he/that which is independent in action". This is
equivalent to the nominative case. (On the basis of Scharfe, 1977: 94)

Peroal proou ad deermier[edit]

Main article: Sankrit pronoun and determiner
Sanskrit pronouns are declined for case, number, and gender. The
pronominal declension applies to a few adjectives as well. Many pronouns have
alternative enclitic forms. The first and second person pronouns are declined for
the most part alike, having by analogy assimilated themselves with one another.
Where two forms are given, the second isenclitic and an alternative
form. Ablatives in singular and plural may be extended by the syllable -ta;
thus mat or matta, amat or amatta. Sanskrit does not have true third person
pronouns, but its demonstratives fulfill this function instead by standing
independently without a modified substantive.
There are four different demonstratives in Sanskrit: tat, etat, idam,
and ada. etat indicates greater proximity than tat. While idam is similar
to etat, ada refers to objects that are more remote than tat. eta, is declined
almost identically to ta. Its paradigm is obtained by prefixing e- to all the forms
of ta. As a result of andhi, the masculine and feminine singular forms transform
into e a and e .
The enclitic pronoun ena is found only in a few oblique cases and numbers.
Interrogative pronouns all begin with k-, and decline just as tat does, with the

initial t- being replaced by k-. The only exception to this are the singular
neuter nominative and accusative forms, which are both kim and not the
expected *kat. For example, the singular femininegenitive interrogative pronoun,
"of whom?", is kayh . Indefinite pronouns are formed by adding the
participles api, cid, or cana after the appropriate interrogative pronouns. All
relative pronouns begin with y-, and decline just as tat does. The correlative
pronouns are identical to the tat series.
In addition to the pronouns described above, some adjectives follow the
pronominal declension. Unless otherwise noted, their declension is identical
to tat.

eka: "one", "a certain". (singular neuter nominative and accusative forms are
both ekam)

anya: "another".

arva: "all", "every". (singular neuter nominative and accusative forms are
both arvam)

para: "the other". (singular neuter nominative and accusative forms are
both param)

va: "self" (a reflexive adjective). (singular neuter nominative and accusative

forms are both vam)

Compoud[edit]
Main article: Sankrit compound
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 asGerman and Finnish. 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. The four principle categories of nominal compounds
are:[7]
Dvandva (co-ordinative)
These consist of two or more noun stems, connected in sense with 'and'. Examples
are rma-lakmaauRama and Lakshmana, rma-lakmaa-bharata-atrughnh
Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Satrughna, and pipdamlimbs, literally hands and
feet, from pi = hand and pda = foot.
Tatpurusa (determinative)
There are many tatpurusas; in a tatpurusa the first component is in a case relationship
with another. For example, a doghouse is a dative compound, a house for a dog; other

examples include instrumental relationships ("thunderstruck") and locative relationships

("towndwelling").
Karmadhraya (descriptive)
A compound where 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.Karmadhrayas are considered by some to be tatpurusas.
Bahuvrhi (possessive/exocentric)
Bahuvrhi compounds refer to a compound noun that refers to a thing which is itself not
part of the compound. For example the word bahuvrhi itself, from bahu = much and vrhi
= rice, denotes a rich personone who has much rice.

Syax[edit]
Because of Sanskrit's complex declension system the word
order is free.[8] In usage, there is a strong tendency
toward subject object verb (SOV), which was the original
system in place in Vedic prose. However, there are exceptions
when word pairs cannot be transposed.[9]

Numeral[edit]
The numbers from one to ten:
1. ka2. dva3. tri4. catr5. pcan6. ss7. saptn8. ast 9. nvan10. danThe numbers one through four are declined. ka is declined like
a pronominal adjective, though the dual form does not
occur. Dv appears only in the dual. Tr and catr are declined
irregularly[citation needed]:

Three

Maculie

Neuer

Four

Femiie

Maculie

Neuer

Nomiaive

tryas

tr n i

tisrs

catv ras

catv ri

Accuaive

trn

tr n i

tisrs

catras

catv ri

tribhs

tis bhis

catrbhis

Daive

tribhys

tis bhyas

catrbhyas

Ablaive

tribhys

tis bhyas

catrbhyas

Geiive

triynm

tisr n m

caturnm

Locaive

tris

tis s u

catrsu

Irumeal

Some peculiar characeriic of

Sakri[edit]
In the introduction to his celebrated translation of Vidyakara's
'Subhasitaratnakosa', Daniel H.H. Ingalls describes some
peculiar characteristics of the Sanskrit language. He refers to
the enormous vocabulary of Sanskrit, and also of the presence
of a larger choice of synonyms in Sanskrit than any other
language he knew of. Further, he writes, just as there exist a
vast number of synonyms for almost any word in Sanskrit, there
also exist synonymous constructions. Ingalls writes that in
elementary Sanskrit examinations he would ask his students to
write in Sanskrit the sentence 'You must fetch the horse' in ten
different ways. Actually, Ingalls explains, it is possible to write
the sentence in Sanskrit in around fifteen different ways 'by
using active or passive constructions, imperative or optative, an
auxiliary verb, or any of the three gerundive forms, each of

which, by the way, gives a different metrical pattern'. Ingalls

emphasizes that while these constructions differ formally,
emotionally they are identical and completely interchangeable.
He comments that in any natural language this would be
impossible. Ingalls uses this and other arguments to show that
Sanskrit is not a natural language, but an 'artificial' language. By
'artificial', he explains he means it was learned after some other
Indian language had been learned by simple conditioning.
Ingalls writes: 'Every Indian, one may suppose, grew up
learning naturally the language of his mother and his
playmates. Only after this and if he belonged to the priesthood
or the nobility or to such a professional caste as that of the
clerks, the physicians, or the astrologers would he learn
Sanskrit. As a general rule, Sanskrit was not the language of
the family. It furnished no subconscious symbols for the
impressions which we receive in childhood nor for the emotions
which form our character in early adolescence.'[10]

See also[edit]

Sanskrit pronouns and determiners

Notes[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Kinth V. Abhyankar, A dictionary of Sanskrit

Grammar, Gekwd's Oriental Series, No. 134, Oriental
Institute, Barod, 1986

2.

Jump up^ Maurer, Walter (2001). The ankrit language : an

introductory grammar and reader. Surrey, England:
Curzon. ISBN 0-7007-1382-4.

3.

Jump up^ Stiehl, Ulrich (2011). Sankrit-Kompendium : ein

Lehr-, bung- und Nachchlagewerk; DevanagariAugabe (in German). Heidelberg: Forkel. ISBN 978-3-77190086-1.

4.

Jump up^ Hamp, Eric P. (OctDecember 1996). "On the

Indo-European origins of the retroflexes in Sanskrit". The
Journal of the American Oriental Society. Retrieved 8
January 2009.

5.

Jump up^ Abhyankar, Kashinath (1986). A Dictionary of

Sankrit Grammar. Baroda: Maharaja Sayajirao University.

6.

Jump up^ "The Karaka Theory of The Indian Grammarians".

Franson D Manjali. Retrieved 2012-04-05.

7.

Jump up^ Warnemyr, Lennart. An analytical cro

referenced Sankrit Grammar.

8.

Jump up^ J.F. Staal (31 January 1967). Word Order in

Sankrit and Univeral Grammar. Springer Science &
Business Media. ISBN 978-90-277-0549-5.

9.

Jump up^ Gillon, B.S (25 March 1996), "Word order in

Classical Sanskrit", Indian linguitic 57 (1 4):
1, ISSN 0378-0759

10. Jump up^ Vidykara (1965). An anthology of Sankrit court

poetry; Vidykara'. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
pp. 58. ISBN 978-0-674-03950-6.

References[edit]

W. D. Whitney, Sankrit Grammar: Including both the

Claical Language and the Older Dialect

W. D. Whitney, The Root, Verb-Form and Primary

Derivative of the Sankrit Language (A Supplement to Hi
Sankrit Grammar)

Wackernagel, Debrunner, Altindiche Grammatik,

Gttingen.

vol. I. phonology [4] Jacob Wackernagel (1896)

vol. II.1. introduction to morphology, nominal

composition, Wackernagel (1905) [5]

vol. II.2. nominal suffixes, J. Wackernagel and Albert

Debrunner (1954)

vol. III. nominal inflection, numerals, pronouns,

Wackernagel and Debrunner (1930)

B. Delbrck, Altindiche Tempulehre (1876) [6]

Topics in Sanskrit morphology and syntax

Frits Staal, Word order in Sankrit and Univeral Grammar,

Foundations of Language, supplementary series 5,
Springer (1967), ISBN 978-90-277-0549-5.