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Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
has inherited from its theorised parent the
Proto-Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
an elaborate system of nominal morphology. Endings may be added directly to the
root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
, or more frequently and especially in the later language, to a
stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
formed by the addition of a suffix to it. Sanskrit is a highly
inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and de ...
language that preserves all the declensional types found in Proto-Indo-European, including a few residual heteroclitic r/n-stems.


Basics

Declension In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence, by way of some inflection. Declensions may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and ...
of a
noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
in Sanskrit involves the interplay of two 'dimensions': three numbers and eight cases, yielding a combination of 24 possible forms, although owing to
syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...
of some forms, the practical number is around 19 or so. Further, nouns themselves in Sanskrit, like its parent Proto-Indo-European, can be in one of three genders. In addition,
adjectives In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...
behave much the same way morphologically as nouns do, and can conveniently be considered together. While the same noun cannot be seen to be of more than one gender, adjectives change gender on the basis of the noun they are being applied to, along with case and number, thus giving the following variables:


Building blocks


Roots

The oldest system of declension was to affix the endings directly to the nominal root. This was an ancient feature already in decline in later Proto-Indo-European. Of the daughter languages, this system has been best preserved by Sanskrit, especially the older form of Indo-Aryan termed
Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preser ...
.


Stems

In Proto-Indo-European, a new system developed wherein an intermediary called the
thematic vowel In Indo-European studies, a thematic vowel or theme vowel is the vowel or from ablaut placed before the ending of a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word. Nouns, adjectives, and verbs in the Indo-European languages with this vowel are thematic, and tho ...
is inserted to the root before the final endings are appended: ''*-o-'' which in Sanskrit becomes ''-a-'', producing the thematic stem. Declension of a thematic stem is less complicated owing to the fact that a host of Sandhi rules apply no more, and the later stages of the Sanskrit language see an increase in the profusion of thematic nouns. Thus in classical Sanskrit, the thematic ''pā́da-s'' is more likely to be found than its athematic predecessor. :\underbrace_


Cases

Sanskrit nouns are declined for eight cases: *
nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Eng ...
: marks the subject of a verb. *
accusative The accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘ ...
: used for the
direct object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include b ...
of a
transitive verb A transitive verb is a verb that accepts one or more objects, for example, 'cleaned' in ''Donald cleaned the window''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects, for example, 'panicked' in ''Donald panicked''. Transiti ...
. *
instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
: marks the means by which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action, physically or abstractly. *
dative In grammar, the dative case ( abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob ...
: used to indicate the indirect object of a transitive verb. *
ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. ...
: used to express motion away from something. *
genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...
: marks a
noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
as modifying another noun. *
locative In grammar, the locative case ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...
: corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions ''in'', ''on'', ''at'', and ''by''. * vocative: used for a word that identifies an addressee.


The ''kāraka'' classification

In the ancient literature,
Pāṇini , era = ;;6th–5th century BCE , region = Indian philosophy , main_interests = Grammar, linguistics , notable_works = ' ( Classical Sanskrit) , influenced= , notable_ideas= Descriptive linguistics (Devana ...
identified six classes as ''kāraka''s, operating as accessories to a verb. The six ''kārakas'' are the nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, and locative cases. He defined them as follows (Aṣtādhyāyi, I.4.24–54): # ''Kartā'' : 'he/that which is independent in action'. This is equivalent to the nominative case. #''Karman'' : 'what the agent seeks most to attain': the accusative. # ' 'that which effects most': the instrumental. # ''Sampradāna'' : 'he whom one aims at with the object': the dative. #''Apādāna'' : '(that which is) firm when departure (takes place)': the ablative. # ' : or 'substratum': the locative.
Pāṇini , era = ;;6th–5th century BCE , region = Indian philosophy , main_interests = Grammar, linguistics , notable_works = ' ( Classical Sanskrit) , influenced= , notable_ideas= Descriptive linguistics (Devana ...
did not identify the genitive ''Sambandha'' and vocative ''Sambodhana'' as ''kārakas''.


Endings

The basic scheme of suffixion is given in the table below and applies to many nouns and adjectives. However, according to the gender and the final consonant or vowel of the uninflected word-stem, there are internal sandhi rules dictating the form of the inflected word. Furthermore, these are standalone forms, which when used in actual phrases are subject to external sandhi, such as, the mutation of ''-s'' to ''-ḥ'' or ''-r'' and so on.


Declension


Classification

Substantives may be divided into different classes on the basis of the stem vowel before they are declined on the above basis. The general classification is: * Short-vowel stems ** a-stems ** i- and u-stems ** ṛ-stems * Long-vowel stems ** ā-stems ** ī- and ū-stems * Diphthong stems * Consonant stems ** Bare stems ** as/is/us-stems ** an- and in-stems ** ant-/mant-/vant-stems ** vāṅs-stems When the nominal endings are being affixed to a noun of each class, they may undergo, in some cases, some changes, including being entirely replaced by other forms. This happens most profusely in the a-stem class. However, for reasons noted below, grammars both traditional and modern tend to start with this class.


a-stems

The vast majority of nouns in Sanskrit belong to this class, and are masculine or neuter. The position of the accent is maintained throughout, except in the masculine vocative singular. The paradigms are illustrated in their pre-sandhi forms, along with the formation treatment using two stems in the masculine ''devá-'' and ''kā́ma-'' and two in the neuter ''yugá-'' and ''phála-'' with different syllables accented. a-stem adjectives are also to be found in big numbers, they are invariably masculine or neuter – feminines being formed either in -ā or, less frequently -ī. a-stem adjectives are also declined as below. Neuters only differ from the masculine in the nominative and accusative forms, the two forms always being the same:


i- and u-stems


i-stems

Final i-stem endings are closer to the standard set compared to the a-stem declension. In general, the -i is gunated in some cases, and a ''-n-'' is inserted intervocalically between the stem and the ending in a few other cases, especially in the neuter. The paradigms are illustrated here in their pre-sandhi forms for masculine ''agní-'' , feminine ''gáti-'' and neuter ''vā́ri-'' . Neuters as always remain identical in the nominative and accusative, and also in the vocative. In the other cases, a ''-n-'' is inserted between the stem and the standard endings in all those cases where to avoid a collision of two vowels, making the whole process almost perfectly straightforward.


u-stems

i- and u-stem declensions are so similar that they can be grouped together. The u-stem paradigms illustrated here in their pre-sandhi forms are for masculine ''śátru-'' , feminine ''dhenú-'' and neuter ''mádhu-'' . Neuters are also just as straightforward as for i-stems. i- and u-stem adjectives are a small class of so—called primary adjectives, such as ''bahus, -us, -u'' and ''śucis, -is, -i'' , as well as ones adapted from nouns like ''bahuvrīhis''. They are inflected like the ''i-'' and ''u-''stem nouns described above; occasionally the feminine ''u'' may gain an additional ''ī'' and become ''vī''.


ṛ-stems

ṛ-stems are predominantly agental derivatives like ''dātṛ'' , though also include kinship terms like ''pitṛ'' , ''mātṛ'' , and ''svasṛ'' . The neuter equivalents of derivative agental nouns once again form secondary stems in ''-n'', as in the ''-i'' and ''-u'' classes. A single irregular i-stem noun, ''sakhi'' , has a stem in ''-i'' but declines similarly to the above – simply with ''y i ī'' taking the place of ''r ṛ ṝ'': This category is made of ā-, ī- and ū-stem, almost entirely feminine, polysyllabic derivative nouns.


ā-stems

A few forms deviate from the standard in many of which an interspersed -y- can be observed. The vocative also undergoes the usual accent shift.


ī- and ū-stems

Again most ī- and ū-stem nouns are feminine. ī- and ū-stem adjectives also belong here.


Diphthong stems

Stems ending in Sanskrit diphthongs (e, ai, o, au) follow a fairly regular pattern, whilst subject to sandhi rules as usual.


Bare-consonant and as/us/is-stem nouns

Consonant stem nouns may have up to 3 different stems, as well as two special forms: # A special lengthened form for the masculine/feminine nominative singular # A special lengthened and/or nasalized form for the neuter nom/acc. plural # A strong stem used for masc./fem. sing. acc., dual nom./acc. and plur. nom. # A medium stem used with oblique cases with consonant endings, as well as the neuter nom./acc. sing. # A weak stem used everywhere else. One or more of these stems may be identical for some words, but this is generally not regularly predictable from either the nominative singular or the citation form stem. While the stem ending may undergo expected internal sandhi changes as normal, the endings themselves are gracefully regular.


an-stem nouns and in-stem adjectives

an-stem nouns and in-stem adjectives (occurring prolifically in masc. and neu.) show very similar behavior and can be grouped together:


ant-, mant- and vant-stem adjectives

Participial forms in -ant/-at decline as below, with some stem variation with the -n-.. Possessives in -mant and vant- display similar behavior, the difference that stands out is the nom. sing. masc. -mān & -vān. Forms not mentioned fit the existing pattern with full regularity:


vāṅs-stem perfect participles

These forms exhibit similarities with the ''-vant'' stems illustrated above, with the main exception that in the weakest forms, before vowel endings, ''-vāṅs'' is zero-graded alongside the disappearance of the ''-ṅ-''.


Comparatives and superlatives


Primary derivation

A small closed class of comparatives and superlatives are directly formed on adjectival roots, after dropping the original stem suffix. The comparative takes the suffix ''-īyān (yāṃsas), yasī, yas'', which declines as a consonant- and ī-stem adjective; the superlative takes ''-iṣṭhas, ā, am''. The root is strengthened to the guṇa grade. * from ''mahān'' , root ''mah-'', is formed ''mahīyān, mahiṣṭhas''; * from , root ''sthi-'', is formed ''stheyān, stheṣṭhas''. In some adjectives the original form of the root has been obscured by internal sandhi, making the outcome somewhat irregular. Thus: * from ''gur-us'' , originally , comes ''garīyān, gariṣṭhas''; * from ''dīrgh-as'' , originally ''dṝgh-'' < ''dṛHgh-'' (where H denotes a laryngeal), a ''guṇa'' placed in the second possible slot gives ''draHgh-'' > ''drāgh-'', whence ''drāghīyān, drāghiṣṭhas'';


Secondary derivation

The secondary suffixes of comparison are ''-taras, ā, am'' for comparative and ''-tamas, ā, am'' for superlative. They are appended to the inflectional base, with no modification of the stem. Usually, the ''pada'' stem is used for consonant-stem adjectives, but those in a simple -n sometimes retain it. * ''priyatara-'', ''priyatama-'' from ''priya-''; * ''vṛṣatara-, vṛṣatama-'' from ''vṛṣan-'', but ''vṛṣantama-'' is also attested.


Numerals


Cardinal numbers

The numbers from one to ten, along with cognates in closely-related languages, are: All numbers in Sanskrit can be declined in all the cases. From one to four, the cardinal numerals agree with the substantive they qualify in number, gender and case; from 5 to 19, in number and case, with only one form for all genders; from 20 onwards in case only. ' is declined like a pronominal adjective, though the dual form does not occur. ' appears only in the dual. ' and ' are declined as below: The numbers from 11 to 19 are: ékādaśam, dvā́daśam, tráyodaśam, cáturdaśam, páñcadaśam, , saptádaśam, , návadaśam. The tens from 20 to 90 are: (, , , pañcāśát, , saptatí, aśītí, navatí. The joint numbers: 21 – , 22 – , 23 – , ..., 26 – , ..., but 82 – dvā́́śīti, 83 – trayā́śīti, 88 – . The hundreds are: śatam, dvai śatai, śatāni / tri śatam, etc. The larger numbers:


Compounding numbers

All the numerals may be compounded attributively in their stem form:


Ordinal numbers

The ordinal numbers from one to ten are: # prathamás, -ā́ # dvitī́yas, -ā # , -ā # caturthás, -ī́ # pañcamás, -ī́ # , -ī # saptamás, -ī́ # , -ī́ # navamás, -ī́ # daśamás, -ī́ Other numbers: 11. – ekādaśás, ... 20. – (), 30. – (), 40. – , 50. – pañcāśattamás, 60. – , 70. – saptatitamás, 80. – aśītitamás, 90. – navatitamás, 100. – śatatamás, 1000. – sahasratamás.


Pronouns and determiners

Sanskrit pronouns and determiners behave in their
declension In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence, by way of some inflection. Declensions may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and ...
largely like other declinable classes such as
nouns A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
,
adjectives In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...
and
numerals A numeral is a figure, symbol, or group of figures or symbols denoting a number. It may refer to: * Numeral system used in mathematics * Numeral (linguistics), a part of speech denoting numbers (e.g. ''one'' and ''first'' in English) * Numerical d ...
, so that they can all be classed together under nominals. However, pronouns and determiners display certain peculiarities of their own compared to the other nominal classes. Furthermore, personal pronouns have an additional dimension not present in the other nominals, but shared by verbs:
person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
. Pronouns are declined for
case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to ca ...
,
number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual number ...
, and gender. The pronominal declension applies to a few adjectives as well. Many pronouns have alternative enclitic forms. The official list of Sanskrit pronouns is: ''sarva'', ''viśva'', ''ubha'', ''ubhaya'', ''utara'', ''utama'', ''anya'', ''anyatara'', ''tvat'', ''tva'', ''nema'', ''sama'', ''sima'', ''pūrva'', ''para'', ''avara'', ''dakṣiṇa'', ''uttara'', ''apara'', ''adhara'', ''sva'', ''antara''; ''tyad'', ''tad'', ''yad'', ''etad'', ''idam'', ''adam''; ''eka'', ''dvi'', ''yuṣmad'', ''asmad'', and ''kim''.


First- and second-person pronouns

Sanskrit pronouns in the first and second person are theoretically termed ''asmad'' and ''yuṣmad'' respectively. They resemble one another in how they are declined, and similarly do not mark gender. These pronouns have shortened,
enclitic In morphology and syntax, a clitic (, backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic"Crystal, David. ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1980. Print.) is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a ...
forms in the
accusative The accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘ ...
,
dative In grammar, the dative case ( abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob ...
, and
genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...
cases (parenthesized in the table below). The forms ''mad'', ''asmad'', ''tvad'' and ''yuṣmad'' can be used in derivation and composition: ''mát·kṛta'', ''mát·sakhi'', ''tvát·pitṛ'', etc.


Demonstratives

Sanskrit does not have true third person pronouns, but its demonstratives play this role when they stand independently of a substantive. The four different demonstratives in Sanskrit are: * ''tad'', ''adas'' * ''idam'', ''etad'' Both ''tad'' and ''adas'' are used for objects of reference that are far away, the latter being more emphatic. Both are translated by the English distal demonstrative ''that''. By contrast, ''idam'' and ''etad'' are used for nearby objects, and, again, the latter is more emphatic and has a strong deictic meaning. These two pronouns are translated by the English proximal demonstrative ''this''. The masculine singular nominative form of ''tad'', ''sas'' exhibits irregular
sandhi Sandhi ( sa, सन्धि ' , "joining") is a cover term for a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on near ...
behaviour — before consonants ''saḥ'' becomes ''sa'', giving, for instance, ''sa gajaḥ'' rather than the expected ''*so gajaḥ''. ''etad'', is declined almost identically to ''tad''. Its paradigm is obtained by prefixing ''e-'' to all the forms of ''tat''. Consequently the masculine and feminine nominative singular forms of this pronoun are ' and '. The declension of ''idam'' is somewhat irregular because it is formed from two different stems, ''i-'' and ''a-''. The nominative and accusative forms, except the three singular nominatives, are regularly formed with the stem ''im-'', and the remaining forms from ''a-''; an extra ''-n-'' is infixed should the ending start with a vowel. Most of the forms for ''adas'' are regularly formed using the stem ''u-'' the same way as if it were ''a-'', with the combination ''*ui-'' becoming ''ī-'' in the plural. The nominative dual and instrumental singular are formed like u-stem nouns.


Possessive pronouns

''asmad'' allows the following forms of possessive pronouns: * ''madīya''-, ''māmaka''-, ''māmakīna''- * ''asmadīya''-, ''asmāka''-, ''asmākīna''- The feminines are in ''-ā''. ''yuṣmad'' has these: * ''tvadīya''-, ''tāvaka''-, ''tāvakīna''- * ''yuṣmadīya''-, ''yauṣmāka''-, ''yauṣmākīṇa''- ''tad'' and ''etad'' have ''tadīya-'' and ''etadīya-'' respectively. The feminines are again in ''-ā'', except the ''-aka'' forms where it is ''-akī''. These are all conjugated like regular a-, ā and ī-stem forms.


Polite pronoun

Technically a noun, ''bhavant'' literally means 'Your Honour' and is treated like a third-person subject. It carries, however, a second person meaning and connotes politeness. This is declined very much like any vant-stem adjective. This use of ''bhavant'' is common enough to suggest that the word should be treated as a polite variant of the second person pronoun, rather than as a more elaborate honorific construction. ''Bhavant'' declines like all stems ending in ''-ant''. In talking of someone not present, one may use ''tatrabhavant'', and conversely for someone present, ''atrabhavant'', whether being addressed or not.


Enclitic pronouns

The enclitic pronoun ''enam'' is found only in a few oblique cases and numbers. It is unemphatic and mostly refers to persons.


The k-y-t series of interrogative, relative, and correlative pronouns

In Sanskrit,
interrogative An interrogative clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question-like meanings. For instance, the English sentence "Is Hannah sick?" has interrogative syntax which distinguishes it from its declarative counterpart "Hannah is ...
and relative pronouns are formed analogously to ''tat''. The interrogative pronoun ''kim'' is declined like ''tat'', replacing the initial ''t'' or ''s'' with ''k''. The only exception to this rule is the neuter nominative/accusative singular form, which is ''kim'' rather than the expected ''*kat''. The relative pronoun ''yat'' is declined like ''tat'', without exception replacing the initial ''t'' or ''s'' with ''y''. The demonstrative ''tat'' functions as a correlative pronoun when used in "independent clauses that 'complete' relative clauses to form complex sentences"—unlike in English (where one can say, for example, "The girl with whom you were speaking is my sister"), relative pronouns must be accompanied by correlative pronouns (which, if applied to the previous example, would be: "The girl with whom you are speaking, she is my sister"). For a Sanskrit example of a complex sentence using corresponding relative and correlative pronouns, consider: ('In the forest where Rāma lives, there are no demons'). In that example, the pronouns are alike in gender, number, and case, but matching relative–correlative pronouns need not be alike in case—for example: ''yena puruṣeṇa saha bhāṣate nṛpaḥ sa muniḥ'' ('The man with whom the king is speaking is a sage').


Indefinite and absolute negative phrases

Aside from their primary uses, the interrogative and relative pronouns are also used to form indefinite phrases. The two ways of forming indefinite phrases are: *placing a relative pronoun before its corresponding interrogative pronoun, which in turn is followed by the
particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...
''api'' (for example: ''yat kim api'', which means 'something or another'), and *placing one of ''api'', ''cana'', or ''cit'' after the interrogative pronoun (for example: ''kiṃcit'', which means 'something'). As is evident in the examples, the first method of indicating indefiniteness is stronger, while the latter is more subtle and can simply be translated by an
indefinite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...
in English. The absolute negative, semantically functioning as the negation of
existential quantification In predicate logic, an existential quantification is a type of quantifier, a logical constant which is interpreted as "there exists", "there is at least one", or "for some". It is usually denoted by the logical operator symbol ∃, which, ...
, is formed by negating an indefinite phrase.


Reflexive pronouns

There are a number of words in Sanskrit that function as reflexive pronouns. The indeclinable ''svayam'' can indicate reflexivity pertaining to subjects of any person or number, and—since subjects in Sanskrit can appear in the nominative, instrumental, or genitive cases—it can have the sense of any of these cases. The noun ''ātman'' ('self') and adjective ''svaḥ'' ('own'; cf. Latin ) decline so as to express reflexivity in any case, person, and number. The former is always in the masculine, even when used in relation to a female subject, but the latter declines for gender.


Pronominal adjectives

Several adjectives in Sanskrit are declined pronominally. That is, their declension differs from ordinary adjectival declension of ''a''-stems and instead follows the declension of ''tat'' in certain respects. *''anya'' ('other'), ''anyatara'' ('either'), ''itara'' ('other'), ''katara'' ('which of two?'), ''katama'' ('which of many?'), and ''ekatama'' ('one of many') all follow the ''tat'' paradigm exactly. *''sarva'' ('every', 'all'), ''ubhaya'' ('both'), ''eka'' ('one'), and ''ekatara'' ('either') follow the ''tat'' paradigm except in the neuter nominative/accusative singular, ending in ''-m'' rather than ''-t''. *''pūrva'' ('prior', 'east'), ''avara'' ('posterior', 'west'), ''adhara'' ('inferior', 'west'), ''uttara'' ('subsequent', 'north'), ''dakṣiṇa'' ('south'), ''para'' ('subsequent', 'other', 'opposite'), ''apara'' ('other', 'inferior'), ''antara'' ('outer'), and ''sva'' ('own') follow the ''tat'' paradigm except (1) in the neuter nominative/accusative singular, ending in ''-am'' rather than ''-at''; (2) in the masculine/neuter ablative and locative singular, sometimes (though not necessarily) ending in ''-āt'' and ''-e'' rather than ''-asmāt'' and ''-asmin''; and (3) in the masculine nominative plural, sometimes (though not necessarily) ending in ''-āḥ'' rather than ''-e''. *''ardha'' ('half'), ''alpa'' ('little'), ''katipaya'' ('some'), ''prathama'' ('first'), ''carama'' ('last'), and ''dvaya''/''dvitaya'' ('twofold') generally follow the regular adjective declension for ''a''-stems but sometimes (though not necessarily) follow ''tat'' in the masculine nominative plural, ending in ''-e'' rather than ''-āḥ''. *''dvitīya'' ('second') and ''tṛtīya'' ('third') optionally follow the declension of ''tat'' in the forms of the oblique cases in the singular. Note that when any of these adjectives are at the end of a compound, they decline exactly like ordinary ''a''-stem adjectives.


Nominal derivation

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or word-formation in Sanskrit can be divided into the following types: # Primary derivation – suffixes directly appended to roots # Secondary derivation – suffixes appended to derivative stems # Word-compounding – combining one more word stems


Primary derivatives

The root usually undergoes some change of form first, typically to first-grade, or in some cases second-grade, strengthening. A final ''-n'' or ''-m'' may sometimes be lost, a short vowel may be first followed by a ''-t'', a final palatal or ''h'' may revert to the corresponding guttural, and so on.


a-suffix derivatives

A very large number of derivatives are formed under this category, with several semantic outcomes and with varying treatment of the root, including gradation, reduplication and no change. # With guṇa-grading, wherever possible #* Action nouns #** ''√grah- ⇒ gráha-'' #** ''√i- ⇒ áya-'' #** ''√vid- ⇒ véda-'' #** ''√tṝ- ⇒ tára-'' #** ''√sṛj- ⇒ sárga-'' #* Agent nouns #** ''√jīv- ⇒ jīvá-'' #** ''√sṛ- ⇒ sará-'' #** ''√sṛp- ⇒ sarpá-'' #** ''√kṣam- ⇒ kṣamá-'' # With vṛddhi-grading, where the final outcome has an ''ā'' #* Action nouns #** ''√kam- ⇒ kā́ma-'' #** ''√bhaj- ⇒ bhā́ga-'' #** ''√tṝ- ⇒ tā́ra-'' #* Agent nouns #** ''√gṛh- ⇒ grābhá-'' #** ''√vah- ⇒ vāhá-'' #** ''√ni- ⇒ nāyá-''


ti-suffix derivatives

Another large class, mostly feminine action nouns, with some masculine agent nouns and adjectives. The root remains in zero-grade form, largely like past passive participles in ''-tá''. * ''√bhaj- ⇒ bhaktí-'' * ''√stu- ⇒ stutí-'' * ''√pṝ- ⇒ pūrtí-'' * ''√gam- ⇒ gáti-'' * ''√man- ⇒ matí-'' * ''√dṛś- ⇒ dṛ́ṣṭi-'' * ''√vac- ⇒ úkti-'' * ''√vṛdh- ⇒ vṛ́ddhi-''


man-suffix derivatives

This is another productive category (
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*-men), mostly of action-noun formations. * ''√kṛ- ⇒ kárman-'' * ''√dhṛ- ⇒ dhárman-'' * ''√vṛt- ⇒ vártman-'' * ''nā́man-'' * ''bráhman-'' * ''brahmán-'' * ''áśman-''


tar-suffix derivatives

tṛ- or tar-suffix derivatives, mostly agent nouns (
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*-tor, English -er). * ''√kṛ- ⇒ kártṛ'' * ''√dā- ⇒ dātṛ'' * ''√gam- ⇒ gantṛ'' * ''√hu- ⇒ hotṛ'' Several basic kinship nouns are classed under here. * ''√pā- ⇒ pitṛ́'' * ''mātṛ́'' * ''bhrā́tṛ'' * ''√duh- ⇒ duhitṛ́''


tra-suffix derivatives

Typically nouns expressing the means of doing something. * ''√pā- ⇒ pā́tra-'' * ''√man- ⇒ mántra-'' * ''√vas- ⇒ vástra-'' * ''√rāj- ⇒ rāṣṭrá-''


Secondary derivatives

This is used primarily to form words of adjectival meaning, and with the first vowel usually undergoing ''vṛddhi''-grade strengthening.


a-suffix derivatives

A very productive class, nouns or adjectives that denote a relationship. Patronymics are also derived in this manner. * ''mánas- ⇒ mānasá-'' * ''bráhman- ⇒ brāhmaṇá-'' * ''Marút- ⇒ mā́ruta-'' * ''Mánus- ⇒ mā́nuṣa-''


ya-suffix derivatives

Another very productive class. Closely related are ''-iya-'' and ''-īya-'' formations. * ''devá- ⇒ daívya-'' * ''loká- ⇒ laúkya-'' * ''púṃs- ⇒ paúṃsya-'' * ''gó- ⇒ gávya-'' * ''sánt- ⇒ satyá-'' ''-iya-'' is used after a consonant cluster: * ''kṣatrá- ⇒ kṣatríya-'' * ''yajñá- ⇒ yajñíya-'' * ''índra- ⇒ indriyá-'' * ''kṣétra- ⇒ kṣetriyá-''


tā and tva-suffix derivatives

These suffixes denote the ''quality of being'', analogous to '-ness' and '-hood' in English. Cf Lat ''-tas'' (-ty), Slavic ''*-ьstvo''. Coupled with the prefix ''a-'' 'un-', the sense of '-lessness' is derived.Whitney, §1237–1239. * ''devá·tā'' * ''nagná·tā'' * ''a·gó·tā'' * ''a·paśú·tā'' * ''a·mṛta·tvá'' * ''bhrātṛ·tvá'' * ''śatru·tvá''


Compounds


See also

*
Sanskrit verbs Sanskrit has inherited from its parent, the Proto-Indo-European language, an elaborate system of verbal morphology, much of which has been preserved in Sanskrit as a whole, unlike in other kindred languages, such as Ancient Greek or Latin. San ...
*
Sanskrit grammar The grammar of the Sanskrit language has a complex verbal system, rich nominal declension, and extensive use of compound nouns. It was studied and codified by Sanskrit grammarians from the later Vedic period (roughly 8th century BCE), culminati ...
* Vedic Sanskrit grammar * Proto-Indo-Aryan *
Proto-Indo-Iranian Proto-Indo-Iranian, also Proto-Indo-Iranic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian/Indo-Iranic branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd millennium ...
*
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...


Notes


Glossary


Traditional glossary and notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * W. D. Whitney, ''The Roots, Verb-Forms and Primary Derivatives of the Sanskrit Language (A Supplement to His Sanskrit Grammar)'' * Coulson, Michael. ''Teach Yourself Sanskrit.'' Oxford: Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. () * * * * Macdonell, A. A. ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students.'' London: Oxford UP, 1927. () *Delbrück, B. ''Altindische Tempuslehre'' (1876

* Goldman, Robert P. & Sally J. ''.'' Berkeley: Center for South Asian Studies, 2004. () *Wackernagel, Debrunner, '' Altindische Grammatik'', Göttingen. **vol. I. phonolog

Jacob Wackernagel Jacob Wackernagel (11 December 1853 – 22 May 1938) was a Swiss linguist, Indo-Europeanist and scholar of Sanskrit. He was born in Basel, son of the philologist Wilhelm Wackernagel (1806–1869). Biography Jacob Wackernagel was born on ...
(1896) **vol. II.1. introduction to morphology, nominal composition, Wackernagel (1905

**vol. II.2. nominal suffixes, J. Wackernagel and Albert Debrunner (1954) **vol. III. nominal inflection, numerals, pronouns, Wackernagel and Debrunner (1930) {{refend
Noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
Vyakarana Declension Indo-Aryan grammars Indo-Iranian grammars Indo-European grammars