A smattering of Sanskrit grammar – Part 2

Just like nouns have Shabd Roop which provide the form of the noun to be used based on the role being played by the noun, we have Dhatu Roop for verbs, which provide the rules for using the correct form of the verb based on tense, person and singular / dual / plural usage.

In the English grammar, person is identified as First Person (I, me, mine, my etc.,), Second Person (you, your etc.,) and Third Person (he, she, they, him, her etc.,). These three persons are identified in Sanskrit as Uttam Purush, Madhyam Purush and Pratham Purush.  Notice that the Third Person is actually called the “Pratham Purush” in Sanskrit – this nomenclature can cause some confusion.

Based on the three persons and the singular / dual / plural triplets, for each tense we end up with 3 x 3 = 9 forms of verb. This may look daunting at first but the good part of this in Sanskrit grammar is that once memorized for a verb, say “पठ” (read), all the nine forms of the verb will apply identically for all other alike verbs (example”गम्” – meaning go).

Now let’s look at the present tense of “पठ” dhatu. The present tense is called लट् लकार.

Present Tense (लट् लकार)

Person (पुरुष)	एकवचन (Singular)	द्वीवचन (Dual)	बहुवचन (Plural)
प्रथम (3rd Person)	पठति	पठतः	पठन्ति
मध्यम (2nd Person)	पठसि	पठथः	पठथ
उत्तम (1st Person)	पठामि	पठावः	पठामः

Combining the above with the Shabd Roop of “बालक” we can create simple sentences. We will be using the “prathama” vibhakti (or कर्ता ) of “बालक” shabd roop. Since we are talking of a third person, the प्रथम पुरुष shall apply.

Matching the वचन of “बालक” with the corresponding वचन of “पठ” dhatu, we get the following 3 sentences.

बालकः पठति  – implies one child is reading

बालकौ पठतः  – implies two children are reading

बालकाः पठन्ति – implies many children are reading

The same sentences may be created with “गम्” dhatu and the sentences would read as:

बालकः गच्‍छति – implies one child is going

बालकौ गच्‍छत: – implies two children are going

बालकाः गच्‍छन्ति – implies many children are going

Notice that the tense is constructed exactly as it was in the case of “पठ” dhatu.

This should give you some sense of sentence construction in this language. The 1st person and 2nd person verbs can be used with the respective shabd roop of 1st person pronoun (अस्मद् – forms of I ) and 2nd person pronoun (युष्मद् – forms of you).

Sanskrit language has 10 tenses in all – which is quite a number. However only four of them are commonly used. It would help to at least memorize the present tense or लट् लकार. The future tense is almost identical to present tense, and having memorized the present tense, the future tense will also be easy to remember.

Personally, I remember only these two tenses (present and future) and hope to learn the other tenses through usage while learning the Gita. Below are the other three commonly used tenses.

Future Tense (लृट् लकार – pronounced as Lrit Lakar) – notice the similarity with the present tense or लट् लकार. If you can memorize the Present Tense, there’s hardly any effort in remembering the future tense.

Person (पुरुष)	एकवचन (Singular)	द्वीवचन (Dual)	बहुवचन (Plural)
प्रथम (3rd Person)	पठिष्यति	पठिष्यतः	पठिष्यन्ति
मध्यम (2nd Person)	पठिष्यसि	पठिष्यथः	पठिष्यथ
उत्तम (1st Person)	पठिष्यामि	पठिष्यावः	पठिष्यामः

Past Tense (लङ्‌ लकार – pronounced as Lang Lakar)

Person (पुरुष)	एकवचन (Singular)	द्वीवचन (Dual)	बहुवचन (Plural)
प्रथम (3rd Person)	अपठत्	अपठताम्	अपठन्
मध्यम (2nd Person)	अपठः	अपठतम्	अपठत
उत्तम (1st Person)	अपठम्	अपठाव	अपठाम

The past tense is unlike either the present or future tense. However there is one thing common – all forms of past tense are prefixed with अ. So when we encounter a verb prefixed with अ, we can kind of conclude it is past tense – the पुरुष and वचन we can deduce through usage.

Command / Request Tense – (लोट्  लकार – pronounced as Lot Lakar)

Person (पुरुष)	एकवचन (Singular)	द्वीवचन (Dual)	बहुवचन (Plural)
प्रथम (3rd Person)	पठतु	पठताम्	पठन्तु
मध्यम (2nd Person)	पठ	पठतम्	पठत
उत्तम (1st Person)	पठानि	पठाव	पठाम

This Command / Request Tense is unique to Sanskrit language and is used when conveying a command or request.

I will limit my post to introduction to these four tenses only. It may help to read these tenses once, and at least memorize the Present Tense (and thereby also the Future Tense).

There will be one more post related to some other Miscellaneous tidbits of grammar and then we will jump on to understanding the Geeta with whatever little knowledge we have gained.