Basic Sanskrit - Lesson 3

Basic Nouns

Nouns in sanskrit have 7 cases:

• Nominative - mainly for the subject of verb
• Accusative - the direct object of verb
• Instrumental - denotes ʻagencyʼ such as ʻbyʼ or ʻwithʼ
• Dative - for indirect object such as ʻtoʼ or ʻforʼ
• Ablative - ʻfrom whichʼ or often used as ʻcompared toʼ
• Genitive - denotes possession such as ʻofʼ
• Locative - denotes ʻplaceʼ such as ʻinʼ, ʻonʼ, ʻatʼ, ʻamongʼ etc

There is, of course, a ʻvocativeʼ case also. This is used for directly addressing someone or something as in, Bhoh Deva! ʻO god!ʼ or ʻHey Rama!ʼ.

It is a good idea to learn this table off by heart. You will benefit quite a lot by recognising the endings that define the case of the noun.

Some examples of the use of cases of the noun follow. These are all singular except for the locative example.

Nominative
देवः devah - 'The god' (as subject of verb)
देव स्मरति deva smarati - 'The god remembers'

Accusative
देवम् - The god (as object of verb)
सह देवम पश्यति sah devam paśyati - 'He sees the god'

Instrumental
देवेन devena - The god as agent or instrument
सह देवेन गच्छति sah devena gacchati - 'He goes with the god'

Dative
देवाय devāya - The god as indirect object of verb
सह देवाय अर्पणम् करोति sah devāya karoti - 'He makes an offering to the god'

Ablative
देवात् - From the god
देवात् आशीर्वाद अस्ति devāt āśīrvād asti - 'It is a blessing from the god'

Genitive
देवस्य devasya - Of the god
देवस्य तेजस् devasya tejas - 'Splendour of the god'

Locative
देवेषु deveṡu- Amongst the gods (plural)
देवेषु नरो deveṡu naro - 'Man amongst gods'
योध कुरुक्षेत्रे मृयते yodha Kurukśetre mriyate - 'The warrior (yodha) dies at Kurukshetra'

For more details regarding the use of nouns please check out the examples at learnsanskrit.org

No need for the vocative of phalam. How many people talk to fruit? In case you do, just use the nominative case (but drop the final ‘m’ for the singular).

तत् फलम् tat phalam or तद् फलम् tad phalam - ’that is a fruit’ or ‘that is the fruit’
पक्वान्याम्रफलानि रुचिरानि भवन्ति pakvānyāmraphalāni ruchirāni bhavanti - ripe mangos become juicy and sweet. Let’s break that down. The first three words are fused by sandhi.
पक्व pakva means ‘ripe’, आम्र: āmrah ‘mango’, फल: phalah ‘fruit’, and रुचिर् ruchir ‘sweet’
In sanskrit the adjective will follow the same declension as the noun it qualifies. Hence, pakvāni and ruchirāni follow āmraphalāni ‘mango fruits’. Of course bhavanti means ‘they become’

फलानामाहारः सात्त्विकः पथ्यश्च - phalānāmāhārah sāttvikah pathyaścha
A diet (āhāra) of fruits is both sattvic ('pure') and pathya ('beneficial' or ‘wholesome').

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन - karmaṇyevādhikāraste mā phaleṣu kadāchana
‘Performing actions is your right, but not in the fruits thereof at any time’. Again sandhi is applied extensively in this verse (of the Gita), so we can break down the individual words as karmani (actions), eva (actually, indeed), adhikār (authority, right), te (your). In addition, mā is used for ‘not’, phaleṣu ‘amongst the fruits’ and kadāchana ‘at any time’ (more about this type of construct later).

Nominative
देवः devah - The god (as subject of verb)
देव स्मरति deva smarati - The god remembers

Accusative
देवम् - The god (as object of verb)
सह देवम पश्यति sah devam paśyati - He sees the god

Instrumental
देवेन devena - The god as agent or instrument
सह देवेन गच्छति sah devena gacchati - He goes with the god

Dative
देवाय devāya - The god as indirect object of verb
सह देवाय अर्पणम् करोति sah devāya karoti - He makes an offering to the god

Ablative
देवात् - From the god
देवात् आशीर्वाद अस्ति devāt āśīrvād asti - It is a blessing from the god

Genitive
देवस्य devasya - Of the god
देवस्य तेजस् devasya tejas- Splendour of the god

Locative
देवेषु deveṡu- Amongst the gods (plural)
देवेषु नरो deveṡu naro - Man amongst gods
योध कुरुक्षेत्रे मृयते yodha Kurukśetre mriyate- The warrior (yodha) dies at Kurukshet

Remember ‘strii’ is formed from स् + त्र + ी= स्त्री
स्त्रीषु दुष्तासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्करः - strị̄ṣu duṣtāsu vārṣṇeya jāyate varṇaṡankarah
(When there is) corruption amongst women, there arises confusion of castes, O Varshney

Interrogatives

Sanskrit has a similar range of interrogative pronouns to English, normally beginning with the letter ‘k’. Following are some of the most commonly used:

• kadā - when?
• kutra - where?
• kutah - from what?
• kathā - how?
• kim - what? (neuter)

सः कदा वदति - sah kadā vadati ? When does he speak?

सः कुत्र गच्छति - sah kutra gacchati ? Where does he go?

कुतस्त्वा कश्मलमिदं - kutastvā kaśmalamidaṁ ? (with the usual sandhi)
‘From what (where) has come this despair’?
कुत: from what?, त्वा ‘you’, कश्मल ‘despair’, इदं ‘this’

कथं भीष्मं इषुभिः प्रतियोत्स्यामि - kathaṁ Bheeshmaṁ iṣubhih pratiyotsyāmi ?
How will I fight against Bheeshma with arrows ?
कथ how?, इषुभिः ‘with arrows’, प्रतियोत्स्यामि ‘I will fight against’ (first person singular, future tense of the verb ‘yuddh’ with the prefix ‘prati’ implying ‘against’).

कुरुक्षेत्रे किमकुर्वत संजय - At Kurukshetra, what happened Sanjay?

किम् kim ‘what’?, अकुर्वत akurvat ‘was done’, ‘happened’ (past perfect tense, I believe).

There are other interrogative pronouns such as those based upon the personal pronouns eg kah ‘who’? For an in depth analysis of these, please refer to examples at learnsanskrit.org