Basic Sanskrit - Lesson 4

Pronouns

Generally pronouns are:

Personal Pronouns - I, you, he, she it etc
Demonstrative Pronouns - this, that, those etc
Relative and Correlative Pronouns - when and then, where and there etc
Interrogative Pronouns - Who? what? where? when? etc (mentioned in Lesson 3)

Pronouns generally follow the same case endings as for nouns (you will be already familiar with the nominative and accusative endings from Lesson 2):

Although the dual cases are used less frequently than singular and plural, they are common enough to warrant memorising the structure of these. They are sometimes used in the Bhagavad Gita for example:

सेनयोर्ुभयर्मभ्ये Senayor-ubhayor-madhye - ‘between both armies’

and (simplified, without sandhi):

सत् असत् च अनयो: Sat asat cha anayoh - ‘of both existence and non-existence’

It is a good idea to learn these tables off by heart. You will encounter most of these pronouns (or their characteristic endings) quite frequently in most sanskrit texts.

Some examples of the use of the personal pronouns follow.

Singular (nominative case) अहं गच्छामि - Aham gacchāmi 'I go' (although the pronoun is unnecessary in these cases)
त्वं गच्छसि - Tvam gacchasi 'You go'
सह गच्छति - Sah gacchati 'He goes' (without sandhi)
सा पिबति - Sā pibati 'She drinks'
सो ऽहम् - So ‘ham. ‘He I am’ (I am he). ऽ is used in place of a dropped vowel (aham).
Many more examples can be found online at various sanskrit learning websites.

The third person Personal Pronouns also serve as the demonstrative ‘tat’ (see full declension in the Personal Pronoun tables above). Tables with pronoun paradigms (including the demonstrative) are available at:

Wikipedia - Sanskrit pronouns and determiners

There is no point in learning these off by heart. You will see the pattern is similar to the Personal Pronouns (which are well worth learning).

Demonstrative Pronouns

Four different demonstrative pronouns in sanskrit (third person neuter singular):

Tat - ‘that’
Etat - ‘this’ or ‘that’ (in close proximity)
Idam - ‘that’ or ‘this’
Adas - ‘that’ or ‘this’ (far away) - uncommon

Tat and etat are the most common.

Relative and Correlative Pronouns

Relatives begin with ‘y’ and correlatives with ‘t’.The relative pronoun does not always have to used with a correlative (and vice versa).

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥४-७॥
yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati Bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānam srjāmyaham

"Whenever there is a decline in righteousness, O Bhārata,
and a predominance of unrighteousness, at that time I incarnate Myself."

यो नरो वच्छति तं श्रणोसि - Yo naro vacchati, tam srunoti - ‘whoever speaks, listen to him’

यत्र गच्छसि तत्र गच्छामि Yatra gacchasi, tatra gacchāmi - ‘wherever you go, there i go’

यथा राजा तथा प्रजा: Yathā rājā tathā prajāh - ‘as is the king, so are the subjects’

Some adjectives follow a similar declension as the pronouns. Examples:

अन्य Anya - ‘other’
ऐक Eka - ‘one’
पर Para - ‘beyond, above’
सर्व Sarva - ‘all’
स्व Sva - ‘oneself’
उभ Ubha - ‘both’

इति iti is normally used in the sense of ‘thus’ or ‘thus said’, and is often used to quote something said by someone. It can also be used to emphasize a fact.

इति वदति तुलसिदास् iti vadati Tulasidas