Vedic Sanskrit grammar

Vedic 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, genitive, and locative.

In this article nouns are divided into five declensions. The declension which a noun belongs to is determined largely by form.

The basic scheme is given in the table below — valid 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 sandhi which would then give the final inflected word.[1]

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

Ī- and ū -stems are only feminine.

ṛ-stems are predominantly agental derivatives like neut. dātṛ 'giver', though also include kinship terms like masc. pitṛ 'father', naptṛ 'nephew', bhrātṛ" 'brother' and fem. mātṝ 'mother', duhitṝ 'daughter' and svasṝ 'sister'.

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 as German. 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:

Dvandva द्वन्द्व​ (co-ordinative)

These consist of two or more noun stems, connected in sense with 'and'. There are mainly two kinds of dvandva द्वन्द्व​ constructions in Sanskrit. The first is called itaraitara dvandva इतरेतर द्वन्द्व, 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. rāma-lakṣmaṇāu रामलक्ष्मणौ – Rama and Lakshmana, or rāma-lakṣmaṇa-bharata-śatrughnāh रामलक्ष्मणभरतशत्रुघ्नाह् – Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Satrughna. The second kind is called samāhāra dvandva समार द्वन्द्व​, 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. pāṇipādam पाणिपादम् – limbs, literally hands and feet, from pāṇi पाणि 'hand' and pāda पाद​ 'foot'. According to some grammarians, there is a third kind of dvandva, called aikaśaiṣa dvandva एकशेष द्वन्द्व or residual compound, which takes the dual (or plural) form of only its final constituent member, e.g. pitarau for mātā + pitā, mother + father, i.e. parents. According to other grammarians, however, the aikaśaiṣa एकशेष is not properly a compound at all.

Bahuvrīhi बहुव्रीहि (possessive)

Bahuvrīhi बहुव्रीहि, or "much-rice", denotes a rich person—one who has much rice. Bahuvrīhi compounds refer (by example) to a compound noun with no head -- a 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 "fly-ball" (a kind of ball) or "alley cat" (a kind of cat). Bahurvrīhis can often be translated by "possessing..." or "-ed"; for example, "possessing much rice", or "much riced".

Tatpuruṣa तत्पुरुष (determinative)

There are many tatpuruṣas (one for each of the nominal cases, and a few others besides); in a tatpuruṣa, the first component is in a case relationship with another. For example, a doghouse is a dative compound, a house for a dog. It would be called a "caturthitatpuruṣa" चतुर्थितत्पुरुष​ (caturthi चतुर्थि refers to the fourth case—that is, the dative). Incidentally, "tatpuruṣa" is a tatpuruṣa तत्पुरुष ("his man"—meaning someone's agent), while "caturthitatpuruṣa" चतुर्थितत्पुरुष is a karmadhārya, being both dative, and a tatpuruṣa. An easy way to understand it is to look at English examples of tatpuruṣas: "battlefield", where there is a genitive relationship between "field" and "battle", "a field of battle"; other examples include instrumental relationships ("thunderstruck") and locative relationships ("towndwelling").

Karmadhāraya कर्मधारय​ (descriptive)

The relation of the first member to the last is appositional, attributive or adverbial, e. g. uluka-yatu उलुकयतु (owl+demon) is a demon in the shape of an owl.

Amraiḍita अम्रेडित​ (iterative)

Repetition of a word expresses repetitiveness, e. g. dinai dinai दिनेदिने 'day by day', 'day after day', 'daily'.

Dvigu द्विगु

Dvigu is a subtype of tatpuruṣa in which the modifying member is a number. Dvigu (lit., "[a] two-cow [person]"; i.e., one who has two cows) itself is a compound : द्वो+गवौ dvau+gāvau.

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 -tas; thus mat or mattas, asmat or asmattas.

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

Interrogative pronoun ka 'what' is declined in the same way, except neuter Sg.Nom./Acc. having kim (also kam, kad) form.

The cardinal numbers from one to ten are:

1. aika
2. d(u)vāu
3. tri
4. catur
5. pañca
6. ṣaṣ
7. sapta
8. aṣṭāu
9. nava
10. daśa

All numbers are declinable. Aika is declined like a pronominal adjective, though the dual form does not occur. D(u)vāu appears only in the dual. Tri, catur and ṣaṣ are declined irregularly. The numbers from 5 to 19 do not have any difference in genders.

The numbers from 11 to 19 are:

aikādaśam, dvādaśam, trayaudaśam, caturdaśam, pañcadaśam, ṣauḍaśam, saptadaśam, aṣṭādaśam, navadaśam.

The tens from 20 to 90 are:

(d)viṃśati, triṃśat, catvāriṃśat, pañcāśat, ṣaṣṭi, saptati, aśīti, navati.

The joint numbers:

21 - aikaviṃśati, 22 - dvāviṃśati, 23 - trayauviṃśati, ..., 26 - ṣaḍviṃśati, ..., but 82 - dvāśīti, 83 - trayāśīti, 88 - aṣṭāśīti.

The hundreds are:

śatam, dvai śatai, trīṇi śatāni / tri śatam, etc.

1000 - sahasra.

The ordinal numbers from one to ten are:

1. prathamas, -ā
2. dvitīyas, -ā
3. tṛtīyas, -ā
4. caturthas, -ī
5. pañcamas, -ī
6. ṣaṣṭhas, -ī
7. saptamas, -ī
8. aṣṭamas, -ī
9. navamas, -ī
10. daśamas, -ī

Other numbers:

11. - aikādaśas, ... 20. - viṃśatitamas (viṃśas), 30. - triṃśattamas (triṃśas), 40. - catvāriṃśattamas, 50. - pañcāśattamas, 60. - ṣaṣtitamas, 70. - saptatitamas, 80. - aśītitamas, 90. - navatitamas, 100. - śatatamas, 1000. - sahasratamas.

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, and reduplication. Every root has (not necessarily all distinct) zero, guṇa, and vṛddhi grades. If V is the vowel of the zero grade, the guṇa-grade vowel is traditionally thought of as a + V, and the vṛddhi-grade vowel as ā + V.

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 and infinitives, 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)

The present system includes the present tense, the imperfect, and 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.

For thematic verbs, the present tense stem may be formed through:

• 1. Suffixation of the thematic vowel a with guṇa strengthening, for example, bháva- from bhū 'be', bhara- from bhṛ (guṇa form bhar-) 'bring'.
• 6. Suffixation of the thematic vowel a with a shift of accent to this vowel, for example tudá- from tud 'thrust'.
• 4. Suffixation of ya, for example dī́ vya- from div 'play', paśya- from pś 'see'.

For athematic verbs, the present tense stem may be formed through:

• 2. No modification at all, for example ad- from ad 'eat'.
• 3. Reduplication prefixed to the root, for example juhu- from hu 'sacrifice', dadhā- from dhā 'put'.
• 7. Infixion of ná or n before the final root consonant (with appropriate sandhi changes), for example rundh- or ruṇadh- from rudh 'obstruct', yunaj- from yuj 'join' (yunakti 'he joins').
• 5. Suffixation of nu (guṇa form náu), for example sunu- from su 'press out', stṛnau- from stṛ 'strew' (stṛnumas 'we strew', stṛnvanti 'they strew').
• 8. Suffixation of u (guṇa form au), for example tanu- from tan 'stretch'. For modern linguistic purposes it is better treated as a subclass of the 5th. tanu- derives from tnnu-, which is zero-grade for *tannu-, because in the Proto-Indo-European language [m] and [n] could be vowels (i.e. [am], [an]), which in Sanskrit (and Greek) change to [a]. Most members of the 8th class arose this way; kar- 'make, do' was 5th class in Vedic (krnauti 'he makes'), but shifted to the 8th class in Classical Sanskrit (karauti 'he makes')
• 9. Suffixation of nā (zero-grade nī or n), for example krīṇa- or krīṇī- from krī 'buy', pūna- from pū 'clean'.
• 10. This class described by native grammarians refers to a process which is derivational in nature, and thus not a true tense-stem formation. It is formed by suffixation of ya with guṇa or vṛddhi strengthening and lengthening of the root's last vowel, for example bhāvaya- (< bāu-a-ya-) from bhū 'be', pūjaya- from pūj 'honour', cauraya- from cur (guṇa form caur-) 'steal', dāvaya- from du (vṛddhi form dāv-) 'burn'.

The present system also differentiates strong and weak forms of the verb. The strong/weak opposition manifests itself differently depending on the class:

• The root and reduplicating classes (2 & 3) are not modified in the weak forms, and receive guṇa in the strong forms.
• The nasal class (7) is not modified in the weak form, extends the nasal to ná in the strong form.
• The nu-class (5) has nu in the weak form and náu in the strong form.
• The nā-class (9) has nī in the weak form and nā́ in the strong form. nī disappears before vocalic endings.

The perfect is used mainly in the indicative. The stem is formed with reduplication as with the present system.

The perfect system also produces separate "strong" and "weak" forms of the verb — the strong form is used with the singular active, and the weak form with the rest.

The perfect in the Sanskrit can be in form of the simple perfect and the periphrastic perfect.

The Simple Perfect can form an augmented Pluperfect, and beyond the indicative mood it can also form Perfect Subjunctives, Optatives, and Imperatives. All of these are lost in Classical Sanskrit, when it forms only indicatives.

The simple perfect is the most common form and can be made from most of the roots. The simple perfect stem is made by reduplication and if necessary by stem lengthening. The conjugated form takes special perfect endings. The periphrastic perfect is used with causative, desiderative, denominative and roots with prosodic long anlauted vowel (except a/ā). Only few roots can form both the simple and the periphrastic perfect. These are bhṛ 'carry', uṣ 'burn', vid 'know', bhi 'to be afraid', hu 'sacrifice'.

The aorist system includes aorist proper (with past indicative meaning, e.g. abhūs 'you were') and some of the forms of the ancient injunctive (used almost exclusively with mā in prohibitions, e.g. mā bhūs '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 reduplicating aorist (semantically related to the causative verb), and the sibilant aorist. The simple aorist is taken directly from the root stem (e.g. bhū-: a-bhū-t 'he was'). The reduplicating aorist involves reduplication as well as vowel reduction of the stem. The sibilant aorist is formed with the suffixation of s to the stem. The sibilant aorist by itself has four formations:

• athematic s-aorist
• athematic iṣ-aorist
• athematic siṣ-aorist
• thematic s-aorist

The future system is formed with the suffixation of -sya- or -iṣya- and guṇa, both in the simple future and conditional. There exists also so called periphrastic future, which is made by adding suffix tṝ to the stem and the short as 'to be' form.

Each verb has a grammatical voice, whether active, passive or middle. There is also 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.

Conjugational endings in Vedic 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.

Primary endings are used with present indicative and future forms. Secondary endings are used with the imperfect, conditional, aorist, and optative. Perfect, imperative and subjunctive endings are used with the perfect, imperative and subjunctive respectively.

In present and imperfect indicative singular active forms have the accent on the stem and take strong forms, while the other forms have the accent on the endings and take weak forms.

In imperative accent is variable and affects vowel quality. Forms which are end-accented trigger guṇa strengthening, and those with stem accent do not have the vowel affected.

The Passive voice forms for all tenses and moods are made by adding -ya- to the zero-grade stem and then adding the middle voice ending of appropriate tense and mood.

The Causative is made by adding the suffix aya to the vṛddhi form. For example, karauti 'he does/makes', and kārayati 'he lets do/make'.

The Desiderative is made by reduplication of the root and the suffix sa. For example, karauti 'he does, makes', and cikīrṣati 'he wishes to do/make'. It can be also combined with causative, e.g. kārayati 'he lets do' and cikārayiṣati 'he wishes to let to do'.

The Intensive (or sometimes called Frequentative) describes a repeated or particularly intensive activity. With verbs of the movement it means "back and forth". The intensive is formed by reduplication of the root and the suffix ya with middle endings for thematic stems, and without suffix and active endings for athematic stems. For example, bhramati 'it curves around', and baṃbhramyatai 'it curves cross and crosswise around'.

bhū - 'to be'

The present indicative takes primary endings.

The imperfect takes secondary endings and adds augment a- before stem.

The aorist takes secondary endings.

The perfect takes perfect endings.

The optative takes secondary endings. -ya- is added to the stem both in the active and the middle. In some forms the cluster ya is dropped out.

The imperative takes imperative endings.

The subjunctive takes subjunctive endings.

The future takes primary endings. -iṣya- is added to the stem, both in the active and the middle/passive.

The second or periphrastic future is made by adding suffix tṝ to the stem and the short as 'to be' form, except 3rd person, both singular and plural, having feminine ṝ-stem nominative endings, e.g., bhavi- + tā + asmi = bhavitāsmi, but bhavi- + tā/tārāu/tāras = bhavitā/bhavitārāu/bhavitāras. The passive forms are identical to the middle forms.

The conditional takes secondary endings. -iṣya- is added to the stem, both in the active and the middle/passive.

The following stems can take all endings.

as - 'to be'

The as 'to be' has the long and the short form. The long form is very rarely used.

• Charles Wikner "A Practical Sanskrit Introductory"
• A vaishnava version of Pānini's grammar: Harivenu Dāsa "An Introductory Course based on Šrīla Jīva Gosvāmī's Grammar"

• Julia Papke "Order and Meaning in Sanskrit Preverbs"
• Paul Kiparsky "The Vedic Injunctive: Historical and Synchronic Implications"
• Paul Kiparsky "Aspect and Event Structure in Vedic"
• V. Swaminathan "Panini’s Understanding of Vedic Grammar"
• Daniel Baum "The Imperative in the Rigveda"
• "The «Virtually Unknown» Benedictive Middle in Classical Sanskrit"
• The Sanskrit Heritage Site