Sanskrit grammar

This article is about the grammar of Classical Sanskrit. For the earlier language, seeVedic Sanskrit grammar.

Thegrammarof theSanskrit languagehas a complex verbal system, rich nominaldeclension,and extensive use ofcompound nouns.It was studied and codified bySanskrit grammariansfrom the laterVedic period(roughly 8th century BCE), culminating in thePāṇiniangrammar of the 4th century BCE.

Grammatical tradition

See also:Vyākaraṇa

Origins

Sanskrit grammatical tradition (vyākaraṇa,one of the sixVedangadisciplines) began in lateVedic Indiaand culminated in theAṣṭādhyāyīofPāṇini.

The oldest attested form of theProto-Indo-Aryan languageas it had evolved in theIndian subcontinentafter its introduction with the arrival of theIndo-Aryansis calledVedic.By 1000 BCE, the end of the earlyVedic period,a large body of Vedic hymns had been consolidated into theṚg·Veda,which formed the canonical basis of the Vedic religion, and was transmitted from generation to generation entirely orally.

In the course of the following centuries, as the popular speech evolved, there was rising concern among the guardians of the Vedic religion that the hymns be passed on without "corruption", which for them was vital to ensure the religious efficacy of the hymns.This led to the rise of a vigorous, sophisticated grammatical tradition involving the study of linguistic analysis, in particular phonetics alongside grammar, the high point of which was Pāṇini's stated work, which eclipsed all others before him.

Pāṇini

Pāṇini'sAṣṭādhyāyī,a prescriptive and generative grammar with algebraic rules governing every single aspect of the language, in an era when oral composition and transmission was the norm, is staunchly embedded in that oral tradition. In order to ensure wide dissemination, Pāṇini is said to have preferred brevity over clarity– it can be recited end-to-end in two hours. This has led to the emergence of a great number of commentaries of his work over the centuries, which for the most part adhere to the foundations laid by Pāṇini's work.

After Pāṇini

About a century after Pāṇini,Kātyāyanacomposed vārtikas (explanations) on the Pāṇinian sũtras.Patañjali,who lived three centuries after Pāṇini, wrote theMahābhāṣya,the "Great Commentary" on the Aṣṭādhyāyī and Vārtikas. Because of these three ancientSanskrit grammariansthis grammar is calledTrimuni Vyākarana.

Jayadityaand Vāmana wrote a commentary namedKāśikāin 600 CE.Kaiyaṭa's (12th century AD) commentary on Patañjali'sMahābhāṣyaalso exerted much influence on the development of grammar, but more influential was theRupāvatāraof Buddhist scholarDharmakīrtiwhich popularised simplified versions of Sanskrit grammar.

The most influential work of the Early Modern period wasSiddhānta KaumudībyBhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita(17th century). Bhaṭṭoji's discipleVaradarājawrote three abridged versions of the original text, namedMadhya Siddhānta Kaumudī,Sāra Siddhānta KaumudīandLaghu Siddhānta Kaumudī,of which the latter is the most popular. Vāsudeva Dīkṣita wrote a commentary namedBālamanoramāonSiddhānta-Kaumudī.

European grammatical scholarship began in the 18th century withJean François Ponsand others, and culminated in the exhaustive expositions by 19th century scholars such asOtto von Böhtlingk,William Dwight Whitney,Jacob Wackernageland others.

Timeline

The following is a timeline of notable post-Pāṇinian grammatical figures and approximate dates:

• Kātyāyana– 300 BCE
• Patañjali – 150 BCE
• Bhartṛhari – V CE
• Kāśikā – VII
• Śākaṭāyana – IX
• Kaiyaṭa – XI
• Hemacandra – XII
• Śaraṇadeva – XII
• Vopadeva – XIII
• Bhattoji-dīkṣita – XVII

Phonology

See also:Śikṣā

The sound system

The Sanskrit sound system can be represented in a 2-dimensional matrix arranged on the basis of the articulatory criteria:

Sanskrit sounds

	voiceless			voiced
open	ḥ				h	ṃ		a	ā
velar		k	kh	g	gh	ṅ
palatal	ś	c	ch	j	jh	ñ	y	i	ī	e	ai
retroflex	ṣ	ṭ	ṭh	ḍ	ḍh	ṇ	r	ṛ	ṝ
dental	s	t	th	d	dh	n	l	ḷ
labial		p	ph	b	bh	m	v	u	ū	o	au
	fric	unasp	asp	unasp	asp	nasal	semiv	short	long
		stops						simple		diphth
							vocalics
	consonants							vowels

Pronunciation examples

The table below shows the traditional listing of the Sanskrit consonants with the nearest equivalents in English (as pronounced inGeneral AmericanandReceived Pronunciationor wherever relevant in Indian English), French, Spanish, Russian or Polish, along with approximateIPAvalues.

(Further information:IPA chart (vowels and consonants) – 2015.andIPA pulmonic consonant chart with audio)

Sanskrit sound examples

	voiceless			voiced
open	ḥ				h /ɦ/; Eng: ahead	ṃ		a	ā
velar		k /k/; Eng: skip	kh /kʰ/; Eng:cow	g /ɡ/; Eng:game	gh /ɡʱ/; Eng: doghouse	ṅ /ŋ/; Eng: ring
palatal	ś /ɕ/; similar to Eng:ship	c /tɕ/; Eng: reach	ch /tɕʰ/; Eng:cheer	j /dʑ/; Eng:jeer	jh /dʑʱ/; Eng: sledgehammer	ñ /ɲ/; Fre: agneau, Spa:ñ,Rus: осень,Pol: jesień	y /j/; Eng:you	i	ī	ē	ai
retroflex	ṣ /ʂ/; Retroflex form of/ʃ/	ṭ /ʈ/; Ind Eng: stop	ṭh /ʈʰ/; Ind Eng: cathouse	ḍ /ɖ/; Ind Eng:door	ḍh /ɖʱ/; Ind Eng: adhere	ṇ /ɳ/; (NA/Irish/Scot) Eng: morning	r /ɽ/; (NA/Irish/Scot) Eng: morning	ṛ /r̩/; (NA/Irish/Scot) Eng: int'r'sting diff'r'nce	ṝ
dental	s /s/; Eng:same	t /t/; Fre, Spa:tomate	th /tʰ/; Eng:tip	d /d/; Fre:dans, Spa:donde	dh /dʱ/; Aspirated/d/	n /n/; Eng:name	l /l/; Fre, Spa:la	ḷ
labial		p /p/; Eng: spin	ph /pʰ/; Eng:pork	b /b/; Eng: cab	bh /bʱ/; Eng: abhor	m /m/; Eng:mine	v /ʋ/;	u	ū	o	au
	fric	unasp	asp	unasp	asp	nasal	semiv	short	long
		stops						simple		diphth
							vocalics
	consonants							vowels

It should be understood that, while the script commonly associated with Sanskrit isDevanagari,this has no particular importance. It just happens currently to be the most popular script for Sanskrit. The form of the symbols used to write Sanskrit has varied widely geographically and over time, and notably includes modern Indian scripts. What is important is that the adherence to the phonological classification of the symbols elucidated here has remained constant in Sanskrit since classical times. It should be further noted that the phonology of modern Indian languages has evolved, and the values given to Devanagari symbols in modernIndo-Aryan languages,e.g.,Hindi,differ somewhat from those of Sanskrit.

Sound classes

Vowels

The long syllabic l (ḹ) is not attested, and is only discussed by grammarians for systematic reasons. Its short counterpart ḷ occurs in a single root only, kḷp.Long syllabic r (ṝ) is also quite marginal, occurring (optionally) in the genitive plural of ṛ-stems (e.g.mātṛ,pitṛ⇒mātṝṇām,pitṝṇām).

i, u, ṛ, ḷ are vocalic allophones of consonantal y, v, r, l. There are thus only 5 invariably vocalicphonemes:a, ā, ī, ū, ṝ.

The Māhēśvara Sūtrāṇi

a i u·ṇ
ṛ ḷ·k
e o·ṅ
ai au·c
ha ya va ra·ṭ
la·ṇ
ña ma ṅa ṇa na·m
jʰa bʰa·ñ
gʰa ḍʰa dʰa·ṣ
ja ba ga ḍa da·ś
kʰa pʰa cʰa ṭʰa tʰa ca ṭa ta·v
ka pa·y
śa ṣa sa·r
ha·l

Pāṇini,The Aṣṭādhyāyī

Visarga and anusvāra

Visargaḥःis anallophoneof r and s, andanusvaraṃ,Devanagariंof any nasal, both inpausa(i.e., thenasalised vowel).

Sibilants

The exact pronunciation of the three sibilants may vary, but they are distinct phonemes. Voiced sibilants, such as z/z/,ẓ/ʐ/,and ź/ʑ/as well as its aspirated counterpart źh/ʑʱ/,were inherited byProto-Indo-Aryanfrom Proto-Indo-Iranian but lost around or after the time of theRigveda,as evidenced due to ḷh (an aspirated retroflex lateral consonant) being metrically a cluster (that was most likely of the form ẓḍh; aspirated fricatives are exceedingly rare in any language).

Retroflex consonants

Theretroflex consonantsare somewhat marginal phonemes, often being conditioned by their phonetic environment; they do not continue aPIEseries and are often ascribed by some linguists to thesubstratalinfluence ofDravidianor other substrate languages.

Nasals

The nasal[ɲ]is a conditioned allophone of/n/,while/n/and/ɳ/are distinct phonemes (aṇu 'minute', 'atomic' [nom. sg. neutr. of an adjective] is distinctive from anu 'after', 'along'). Phonologically independent /ŋ/ occurs only marginally, e.g. in prāṅ 'directed forwards/towards' [nom. sg. masc. of an adjective].

Sandhi

Thephonologicalrules which are applied when combining morphemes to a word, and when combining words to a sentence, are collectively calledsandhi"composition". Texts are written phonetically, with sandhi applied (except for the so-calledpadapāṭha).

Phonological processes

A number of phonological processes have been described in detail. One of them isabhinidhāna(lit. 'adjacent imposition'), (also known asāsthāpita,'stoppage',bhakṣyaorbhukta). It is theincomplete articulation,or "" repressing or obscuring ", of aplosiveor, according to some texts, asemi-vowel(except r), which occurs before another plosive or a pause.It was described in the variousPrātiśākhyasas well as theCārāyaṇīya Śikṣa.These texts are not unanimous on theenvironmentsthat trigger abhinidhana, nor on the precise classes of consonants affected.

One ancient grammarian,Vyāḍi(inṚgveda Prātiśākhya6.12), states thatabhinidhānaonly occurred when a consonant wasdoubled,whereas according to the text of theŚākalasit was obligatory in this context but optional for plosives before another plosive of a differentplace of articulation.TheŚākalasand theAtharva Veda Prātiśākhyaagree on the observation that abhinidhana occurs only if there is a slight pause between the two consonants and not if they are pronounced jointly.Word-finally, plosives undergo abhinidhāna according to theAtharva Veda Prātiśākhyaand theṚgveda Prātiśākhya.The latter text adds that final semivowels (excluding r) are also incompletely articulated.TheAtharva Veda Prātiśākhya2.38 lists an exception: a plosive at the end of the word will not undergoabhinidhānaand will be fully released if it is followed by a consonant whose place of articulation is further back in the mouth.TheCārāyaṇīya Śikṣastates that the consonants affected by abhinidhāna are the voiceless unaspirated plosives, the nasal consonants and the semivowelslandv.

Morphophonology

Vowel gradation

Sanskrit inherits from Proto-Indo-European the feature of regular in-word, vowel variations known in the context of the parent language asablautor more generallyapophony.

This feature, which can be seen in the English formssing,sang,sung,andsong,themselves a direct continuation of the PIE ablaut, is fundamentalin Sanskrit both forinflexionandderivation.

Vowels within stems may change to other related vowels on the basis of the morphological operation being performed on it. There are three such grades, named thezero grade,first grade,andsecond grade.The first and second grades are also termedguṇaandvṛddhirespectively. The full pattern of gradation, followed by example usage:

Vowel gradation

	Zero grade	1st grade	2nd grade
Open	∅	a	ā
Palatal	i/ī y i/ī	e ay ya	ai āy yā
Labial	u/ū v u/ū	o av va	au āv vā
Retroflex	ṛ r ṛ	ar ar ra	ār ār rā
Dental	ḷ	al	āl

Vowel gradation examples

	Zero grade	1st grade	2nd grade
Open	rā́jñ·as	rā́jan	rā́jān·am
Palatal	ji·tá- niny·ús iṣ·ṭá-	jé·tum náy·ana- yáj·ana-	á·jai·ṣ·am nā́y·aya·ti yā́j·aya·ti
Labial	śru·tá- śṛṇv·é ud·i·tá-	śró·tum śráv·aṇa- vád·ana-	á·śrau·ṣ·am śuśrā́v·a vā́d·aya·ti
Retroflex	kṛ·tá- cakr·ús gṛhī·tá	kár·tum kár·aṇa- gráh·aṇa-	ca·kā́r·a kā́r·aya·ti grā́h·aya·ti
Dental	kḷp·tá-	kálp·ana-	kā́lpa-

As per the internal and historical structure of the system, the guṇa grade can be seen as the normal grade, whence proceeds either astrengtheningto form the second grade, or aweakeningto form the zero-grade. The ancient grammarians however took the zero-grade as the natural form on which to apply guṇa or vṛddhi.

Whilst with the 1-grade-based system it is possible to derive the 0-grades thus:

• ghóṣ·a·ti ⇒ ghuṣ·ṭá-
• sráv·a·ti ⇒ sru·tá-
• sváp·a·ti⇒ sup·tá-

the approach used by the ancient grammarians does not always work:

• sup·tá- ≠ *sóp·a·ti

To overcome this, the ancient grammarians, while formulating most roots in zero-grade form, make an exception for some, and prescribe a treatment calledsamprasāraṇaon these:

• ghóṣ·a·ti, ghuṣ·ṭá- ⇒ ghuṣ-
• sráv·a·ti, sru·tá- ⇒ sru-
• sváp·a·ti, sup·tá- ⇒ svap-

Thus, unlike most others, the root 'svap-' does not hold a 0-grade vowel, and is subject tosamprasāraṇabefore the past participle 'sup·tá-' can be formed.

Besides *r̥, *l̥, Proto-Indo-European also had *m̥, *n̥,all of which, in capacity of zero-grade vowels, participated in the gradation system. Whilst the latter two did not survive in Sanskrit (they ended up asainstead), their effects can be seen in verb-formation steps such as just seen above.

Therefore, it is possible to analogically expand the above vowel-gradation table thus:

Vowel gradation

	Zero grade	1st grade	2nd grade
Labial nasal	a ga·tá-	am gám·ana	ām jagā́ma
Dental nasal	a ha·tá-	an hán·ti	ān jaghā́na

The proto-forms of ga·tá- and ha·tá- would thus have *m̥ and *n̥ respectively: *gʷm̥·tó-and *gʷʰn̥·tó-

Accent

Sanskrit inherited apitch accent(see:Vedic accent) from Proto-Indo-European, as well as vowel gradation, both of which, in Sanskrit, just as in the parent language, go hand in hand.

As a general rule, a root bearing the accent takes the first (guṇa) or second (vṛddhi) grade, and when unaccented, reduces to zero grade.

• i- ⇒ éti (0 ⇒ 1st grade)
• i·tá ⇒ áy·anam (0 ⇒ 2nd grade)

The gradation examples given in the previous sections demonstrate several more instances of this phenomenon with verbs.

With nouns, the pattern does not always hold, as even from the earliest stage of the language, there has been a tendency to fix a single form, thus whilekṣamhaskṣā́mas(2-g) andkṣmás(0-g),vāchas 2nd-grade forms throughout.

Nouns whose stem vary between strong, middle and weak forms may correspondingly reflect 2nd, 1st and zero-grade vowels respectively. This may not always be matched by the accent:

• rā́jan, rā́jānam, rā́jnā (1, 2, 0 grades)

The above system of accent disappeared completely at some point during the classical stage. It was still alive in Pāṇini's time and even after Patañjali.The author of the Kāśikā commentary (c. 700 CE) declares its use optional, and it might have disappeared from popular speech in the early centuries of the Common Era.

Verbs

Main article:Sanskrit verbs

Background

Sanskrit has inherited from its parent the Proto-Indo-European language an elaborate system of verbal morphology, more of which has been preserved in Sanskrit as a whole than in other kindred languages such asAncient GreekorLatin.

Some of the features of the verbal system, however, have been lost in the classical language, compared to the olderVedic Sanskrit,and in other cases, distinctions that have existed between different tenses have been blurred in the later language. Classical Sanskrit thus does not have thesubjunctiveor theinjunctive mood,has dropped a variety ofinfinitiveforms, and the distinctions in meaning between theimperfect,perfectandaoristforms are barely maintained and ultimately lost.

Conjugation

Verb conjugationin Sanskrit involves the interplay of five 'dimensions', number,person,voice,moodand tense,with the following variables:

1	3 numbers	singular,dual,plural
2	3 persons	first,second,third
3	3 voices	active,middle,passive
4	4 moods	indicative, optative, imperative, conditional
5	6 tenses	present, imperfect, perfect, aorist, periphrastic future, simple future

Further,participlesare considered part of the verbal systems although they are not verbs themselves.Classical Sanskrit has only one infinitive, of accusative case-form.

Formation

The starting point for themorphologicalanalysis of the Sanskrit verb is theroot.Before the final endings to denote number, person etc can be applied, additional elements may be added to the root. Whether such elements are affixed or not, the resulting component here is the stem, to which these final endings can then be added.

Based on the treatment they undergo to form the stem, the roots of the Sanskrit language are arranged by the ancient grammarians in ten classes,based on how they form the present stem, and named after a verb typical to each class.

No discoverable grammatical principle has been found for the ordering of these classes. This can be rearranged for greater clarity into non-thematic and thematic groups as summarized below:

Thematic verb classes

Root		Treatment	Stem	gaṇa	Conjugation samples	Remarks
√bhū-		Root accent, gunated	bháv-	First	bháv·a·ti	The commonest of all classes, with nearly half of the roots in the language.
√tud-		None (ending accent)	tud-	Sixth	tud·á·ti
√dív-		-ya- suffix	dī́v·ya-	Fourth	dī́v·ya·ti
√cur-		-aya- with root gradation, or -áya- without	cór·aya-	Tenth	cór·aya·ti	Usually to form causatives, not strictly a class per se

Athematic verb classes

Root		Treatment	Stem	gaṇa	Conjugation samples	Remarks
√ad-		None	ad-	Second	at·ti at·tas ad·anti
√hu-		Reduplication, accent varies	juhó- juhu- júhv-	Third	juhó·ti juhu·tás júhv·ati
√su-		-no- suffix	su·nó- su·nu- su·nv-	Fifth	su·nó·ti su·nu·tás su·nv·ánti
√tan-		-o- suffix	tan·ó- tan·u- tan·v-	Eighth	tan·ó·ti tan·u·tás tan·v·ánti
√krī-		-nā- suffix	krī·ṇā́- krī·ṇī- krī·ṇ-	Ninth	krī·ṇā́·ti krī·ṇī·tás krī·ṇ-ánti
√rudh-		Nasal infix	ru·ṇá·dh- ru·n·dh-	Seventh	ru·ṇá·d·dhi ru·n·d·dhás ru·n·dh·ánti

Scope

As in kindred Indo-European languages, conjugation is effected across the tenses, moods, voices, persons and numbers stated, yielding, in Sanskrit, a huge number of combinations.

Conjugation – standard finite verbs

System	Tense	Mood	Endings	Conventional term
Present	Present	Indicative	Primary	'Present'
		Optative	Secondary	'Optative'
		Imperative	Imperative	'Imperative'
	Perfect	Indicative	Secondary	'Imperfect'
Perfect	Past	Indicative	Perfect	'Perfect'
Aorist	Past	Indicative	Secondary	'Aorist'
		Optative	Secondary	'Injunctive'
Future	Future	Indicative	Primary	'Future'
	Perfect	Conditional	Secondary	'Conditional'

Furthermore, Sanskrit has so-calledSecondaryconjugations:

• Passive
• Intensive
• Desiderative
• Causative
• Denominative

The non-finite forms are:

• Participles
• Infinitive
• Gerund

Nominals

Main article:Sanskrit nominals

Declension

Declensionof anounin Sanskrit involves the interplay of two 'dimensions': 3 numbers and 8 cases.Further, nouns themselves in Sanskrit, like its parent Proto-Indo-European, can be in one of three genders.

In addition,adjectivesbehave 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 thebasisof the noun they are being applied to, along with case and number, thus giving the following variables:

1	3 numbers	singular, dual, plural
2	3 genders	masculine, feminine, neuter
3	8 cases	nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, locative, vocative

The oldest system of declension was in Proto-Indo-European, inherited by Sanskrit, to affix the endings directly to the nominal root. In later stages, a new system developed wherein an intermediary called thethematic vowelis inserted to the root before the final endings are appended:*-o-which in Sanskrit becomes-a-,producing the thematic stem.

Stem 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:

• a-stems
• i- and u-stems
• ā-, ī- and ū-stems
• ṛ-stems
• Consonant 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.

Numerals

Further information:Sanskrit nouns § Numerals

Personal pronouns and determiners

Main article:Sanskrit pronouns and determiners

Sanskrit pronouns and determiners behave in theirdeclensionlargely like other declinable classes such asnouns,adjectivesandnumerals,so that they can all be classed together undernominals.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.

Pronounsare declined forcase,number,and gender.The pronominal declension applies to a few adjectives as well. Many pronouns have alternative enclitic forms.

Derivation

Main article:Sanskrit nouns § Nominal derivation

Derivationor word-formation in Sanskrit can be divided into the following types:

1. Primary derivation – suffixes directly appended to roots
2. Secondary derivation – suffixes appended to derivative stems
3. Word-compounding – combining one more word stems

Compounds

Main article:Sanskrit compounds

Sanskrit inherits from its parent Proto-Indo-European the capability of formingcompoundnouns,also widely seen inkindredlanguages such as especiallyGerman,Greekand alsoEnglish.

However, Sanskrit, especially in the later stages of the language, significantly expands on this both in terms of the number of elements making up a single compound and the volume of compound-usage in the literature, a development which has no parallels elsewhere.

Indeclinables

Words that change no form across cases, numbers, genders are classified asindeclinables.Indeclinables may be divided into eithersimpleandcompound.The latter is treated underSanskrit compoundsand the term indeclinable usually implies only the former type.

Indeclinables can be classified as follows:

1. Prepositions
2. Adverbs
3. Particles
4. Conjunctions
5. Interjections
6. Miscellaneous

Prepositions

In Sanskrit, a prepositionis an indeclinable with an independent meaning that is prefixed to verbs and their derivatives with the result of modifying, intensifying, or in some cases, totally altering the sense of the roots.

Adverbs

In Sanskrit,adverbsare either inherited as set forms from the parent language or may be derived from nouns, pronouns or numeral.

The typical way of forming an adverb is to simply use the accusative singular neutral formof nouns and adjectives.

Particles

Particles are used either as expletives or intensives.

The most common ones are:

1. a-, an-– generally the same meaning as English 'un-' and 'a-', but with some extended senses
2. sma– when used with the present form of a verb, it conveys the past tense
3. kā-,ku-– prefixed to give a negative, inadequate or pejorative connotation.

Conjunctions

The following is an enumeration of the main types of Sanskrit conjunctions:

1. atha– marks the beginning of a work
2. Copulative –atha, atho, uta, ca,etc
3. Disjunctive –vā, vā... vā,etc
4. Adversative –athavā, tu, kintu,etc
5. Conditional –cet, yadi, yadāpi, net,etc
6. Causal –hi, tat, tena,etc
7. Interrogative –āho, uta, utāho, kim,etc
8. Affirmative and negative –atha kim, ām, addhā,etc
9. Conjunctions of time –yāvat-tāvat, yadā-tadā,etc
10. iti– marks the end of a work

Interjections

The main ones in Sanskrit expressing the various emotions are:

1. Wonder, grief, regret, etc:ā, aho, ha,etc
2. Contempt:kim, dhik,etc
3. Sorrow, dejection, grief:hā, hāhā, hanta,etc
4. Joy:hantaetc
5. Respectfully calling attention:aho, bhoḥ, he, ho,etc
6. Disrespectfully calling attention:are, rere,etc

Miscellaneous

A few nouns have only one inflection and thus behave like indeclinables. The most common ones are:

• anyat
• asti
• nāsti
• saṃvat
• bhūr
• bhuvar
• svāhā
• namas
• svasti
• om

Syntax

Because of Sanskrit's complexdeclensionsystem, theword orderis free.In usage, there is a strong tendency towardsubject–object–verb(SOV), which was the original system in place in Vedic prose. However, there are exceptions when word pairs cannot be transposed.

Notably, Pāṇini did not fix syntax in the Aṣtādhyāyī, as to do so explicitly would be difficult in any language, given several ways of expressing the same idea and various other ways of expressing similar ideas. Thus within the bounds of phonological and morphological definition wrought by Pāṇini, the syntax of Sanskrit has continued to evolve in the course of its productive literary history.

Peculiar characteristics

In the introduction to his celebrated translation ofVidyakara'sSubhāṣitaratnakośa,Daniel H.H. Ingallsdescribes some peculiar characteristics of the Sanskrit language.

He refers to the enormous vocabulary of Sanskrit, and also of the presence of a larger choice of synonyms in Sanskrit than any other language he knew of. Further, just as there exist a vast number of synonyms for almost any word in Sanskrit, there also exist synonymous constructions. In his elementary Sanskrit examinations he would ask his students to write in Sanskrit the sentence 'You must fetch the horse' in ten different ways. Actually, it is possible to write the sentence in Sanskrit in around fifteen different ways 'by using active or passive constructions, imperative or optative, an auxiliary verb, or any of the three gerundive forms, each of which, by the way, gives a different metrical pattern'.

He emphasizes that while these constructions differ formally, emotionally they are identical and completely interchangeable, that in any natural language this would be impossible. This and other arguments are used to show that Sanskrit is not a natural language, but an 'artificial' language. By 'artificial' is meant that it waslearned after some otherIndian language had been learned the natural way.

Ingalls writes: 'Every Indian, one may suppose, grew up learning naturally thelanguage of his motherand his playmates. Only after this, and if he belonged to the priesthood or the nobility or to such a professional caste as that of the clerks, the physicians, or the astrologers, would he learn Sanskrit. As a general rule, Sanskrit was not the language of the family. It furnished no subconscious symbols for the impressions which we receive in childhood nor for the emotions which form our character in early adolescence.'

See also

• Sanskrit nominals
• Sanskrit verbs
• Sanskrit compound
• Pāṇini
• Aṣṭādhyāyī
• Vedic Sanskrit grammar
• Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat,French sanskrit scholar
• Proto-Indo-Aryan
• Proto-Indo-Iranian
• Proto-Indo-European

Bibliography

• Fortson, Benjamin W(2010).Indo-European Language and Culture(2010 ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN978-1-4051-8895-1.
• Burrow, Thomas(2001).The Sanskrit Language(2001 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN81-208-1767-2.
• Whitney, William Dwight(January 2008).Sanskrit Grammar(2000 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN978-81-208-0620-7.
• Coulson, Michael (2003).Sanskrit(2003 ed.). McGraw Hill.ISBN0-340-85990-3.
• Bucknell, Roderick S (January 2010).Sanskrit Grammar(2000 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN978-81-208-1188-1.
• Kale, M R (1969).A Higher Sanskrit Grammar(2002 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN81-208-0177-6.
• Cardona, George (1997).Pāṇini - His work and his traditions.Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN81-208-0419-8.
• Keith, A. Berriedale (1956).A History of Sanskrit Literature.Great Britain: Oxford University Press.
• Böhtlingk, Otto,Pâṇini's Grammatik,Leipzig (1887)
• Allen, W.S. (1953),Phonetics in ancient India,OUP
• B. Delbrück,Altindische Tempuslehre(1876)[1]Topics in Sanskrit morphology and syntax
• Staal, Frits,Word order in Sanskrit and Universal Grammar,Foundations of Language, supplementary series 5, Springer (1967),ISBN978-90-277-0549-5.
• Staal, Frits (1972).A Reader on the Sanskrit Grammarians.MIT Press.ISBN0-262-19078-8.
• Varma, Siddheshwar (1961) [1927].Critical studies in the phonetic observations of Indian grammarians.James G. Forlong Fund. Delhi: Munshi Ram Manohar Lal.
• Wackernagel, Debrunner,Altindische Grammatik,Göttingen.
  • vol. I. phonology[2]Jacob Wackernagel(1896)
  • vol. II.1. introduction to morphology, nominal composition, Wackernagel (1905)[3]
  • vol. II.2. nominal suffixes, J. Wackernagel andAlbert Debrunner(1954)
  • vol. III. nominal inflection, numerals, pronouns, Wackernagel and Debrunner (1930)
• Stiehl, Ulrich (2011).Sanskrit-Kompendium: ein Lehr-, Übungs- und Nachschlagewerk; Devanagari-Ausgabe(PDF)(in German). Heidelberg: Forkel.ISBN978-3-7719-0086-1.

Further reading

• Pooth, Roland A. "On converse lability and its decline from Vedic to Epic Sanskrit: The verb juṣ-‘to enjoy’and ‘to please’."Yearbook of the Poznań Linguistic Meeting. Vol. 7. No. 1. Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, 2021.

External links

• Vedic Society Sandhi Calculator
• Little Red BookPDF
• Sanskrit grammar Laghu-Siddanta-Kaumudi (English & Tamil Lectures)
• Sanskrit grammar Video AdiLaghu (English & Tamil)
• Charles Wikner "A Practical Sanskrit Introductory"
• Julia Papke "Order and Meaning in Sanskrit Preverbs"
• V. Swaminathan "Panini’s Understanding of Vedic Grammar"
• "Online Sanskrit Dictionary".— sources results from Monier Williams etc.
• "The Sanskrit Grammarian".— dynamic online declension and conjugation tool
• Monier-Williams, Monier (1899)."A Sanskrit English Dictionary".Archive.org.
• Whitney, William (1924)."Sanskrit Grammar".Archive.org.
• Burrow, T."The Sanskrit Language".Archive.org.