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Sanskrit verbs

Sanskrit has inherited from its parent, the Proto-Indo-European language, an elaborate system of verbal morphology, much of which has been preserved in Sanskrit as a whole, unlike in other kindred languages, such as Ancient Greek or Latin. Sanskrit verbs[α] thus have an inflection system for different combinations of tense, aspect, mood, voice, number, and person. Non-finite forms such as participles are also extensively used.[1][2]

Some of the features of the verbal system, however, have been lost in the classical language, compared to the older Vedic 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 the subjunctive or the injunctive mood, has dropped a variety of infinitive forms, and the distinctions in meaning between the imperfect, perfect and aorist forms are barely maintained and ultimately lost.[3][4]

Basics

Verb conjugation in Sanskrit involves the interplay of five 'dimensions', number[β], person[γ], voice[δ], mood[ε] and tense[ζ], with the following variables:[5]

1 3 numbers singular[η], dual[θ], plural[ι]
2 3 persons first[κ], second[λ], third[μ]
3 3 voices active[ν], middle[ξ], passive[ο]
4 3 moods indicative, optative, imperative
5 7 tenses present, imperfect, perfect, aorist,

periphrastic future, simple future, conditional

Further, participles are considered part of the verbal systems although they are not verbs themselves, and as with other Sanskrit nouns, they can be declined across seven or eight cases, for three genders and three numbers.[6]

Classical Sanskrit has only one infinitive, of accusative case-form.[7]

Building blocks

Roots

The starting point for the morphological analysis of the Sanskrit verb is the root[π]. It is conventionally indicated using the mathematical symbol √; for instance, "√bhū-" means the root "bhū-".

There are about 2000 roots enumerated by the ancient grammarians, of which less than half are attested in actual use. Allowing for sorting reduplication and other anomalies, there remain somewhat over 800 roots that form the practical basis of the verbal system, as well as the larger part of the inherited nominal stems of the language.

Compared to kindred Indo-European languages, Sanskrit is more readily analysable in its morphological structure, and its roots are more easily separable from accretionary elements.[8]

Stems and stem formation

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.[9][10]

 

The following types of treatment are possible on the root to form the stem:

No Treatment

The personal endings are directly affixed to the root with no prior modification, subject to any internal sandhi rules in the process. With a few exceptions, the root keeps the accent and guṇa grade in the three persons of the active, while elsewhere the termination takes on the accent and the root grade is weakened.

There are around 130 roots in Sanskrit that come under this class. Sanskrit is unique among the ancient Indo-European languages to have largely preserved this system, which has largely died out in the others.[a] Since adding endings to the root is complicated by phonological changes, the tendency right from the Proto-Indo-European stage has been to use athematic processes instead.[11]

Suffixion

A theme vowel is suffixed before any personal endings are added. In Sanskrit, this is -a-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *-o- and *-e-. The addition of the theme vowel serves to avoid complications due to internal sandhi; the large majority of the verbs in the language are thematic.

Sanskrit also inherits other suffixes from Proto-Indo-European: -ya-, -ó- / -nó-, -nā-, and -aya-.[b] Of these the first and the last include the thematic vowel while the others are athematic.[11]

Infixion

Another treatment also from Proto-Indo-European is inserting an exponent within the root itself. All roots undergoing this treatment end in consonants. In weak forms, the infix is simply a nasal (n, ñ, , ), while in strong forms this expands to -ná- and bears the accent.[13]

Accent and gradation

During conjugation, the accent might fall either on the root vowel or on the ending. Among thematic verbs, some roots always get the accent, accompanied by a strengthening of the grade to guṇa or vṛddhi, while in others it always falls on the ending. In non-thematic cases, the position of the accent varies.

The general rule for variable-accent verbs is that in the indicative the stem has the accent and the guṇa grade in the three persons of the singular active, and that in the dual and plural of the active and the whole of the middle, the accent falls on the ending and the stem is in its weak form.[14]

Reduplication

The root might be subject to reduplication, wherein a part of it is prefixed to itself in the process of forming the stem. For roots beginning in a consonant, that initial consonant, or a modified form of it, is taken, while for those beginning in a vowel, it's the very vowel.

The potential modifications that might be made to the prefix consonant can be seen in some typical examples below:[15]

Reduplication patterns
Root Reduplication Remarks
√pracch- pa·pracch- Standard
√budh- bu·budh- " "
√dhā- da·dhā- aspirate -> non-aspirate
√kṛ- ca-kṛ guttural -> palatal
√khid- ci·khid- " "
√grabh- ja·grabh- " "
√hṛ- ja·hṛ- " "
√stṛ- ta·stṛ- second consonant in a cluster
√sthā- ta·sthā- " "
√skand- ca·skand- " "
√śrut- cu·śrut- a combination of above rules

Augment

Roots are prefixed with an á- (from PIE é-) in preterite formations (imperfect, aorist, pluperfect, conditional). The augment without exception bears the accent in these forms. When the root starts with any of the vowels i-, u- or , the vowel is subject to vṛddhi and not guṇa.[16][17]

  • icch·á·ti -> aí·cch·a·t
  • urṇó·ti -> aú·rṇo·t
  • ṛdh·nó·ti -> ā́r·dh·no·t

Voice

Sanskrit has in the present inherited two sets of personal endings from its parent Proto-Indo-European, one for the active voice[ρ] and another for the middle voice[σ]. Verbs can be conjugated in either voice, although some verbs only show one or the other.[18]

Originally the active voice suggested action carried out for someone else and the middle voice meant action carried out for oneself. By the time of Classical Sanskrit, and especially in later literature, this distinction blurred and in many cases eventually disappeared.[19][20][21]

Personal endings

Conjugational endings in Sanskrit 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. The theoretical forms of the endings are as follow:[22][23]

Active Middle
Person Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Primary 1 -mi -vás -más -váhe -máhe
2 -si -thás -thá -sé -ā́the -dhvé
3 -ti -tás -ánti, -áti -té -ā́te -ánte, -áte
Secondary 1 -am -vá -má -í, -á -váhi -máhi
2 -s -tám -tá -thā́s -ā́thām -dhvám
3 -t -tā́m -án, -ús -tá -ā́tām -ánta, -áta, -rán
Perfect 1 -a -vá -má -váhe -máhe
2 -tha -áthus -sé -ā́the -dhvé
3 -a -átus -ús -ā́te -ré
Imperative 1 -āni -āva -āma -āi -āvahāi -āmahāi
2 -dhí, -hí,— -tám -tá -svá -ā́thām -dhvám
3 -tu -tā́m -ántu, -átu -tā́m -ā́tām -ántām, -átām

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

Verb classes

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 or gaṇas, 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:[24][25][26]

Thematic verb classes
Root Treatment Stem gaṇa Conjugation samples[c] Remarks
√bhū- [D] Root accent, gunated [d] bháv- First[τ] bháv·a·ti The commonest of all classes, with nearly half of the roots in the language.[27]
√tud- [E] None (ending accent) tud- Sixth[υ] tud·á·ti
√dív- [F] -ya- suffix dī́v·ya- Fourth[φ] dī́v·ya·ti
√cur- [G] -aya- with root gradation, or -áya- without cór·aya- Tenth[χ] cór·aya·ti Usually to form causatives, not strictly a class per se[28]
Athematic verb classes
Root Treatment Stem gaṇa Conjugation samples[e] Remarks
√ad- [H] None ad- Second[ψ] at·ti
at·tas
ad·anti
√hu- [I] Reduplication, accent varies juhó-
juhu-
júhv-
Third[ω] juhó·ti
juhu·tás
júhv·ati
√su- [J] -no- suffix su·nó-
su·nu-
su·nv-
Fifth[αα] su·nó·ti
su·nu·tás
su·nv·ánti
√tan- [K] -o- suffix tan·ó-
tan·u-
tan·v-
Eighth[αβ][f] tan·ó·ti
tan·u·tás
tan·v·ánti
√krī- [L] -nā- suffix krī·ṇā́-
krī·ṇī-
krī·ṇ-
Ninth[αγ] krī·ṇā́·ti
krī·ṇī·tás
krī·ṇ-ánti
√rudh- [M] Nasal infix ru·ṇá·dh-
ru·n·dh-
Seventh[αδ] ru·ṇá·d·dhi
ru·n·d·dhás
ru·n·dh·ánti

Seṭ and aniṭ roots

Sanskrit roots may also be classified, independent of their gaṇa, into three groups, depending on whether they take the vowel i[i] before certain tense markers. Since the term used for this vowel by Sanskrit grammarians is iṭ[ii], these two groups are called seṭ [iii] (with iṭ), veṭ[iv] (optional iṭ), and an·iṭ [v] (without iṭ) respectively.[29][30][31][g]

The i sound in question is a phoneme i that appears in certain morphological circumstances for certain, lexically defined roots, regularly continuing Proto-Indo-European (PIE) laryngeals, as in *bʰéuH·tu·m > bháv·i·tum. Note that the PIE laryngeal (represented by an *H here) was a part of the PIE root; it occurs in all of its allomorphs, for example *bʰuH·tó·s > bhū·tá·s (*bʰeuH- is reduced to *bʰuH- in PIE due to ablaut; the laryngeal disappears in this context, leaving its trace in the length of ū in Sanskrit). In Classical Sanskrit, the scope of this i was broadened by analogous change.

In the Aṣṭādhyāyī the synchronic analysis of the phenomenon is somewhat different: the i sound is treated as an augment[h] of the suffix that follows the root. Rule 7.2.35 states that i should be prepended to ārdhadhātuka suffixes beginning with a consonant other than y;[31] an example of such suffix is -tum (the Classical Sanskrit infinitive).

An example of differences between the two classes is the aorist-marker. While some of the aniṭ-roots form aorist with the -s suffix, seṭ-roots are suffixed by -iṣ.

Following this terminology, PIE roots ending in laryngeals are also called seṭ-roots, and all others aniṭ-roots.[29][30]

Conjugation

Scope

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

Where the forms take personal endings, in other words when it complements a subject, these are called finite forms. Sanskrit also has a few subjectless, i.e., non-finite forms. In the standard scenario, the following forms are seen in Classical Sanskrit:[32][33]

Conjugation – standard finite verbs
System Tense Mood Endings Conventional term
Present Present Indicative Primary 'Present' [αε]
Optative Secondary 'Optative' [αζ]
Imperative Imperative 'Imperative' [αη]
Imperfect Indicative Secondary 'Imperfect' [αθ]
Perfect Perfect Indicative Perfect [αι]
Aorist Aorist Indicative Secondary [ακ]
Benedictive [i] Optative[j] Secondary [αλ]
Future Simple
Periphrastic
Indicative Primary [αμ]
[αν]
Conditional Indicative Secondary [αξ]

Furthermore, Sanskrit has so-called Secondary conjugations:[35]

  • Passive
  • Intensive
  • Desiderative
  • Causative
  • Denominative

The non-finite forms are:

  • Participles [k]
  • Infinitive
  • Gerund

Principal parts

It is difficult to generalize how many principal parts a Sanskrit verb possesses, since different verb form categories are used with different degrees of regularity. For the vast majority of verbs, conjugation can be made sufficiently clear with the first five of the following forms supplied:[36][37][38]

Principal parts
Part √bhū- √kṛ-
Present bháv·a·ti kar·ó·ti[l]
kur·u·tás[m]
Past participle bhū·tá kṛ·tá
Infinitive bháv·i·tum kár·tum
Perfect babhū́·va cakā́r·a
Aorist á·bhū·t[n] á·kār·ṣ·īt[o]

Present system

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.

Thematic classes

All thematic classes have invariant stems and share the same inflectional endings. To demonstrate, observe the conjugation of the Cl. 1 verb √bhū- bháv-.[vi][39] Note that this root is gunated and holds the stress within the root syllable.[40]

Present

The present indicative takes primary endings.[41][42]

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st bháv·ā·mi

[vii]

bháv·ā·vas

[viii]

bháv·ā·mas

[ix]

bháv·e

[x]

bháv·ā·vahe

[xi]

bháv·ā·mahe

[xii]

2nd bháv·a·si

[xiii]

bháv·a·thas

[xiv]

bháv·a·tha

[xv]

bháv·a·se

[xvi]

bháv·ethe

[xvii]

bháv·a·dhve

[xviii]

3rd bháv·a·ti

[xix]

bháv·a·tas

[xx]

bháv·anti

[xxi]

bháv·a·te

[xxii]

bháv·ete

[xxiii]

bháv·ante

[xxiv]

Imperfect

The imperfect takes the augment and secondary endings. The augment always bears the accent with no exceptions.[43][44]

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st á·bhav·a·m á·bhav·ā.va á·bhav·ā·ma á·bhav·e á·bhav·ā·vahi á·bhav·ā·mahi
2nd á·bhav·a·s á·bhav·a·tam á·bhav·a·ta á·bhav·a·thās á·bhav·ēthām á·bhav·a·dhvam
3rd á·bhav·a·t á·bhav·a·tām á·bhav·an [p] á·bhav·a·ta á·bhav·ētām á·bhav·anta

Optative

The present optative takes the suffix -e and athematic secondary endings.[46][47]

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st bháv·e·y·am bháv·e·va bháv·e·ma bháv·e·ya bháv·e·vahi bháv·e·mahi
2nd bháv·e·ḥ bháv·e·tam bháv·e·ta bháv·e·thās bháv·e·y·āthām bháv·e·dhvam
3rd bháv·e·t bháv·e·tām bháv·e·y·us bháv·e·ta bháv·e·y·ātām bháv·e·ran

Imperative

The imperative has its own set of special endings. Some of these forms are relics from an original subjunctive.

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st bháv·āni bháv·āva bháv·āma bháv·ai bháv·āvahai bháv·āmahai
2nd bháv·a bháv·a·tam bháv·a·ta bhav·a·sva bháv·ethām bháv·a·dhvam
3rd bháv·a·tu bháv·a·tām bháv·a·ntu bháv·a·tām bháv·e·tām bháv·a·ntām

Athematic classes

Present

The present indicative used the strong stem in the singular and the weak elsewhere. For √kṛ-[N] used as example here, the weak stem final -u- is sometimes omitted before endings in -v- and -m-.

The alternate forms for class 3 (reduplicating class) are shown with hu-[O].

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st kar·ó·mi kur·vás kur·más kur·vé kur·váhe kur·máhe
2nd kar·ó·ṣi kur·u·thás kur·u·thá kur·u·ṣé kur·v·ā́the kur·u·dhvé
3rd kar·ó·ti kur·u·tás kur·v·ánti/juhv·áti kur·u·té kur·v·ā́te kur·v·áte

Imperfect

The imperfect uses the two stems in the same way as the present.

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st á·kar·ava·m á·kur·va á·kur·ma á·kur·vi á·kur·vahi á·kur·mahi
2nd á·kar·o·s á·kur·u·tam á·kur·u·ta á·kur·u·thās á·kurv·āthām á·kur·u·dhvam
3rd á·kar·o·t á·kur·u·tām á·kur·v·an/á·juh·av·us á·kur·u·ta á·kur·v·ātām á·kur·v·ata

Optative

The optative takes the suffix -yā́- in the active, and -ī- in the middle; the stem in front of them is always the weak one. Here the final -u- of the kuru- stem is again irregularly dropped.

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st kur·yā́·m kur·yā́·va kur·yā́·ma kurv·ī·yá kurv·ī·váhi kurv·ī·máhi
2nd kur·yā́·s kur·yā́·tam kur·yā́·ta kurv·ī·thā́s kurv·ī·yā́thām kurv·ī·dhvám
3rd kur·yā́·t kur·yā́·tām kur·yús kurv·ī·tá kurv·ī·yā́tām kurv·ī·rán

Imperative

The imperative uses the strong stem in all of the 1st person forms, as well as the 3rd person singular active.

The 2nd person active may have no ending (class 5, class 8), -dhi (most of class 3,7, as well as class 1 ending in consonants), or -hi (class 9, class 3 in ā, and class 1 in vowels; these classes usually ended in laryngeals in Proto-Indo-European).

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st kar·áv·āni kar·áv·āva kar·áv·āma kar·áv·ai kar·áv·āvahai kar·áv·āmahai
2nd kur·ú/juhú·dhi/krīṇī́·hi kur·u·tám kur·u·tá kur·u·ṣvá kur·v·ā́thām kur·u·dhvám
3rd kar·ó·tu kur·u·tā́m kur·v·ántu/juhv·átu kur·u·tā́m kur·v·ā́tām kur·v·átām

Perfect system

The perfect system includes only the perfect. The stem is formed with reduplication; the reduplicated vowel is usually a, but u or i for verbs containing them.

This system also produces separate "strong" and "weak" forms of the verb — the strong guṇa form is used with the singular active, and the weak zero-grade form with the rest. In some verbs, the 3rd and optionally 1st person are further strengthened until the root syllable becomes heavy.

Most verbs ending in consonants behave as seṭ in the perfect tense in front of consonant endings. √kṛ- shown here is one of the exceptions.

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st cakā́r·a cakṛ·vá cakṛ·má cakr·é cakṛ·váhe cakṛ·máhe
2nd cakár·tha cakr·áthus cakr·á cakṛ·sé cakr·ā́the cakṛ·dhvé
3rd cakā́r·a cakr·atús cakr·ús cakr·é cakr·ā́te cakri·ré

Aorist system

The aorist system includes aorist proper (with past indicative meaning, e.g. abhūḥ 'you were') and some of the forms of the ancient injunctive (used almost exclusively with in prohibitions, e.g. mā bhūḥ 'don't be'). The principle distinction of the two is the presence/absence of an augment – á- 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.

Root aorist

This aorist is formed by directly adding the athematic secondary endings to the root. Originally this type also had different strong and weak stems for the singular and plural, but verbs that both allow this distinction and utilize this type of aorist are exceptionally rare.

From √gam- [P] and √dā- [Q] ; the latter takes -us in the 3rd person plural.

Regular stem ā-stem
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st á·gam·am á·gan·va á·gan·ma á·dā·m á·dā·va á·dā·ma
2nd á·gan á·gan·tam á·gan·ta á·dā·s á·dā·tam á·dā·ta
3rd á·gan á·gan·tām á·gm·an á·dā·t á·dā·tām á·d·us

Known instances of weak stems from the Veda include avṛjan from √vṛj- in the plural active, adhithās from √dhā- in the singular middle, and various forms from √kṛ- . Middle voice forms of this class are almost nonexistent in the classical period, being suppleted by those of the sibilant classes.

a-root aorist

This class is formed with a thematized zero-grade root, and takes regular thematic endings.

From √sic- [R]:

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st á·sic·a·m á·sic·ā·va á·sic·ā·ma á·sic·e á·sic·ā·vahi á·sic·ā·mahi
2nd á·sic·a·s á·sic·a·tam á·sic·a·ta á·sic·a·thās á·sic·ethām á·sic·a·dhvam
3rd á́·sic·a·t á·sic·a·tām á·sic·an á·sic·a·ta á·sic·etām á·sic·anta

s-aorist

This is the most productive aorist class for regular aniṭ verbs, made by suffixing s to the root. All active voice forms use the vṛddhi grade, and middle forms use the weakest grade that produces a heavy root syllable; √kṛ- and some verbs in ā may irregularly use zero grade in place of the latter.

From jī- [S]:

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st á·jai·ṣ·am á·jai·ṣ·va á·jai·ṣ·ma á·je·ṣ·i á·je·ṣ·vahi á·je·ṣ·mahi
2nd á·jai·ṣ·īs á·jai·ṣ·ṭam á·jai·ṣ·ṭa á·je·ṣ·ṭhās á·je·ṣ·āthām á·je·ḍhvam
3rd á·jai·ṣ·īt á·jai·ṣ·ṭām á·jai·ṣ·us á·je·ṣ·ṭa á·je·ṣ·ātām á·je·ṣ·ata

From √tud- [T]:

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st á·taut·s·am á·taut·s·va á·taut·s·ma á·tut·s·i á·tut·s·vahi á·tut·s·mahi
2nd á·taut·s·īs á·taut·tam á·taut·ta á·tut·thās á·tut·s·āthām á·tud·dhvam
3rd á·taut·s·īt á·taut·tām á·taut·s·uḥ á·tut·ta á·tut·s·ātām á·tut·s·ata

is-aorist

This aorist form contains the suffix -iṣ- and is the productive form of regular seṭ verbs. The strong active stem is usually strengthened until the root syllable is heavy, and the weak middle stem usually assumes the guṇa grade. Some verbs in a followed by a single consonant, such as grah- , do not take additional strengthening in the active.

From √pū- [U]:

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st á·pāv·iṣ·am á·pāv·iṣ·va á·pāv·iṣ·ma á·pav·iṣ·i á·pav·iṣ·vahi á·pav·iṣ·mahi
2nd á·pāv·īs á·pāv·iṣ·ṭam á·pāv·iṣ·ṭa á·pavi·ṣ·ṭhās á·pav·iṣ·āthām á·pav·i·ḍhvam
3rd á·pāv·īt á·pāv·iṣ·ṭām á·pāv·iṣ·us á·pav·iṣ·ṭa á·pav·iṣ·ātām á·pav·iṣ·ata

sis-aorist

This small class is characterized by a reduplicated -siṣ- suffix, and is only used in the active voice; the s-aorist is usually used in the middle by verbs that take this formation.

From √yā- [V]:

Active
Singular Dual Plural
1st á·yā·siṣ·am á·yā·siṣ·va á·yā·siṣ·ma
2nd á·yā·s·īs á·yā·siṣ·ṭam á·yā·siṣ·ṭa
3rd á·yā·s·īt á·yā·siṣ·ṭām á·yā·siṣ·us

sa-aorist

This formation is used with a small number of verbs ending in consonants which can form the cluster kṣ when an -s- is added. It takes a mixture of thematic and athematic endings.

From √diś- [W]:

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st á·dik·ṣa·m á·dik·ṣā·va á·dik·ṣā·ma á·dik·ṣ·i á·dik·ṣā·vahi á·dik·ṣā·mahi
2nd á·dik·ṣa·s á·dik·ṣa·tam á·dik·ṣa·ta á·dik·ṣa·thās á·dik·ṣ·āthām á·dik·ṣa·dhvam
3rd á·dik·ṣa·t á·dik·ṣa·tām á·dik·ṣ·an á·dik·ṣa·ta á·dik·ṣ·ātām á·dik·ṣ·anta

Future system

Simple future

The simple future stem is formed with the suffix -sya- or -iṣya- and the guṇa grade of the root.

From √kṛ- :

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st kar·iṣyā́·mi kar·iṣyā́·vas kar·iṣyā́·mas kar·iṣy·é kar·iṣyā́·vahe kar·iṣyā́·mahe
2nd kar·iṣyá·si kar·iṣyá·thas kar·iṣyá·tha kar·iṣyá·se kar·iṣy·éthe kar·iṣyá·dhve
3rd kar·iṣyá·ti kar·iṣyá·tas kar·iṣy·ánti kar·iṣyá·te kar·iṣy·éte kar·iṣy·ánte

Periphrastic future

The periphrastic future is formed by first deriving the agentive noun from the root using -tṛ, and attaching forms of the verb as- 'to be' as auxiliary, in the first and second persons. In the third person, the masculine form of the agentive noun stands in for all actors, masculine, feminine or neuter.

From √dā- :

Active
Singular Dual Plural
1st dā·tā́·smi dā·tā́·svas dā·tā́·smas
2nd dā·tā́·si dā·tā́·sthas dā·tā́·stha
3rd dā·tā́ dā·tā́rau dā·tā́ras

The medio-passive forms are hardly ever found in the literature.[48]

Conditional

There is also a conditional, formed from the future stem as the imperfect is formed from a thematic present stem. Rarely used in Classical Sanskrit, the conditional refers to hypothetical actions.

Active Middle
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st á·kar·iṣya·m á·kar·iṣyā·va á·kar·iṣyā·ma á·kar·iṣy·e á·kar·iṣyā·vahi á·kar·iṣyā·mahi
2nd á·kar·iṣya·s á·kar·iṣya·tam á·kar·iṣya·ta á·kar·iṣya·thās á·kar·iṣy·ethām á·kar·iṣya·dhvam
3rd á·kar·iṣya·t á·kar·iṣya·tām á·kar·iṣya·n á·kar·iṣya·ta á·kar·iṣy·etām á·kar·iṣy·anta

Secondary Conjugation

Sanskrit verbs are capable of a second category of conjugation wherein the root takes on a modified or extended meaning. These are:[49][50]

  1. Passive
  2. Intensive
  3. Causative
  4. Desiderative
  5. Denominative

Passive

The passive is very similar in formation to the dív-class (4th) already seen above, with the primary difference that the -yá- always bears the accent. The root is in its weak form, and the middle endings are used. From √han- [X]:[51][52]

Singular Dual Plural
1st han·y·é han·yā́·vahe han·yā́·mahe
2nd han·yá·se han·y·éthe han·yá·dhve
3rd han·yá·te han·y·éte han·y·ánte

Intensive

The intensive is formed by reduplicating the root and is conjugated like a class-2 verb. Thus for √vid[Y], we have véved-, vevid-:[53]

Singular Dual Plural
1st véved·mi, véved·ī·mi vevid·vás vevid·más
2nd vévet·si, véved·ī·ṣi vevit·thás vevit·thá
3rd vévet·ti, vévid·ī·ti vevit·tas vévid·ati

Participles

Participles are verbal adjectives, a form of the non-finite verb. They are derived from verb roots, but behave like adjectives.[54]

Sanskrit inherits a highly developed system of participles from Proto-Indo-European preserving some of the more archaic features of the parent language.[55]

Such a participial element found in almost all Indo-European languages is -nt-. This can be seen in PIE *bheront-, from *bher- 'bear', Sanskrit bharan(t)-, Greek φέρων- (pheron-), Latin feren(t)-, all meaning 'bearing, carrying'.

In Sanskrit, participles exist in all three voices — active, middle and passive, and in three of the tenses — present, perfect and future. While this should logically yield 3x3=9 forms, the actual number is usually higher, because potentially at least, there are three different future passive participles and two perfect active participles. In some cases it may be lower, because a verb lacks active or middle forms.[56][57]

The different possible forms for a couple of representative verbs (√nī-, nayati [Z] 1 & √dhā-, dadhāti [AA] 3) can be seen below:

Active Middle Passive
Present: náy·ant- náy·a·māna- nī·yá·māna-
Perfect: ninī·vā́ṅs- niny·āná- nī·tá-
Future: ne·ṣy·ánt- ne·ṣyá·māṇa- ne·tavyá-
né·ya-
Active Middle Passive
Present: dadh·át- dadh·āná- dhī·yá·māna-
Perfect: dadhi·vā́ṅs- dadh·āná- hi·ta-
Future: dhā·sy·ánt- dhā·syá·māna- dhā·tavyá-
dhā·nī́ya
dhé·ya-

Past participles

Past participles are formed directly from verbal roots for most verbs in most cases (except for verbs of the tenth gaṇa, which form them from the present stem). They have a perfective sense, in that they refer to actions that are completed. They can freely substitute for finite verbs conjugated in the past sense.

Past passive participles

Sanskrit inherits two suffixes from Proto-Indo-European used to form verbal adjectives and the past passive participle: *-tó- and *-nó-. The first can be seen in the root *gʷem- 'to come'[q] forming *gʷm̥-tó-, which in Sanskrit becomes gatá- '(having) gone', and in Latin ventus.[r][58]

The second method is less frequent but can be seen in PIE *bʰeyd- 'to split' giving *bʰid-nó-, in Sanskrit bhin-ná- '(having been) split', cognate with English bitten.[59][60][61]

In Sanskrit thus the past passive participle is formed by adding "-tá-" [s], or "-ná-", to a root in its weakest grade when weakening is applicable (e.g. samprasāraṇa). For seṭ roots, the augment i is inserted before the suffix. The resulting form is an adjective and modifies a noun either expressed or implied.

The past passive participle can usually be translated by the corresponding English past passive participle:

  • likh·i·táḥ śabdaḥ – 'the written word'
  • kṛ·táṃ kāryam- 'a done deed'
Examples
Root Stem Final form Glossary Remarks
√bhū- bhū- bhū·tá- been, having been [62]
√kṛ kṛ kṛ·tá- done, having done [63]
√vac- uk- uk·tá- spoken, said [64]
√vad- ud·i- ud·i·tá- spoken [65]
√pṝ- pūr- pūr·ṇá- filled, full [66] With irregular root modification[citation needed]

When used with transitive (sakarmaka) verbs, the standard passive meaning can be achieved; the agent, if used, is placed in the instrumental case:

  • rākṣaso rāmeṇa hataḥ – 'The rākṣasa (demon) was killed by Rāma'

Note that rakṣasa is the direct object (karman) of the verbal action expressed in √han "to kill" and the agent (kartṛ) of the same action, Rāma, occurs in the instrumental case.

When made from an intransitive (akarmaka) or neuter verb, the same participle has no passive, but an indefinite past sense:[67]

  • rāmo vane sthitaḥ – 'Rama stood in the forest' (from √sthā – 'to stand, stay')

Past active participles

The past participle could be extended by adding the possessive suffix -vant-: kṛ·tá·vant- – 'one who has something (or things) done'.

This naturally takes on the function of the active past participle. This is a linguistic innovation within the Indo-Aryan branch, and the first purely participial formation of this character appears in the Atharvaveda.

Later on this formation (-tá·vant- or -ná·vant-) comes to be used independently, with the copula understood, in place of an active preterite:

  • na mām kaścid dṛṣ·ṭá·vān – 'no one has seen me' -> 'no one saw me'.[68]

Present participle

Unlike the past participles, the present participle is formed from the present stem of the verb, and is formed differently depending on whether the verb is parasmaipada or ātmanepada. The present participle can never substitute for a finite verb. It is also inherently imperfective, indicating an action that is still in process at the time of the main verb.

Present active participle

In theory, the present active participle is the addition of -ant to a form of the root. In practice however, this participle can simply be made by dropping the -i from the 3rd person plural in the present indicative. This gives us the masculine singular form of the participle. Thus,

  • bháv·anti -> bháv·ant-
  • kur·v·ánti -> kur·v·ánt-

The weak form is -at-

The feminine is formed as -antī́ in some roots, and as -atī́ in others.[69][70]

Present middle participle

This participle is formed by adding -māna- to a thematic stem and -āná- to an athematic stem in the weak form.[71][72] Thus for √bhū- and √kṛ-:

  • bháv·a·māna-
  • kur·v·āṇá-

Future participles

Formed from the future stem just as the present participle is formed from the present stem, the future participle describes an action that has not yet happened, but that may in the future.

Future active participle

Just as in the present, it can be formed by simply dropping the -i of the third-person plural. Thus,

  • kar·iṣy·ánti -> kar·iṣy·ánt-
  • bhav·iṣy·ánti -> bhav·iṣy·ánt-

The feminines are in either -ántī or -atī́ although the latter is extremely rare.[73]

Future middle participle

Similarly, the middle form is obtained by adding -māna- to the future stem. So we have:

  • kar·iṣyá·māṇa-
  • bhav·iṣyá·māṇa-

Gerundive

The gerundive is a future passive prescriptive participle, indicating that the word modified should or ought to be the object of the action of the participle.

This is made by affixing -ya-, -távya-/-tavyá-, -anī́ya- to different stem forms. Thus for √bhū- and √kṛ-:

  • bháv·ya-
  • bhav·i·tavyá-
  • bhav·anī́ya-
  • kā́r·ya-
  • kar·tavyá-
  • kar·aṇī́ya-

The accent on -tavya- may fall on either syllable.[74][75]

Perfect participle

The perfect participle is a past active participle, but is very rarely used in classical Sanskrit.

This is formed by adding -vā́ṅs in the active and -āná in the middle voice to the weak form of the perfect stem, as seen, for example in the third person active. The feminine forms are -uṣī́ and -ānā́. Thus,[76]

  • √bhū- -> babhū·vā́ṅs-, babhū·vāná-
  • √kṛ- -> cakṛ·vā́ṅs-, cakr·āṇá-

Aorist participle

The aorist participle used in Vedic was lost in Classical Sanskrit.

Other non-finite forms

Infinitive

The infinitive originates as the accusative form of an old verbal noun. The ending -tum, similar to the Latin supine,[77][78] is added to the root which bears the accent with its vowel guṇated. An '-i-' intervenes just like in other conjugation forms as needed.[79]

  • √bhū- -> bháv·i·tum
  • √kṛ- -> kár·tum
  • √gam- -> gán·tum

Gerund

There exists a non-finite form in Sanskrit termed gerund or absolutive which is analysed differently from the gerund in other Proto-Indo-European languages.[80] It has the sense of 'having done' or whatever the verb may be.

It is formed using -tvā́ or -ya, with the former normally used on a bare root whereas the latter applied to verbs with prefixes added to the root.

The -tvā́ formation is similar to the past passive participle formed from -tá and correspondingly bears the accent. The second form can be normally derived by suffixing the root directly, with its vowel bearing the accent whilst in the weak form. A root ending in a short vowel gets an intervening -t-.[81][82]

  • √bhū- -> bhū·tvā́ and -bhū́·ya
  • √kṛ- -> kṛ·tvā́ and -kṛ́·t·ya
  • √gam- -> ga·tvā́ and -gám·ya


Comprehensive example

The following table is a partial listing of the major verbal forms that can be generated from a single root. Not all roots can take all forms; some roots are often confined to particular stems. The verbal forms listed here are all in the third person singular, and they can all be conjugated in three persons and three numbers.[83]

  • Root: √bhū-, a class I thematic verb root.
  • Present: bháv·a-
  • Passive: bhū·yá-
  • Future: bhav·iṣyá-
  • Perfect: babhūv-
  • Aorist: bhū-
  • Desiderative: bubhū·ṣ-
  • Intensive: bóbho ~ bóbhū-
  • Causative: bhāv·áya-

When there are two forms in one cell of this table, the first one is active, the second one middle.

Primary Causative Desiderative Intensive
Present stem Present bháv·a·ti [xxv]
bháv·a·te [xxvi]
bhāv·áya·ti [xxvii]
bhāv·áya·te [xxviii]
búbhū·ṣa·ti [xxix] bóbho·ti [xxx] / bóbhav·ī·ti [xxxi]
bobhū·yá·te [xxxii]
Imperfect á·bhav·a·t
á·bhav·a·ta
á·bhāv·aya·t
á·bhāv·aya·ta
á·bubhū·ṣa·t á·bobho.t
á·bobhū·yá·t
Imperative bháv·a·tu
bháv·a·tām
bhāv·áya·tu
bhāv·áya·tām
búbhū·ṣa·tu bóbho·tu / bóbhav·ī·tu
bobhū·yá·tām
Optative bháv·et
bháv·e·ta
bhāv·áye·t
bhāv·áye·ta
búbhū·ṣe·t bobhav·yā́t
bobhū·yé·ta
Present participle bháv·ant-
bháv·a·māna-
bhāv·áy·ant-
bhāv·áya·māna-
búbhū·ṣ·ant- bóbhav·ant-
bóbhū·ya·māna
Passive Present bhū·yá·te bhāv·yá·te bubhū·ṣ·yá·te
Imperfect á·bhū·ya·ta á·bhāv·ya·ta á·bubhū·ṣ·ya·ta
Imperative bhū·yá·tām bhāv·yá·tām bubhū·ṣ·yá·tām
Optative bhū·yé·ta bhāv·yé·ta bubhū·ṣ·yé·ta
Passive participle bhū·yá·māna- bhāv·yá·māna- bubhū·ṣ·yá·māna-
Future stem Future bhav·iṣyá·ti bhāv·ay·iṣyá-ti
bhāv·ay·iṣyá·te
bubhū·ṣ·iṣyá·ti
Conditional á·bhav·iṣya·t á·bhāv·ay·iṣya·t á·bubhū·ṣ·iṣya·t
Future participle bhav·iṣyá·nt- bhav·iṣyá·māna-
bhāv·ay·iṣyá·māna-
bubhū·ṣ·iṣyá·nt-
Periphrastic future bhav·i·tá bhāv·ay·i·tá bubhū·ṣi·tā́
Perfect babhū́v·a bhāv·áya·māsa bubhū́·ṣā-māsa
Aorist Aorist á·bhū·t
Benedictive / precative bhū·yā́·t
Injunctive mā bhūt
Past participle bhū·tá-
bhū·tá·vant-
bhāv·i·tá-
bhāv·i·tá·vant-
bubhū·ṣi·tá-
bubhū·ṣi·tá·vant-
Gerundive bháv·ya
bhav·i·távya / bhav·i·tavyá
bhāv·ayi·távya / bhāv·ayi·tavyá
Infinitive bháv·i·tum
Gerund bhū·tvā́, -bhū́·ya

Taking into account the fact that the participial forms each decline in seven cases in three numbers across three genders, and the fact that the verbs each conjugate in three persons in three numbers, the primary, causative, and desiderative stems for this root when counted together have over a thousand forms.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The roots *h₁es- 'to be, is' and *h₁ed- 'eat' are notable exceptions that have retained some athematic-influenced behavior in a great many daughter languages.
  2. ^ A small number of roots, in the present stem, add -ch- to the root, sometimes dropping the final consonant first. This is same as the -sc- used in Latin to form inchoative verbs. Examples: √gam-gaccha-[A], √yam- ⇒ yaccha-[B], √iṣ- iccha-[C][12]
  3. ^ Present-tense third-person singular
  4. ^ Occasionally vriddhied
  5. ^ Present-tense third-person singular, dual and plural
  6. ^ Very similar to the Fifth class
  7. ^ Aṣṭādhyāyī 1.2.18, 6.4.121, 3.1.45, 6.1.188, 6.4.51, 7.2.61
  8. ^ called āgama in the terminology of the later Paninean school
  9. ^ or Precative
  10. ^ Very rare in Classical Sanskrit[34]
  11. ^ might take both active and middle voice
  12. ^ strong form
  13. ^ weak form
  14. ^ root aorist
  15. ^ s-aorist
  16. ^ derived from á·bhav·ant with Sanskrit's customary trait of avoiding cluster finals[45]
  17. ^ the word come is both synonym and cognate
  18. ^ as in the words event, convenient, etc.
  19. ^ Kta in Pāṇinian terms

Glossary

  1. ^ go
  2. ^ reach
  3. ^ wish; cognate with English ask, and Slavic *jьska·ti, 'seek', where the same element can be found
  4. ^ be, become, exist, be born/produced; also cognate, See bʰuH-
  5. ^ strike, beat; cognate with Latin tundō, studium
  6. ^ cast, throw, especially of dice
  7. ^ steal
  8. ^ eat; also cognate, see h₁ed-
  9. ^ call, invoke, sacrifice, cognate with English 'god', see ǵʰewH- and ǵʰew-
  10. ^ press (of juice)
  11. ^ extend, spread; cognate with 'thin' and 'tenuous', see ten- and tn̥néwti
  12. ^ buy
  13. ^ stop, arrest, check
  14. ^ do
  15. ^ sacrifice
  16. ^ go
  17. ^ give
  18. ^ pour
  19. ^ win
  20. ^ strike
  21. ^ cleanse
  22. ^ go
  23. ^ show
  24. ^ kill
  25. ^ to know
  26. ^ lead, leads
  27. ^ put, puts

Traditional glossary and notes

  1. ^ kriyā
  2. ^ vacana
  3. ^ puruṣa
  4. ^ prayoga
  5. ^ artha
  6. ^ kāla
  7. ^ eka·vacana
  8. ^ dvi·vacana
  9. ^ bahu·vacana
  10. ^ prathama·puruṣa
  11. ^ dvitīya·puruṣa
  12. ^ tṛtīya·puruṣa
  13. ^ kartari·prayoga
  14. ^ karmaṇi·prayoga
  15. ^ bhāve·prayoga
  16. ^ dhātu
  17. ^ parasmaipada, lit. 'word for another'
  18. ^ atmanepada, lit. 'word for self'
  19. ^ bhu·ādi
  20. ^ tud·ādi
  21. ^ div·ādi
  22. ^ cur·ādi
  23. ^ ad·ādi
  24. ^ juhauty·ādi
  25. ^ su·ādi
  26. ^ tan·ādi
  27. ^ kry·ādi
  28. ^ rudh·ādi
  29. ^ vartamāna, Pāṇini: laṭ
  30. ^ vidhi, P: vidhi·liṅ
  31. ^ ājñā, P: loṭ
  32. ^ anadyatana·bhūta, P: laṅ
  33. ^ parokṣa·bhūta, P: liṭ
  34. ^ bhūta, P: luṅ
  35. ^ āsī, P: āśīr·liṅ
  36. ^ bhaviṣyan, P: luṭ
  37. ^ bhaviṣyan, P: lṛṭ
  38. ^ saṅketa, P: lṛṅ

Brahmic notes

Brahmic transliteration
  1. ^
  2. ^ इट्
  3. ^ सेट्
  4. ^ वेट्
  5. ^ अनिट्
  6. ^ भू- भव्-
  7. ^ (भवामि)
  8. ^ (भवावः)
  9. ^ (भवामः)
  10. ^ (भवे)
  11. ^ (भवावहे)
  12. ^ (भवामहे)
  13. ^ (भवसि)
  14. ^ (भवथः)
  15. ^ (भवथ)
  16. ^ (भवसे)
  17. ^ (भवेथे)
  18. ^ (भवध्वे
  19. ^ (भवति)
  20. ^ (भवतः)
  21. ^ (भवन्ति)
  22. ^ (भवते)
  23. ^ (भवेते)
  24. ^ (भवन्ते)
  25. ^ भवति
  26. ^ भवते
  27. ^ भावयति
  28. ^ भावयते
  29. ^ बुभूषति
  30. ^ बोभोति
  31. ^ बोभवीति
  32. ^ बोभूयते

References

  1. ^ Fortson, §10.41.
  2. ^ Whitney p. 200 ch. 8.
  3. ^ Macdonnell, Vedic p.118.
  4. ^ Fortson, §10.41.
  5. ^ Bucknell, p. 34.
  6. ^ Burrow, p. 367
  7. ^ Whitney, §538
  8. ^ Burrow, §7.1.
  9. ^ Burrow, §7.3.
  10. ^ Whitney, ch 8.
  11. ^ a b Burrow, §7.8
  12. ^ Whitney, §608
  13. ^ Whitney, §683
  14. ^ Burrow, §7.5
  15. ^ Whitney, §588–590.
  16. ^ Burrow, §7.5.
  17. ^ Whitney, §585.
  18. ^ Burrow, §7.6
  19. ^ Burrow, §7.6
  20. ^ Macdonnell, ch. 4.
  21. ^ Whitney, ch. 8, §528–531.
  22. ^ Bucknell, p. 43.
  23. ^ Whitney, §553
  24. ^ Burrow, §7.8
  25. ^ Whitney, ch. 8.
  26. ^ Monier Williams – word meanings
  27. ^ Burrow, p. 328
  28. ^ Whitney, §775
  29. ^ a b Fortson, §4.7.
  30. ^ a b Meier-Brügger et al.
  31. ^ a b The Astadhyayi of Panini
  32. ^ Whitney, §527–541.
  33. ^ Bucknell, §2.B.
  34. ^ Bucknell, p. 53.
  35. ^ Whitney, §540.
  36. ^ Coulson, 298.
  37. ^ Bucknell, T27.
  38. ^ Whitney, p. 520.
  39. ^ Wilson, p. 622.
  40. ^ Whitney, §735
  41. ^ Burrow, §7.6.
  42. ^ Whitney, §735.
  43. ^ Burrow, §7.6.
  44. ^ Whitney, §742.
  45. ^ Coulson, §14.189
  46. ^ Burrow, §7.6.
  47. ^ Whitney, §738.
  48. ^ Whitney, §942–947.
  49. ^ Burrow, §7.15.
  50. ^ Whitney, §996–997.
  51. ^ Whitney,§ 771.
  52. ^ Bucknell, p. 38.
  53. ^ Whitney, §1000–1005.
  54. ^ Fortson, §5.60.
  55. ^ Szemerényi, §9.6
  56. ^ Bucknell, p. 59.
  57. ^ Whitney, ch. 8–13.
  58. ^ MM-W, p. 347.
  59. ^ Fortson, §5.60–5.61.
  60. ^ Burrow, §7.19.
  61. ^ MM-W, p. 756.
  62. ^ Bucknell, p. 181.
  63. ^ Bucknell, p. 157.
  64. ^ Bucknell, p. 191.
  65. ^ Bucknell, p. 192.
  66. ^ Bucknell, p. 178.
  67. ^ Whitney, §13.951-3.
  68. ^ Burrow, §7.19.
  69. ^ Bucknell, p. 61.
  70. ^ Whitney, ch. 9.
  71. ^ Burrow, p. 369.
  72. ^ Bucknell, p. 61.
  73. ^ Whitney, §939.
  74. ^ Whitney, §961–966.
  75. ^ Bucknell, p. 63.
  76. ^ Whitney, §802–806.
  77. ^ Fortson, §5.59.
  78. ^ Burrow, §7.17.
  79. ^ Whitney, §968
  80. ^ Burrow, §7.21.
  81. ^ Whitney, §989–994.
  82. ^ Bucknell, p. 63
  83. ^ Whitney, ch. 8–15.

Bibliography

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  • Kale, M R. A Higher Sanskrit Grammar (2002 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81-208-0177-6.
  • Sanskrit Grammar for Beginners - Müller F., Max - ISBN 978-12-365-2895-7
  • Goldman, Robert P. & Sally J. Devavāṇīpraveśikā. Berkeley: Center for South Asian Studies, 2004. (ISBN 0-944613-40-3)
  • Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics (Einführung in die vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft) – Szemerényi, Oswald J.L. – 4th Ed – Oxford University Press – ISBN 0-19-824015-5
  • Meier-Brügger, Michael; Fritz, Matthias; Mayrhofer, Manfred (2003). Indo-European Linguistics. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter. L 315. ISBN 3-11-017433-2.
  • A Sanskrit-English Dictionary - Sir Monier Monier-Williams - Oxford Clarendon Press
  • Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary - 1832 – Calcutta Edition

External links

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sanskrit, verbs, this, article, should, specify, language, english, content, using, lang, transliteration, transliterated, languages, phonetic, transcriptions, with, appropriate, code, wikipedia, multilingual, support, templates, also, used, august, 2021, sans. This article should specify the language of its non English content using lang transliteration for transliterated languages and IPA for phonetic transcriptions with an appropriate ISO 639 code Wikipedia s multilingual support templates may also be used See why August 2021 Sanskrit has inherited from its parent the Proto Indo European language an elaborate system of verbal morphology much of which has been preserved in Sanskrit as a whole unlike in other kindred languages such as Ancient Greek or Latin Sanskrit verbs a thus have an inflection system for different combinations of tense aspect mood voice number and person Non finite forms such as participles are also extensively used 1 2 Some of the features of the verbal system however have been lost in the classical language compared to the older Vedic 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 the subjunctive or the injunctive mood has dropped a variety of infinitive forms and the distinctions in meaning between the imperfect perfect and aorist forms are barely maintained and ultimately lost 3 4 Contents 1 Basics 2 Building blocks 2 1 Roots 2 2 Stems and stem formation 2 2 1 No Treatment 2 2 2 Suffixion 2 2 3 Infixion 2 2 4 Accent and gradation 2 2 5 Reduplication 2 2 6 Augment 2 3 Voice 2 4 Personal endings 2 5 Verb classes 2 6 Seṭ and aniṭ roots 3 Conjugation 3 1 Scope 3 2 Principal parts 4 Present system 4 1 Thematic classes 4 1 1 Present 4 1 2 Imperfect 4 1 3 Optative 4 1 4 Imperative 4 2 Athematic classes 4 2 1 Present 4 2 2 Imperfect 4 2 3 Optative 4 2 4 Imperative 5 Perfect system 6 Aorist system 6 1 Root aorist 6 2 a root aorist 6 3 s aorist 6 4 is aorist 6 5 sis aorist 6 6 sa aorist 7 Future system 7 1 Simple future 7 2 Periphrastic future 7 3 Conditional 8 Secondary Conjugation 8 1 Passive 8 2 Intensive 9 Participles 9 1 Past participles 9 1 1 Past passive participles 9 1 2 Past active participles 9 2 Present participle 9 2 1 Present active participle 9 2 2 Present middle participle 9 3 Future participles 9 3 1 Future active participle 9 3 2 Future middle participle 9 3 3 Gerundive 9 4 Perfect participle 9 5 Aorist participle 10 Other non finite forms 10 1 Infinitive 10 2 Gerund 11 Comprehensive example 12 See also 13 Notes 14 Glossary 15 Traditional glossary and notes 16 Brahmic notes 17 References 18 Bibliography 19 External linksBasics EditVerb conjugation in Sanskrit involves the interplay of five dimensions number b person g voice d mood e and tense z with the following variables 5 1 3 numbers singular h dual 8 plural i 2 3 persons first k second l third m 3 3 voices active n middle 3 passive o 4 3 moods indicative optative imperative5 7 tenses present imperfect perfect aorist periphrastic future simple future conditionalFurther participles are considered part of the verbal systems although they are not verbs themselves and as with other Sanskrit nouns they can be declined across seven or eight cases for three genders and three numbers 6 Classical Sanskrit has only one infinitive of accusative case form 7 Building blocks EditRoots Edit The starting point for the morphological analysis of the Sanskrit verb is the root p It is conventionally indicated using the mathematical symbol for instance bhu means the root bhu There are about 2000 roots enumerated by the ancient grammarians of which less than half are attested in actual use Allowing for sorting reduplication and other anomalies there remain somewhat over 800 roots that form the practical basis of the verbal system as well as the larger part of the inherited nominal stems of the language Compared to kindred Indo European languages Sanskrit is more readily analysable in its morphological structure and its roots are more easily separable from accretionary elements 8 Stems and stem formation Edit 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 9 10 r o o t s u f f i x s t e m e n d i n g w o r d displaystyle underbrace underbrace mathrm root suffix mathrm stem mathrm ending mathrm word The following types of treatment are possible on the root to form the stem No Treatment Edit The personal endings are directly affixed to the root with no prior modification subject to any internal sandhi rules in the process With a few exceptions the root keeps the accent and guṇa grade in the three persons of the active while elsewhere the termination takes on the accent and the root grade is weakened There are around 130 roots in Sanskrit that come under this class Sanskrit is unique among the ancient Indo European languages to have largely preserved this system which has largely died out in the others a Since adding endings to the root is complicated by phonological changes the tendency right from the Proto Indo European stage has been to use athematic processes instead 11 Suffixion Edit A theme vowel is suffixed before any personal endings are added In Sanskrit this is a inherited from Proto Indo European o and e The addition of the theme vowel serves to avoid complications due to internal sandhi the large majority of the verbs in the language are thematic Sanskrit also inherits other suffixes from Proto Indo European ya o no na and aya b Of these the first and the last include the thematic vowel while the others are athematic 11 Infixion Edit Another treatment also from Proto Indo European is inserting an exponent within the root itself All roots undergoing this treatment end in consonants In weak forms the infix is simply a nasal n n ṇ ṅ while in strong forms this expands to na and bears the accent 13 Accent and gradation Edit During conjugation the accent might fall either on the root vowel or on the ending Among thematic verbs some roots always get the accent accompanied by a strengthening of the grade to guṇa or vṛddhi while in others it always falls on the ending In non thematic cases the position of the accent varies The general rule for variable accent verbs is that in the indicative the stem has the accent and the guṇa grade in the three persons of the singular active and that in the dual and plural of the active and the whole of the middle the accent falls on the ending and the stem is in its weak form 14 Reduplication Edit The root might be subject to reduplication wherein a part of it is prefixed to itself in the process of forming the stem For roots beginning in a consonant that initial consonant or a modified form of it is taken while for those beginning in a vowel it s the very vowel The potential modifications that might be made to the prefix consonant can be seen in some typical examples below 15 Reduplication patterns Root Reduplication Remarks pracch pa pracch Standard budh bu budh dha da dha aspirate gt non aspirate kṛ ca kṛ guttural gt palatal khid ci khid grabh ja grabh hṛ ja hṛ stṛ ta stṛ second consonant in a cluster stha ta stha skand ca skand srut cu srut a combination of above rulesAugment Edit Roots are prefixed with an a from PIE e in preterite formations imperfect aorist pluperfect conditional The augment without exception bears the accent in these forms When the root starts with any of the vowels i u or ṛ the vowel is subject to vṛddhi and not guṇa 16 17 icch a ti gt ai cch a t urṇo ti gt au rṇo t ṛdh no ti gt a r dh no tVoice Edit Sanskrit has in the present inherited two sets of personal endings from its parent Proto Indo European one for the active voice r and another for the middle voice s Verbs can be conjugated in either voice although some verbs only show one or the other 18 Originally the active voice suggested action carried out for someone else and the middle voice meant action carried out for oneself By the time of Classical Sanskrit and especially in later literature this distinction blurred and in many cases eventually disappeared 19 20 21 Personal endings Edit Conjugational endings in Sanskrit 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 The theoretical forms of the endings are as follow 22 23 Active MiddlePerson Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual PluralPrimary 1 mi vas mas e vahe mahe2 si thas tha se a the dhve3 ti tas anti ati te a te ante ateSecondary 1 am va ma i a vahi mahi2 s tam ta tha s a tham dhvam3 t ta m an us ta a tam anta ata ranPerfect 1 a va ma e vahe mahe2 tha athus a se a the dhve3 a atus us e a te reImperative 1 ani ava ama ai avahai amahai2 dhi hi tam ta sva a tham dhvam3 tu ta m antu atu ta m a tam antam atamPrimary endings are used with present indicative and future forms Secondary endings are used with the imperfect conditional aorist and optative Perfect and imperative endings are used with the perfect and imperative respectively Verb classes Edit 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 or gaṇas 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 24 25 26 Thematic verb classes Root Treatment Stem gaṇa Conjugation samples c Remarks bhu D Root accent gunated d bhav First t bhav a ti The commonest of all classes with nearly half of the roots in the language 27 tud E None ending accent tud Sixth y tud a ti div F ya suffix di v ya Fourth f di v ya ti cur G aya with root gradation or aya without cor aya Tenth x cor aya ti Usually to form causatives not strictly a class per se 28 Athematic verb classes Root Treatment Stem gaṇa Conjugation samples e Remarks ad H None ad Second ps at ti at tas ad anti hu I Reduplication accent varies juho juhu juhv Third w juho ti juhu tas juhv ati su J no suffix su no su nu su nv Fifth aa su no ti su nu tas su nv anti tan K o suffix tan o tan u tan v Eighth ab f tan o ti tan u tas tan v anti kri L na suffix kri ṇa kri ṇi kri ṇ Ninth ag kri ṇa ti kri ṇi tas kri ṇ anti rudh M Nasal infix ru ṇa dh ru n dh Seventh ad ru ṇa d dhi ru n d dhas ru n dh antiSeṭ and aniṭ roots Edit Sanskrit roots may also be classified independent of their gaṇa into three groups depending on whether they take the vowel i i before certain tense markers Since the term used for this vowel by Sanskrit grammarians is iṭ ii these two groups are called seṭ iii with iṭ veṭ iv optional iṭ and an iṭ v without iṭ respectively 29 30 31 g The i sound in question is a phoneme i that appears in certain morphological circumstances for certain lexically defined roots regularly continuing Proto Indo European PIE laryngeals as in bʰeuH tu m gt bhav i tum Note that the PIE laryngeal represented by an H here was a part of the PIE root it occurs in all of its allomorphs for example bʰuH to s gt bhu ta s bʰeuH is reduced to bʰuH in PIE due to ablaut the laryngeal disappears in this context leaving its trace in the length of u in Sanskrit In Classical Sanskrit the scope of this i was broadened by analogous change In the Aṣṭadhyayi the synchronic analysis of the phenomenon is somewhat different the i sound is treated as an augment h of the suffix that follows the root Rule 7 2 35 states that i should be prepended to ardhadhatuka suffixes beginning with a consonant other than y 31 an example of such suffix is tum the Classical Sanskrit infinitive An example of differences between the two classes is the aorist marker While some of the aniṭ roots form aorist with the s suffix seṭ roots are suffixed by iṣ Following this terminology PIE roots ending in laryngeals are also called seṭ roots and all others aniṭ roots 29 30 Conjugation EditScope Edit As in kindred Indo European languages conjugation is effected using the above building blocks across the tenses moods voices persons and numbers yielding in Sanskrit a huge number of combinations Where the forms take personal endings in other words when it complements a subject these are called finite forms Sanskrit also has a few subjectless i e non finite forms In the standard scenario the following forms are seen in Classical Sanskrit 32 33 Conjugation standard finite verbs System Tense Mood Endings Conventional termPresent Present Indicative Primary Present ae Optative Secondary Optative az Imperative Imperative Imperative ah Imperfect Indicative Secondary Imperfect a8 Perfect Perfect Indicative Perfect ai Aorist Aorist Indicative Secondary ak Benedictive i Optative j Secondary al Future Simple Periphrastic Indicative Primary am an Conditional Indicative Secondary a3 Furthermore Sanskrit has so called Secondary conjugations 35 Passive Intensive Desiderative Causative DenominativeThe non finite forms are Participles k Infinitive GerundPrincipal parts Edit It is difficult to generalize how many principal parts a Sanskrit verb possesses since different verb form categories are used with different degrees of regularity For the vast majority of verbs conjugation can be made sufficiently clear with the first five of the following forms supplied 36 37 38 Principal parts Part bhu kṛ Present bhav a ti kar o ti l kur u tas m Past participle bhu ta kṛ taInfinitive bhav i tum kar tumPerfect babhu va caka r aAorist a bhu t n a kar ṣ it o Present system EditThe 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 Thematic classes Edit All thematic classes have invariant stems and share the same inflectional endings To demonstrate observe the conjugation of the Cl 1 verb bhu bhav vi 39 Note that this root is gunated and holds the stress within the root syllable 40 Present Edit The present indicative takes primary endings 41 42 Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st bhav a mi vii bhav a vas viii bhav a mas ix bhav e x bhav a vahe xi bhav a mahe xii 2nd bhav a si xiii bhav a thas xiv bhav a tha xv bhav a se xvi bhav ethe xvii bhav a dhve xviii 3rd bhav a ti xix bhav a tas xx bhav anti xxi bhav a te xxii bhav ete xxiii bhav ante xxiv Imperfect Edit The imperfect takes the augment and secondary endings The augment always bears the accent with no exceptions 43 44 Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st a bhav a m a bhav a va a bhav a ma a bhav e a bhav a vahi a bhav a mahi2nd a bhav a s a bhav a tam a bhav a ta a bhav a thas a bhav etham a bhav a dhvam3rd a bhav a t a bhav a tam a bhav an p a bhav a ta a bhav etam a bhav antaOptative Edit The present optative takes the suffix e and athematic secondary endings 46 47 Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st bhav e y am bhav e va bhav e ma bhav e ya bhav e vahi bhav e mahi2nd bhav e ḥ bhav e tam bhav e ta bhav e thas bhav e y atham bhav e dhvam3rd bhav e t bhav e tam bhav e y us bhav e ta bhav e y atam bhav e ranImperative Edit The imperative has its own set of special endings Some of these forms are relics from an original subjunctive Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st bhav ani bhav ava bhav ama bhav ai bhav avahai bhav amahai2nd bhav a bhav a tam bhav a ta bhav a sva bhav etham bhav a dhvam3rd bhav a tu bhav a tam bhav a ntu bhav a tam bhav e tam bhav a ntamAthematic classes Edit Present Edit The present indicative used the strong stem in the singular and the weak elsewhere For kṛ N used as example here the weak stem final u is sometimes omitted before endings in v and m The alternate forms for class 3 reduplicating class are shown with hu O Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st kar o mi kur vas kur mas kur ve kur vahe kur mahe2nd kar o ṣi kur u thas kur u tha kur u ṣe kur v a the kur u dhve3rd kar o ti kur u tas kur v anti juhv ati kur u te kur v a te kur v ateImperfect Edit The imperfect uses the two stems in the same way as the present Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st a kar ava m a kur va a kur ma a kur vi a kur vahi a kur mahi2nd a kar o s a kur u tam a kur u ta a kur u thas a kurv atham a kur u dhvam3rd a kar o t a kur u tam a kur v an a juh av us a kur u ta a kur v atam a kur v ataOptative Edit The optative takes the suffix ya in the active and i in the middle the stem in front of them is always the weak one Here the final u of the kuru stem is again irregularly dropped Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st kur ya m kur ya va kur ya ma kurv i ya kurv i vahi kurv i mahi2nd kur ya s kur ya tam kur ya ta kurv i tha s kurv i ya tham kurv i dhvam3rd kur ya t kur ya tam kur yus kurv i ta kurv i ya tam kurv i ranImperative Edit The imperative uses the strong stem in all of the 1st person forms as well as the 3rd person singular active The 2nd person active may have no ending class 5 class 8 dhi most of class 3 7 as well as class 1 ending in consonants or hi class 9 class 3 in a and class 1 in vowels these classes usually ended in laryngeals in Proto Indo European Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st kar av ani kar av ava kar av ama kar av ai kar av avahai kar av amahai2nd kur u juhu dhi kriṇi hi kur u tam kur u ta kur u ṣva kur v a tham kur u dhvam3rd kar o tu kur u ta m kur v antu juhv atu kur u ta m kur v a tam kur v atamPerfect system EditThe perfect system includes only the perfect The stem is formed with reduplication the reduplicated vowel is usually a but u or i for verbs containing them This system also produces separate strong and weak forms of the verb the strong guṇa form is used with the singular active and the weak zero grade form with the rest In some verbs the 3rd and optionally 1st person are further strengthened until the root syllable becomes heavy Most verbs ending in consonants behave as seṭ in the perfect tense in front of consonant endings kṛ shown here is one of the exceptions Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st caka r a cakṛ va cakṛ ma cakr e cakṛ vahe cakṛ mahe2nd cakar tha cakr athus cakr a cakṛ se cakr a the cakṛ dhve3rd caka r a cakr atus cakr us cakr e cakr a te cakri reAorist system EditThe aorist system includes aorist proper with past indicative meaning e g abhuḥ you were and some of the forms of the ancient injunctive used almost exclusively with ma in prohibitions e g ma bhuḥ don t be The principle distinction of the two is the 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 Root aorist Edit This aorist is formed by directly adding the athematic secondary endings to the root Originally this type also had different strong and weak stems for the singular and plural but verbs that both allow this distinction and utilize this type of aorist are exceptionally rare From gam P and da Q the latter takes us in the 3rd person plural Regular stem a stemSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st a gam am a gan va a gan ma a da m a da va a da ma2nd a gan a gan tam a gan ta a da s a da tam a da ta3rd a gan a gan tam a gm an a da t a da tam a d usKnown instances of weak stems from the Veda include avṛjan from vṛj in the plural active adhithas from dha in the singular middle and various forms from kṛ Middle voice forms of this class are almost nonexistent in the classical period being suppleted by those of the sibilant classes a root aorist Edit This class is formed with a thematized zero grade root and takes regular thematic endings From sic R Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st a sic a m a sic a va a sic a ma a sic e a sic a vahi a sic a mahi2nd a sic a s a sic a tam a sic a ta a sic a thas a sic etham a sic a dhvam3rd a sic a t a sic a tam a sic an a sic a ta a sic etam a sic antas aorist Edit This is the most productive aorist class for regular aniṭ verbs made by suffixing s to the root All active voice forms use the vṛddhi grade and middle forms use the weakest grade that produces a heavy root syllable kṛ and some verbs in a may irregularly use zero grade in place of the latter From ji S Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st a jai ṣ am a jai ṣ va a jai ṣ ma a je ṣ i a je ṣ vahi a je ṣ mahi2nd a jai ṣ is a jai ṣ ṭam a jai ṣ ṭa a je ṣ ṭhas a je ṣ atham a je ḍhvam3rd a jai ṣ it a jai ṣ ṭam a jai ṣ us a je ṣ ṭa a je ṣ atam a je ṣ ataFrom tud T Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st a taut s am a taut s va a taut s ma a tut s i a tut s vahi a tut s mahi2nd a taut s is a taut tam a taut ta a tut thas a tut s atham a tud dhvam3rd a taut s it a taut tam a taut s uḥ a tut ta a tut s atam a tut s atais aorist Edit This aorist form contains the suffix iṣ and is the productive form of regular seṭ verbs The strong active stem is usually strengthened until the root syllable is heavy and the weak middle stem usually assumes the guṇa grade Some verbs in a followed by a single consonant such as grah do not take additional strengthening in the active From pu U Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st a pav iṣ am a pav iṣ va a pav iṣ ma a pav iṣ i a pav iṣ vahi a pav iṣ mahi2nd a pav is a pav iṣ ṭam a pav iṣ ṭa a pavi ṣ ṭhas a pav iṣ atham a pav i ḍhvam3rd a pav it a pav iṣ ṭam a pav iṣ us a pav iṣ ṭa a pav iṣ atam a pav iṣ atasis aorist Edit This small class is characterized by a reduplicated siṣ suffix and is only used in the active voice the s aorist is usually used in the middle by verbs that take this formation From ya V ActiveSingular Dual Plural1st a ya siṣ am a ya siṣ va a ya siṣ ma2nd a ya s is a ya siṣ ṭam a ya siṣ ṭa3rd a ya s it a ya siṣ ṭam a ya siṣ ussa aorist Edit This formation is used with a small number of verbs ending in consonants which can form the cluster kṣ when an s is added It takes a mixture of thematic and athematic endings From dis W Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st a dik ṣa m a dik ṣa va a dik ṣa ma a dik ṣ i a dik ṣa vahi a dik ṣa mahi2nd a dik ṣa s a dik ṣa tam a dik ṣa ta a dik ṣa thas a dik ṣ atham a dik ṣa dhvam3rd a dik ṣa t a dik ṣa tam a dik ṣ an a dik ṣa ta a dik ṣ atam a dik ṣ antaFuture system EditSimple future Edit The simple future stem is formed with the suffix sya or iṣya and the guṇa grade of the root From kṛ Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st kar iṣya mi kar iṣya vas kar iṣya mas kar iṣy e kar iṣya vahe kar iṣya mahe2nd kar iṣya si kar iṣya thas kar iṣya tha kar iṣya se kar iṣy ethe kar iṣya dhve3rd kar iṣya ti kar iṣya tas kar iṣy anti kar iṣya te kar iṣy ete kar iṣy antePeriphrastic future Edit The periphrastic future is formed by first deriving the agentive noun from the root using tṛ and attaching forms of the verb as to be as auxiliary in the first and second persons In the third person the masculine form of the agentive noun stands in for all actors masculine feminine or neuter From da ActiveSingular Dual Plural1st da ta smi da ta svas da ta smas2nd da ta si da ta sthas da ta stha3rd da ta da ta rau da ta rasThe medio passive forms are hardly ever found in the literature 48 Conditional Edit There is also a conditional formed from the future stem as the imperfect is formed from a thematic present stem Rarely used in Classical Sanskrit the conditional refers to hypothetical actions Active MiddleSingular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural1st a kar iṣya m a kar iṣya va a kar iṣya ma a kar iṣy e a kar iṣya vahi a kar iṣya mahi2nd a kar iṣya s a kar iṣya tam a kar iṣya ta a kar iṣya thas a kar iṣy etham a kar iṣya dhvam3rd a kar iṣya t a kar iṣya tam a kar iṣya n a kar iṣya ta a kar iṣy etam a kar iṣy antaSecondary Conjugation EditSanskrit verbs are capable of a second category of conjugation wherein the root takes on a modified or extended meaning These are 49 50 Passive Intensive Causative Desiderative DenominativePassive Edit The passive is very similar in formation to the div class 4th already seen above with the primary difference that the ya always bears the accent The root is in its weak form and the middle endings are used From han X 51 52 Singular Dual Plural1st han y e han ya vahe han ya mahe2nd han ya se han y ethe han ya dhve3rd han ya te han y ete han y anteIntensive Edit The intensive is formed by reduplicating the root and is conjugated like a class 2 verb Thus for vid Y we have veved vevid 53 Singular Dual Plural1st veved mi veved i mi vevid vas vevid mas2nd vevet si veved i ṣi vevit thas vevit tha3rd vevet ti vevid i ti vevit tas vevid atiParticiples EditSee also Sanskrit nouns Adjectives Participles are verbal adjectives a form of the non finite verb They are derived from verb roots but behave like adjectives 54 Sanskrit inherits a highly developed system of participles from Proto Indo European preserving some of the more archaic features of the parent language 55 Such a participial element found in almost all Indo European languages is nt This can be seen in PIE bheront from bher bear Sanskrit bharan t Greek ferwn pheron Latin feren t all meaning bearing carrying In Sanskrit participles exist in all three voices active middle and passive and in three of the tenses present perfect and future While this should logically yield 3x3 9 forms the actual number is usually higher because potentially at least there are three different future passive participles and two perfect active participles In some cases it may be lower because a verb lacks active or middle forms 56 57 The different possible forms for a couple of representative verbs ni nayati Z 1 amp dha dadhati AA 3 can be seen below Active Middle PassivePresent nay ant nay a mana ni ya mana Perfect nini va ṅs niny ana ni ta Future ne ṣy ant ne ṣya maṇa ne tavya ne ya Active Middle PassivePresent dadh at dadh ana dhi ya mana Perfect dadhi va ṅs dadh ana hi ta Future dha sy ant dha sya mana dha tavya dha ni ya dhe ya Past participles Edit Past participles are formed directly from verbal roots for most verbs in most cases except for verbs of the tenth gaṇa which form them from the present stem They have a perfective sense in that they refer to actions that are completed They can freely substitute for finite verbs conjugated in the past sense Past passive participles Edit Sanskrit inherits two suffixes from Proto Indo European used to form verbal adjectives and the past passive participle to and no The first can be seen in the root gʷem to come q forming gʷm to which in Sanskrit becomes gata having gone and in Latin ventus r 58 The second method is less frequent but can be seen in PIE bʰeyd to split giving bʰid no in Sanskrit bhin na having been split cognate with English bitten 59 60 61 In Sanskrit thus the past passive participle is formed by adding ta s or na to a root in its weakest grade when weakening is applicable e g samprasaraṇa For seṭ roots the augment i is inserted before the suffix The resulting form is an adjective and modifies a noun either expressed or implied The past passive participle can usually be translated by the corresponding English past passive participle likh i taḥ sabdaḥ the written word kṛ taṃ karyam a done deed Examples Root Stem Final form Glossary Remarks bhu bhu bhu ta been having been 62 kṛ kṛ kṛ ta done having done 63 vac uk uk ta spoken said 64 vad ud i ud i ta spoken 65 pṝ pur pur ṇa filled full 66 With irregular root modification citation needed When used with transitive sakarmaka verbs the standard passive meaning can be achieved the agent if used is placed in the instrumental case rakṣaso rameṇa hataḥ The rakṣasa demon was killed by Rama Note that rakṣasa is the direct object karman of the verbal action expressed in han to kill and the agent kartṛ of the same action Rama occurs in the instrumental case When made from an intransitive akarmaka or neuter verb the same participle has no passive but an indefinite past sense 67 ramo vane sthitaḥ Rama stood in the forest from stha to stand stay Past active participles Edit The past participle could be extended by adding the possessive suffix vant kṛ ta vant one who has something or things done This naturally takes on the function of the active past participle This is a linguistic innovation within the Indo Aryan branch and the first purely participial formation of this character appears in the Atharvaveda Later on this formation ta vant or na vant comes to be used independently with the copula understood in place of an active preterite na mam kascid dṛṣ ṭa van no one has seen me gt no one saw me 68 Present participle Edit Unlike the past participles the present participle is formed from the present stem of the verb and is formed differently depending on whether the verb is parasmaipada or atmanepada The present participle can never substitute for a finite verb It is also inherently imperfective indicating an action that is still in process at the time of the main verb Present active participle Edit In theory the present active participle is the addition of ant to a form of the root In practice however this participle can simply be made by dropping the i from the 3rd person plural in the present indicative This gives us the masculine singular form of the participle Thus bhav anti gt bhav ant kur v anti gt kur v ant The weak form is at The feminine is formed as anti in some roots and as ati in others 69 70 Present middle participle Edit This participle is formed by adding mana to a thematic stem and ana to an athematic stem in the weak form 71 72 Thus for bhu and kṛ bhav a mana kur v aṇa Future participles Edit Formed from the future stem just as the present participle is formed from the present stem the future participle describes an action that has not yet happened but that may in the future Future active participle Edit Just as in the present it can be formed by simply dropping the i of the third person plural Thus kar iṣy anti gt kar iṣy ant bhav iṣy anti gt bhav iṣy ant The feminines are in either anti or ati although the latter is extremely rare 73 Future middle participle Edit Similarly the middle form is obtained by adding mana to the future stem So we have kar iṣya maṇa bhav iṣya maṇa Gerundive Edit The gerundive is a future passive prescriptive participle indicating that the word modified should or ought to be the object of the action of the participle This is made by affixing ya tavya tavya ani ya to different stem forms Thus for bhu and kṛ bhav ya bhav i tavya bhav ani ya ka r ya kar tavya kar aṇi ya The accent on tavya may fall on either syllable 74 75 Perfect participle Edit The perfect participle is a past active participle but is very rarely used in classical Sanskrit This is formed by adding va ṅs in the active and ana in the middle voice to the weak form of the perfect stem as seen for example in the third person active The feminine forms are uṣi and ana Thus 76 bhu gt babhu va ṅs babhu vana kṛ gt cakṛ va ṅs cakr aṇa Aorist participle Edit The aorist participle used in Vedic was lost in Classical Sanskrit Other non finite forms EditInfinitive Edit The infinitive originates as the accusative form of an old verbal noun The ending tum similar to the Latin supine 77 78 is added to the root which bears the accent with its vowel guṇated An i intervenes just like in other conjugation forms as needed 79 bhu gt bhav i tum kṛ gt kar tum gam gt gan tumGerund Edit There exists a non finite form in Sanskrit termed gerund or absolutive which is analysed differently from the gerund in other Proto Indo European languages 80 It has the sense of having done or whatever the verb may be It is formed using tva or ya with the former normally used on a bare root whereas the latter applied to verbs with prefixes added to the root The tva formation is similar to the past passive participle formed from ta and correspondingly bears the accent The second form can be normally derived by suffixing the root directly with its vowel bearing the accent whilst in the weak form A root ending in a short vowel gets an intervening t 81 82 bhu gt bhu tva and bhu ya kṛ gt kṛ tva and kṛ t ya gam gt ga tva and gam yaComprehensive example EditThe following table is a partial listing of the major verbal forms that can be generated from a single root Not all roots can take all forms some roots are often confined to particular stems The verbal forms listed here are all in the third person singular and they can all be conjugated in three persons and three numbers 83 Root bhu a class I thematic verb root Present bhav a Passive bhu ya Future bhav iṣya Perfect babhuv Aorist bhu Desiderative bubhu ṣ Intensive bobho bobhu Causative bhav aya When there are two forms in one cell of this table the first one is active the second one middle Primary Causative Desiderative IntensivePresent stem Present bhav a ti xxv bhav a te xxvi bhav aya ti xxvii bhav aya te xxviii bubhu ṣa ti xxix bobho ti xxx bobhav i ti xxxi bobhu ya te xxxii Imperfect a bhav a ta bhav a ta a bhav aya ta bhav aya ta a bubhu ṣa t a bobho t a bobhu ya tImperative bhav a tubhav a tam bhav aya tubhav aya tam bubhu ṣa tu bobho tu bobhav i tubobhu ya tamOptative bhav etbhav e ta bhav aye tbhav aye ta bubhu ṣe t bobhav ya tbobhu ye taPresent participle bhav ant bhav a mana bhav ay ant bhav aya mana bubhu ṣ ant bobhav ant bobhu ya manaPassive Present bhu ya te bhav ya te bubhu ṣ ya teImperfect a bhu ya ta a bhav ya ta a bubhu ṣ ya taImperative bhu ya tam bhav ya tam bubhu ṣ ya tamOptative bhu ye ta bhav ye ta bubhu ṣ ye taPassive participle bhu ya mana bhav ya mana bubhu ṣ ya mana Future stem Future bhav iṣya ti bhav ay iṣya tibhav ay iṣya te bubhu ṣ iṣya tiConditional a bhav iṣya t a bhav ay iṣya t a bubhu ṣ iṣya tFuture participle bhav iṣya nt bhav iṣya mana bhav ay iṣya mana bubhu ṣ iṣya nt Periphrastic future bhav i ta bhav ay i ta bubhu ṣi ta Perfect babhu v a bhav aya masa bubhu ṣa masaAorist Aorist a bhu tBenedictive precative bhu ya tInjunctive ma bhutPast participle bhu ta bhu ta vant bhav i ta bhav i ta vant bubhu ṣi ta bubhu ṣi ta vant Gerundive bhav yabhav i tavya bhav i tavya bhav ayi tavya bhav ayi tavyaInfinitive bhav i tumGerund bhu tva bhu yaTaking into account the fact that the participial forms each decline in seven cases in three numbers across three genders and the fact that the verbs each conjugate in three persons in three numbers the primary causative and desiderative stems for this root when counted together have over a thousand forms See also EditSanskrit nominals Sanskrit grammar Vedic Sanskrit grammar Proto Indo European verbs Proto Indo Aryan Proto Indo Iranian Proto Indo EuropeanNotes Edit The roots h es to be is and h ed eat are notable exceptions that have retained some athematic influenced behavior in a great many daughter languages A small number of roots in the present stem add ch to the root sometimes dropping the final consonant first This is same as the sc used in Latin to form inchoative verbs Examples gam gaccha A yam yaccha B iṣ iccha C 12 Present tense third person singular Occasionally vriddhied Present tense third person singular dual and plural Very similar to the Fifth class Aṣṭadhyayi 1 2 18 6 4 121 3 1 45 6 1 188 6 4 51 7 2 61 called agama in the terminology of the later Paninean school or Precative Very rare in Classical Sanskrit 34 might take both active and middle voice strong form weak form root aorist s aorist derived from a bhav ant with Sanskrit s customary trait of avoiding cluster finals 45 the word come is both synonym and cognate as in the words event convenient etc Kta in Paṇinian termsGlossary Edit go reach wish cognate with English ask and Slavic jska ti seek where the same element can be found be become exist be born produced also cognate See bʰuH strike beat cognate with Latin tundō studium cast throw especially of dice steal eat also cognate see h ed call invoke sacrifice cognate with English god see ǵʰewH and ǵʰew press of juice extend spread cognate with thin and tenuous see ten and tn newti buy stop arrest check do sacrifice go give pour win strike cleanse go show kill to know lead leads put putsTraditional glossary and notes Edit kriya vacana puruṣa prayoga artha kala eka vacana dvi vacana bahu vacana prathama puruṣa dvitiya puruṣa tṛtiya puruṣa kartari prayoga karmaṇi prayoga bhave prayoga dhatu parasmaipada lit word for another atmanepada lit word for self bhu adi tud adi div adi cur adi ad adi juhauty adi su adi tan adi kry adi rudh adi vartamana Paṇini laṭ vidhi P vidhi liṅ ajna P loṭ anadyatana bhuta P laṅ parokṣa bhuta P liṭ bhuta P luṅ asi P asir liṅ bhaviṣyan P luṭ bhaviṣyan P lṛṭ saṅketa P lṛṅBrahmic notes EditBrahmic transliteration इ इट स ट व ट अन ट भ भव भव म भव व भव म भव भव वह भव मह भवस भवथ भवथ भवस भव थ भवध व भवत भवत भवन त भवत भव त भवन त भवत भवत भ वयत भ वयत ब भ षत ब भ त ब भव त ब भ यत References Edit Fortson 10 41 Whitney p 200 ch 8 Macdonnell Vedic p 118 Fortson 10 41 Bucknell p 34 Burrow p 367 Whitney 538 Burrow 7 1 Burrow 7 3 Whitney ch 8 a b Burrow 7 8 Whitney 608 Whitney 683 Burrow 7 5 Whitney 588 590 Burrow 7 5 Whitney 585 Burrow 7 6 Burrow 7 6 Macdonnell ch 4 Whitney ch 8 528 531 Bucknell p 43 Whitney 553 Burrow 7 8 Whitney ch 8 Monier Williams word meanings Burrow p 328 Whitney 775 a b Fortson 4 7 a b Meier Brugger et al a b The Astadhyayi of Panini Whitney 527 541 Bucknell 2 B Bucknell p 53 Whitney 540 Coulson 298 Bucknell T27 Whitney p 520 Wilson p 622 Whitney 735 Burrow 7 6 Whitney 735 Burrow 7 6 Whitney 742 Coulson 14 189 Burrow 7 6 Whitney 738 Whitney 942 947 Burrow 7 15 Whitney 996 997 Whitney 771 Bucknell p 38 Whitney 1000 1005 Fortson 5 60 Szemerenyi 9 6 Bucknell p 59 Whitney ch 8 13 MM W p 347 Fortson 5 60 5 61 Burrow 7 19 MM W p 756 Bucknell p 181 Bucknell p 157 Bucknell p 191 Bucknell p 192 Bucknell p 178 Whitney 13 951 3 Burrow 7 19 Bucknell p 61 Whitney ch 9 Burrow p 369 Bucknell p 61 Whitney 939 Whitney 961 966 Bucknell p 63 Whitney 802 806 Fortson 5 59 Burrow 7 17 Whitney 968 Burrow 7 21 Whitney 989 994 Bucknell p 63 Whitney ch 8 15 Bibliography EditFortson Benjamin W Indo European Language and Culture 2010 ed Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1 4051 8895 1 Burrow Thomas The Sanskrit Language 2001 ed Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 81 208 1767 2 Whitney William Dwight Sanskrit Grammar 2000 ed Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 81 208 0620 4 Coulson Michael Sanskrit 2003 ed McGraw Hill ISBN 0 340 85990 3 Bucknell Roderick S Sanskrit Grammar 2000 ed Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 81 208 1188 7 Macdonell A A A Sanskrit Grammar for Students London Oxford UP 1927 ISBN 81 246 0094 5 Kale M R A Higher Sanskrit Grammar 2002 ed Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 81 208 0177 6 Sanskrit Grammar for Beginners Muller F Max ISBN 978 12 365 2895 7 Goldman Robert P amp Sally J Devavaṇipravesika Berkeley Center for South Asian Studies 2004 ISBN 0 944613 40 3 Introduction to Indo European Linguistics Einfuhrung in die vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft Szemerenyi Oswald J L 4th Ed Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 824015 5 Meier Brugger Michael Fritz Matthias Mayrhofer Manfred 2003 Indo European Linguistics Berlin New York Walter de Gruyter L 315 ISBN 3 11 017433 2 A Sanskrit English Dictionary Sir Monier Monier Williams Oxford Clarendon Press Wilson Sanskrit English Dictionary 1832 Calcutta EditionExternal links EditOnline conjugation and declension engine made by INRIA Online Sanskrit root search More tools Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sanskrit verbs amp oldid 1132834651, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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