संस्कृसोपानम्

-1-

१. प्रथमः पाठः(First lesson)

अयम् दीपः| (This [is a] lamp.)          इमौ दीपौ |(These [are] two lamps.)        इमे दीपाः|(These [are] [more than two] lamps.)

इयम् माला|(This [is a] garland.)           इमे माले|(These [are] two garlands.)             इमाः मालाः|(These [are] [more than two] garlands.)

इदम् चक्रम्|(This [is a] wheel.)           इमे चक्रे|(These [are] two wheels.)             इमानि चक्राणि |(These [are] [more than two] wheels.)

एकः दीपः (one lamp)          एका माला (one garland)     एकम् चक्रम्(one wheel)            

अयम् एकः दीपः ।(This [is] a lamp.)

इयम् एका माला ।(This [is] a garland.)

इदम् एकम् चक्रम् ।(This [is] a wheel.)

अयम् बालकः ।(He [is] a boy.)  बालकः पुस्तकम् पठति ।(The boy reads the book)

अयम् बालकः इदम् पुस्तकम् पठति ।(This boy reads this book.)

इयम् बालिका इमे पुस्तके पठति ।(This girl reads these two books.)

इयम् बालिका इमम् दीपम् नयति ।(This girl carries this lamp.)

बालकः च बालिका च इमानि पक्वानि फलानि खादतः ।(The boy and the girl eat these [more than two] ripe fruits.)

बालिकाः फलानि खादन्ति ।(The girls eat [more than two] fruits.)

अर्चकः ईश्वरम् अर्चति ।(The priest worships God.)

उपाध्यायः इमौ चतुरौ छात्रौ शंसति ।(The teacher praises these two intelligent students.)

वैद्याः इमान्  दीनान् रुग्णान् चिकित्सन्ति ।(Doctors treat these poor patients.)

वैद्याः तिक्तानि औषधानि प्रयच्छन्ति।(Doctors give bitter medicines.)

कृषीवलौ उर्वरे र्क्षेत्रे कर्षतः ।(Two farmers plough two fertile fields.)

नाविकः इमाम् विशालाम् आपगाम् तरति ।(The boatman crosses this broad river.)

बालिका इमे शोभने माले जिघ्रति ।(The girl smells these two beautiful garlands.)

उपाध्याया इमाः प्रतीपाः छात्राः तर्जति ।(The lady teacher rebukes these naughty girl students.)

अर्भकः चन्द्रम् पश्यति ।(The child looks at the moon.)

A 1- Grammar Notes

A1.1 Gender (लिङ्गः):

In English, gender of a noun denoting an inanimate object, collection or an abstraction is generally neuter. In Sanskrit, it could be any of the three- masculine (पुल्लिङ्गः), feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्गः) or neuter (नपुम्सकलिङ्गः). In this lesson दीपः (lamp) is masculine, माला (garland) is feminine and चक्रम् (wheel) is neuter. Often, the gender is determined by how a noun is derived. Some nouns can be used in  two or all of the three genders. While learning a new noun it is important to learn its gender too.

A1.2. Number (वचनः):

In English, there are only two numbers: singular and plural. In Sanskrit there are three: singular, dual and plural [एकवचनः, द्विवचनः, बहुवचनः]. The noun undergoes appropriate inflexions to indicate the number. The pattern of inflexions is different for different genders. Example:

दीपः= a lamp; दीपौ= two lamps; दीपाः= many (more than two) lamps.

माला= a garland; माले= two garlands; मालाः= many (more than two) garlands.

चक्रम्= a wheel; चक्रे= two wheels; चक्राणि=many (more than two) wheels.

(When referring to two objects/persons, dual only has to be used. Plural is to be used when referring to more than two objects/persons. In the translation "more than two" is specified for plural to stress this point and will be dropped subsequently )

A1.3. Case ( विभक्तिः):

In English, the case of a noun in a sentence is determined by its position in the sentence or by prepositions preceding the noun. In Sanskrit, the stem of the noun itself gets inflected. Please recall from your study of English grammar, that in a sentence the subject will be in nominative case and the object will be in the accusative case.

दीप is the stem (प्रातिपदिकः). दीपः is in nominative case ( प्रथमा विभक्तिः) singular. दीपौ is in nominative case dual, दीपाः is in nominative case plural. All noun stems which are masculine and end in the syllable अ get inflected in a manner similar to that of दीप. Ex: अर्चकः, अर्चकौ, अर्चकाः ; उपाध्यायः, उपाध्यायौ, उपाध्यायाः etc. Similarly all noun stems which are neuter and end in syllable अ get inflected like चक्र. Ex: पुस्तकम्, पुस्तके, पुस्तकानि ; फलम्, फले, फलानि. [We may take it at this stage that if the last or penultimate syllable of the stem is ऋ, ॠ, र् or ष्  then न् becomes ण्  in the inflexion. चक्राणि and not चक्रानि.]. Noun stems which are feminine and end in आ get inflected like माला. Ex: आपगा, आपगे, आपगाः ; उपाध्याया, उपाध्याये, उपाध्यायाः.

In the sentence बालकः पुस्तकम् पठति, पुस्तकम् is the object and it is in accusative case(द्वितीया विभक्तिः) singular. See Table below:

In grammar books, the manner in which a noun gets inflected or is declined depending on the gender, case and number is indicated in a tabular form for a model word. Such tabular data is called a शब्द. For masculine noun stems ending in syllable अ, the model word is राम, the hero of Ramayana. For feminine noun stems ending in आ the model word is रमा, the Goddess of wealth and consort of God Vishnu. For neuter noun stems ending in अ the model word is फल.

A शब्द is a Table consisting of 3 columns and 8 rows, each column corresponding to a Number (एकवचनः, द्विवचनः, बहुवचनः ) and each row corresponding to a Case. In this lesson we have encountered only Nominative Case( प्रथमा विभक्तिः) and Accusative Case( द्वितीया विभक्तिः). We may write out the manner of declension of nouns ending in syllable अ in tabular form using the paradigms राम, रमा and फल as follows:

A1.4. Pronouns and adjectives: Pronouns follow the nouns they refer to in gender, number and case. All pronouns are classified as सर्वनामs. In the sentences अयम् दीपः, इमौ दीपौ, इमे दीपाः, अयम्, इमौ and इमे are inflected forms of demonstrative pronoun इदम् . A similar table can be formed for inflected forms of इदम् as follows.

पुल्लिङ्गः

स्त्रीलिङ्गः

नपुंसकलिङ्गः

In the sentences अयम् दीपः, इयम् माला, इदम् चक्रम् etc. the verb is understood and is not explicitly stated.

An Adjective (विशेषणम्) follows in gender case and number the noun it qualifies. Numerals 1 to 19 behave as adjectives. Notice how एक changes according to gender of the noun it qualifies or denotes.

एकः दीपः           एका माला     एकम् चक्रम्    

Notice how the adjective follows the noun it qualifies in gender, number and case.        

चतुरौ छात्रौ, दीनान् रुग्णान्, उर्वरे र्क्षेत्रे, विशालाम् आपगाम्, रम्ये माले, प्रतीपाः छात्राः

A1.5. Verbs (क्रियापदम्): The root of a verb is called धातु. A verb is conjugated in 3 persons and 3 numbers in different Tenses. What is called “Third Person” in English is called “प्रथमपुरुषः “ in Sanskrit. In this lesson we encounter verbs in Present Tense (वर्तमानकालः)- third person.Ex:

अर्च् is the verb. एकवचनः - अर्चति, द्विवचनः - अर्चतः, बहुवचनः – अर्चन्ति

Note that the root of a verb gets modified in different ways when conjugated. Therefore while learning a verb, it is also necessary to learn the root. Although for the majority of verbs the inflected form is easily relatable to the root, in some cases the inflected form looks remotely related like कित्(root) and चिकित्सति( वर्तमानकालः प्रथमपुरुषः एकवचनः); in some cases the two appear unrelated : दृश् -> पश्यति and we shall come across more of such cases in later lessons.

Note that the inflection of the verb does not change with the gender of the subject. This is not the case in many Indian languages.

Absence of Articles : Sanskrit does not have any equivalents to the articles “ a”, “an” or “the”. However the numeral एक can be translated in English as “a” or “an”.

A 1.7 Gender tip : All words denoting “river”(Ex: आपगा) are feminine. आकारान्त words are feminine.[There are a few exceptions inconsequential though]

B1 Vocabulary

[ Legend : प्रा = प्रातिपदिकः = noun-stem ; ग =गणः = group ; प = पदः ; प्रवि = प्रथमा विभक्तिः ; ए = एकवचनः ; प्रपु = प्रथमपुरुषः ; पु = पुल्लिङ्गः ; स्त्री =स्त्रीलिङ्गः ; न = नपुम्सकलिङ्गः ; वि = विशेषणः ; अ = अव्ययः ; स = सर्वनामः ; प = परस्मैपदिन् ; आ = आत्मनेपदिन् ;

Vocabulary is not a dictionary and cannot serve the purpose of a dictionary. In cases where a noun may be declined in more than one gender, the second column indicates only one gender. Similarly in cases where a verb can be conjugated in more than one group (गण), the second column indicates only one गण.]

C 1 Exercises :

C 1.1 : Choose appropriate form of noun and pronoun given in the brackets to fill up the blank:

_______  ______ इदम् पुस्तकम् पठतः । (बालक, इदम्)

_____ ______ इमे पुस्तके पठन्ति । (बालिका, इदम्)

इयम् बालिका इमौ ________ नयति । (दीप)

बालकः च बालिका च ____ पक्वे ________ खादतः । (इदम्, फल)

__________ फलानि खादति । (बालिका)

C 1.2 : Choose appropriate form of verb given in the brackets to fill up the blank.

अर्चकौ ईश्वरम् ______ । (अर्च्)

उपाध्यायाः  इमम् चतुरम् छात्रम् _______ । (शंस्)

वैद्यः  इमान्  दीनान् रुग्णान् _______ । (कित्)

कृषीवलाः उर्वरे र्क्षेत्रे _______ । (कर्ष्)

C 1.3 : Choose appropriate form of adjective given in the brackets to fill up the blank.

वैद्यः  इमौ  _____ रुग्णौ चिकित्सति । (दीन)

वैद्यः _____ औषधे प्रयच्छति। (तिक्त)

कृषीवलौ _____ क्षेत्राणि कर्षतः । (उर्वर)

C 1.4 : Choose appropriate form of pronoun given in the brackets to fill up the blank.

बालिका _________ शोभनाः मालाः जिघ्रति । (इदम्)

उपाध्याया ____ प्रतीपौ छात्रौ तर्जति । (इदम्)

C 1.5 : Translate into Sanskrit:

The child smells this garland.

The farmer rebukes the poor boy.

The teacher sees the doctor.

Boys carry these (two) patients.

Previous page                                                                          Home

© G S S Murthy