Sanskrit language Alphabets & Their Classification

Sanskrit grammar Tutorial | संस्कृत व्याकरण

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Introduction: Sanskrit language has scripts or alphabets for writing, and grammatical rules for sentence formation, just like any other language (English for example). In this chapter we will get an overview of this. The details with their grammatical rules will be covered in subsequent chapters.

Alphabets & Their Classification: In Sanskrit language Devanagari Script is the mostly used script for writing. Most of the Sanskrit literature are in this script. Following is the list of the alphabets in their correct order.

अ
a

आ
aa

इ
i

ई
ii

उ
u

ऊ
uu

ऋ
RRi

ॠ
RRI

ए
e

ऐ
ai

ओ
o

औ
au

क
k

ख
kh

ग
g

घ
gh

ङ
N^

च
ch

छ
chh

ज
j

झ
jh

ञ
JN

ट
T

ठ
Th

ड
D

ढ
Dh

ण
N

त
t

थ
th

द
d

ध
dh

न
n

प
p

फ
ph

ब
b

भ
bh

म
m

य
y

र
r

ल
l

व
v

श
sh

ष
Sh

स
s

ह
h

क्ष
ksh

ज्ञ
dny

All these alphabets are classified into two major groups i.e.,

Vowels or स्वरवर्ण (svaravarNa): Alphabets starting from अ (a) till औ (au) are the vowels. These are further classified into ह्रस्व (hrasva) and दीर्घ (diirgha). The दीर्घ (diirgha) are pronounced double the length (or time) of ह्रस्व (hrasva).

ह्रस्व
hrasva अ
a आ
aa इ
i उ
u ए
e ऐ
ai ओ
o औ
au

दीर्घ
diirgha ई
ii ऊ
uu ऋ
RRi ॠ
RRI

Consonants or व्यञ्जनवर्ण (vyaJNjanavarNa): Alphabets starting from क (k) till ज्ञ (dny) are the consonants. Some of the consonants are further classified into different groups called वर्ग (varga). Following table has this classification. Some of the gramatical rules for Euphonic Combination or सन्धि (sandhi) and Compound Words or समास (samaasa) are based on these वर्ग (varga).

कवर्ग kavarga	क k	ख kh	ग g	घ gh	ङ N^
चवर्ग chaavarga	च ch	छ chh	ज j	झ jh	ञ JN
टवर्ग Taavarga	ट T	ठ Th	ड D	ढ Dh	ण N
तवर्ग tavarga	त t	थ th	द d	ध dh	न n
पवर्ग pavarga	प p	फ ph	ब b	भ bh	म m

We will refere these classifications, while covering the Euphonic Combination or सन्धि (sandhi) and Compound Words or समास (samaasa).

Sentence Formation Overview: In Sanskrit just like any other language (English for example) a sentence is made of different elements. The elements are “Subject”, “Object”, and “Verb”. A sentence may or may not have an Object in it.

Lets study the following English sentence to understand these basic elements better.

        The boy is reading a book.

In the sentence “boy” is the “Subject”, “reading” is “Verb” and the “book” is the “Object”.

        The boy is               reading               a book.
            ---                  -------                 -----
	     |                      |                      |
         Subject                  Verb                  Object

- If we ask the question “who is reading?”, the answer that comes is “the boy”. So, the “boy” here is the Subject. It is also called the “Noun”.

- The answer that comes in response to question “what is the boy doing?” is “reading”. The “reading” here is the “Verb”.

Similarly the answer to “what is the boy reading?” is “book”. The “book” becomes the “Object”.

Now study the following statement.

        The boy is laughing.

In the sentence “boy” is the “Subject”, “laughing” is “Verb”. But, there is no “Object” in this sentence.

        The boy is               laughing.
            ---                  -------
	     |                      |
          Subject                  Verb

- If we ask the question “what is the boy laughing?”, no answer comes from this. So, laughing becomes an “Intransitive Verb”.

However in the first sentence “what is the boy reading?” gives answer “book”. In this case the “reading” becomes a “Transitive Verb”.

Now that we have understood the basic elements of a sentence, we will begin with more details of Sanskrit language.

In Sanskrit:

Subject is called -> कर्ता / kartaa
Object is called -> कर्म / karma
Verb is called -> क्रिया / kriyaa
Transitive Verb is called -> सकर्मक / sakarmaka
Intransitive Verb is called -> अकर्मक / akarmaka

So, in the above statements:

        The boy is               reading                      a book.
            ---                  -------                        -----
	     |                      |                             |
         Subject                  Verb                         Object
	     |                      |                             |
         कर्ता/kartaa               क्रिया/kriyaa(सकर्मक / sakarmaka)   कर्म/karma

        The boy is               laughing.
            ---                  -------
	     |                      |
          Subject                  Verb
	     |                      |
         कर्ता/kartaa               क्रिया/kriyaa (अकर्मक / akarmaka)

Words & Their Classification: In any language a sentence is madeup of multiple words composed in a well defined structure giving a sensible meaning to the sentence. These words can be categorised into three different types viz.,

Noun
Verb
Indeclinable

Besides the above classifications nouns and verbs can also be part of following categories with minor derivations like addition of ‘ility’, ‘ily’, ‘tion’, ‘ing’ etc., as well as based on their usage and grammatical rules:

Pronoun
Adjective
Adverb

In Sanskrit also words are classified into similar categories. Following is a representation of the important classifications. We can see the classification is almost same as any other language. Each classification has been described in the coming chapters.

                       |--------------- Noun Root (शब्द / shabda)
                       |                             |
                       |                             |
                       |                --------------------------------
                       |                |                              |
                       |              सुवन्तपद                        तद्धितपद
                       |              suvantapada                   taddhitapada
                       |                  |
                       |                  |
                       |        -----------------------------------------------
                       |        |                    |                        |
                       |    Masculine             Feminine                 Neuter
                       |    पुलिङ्ग                 स्त्रीलिङ्ग                   नपुङ्सकलिन्ग
                       |    puliN^ga              striiliN^ga              napuN^sakalinga
  Word (पद / pada) ----|
                       |
                       |--------------- Verb Root (धातु / dhaatu)
                       |                             |
                       |                             |
                       |    --------------------------------------------------------------
                       |    |              |              |        |           |         |
                       |  तिङतपद         कृदन्तपद          णिजन्त    सन्नन्त      यङ्न्त      नामाधातु 
                       |  tiN^atapada    kRRidantapada   Nijanta   sannanta   yaN^nta   naamadhaatu 
                       |       |
                       |       |
                       |   ------------------------------------------------------------
                       |   |                             |                             |
                       |  परस्मैपदी                      आत्मनेपदी                      उभयपदी
                       |  parasmaipadii                aatmanepadii                 ubhayapadii  
                       |
                       |
                       |--------------- Indeclinable (अव्यय / avyaya)
                                                     |
                                                     |
                                  ----------------------------------------
                                  |                  |                   |
                                  अव्यय            उपसर्ग               निपात 
                                  avyaya           upasarga            nipaata

Nouns (शब्द / shabda): Noun is the word that represents someone or something in a sentence. Noun normally refers to person, place, thing, state or quality etc. A noun is the only word that can be used as the subject or object for a verb.

Noun in Sanskrit is called शब्द (shabda) or noun-root. It is also called कर्तृपद (kartRRipada). Noun can be classified into सुवन्तपद (suvantapada) and तद्धितपद (taddhitapada).

सुवन्तपद (suvantapada): This classification is based on the gender, number and case of the noun. The noun-forms are used to express something or someone etc. सुवन्तपद or suvantapada meaning – words ending with सुप् (sup) suffix. In this classification:
- Nouns are categorised into three different “genders” (लिङ्ग / liN^ga) viz., “masculine” (पुंलिङ्ग / pu.nliN^ga), “feminine” (स्त्रीलिङ्ग / striiliN^ga) and “neuter” (नपुंसकलिङ्ग / napu.nsakaliN^ga).
- Each noun also has three “numbers” (वचन / vachana) and 7 “cases” (विभक्ति / vibhakti).
Each noun has a different derivation based on the “number” and “case”. Unlike other languages, in Sanskrit the noun has its different forms built into itself. The “noun base” is called शब्द (shabda) and the “derived noun forms” are called शब्दरुप (shabdarupa). So, in the previous statement बालक is the “base” (शब्द / shabda) of noun “BOY” and बालकः is one of the derived noun forms (शब्दरुप / shabdarupa).
तद्धितपद (taddhitapada): In this classification special suffixes are added to the noun to get noun forms used as – subject, adjectives, indeclinable etc.

We will start with first 2 cases and all three numbers of सुवन्तपद (suvantapada) BOY (बालक / baalaka) and GIRL (वाला / vaalaa) शब्द / shabda. Once we know how to use noun forms (शब्दरुप / shabdarupa) in sentences, we will cover all the cases and their usage rules.

Boy / बालक / baalaka (Masculine / पुंलिङ्ग / pu.nliN^ga)
Case विभक्ति / vibhakti	Singular एकवचन / ekavachana	Dual स्विवचन / dvivachana	Plural बहुवचन / bahuvachana
Nominative (Subject) प्रथमा / prathamaa	बालकः / baalakaH (the boy)	बालकौ / baalakau (two boys)	बालकाः / baalakaaH (the boys)
Accusative (Object) द्वितीया / dvitiiyaa	बालकम् / baalakam (to the boy)	बालकौ / balakau (to two boys)	बालकान् / baalakaan (to the boys)

Girl / बाला / baalaa (Femenine / स्त्रीलिङ्ग / striiliN^ga)
Case विभक्ति / vibhakti	Singular एकवचन / ekavachana	Dual स्विवचन / dvivachana	Plural बहुवचन / bahuvachana
Nominative (Subject) प्रथमा / prathamaa	बाला / baalaa (the girl)	बाले / baale (two girls)	बालाः / baalaaH (the girls)
Accusative (Object) द्वितीया / dvitiiyaa	बालाम् / baalaam (to the girl)	बाले / balae (to two girls)	बालाः / baalaaH (to the girls)

Examples of noun form (शब्दरुप / shabdarupa):

The boy -> बालकः / baalakaH
Many boys -> बालकाः / baalakaaH
To the boy -> बालकम् / baalakam
To the boys -> बालकान् / baalakaan
The girl -> बाला / baalaa
Many girls -> बालाः / baalaaH
To the girl -> बालाम् / baalaam
To the girls -> बालाः / baalaaH

The complete noun form (शब्दरुप / shabdarupa) for बालक शब्द (baalaka shabda) will have 7 different forms for each number. The singular forms include “the boy”, “to the boy”, “by the boy”, “for/to the boy”, “from the boy”, “of the boy”, and “in the boy”. Besides these 7 forms an additional vocative (“O! boy”) case is also their.

Followings are few more nouns (शब्दरुप / shabdarupa). We will use these in sentences later in this chapter.

School / विद्यालय / vidyaalaya (Masculine / पुंलिङ्ग / pu.nliN^ga)
Case विभक्ति / vibhakti	Singular एकवचन / ekavachana	Dual स्विवचन / dvivachana	Plural बहुवचन / bahuvachana
Nominative प्रथमा / prathamaa	विद्यालयः / vidyaalayaH	विद्यालयौ / vidyaalayau	विद्यालयाः / vidyaalayaaH
Accusative द्वितीया / dvitiiyaa	विद्यालयम् / vidyaalayam	विद्यालयौ / vidyaalayau	विद्यालयान् / vidyaalayaan

Book / पुस्तक / pustaka (Nuter / नपुंसकलिङ्ग / napu.nsakaliN^ga)
Case विभक्ति / vibhakti	Singular एकवचन / ekavachana	Dual स्विवचन / dvivachana	Plural बहुवचन / bahuvachana
Nominative प्रथमा / prathamaa	पुस्तकम् / pustakam	पुस्तके / pustake	पुस्तकानि / pustakaani
Accusative द्वितीया / dvitiiyaa	पुस्तकम् / pustakam	पुस्तके / pustake	पुस्तकानि / pustakaani
*** In अकारान्त / akaaraanta nuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग / napu.nsakaliN^ga), both Nominative and Accusative cases have the same form.

Me / अस्मद् / asmad (All Genders / त्रिलिङ्गक / triliN^gaka)
Case विभक्ति / vibhakti	Singular एकवचन / ekavachana	Dual स्विवचन / dvivachana	Plural बहुवचन / bahuvachana
Nominative प्रथमा / prathamaa	अहम् / aham	आवाम् / aavaam	वयम् / vayam
Accusative द्वितीया / dvitiiyaa	माम् / maam मा / maa	आवाम् / aavaam नौ / nau	अस्मान् / asmaan नः / naH

You / युस्मद् / yusmad (All Genders / त्रिलिङ्गक / triliN^gaka)
Case विभक्ति / vibhakti	Singular एकवचन / ekavachana	Dual स्विवचन / dvivachana	Plural बहुवचन / bahuvachana
Nominative प्रथमा / prathamaa	त्वम् / tvam	युवाम् / yuvaam	यूयम् / yuuyam
Accusative द्वितीया / dvitiiyaa	त्वाम् / tvaam त्वा / tvaa	युवाम् / yuvaam वाम् / vaam	युष्मान् / yuShmaan वः / vaH

Pronouns (सर्वनाम पद / sarvanaama pada): Words like he, she, this, that, these etc., are called pronoun. Pronouns in Sanskrit are called सर्वनाम पद (sarvanaama pada). The rules for pronouns are exactly same as the nouns (शब्द / shabda).

Verb (धातु / dhaatu): Verb normally refers to action, state, existence or occurrence etc. Verb in Sanskrit is called धातु (dhaatu) or verb root. It is also known as क्रियापद (kriyaapada). It can be classified into तिङतपद (tiN^atapada) and कृदन्तपद (kRRidantapada).

तिङतपद (tiN^atapada): This classification is based on the tense and mood of the verb. The verb-forms are used as normal verbs to express some action or state etc. तिङतपद or tiN^atapada meaning – words ending with तिप् (tip) suffix. In this classification:
- Each Verb can have any of the 10 tenses (लकार / lakaara). Howver only 5 are enough to use Sanskrit in daily life.
- Each verb can be of three different numbers, Singular (एकवचन / ekavachana), Dual (द्वीवचन / dviivachana) and Plural (बहुवचन / bahuvachana).
- Each verb can be of three persons viz., Third (प्रथम / prathama), Second (मध्यम / madhyama) and First (उत्तम / uttama).
- Each verb can belong to categories परस्मैपदी (parasmaipadii), आत्मनेपदी (aatmanepadii) or उभयपदी (ubhayapadii). Verbs of परस्मैपदी (parasmaipadii) category represent ‘action whose result is for others’. आत्मनेपदी (aatmanepadii) represents ‘action whose result is for self’, and उभयपदी (ubhayapadii) represents ‘action whose result is both for others and self’.
Just like noun (शब्द / shabda), each verb (धातु / dhaatu) also has different derivations based on the “tense”, “number’ and “person”. This is called “verb form” (धातुरुप / dhaaturupa). The verb-forms differ based on this category. The “root” of a verb is called धातु (dhaatu). धातु (dhaatu) does not have any “gender”.
कृदन्तपद (kRRidantapada): In this classification special suffixes are added to the verb to get verb-forms used as – subject, pronoun, adjectives, indeclinable etc.

Followings are the तिङतपद (tiN^atapada) verb-forms (धातुरुप / dhaatutupa) of READ (पठ् / paTH) धातु (dhaatu) and GO (गम् / gam) धातु (dhaatu) in present tense (लट्लकार / laTlakaara). Once we are acquainted with the verb usage in a sentence, we will cover all other different forms.

Read / पठ् / paTh
Person / पुरुष / puruSha	Number / वचन / vachana
	Singular एकवचन / ekavachana	Dual द्वीवचन / dviivachana	Plural बहुवचन / bahuvachana
Third प्रथम / prathama	पठति / paThati (is reading)	पठतः / paThataH (both are reading)	पठन्ति / paThanti (many are reading)
Second मध्यम / madhyama	पठसि / paThasi (you are reading)	पठथः / paThathaH (you two are reading)	पठथ / paThatha (you all reading)
First उत्तम / uttama	पठामि / paThaami (i am reading)	पठावः / paThaavaH (both of us reading)	पठामः / paThaamaH (all of us reading)

Go / गम् / gam
Person / पुरुष / puruSha	Number / वचन / vachana
	Singular एकवचन / ekavachana	Dual द्वीवचन / dviivachana	Plural बहुवचन / bahuvachana
Third प्रथम / prathama	गच्छति / gachchhati (is going)	गच्छतः / gachchhataH (both are going)	गच्छन्ति / gachchhanti (many are going)
Second मध्यम / madhyama	गच्छसि / gachchhasi (you are going)	गच्छथः / gachchhathaH (you two are going)	गच्छथ / gachchhatha (you all are going)
First उत्तम / uttama	गच्छामि / gachchhaami (i am going)	गच्छावः / gachchhaavaH (both of us going)	गच्छामः / gachchhaamaH (all of us going)

Lets study a sample use of shabdarupa and dhaaturupa using the above. These will help in learning the sentence formation rules.

        the boy is reading   - बालकः पठति / baalakaH paThati
        the boys are reading - बालकाः पठन्ति / baalakaaH paThanti

the girl is reading – बाला पठति / baala paThati the girls are reading – बालाः पठन्ति / baalaaH paThanti you are reading – त्वं पठसि / tvam paThasi you all are reading – युयं पठथ / yuyam paThata

i am reading – अहं पठामि / aham paThaami we are reading – वयं पठामः / vayam paThaamaH

All the sentences above have the “Subject” (कर्ता / kartaa) and a “Verb” (क्रिया / kriyaa). In all the sentences, the number (वचन / vachana) and person (पुरुष / puruSha) of the “Verb” (क्रिया / kriyaa) match number (वचन / vachana) and person (पुरुष / puruSha) of the “Subject” (कर्ता / kartaa).

Say in the sentence “the boy is reading” (बालकः पठति / baalakaH paThati), the “boy” (बालकः / baalakaH) is in third person singular (प्रथपपुरुष एकवचन / prathamapuruSha ekavachana). Similarly the “Verb” (क्रिया / kriyaa) is also in third person singular (प्रथपपुरुष एकवचन / prathamapuruSha ekavachana).

However the verb does not change if the gender of the “Subject” change. This can be seen in the sentence “the girl is reading” (बाला पठति / baalaa paThati).

Rule 1: The verb (धातु / dhaatu) always follows number (वचन / vachana) and person (पुरुष / puruSha) of the noun (शब्द / shabda).

Rule 2: The verb (धातु / dhaatu) remains same irrespective of the gender (लिङ्ग / liN^ga) of the “Subject” (कर्ता / kartaa).

Rule 3: The verb form (धातुरुप / dhaaturupa) is always in first person (उत्तमपुरुष / uttamapuruSha), if the noun used is अस्मद् शब्द (asmad shabda). The verb form (धातुरुप / dhaaturupa) is always in second person (मध्यमपुरुष / madhyamapuruSha), if the noun used is युस्मद् शब्द (yusmad shabda). All other nouns will always be in third person (प्रथमपुरुष / prathamapuruSha).

Indeclinable (अव्ययपद / avyayapada): Indeclinable in Sanskrit is called अव्ययपद (avyayapada). Unlike shabdarupa and dhaaturupa अव्ययपद / avyayapada do not change in its form. It remains same irrespective of gender, number, person and tense. Followings are few examples:

           kutra / कुत्र   - where
           atra / कुत्र     - here
           tatra / तत्र   - there
           api / अपि      - too

Few sample statements using indeclinable (अव्ययपद / avyayapada):

           where is the boy going   - बालकः कुत्र गच्छति / baalakaH kutra gachchhati
           the boy is going there   - बालकः तत्र गच्छति / baalakaH tatra gachchhati
           
           where are the boys going - बालकाः कुत्र गच्छन्ति / baalakaaH kutra gachchhanti
           the boys are going there - बालकाः तत्र गच्छन्ति / baalakaaH tatra gachchhanti

Note that the अव्ययपद (avyayapada) remains the same irrespective of the number, and person of the “Subject” (कर्ता / kartaa).

Rule 4: Indeclinables (अव्ययपद / avyayapada) never change in form and remain same irrespective of the person and number of the “Subject” (कर्ता /kartaa).

Adjective (विशेषण / visheShaNa): Adjective is the word that expresses an attribute or property of something or someone. Only nouns can be used adjectives. In Sanskrit it is called विशेषण (visheShaNa). Adjective always follows the gender (लिङ्ग / liN^ga) and number (वचन / vachana) of the subject or the word for which it is an adjective. Followings are few examples:

           blue sky    - निलः आकाशः / nilaH aakaashaH
           white cloud - स्वेतः मेघः / svetaH meghaH

In above sentences the words blue and white represent an attribute of sky and cloud. So, these are adjectives for the words sky and cloud respectively.

Voice (वाच्य / vaachya): In Sanskrit sentence can be in any of the following three voices. ‘Impersonal Voice’ is specific to Sanskrit language only and this sentence formation is normally not seen in other languages like English.

        1. Active voice or कर्तृवाच्य (kartRRI vaachya).
        2. Passive voice or कर्मवाच्य  (karma vaachya).
        3. Impersonal voice or भाववाच्य (bhava vaachya).

Now that we know the basics of Sanskrit sentence formation, their different elements, classification of alphabets and words, we will study the rules in detail in subsequent chapters.

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ह्रस्व hrasva	अ a	आ aa	इ i	उ u	ए e	ऐ ai	ओ o	औ au
दीर्घ diirgha	ई ii	ऊ uu	ऋ RRi	ॠ RRI