verblike is a noun that works like a verb.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1321

A verblike is a noun that can work as if it were the main verb of a sentence.

Most verblikes are made by adding kta, ktavatu, or one of the kRtya after a root.

Example 1.

The verblike nounbase kSiptavat- is made from kSip + ktavatu, and means "threw". It has the same meaning as the verbs akSipat cikSepa akSaipsIt, that are made by adding laG liT luG to the same root.

zilAGM kapiH kSiptavAn "monkey threw stone"

zilAGM kapir akSipat "monkey threw stone"

zilAGM kapir akSaipsIt "monkey threw stone"

zilAGM kapiz cikSepa "monkey threw stone"

This kSiptavat- means the doer, same as the three verbs. So in all four sentences, the object got second ending by karmaNidvitIyA, and the verblike or verb agrees with the doer.

Example 2.

The verblike nounbase kSipta- is made from kSip + kta, and means "was thrown", just like the verb akSipyata (made by adding laG to the same root).

zilA kapinA kSiptA "monkey threw stone"

zilA kapinA 'kSipyata "monkey threw stone"

This kSipta- means the object, same as akSipyata. So in both sentences, the doer got third ending by kartRkaraNayos tRtIyA , and the verblike or verb agrees with the object.

Example 3.

peya- is made from pA + yat, and means "can be drunk, is drinkable" --

udakaGM kapinA peyam "monkey can drink water"

Conterexamples.

The nounbase kartR-, made from kR + tRc, means "maker". But tRc enders are not verblike, and cannot work as if they were main verbs. Therefore, the object of their root does not get second --

kumbhasya kartrI sA "she's the maker of the pot"

The nounbases kurvat- and kurvANa- are made with sat affixes after kR. But they are not verblike, because they cannot replace karoti as the main verb of a sentence. Yet, the object of their root does take second anyway --

agniGM kurvANaGM kapim apazyam "I saw a monkey making fire"

agniGM kurvantaGM kapim apazyam "I saw a monkey making fire"

About proper names.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1322

A " proper name ", "name", or " tag " is a general expression used to name something in particular.

Examples.

The word rathas "chariot" is not a tag when it means a chariot, but it is a tag when it means Mr. Ratha.

The compound zazadantaH is a tag when used as the nickname of someone in particular "Mr. Hareteeth". But not in the sentence zazadanto 'yaJM jIvAzma "this fossil is a haretooth", where it has its general meaning.

The compound dviziras- "two-headed" is a tag when it means a certain mountain or a certain TV show ("Twin Peaks"), but it is not a tag in the sentence dvizirAH parvataH "the mountain has two peaks".

There are certain grammar rules that work only on tags. For instance, when compounding rAmasya "Rama's" and ayanAni "comings and goings", we get rAmAyanAni "the travels of rAma", which is not a tag. But when the compound is used as the name of a work, then it is a tag, and must be changed into rAmAyaNam "the story of the travels of rAma". Notice the N -- the change of n to N happens in a tag but not elsewhere (rule pUrvapadAtsaJjJAyAmagaH says so).

referent is the thing that a word means.mmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1323

For instance, when I say, zakunimM pazya "look at that bird", the referent of the word zakunim "bird" is the specific bird I am pointing at with my finger or eyes.

If then the bird flies away, and I say patati zakuniH "bird flies", now the referent of the word "zakunis" is the same bird as before, and the referent of the word "patati" is that same bird too.

So we say that these two words patati and zakunis are samereferent (samAnAdhikaraNa), that is, both have the same referent.

Words with the same referent will almost always have the same gender, number, and case. So in

kRSNaH pakSI "the bird is black; black bird"

both words have the same referent, and both are masculine singular, and both have first ending.

A more complex example --

durnimitto prabhItena dRzyate zakunir mayA "bad-omen bird is being seen by terrified me"

Here durnimittas, zakunis and dRzyate have the same bird as referent, and prabhItena and mayA both have me as referent. So the bird is a bad omen bird, and I am terrified.

See also about agreement .

About agreement.mmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1324

Words are in samAnAdhikaraNa when they have the same referent.

...this is quite lame. No good.

Examples --

In dRSTazH zakunir mayA "bird was seen by me", the words dRSTas and zakunis are in samAnAdhikaraNa.

In kRSNazH zakuniH "bird is black", the words kRSNas and zakunis are in samAnAdhikaraNa.

When two words are in samAnAdhikAraNa, they are in " agreement". This means that one of them copies from the other as many of gender, case, number and person as it can. This is a general rule of Sanskrit grammar --

"When a verb describes a noun, it copies the number and person of that noun. When a noun describes a noun, it copies the number and gender and case of that noun."

Examples --

In dRzyate zakunir mayA, the verb dRzyate is third person and singular because it agreess with zakunis, which is third person and singular.

And in zakuninM dRSTavAn rAmaH, the verblike dRSTavAn is masculine and singular and has first because it agrees with rAmas, and rAmas is masculine and singular and has first.

objectful and objectless verbs.mmmmmmmmm ^ M+ C+ 1325

Sanskrit roots are either objectful and objectless.

(1) objectful roots (such as dRz "see" and bhuj 07.0017 "eat, enjoy") always have an object (which is whatever or whoever gets seen).

(2) objectless roots, like svap "sleep", never have any object (nothing ever is slept, though some things may be slept ON).

objectful roots like bhuj and dRz always have an object. Here the object is a bird --

zakunim abhuJji "I ate bird"

zakunir bhuktamM mayA "I ate bird"

The object is sometimes hidden (not mentioned in the sentence), but it exists anyway --

abhuJji "I ate"

bhuktamM mayA "I ate"

objectless roots never have an object. Examples with svap --

svapiti "sleeps"

suptamM mayA "I slept"

All roots have a doer.

An AkRtigaNa is a group of words that is not in pANini's version of the gaNapATha.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1326

Rule ajAdyataSTAp mentions "aja etc". This "aja etc", literally "goat and others", is a gaNa or "official class", meaning that you can find the whole list of goat-class nounbases in the gaNapATha.

But when rule svarAdi mentions "svar and others", that's a "pirate class" or AkRtigaNa. This means that the "svar and others" of the sUtra just means "some words, such as svar", because pANini did not take the trouble of including an official list in the gaNapATha.

BTW, the ashtadhyayidotcom gaNapATha does have a svarAdi class. Look carefully, and at the end of the list you can read " AkRtigaNa", meaning that this list was not made by pANini.

gender abbrevs.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1327

m means masculine

n means neuter

f means feminine

mn masculine or neuter

nf neuter or feminine

nounbases are masculine, feminine, or neuter.mmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1328

Every Sanskrit nounbase belongs to one of three groups called genders. The groups are --

m = masculine

n = neuter

f = feminine.

After most feminine nounbases, a feminine affix must be added. The neuters work basically like the masculine, the main difference is that the first and second affixes are replaced with luk zI zi.

Examples of masculine nounbases

vRkSa- m "tree"

siMha- m "lion, male lion"

adri- m "stone"

kapi- m "monkey" ( of either sex )

puruSa- m "man, person (of either sex); spirit, consciousness (these are sexless)"

Examples of neuter nounbases

phala- "result; piece of fruit"

asthi- "bone"

manas- "mind"

Examples of feminine nounbases

simha- @f "lioness"

makSika- @f "a fly" ( of either sex )

zila- @f "stone"

vidyut- @f "lightning"

mati- f "thought"

The feminine nounbases siMha-, makSika-, zila- are always used with a feminine affix added after them, so they appear listed in dictionaries as siMhI makSikA zilA. Of these --

siMha- got GI by rule jAtera

makSika- and zila- got Ap by rule ajAdyataSTAp

and the others got no feminine affix because no rule gives them any.

Double consonant.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1329

A double consonant is a consonant sound that lasts twice the usual time.

Examples. In this vedic verse you can hear the double consonants dd and cch. They last roughly twice the time of the single consonants a v S g t.

The double consonant sound in that audio is just a lengthened d sound, but it is spelled as two dd, and is considered to be a cluster of d + d.

The sound cch is considered to be a cluster of c and ch. The same rule applies to the spelling of the other nine letters that have fake h .

The difference between a double and a single consonant affects meaning --

vR + kta + su → vRtas "hidden, wrapped"

vRt + kta + su → vRttas "event, happening"

pANinIya, aSTAdhyAyI.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1330

The pANinIya is the work on grammar that this websites comments on. Read more about it at Wikipedia on A%E1%B9%A3%E1%B9%AD%C4%81dhy%C4%81y%C4%AB.

The full work contains --

The zivasUtra.

Eight books of rules, called the aSTAdhyAyI.

The gaNapATha, a list of word groups.

The dhAtupATha, a list of roots.

book, chapter.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1331

The aSTAdhyAyI has eight books of rules.

Each book is divided in four pAda (quarters, chapters).

Each chapter consists of between a couple dozen and a couple hundred rules, also called sUtras

The groups of five digits that you will find in this website show book, chapter, and rule number. For instance, 74066 stands for book 7, chapter 4, rule 66. adhyAya 7 pAda 4 sUtra 66.

You do not need to know the numbers for anything. Yet, they are useful when you have any doubt about how a rule is supposed to be chanted, because, knowing the number, you can easily find the rule in this video.

about the iS-aoristmmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1332

The affix iS(ic) is the sic that got iT added --

sic ( after seT root) → iT + sic →kric iSic

As in --

car + luG mip → car + am''' →luGlaG acar + am → acar + sic + am → acar + iSic + am →atorlAntasya acAriSam "I walked"

Forms like acAriSam are flagged as " aor [5]" by inria. They are also said to belong to the "aorist type five", or more simply to be an iS-aorist.

This [5] means that the form got iSic, and that rule yamarama did not work making it into a siS-aorist.

Most seT roots take this iS-aorist (type five).

Most aniT roots take s-aorist (type four).

And of course most veT roots take both.

subordinate is the part of a compound that has not the same referent the whole compound.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1333

Example 1.

In brahmalokaH "Brahmaworld", the whole compound "brahmaloka" means a world (loka-), but the whole compound does not mean brahman-. Therefore brahman is subordinate here, and loka is the "main" half of the compound.

Example 2.

In the kRSNazakuni of kRSNazakuni nagaram "city with many black birds in it", the whole compound kRSNazakuni means a city, but kRSNa does not mean a city, and zakuni does not mean a city. Therefore both of kRSNa and zakuni are subordinate, and the compound has no "main" half.

fake hmmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1334

The ten letters

jh bh gh Dh dh

kh ph ch Th th

are single sounds, not combinations of two sounds. A bha and a ba take the exact same time to say, even thought the bh is pronounced with more air pressure than the b.

All beginners get tricked into thinking that bh is made from b + h. It is not. It is a single letter, not a cluster.

If you don't know this, you can't apply rule saMyogeguru correctly. The a of rAjabhis is a light vowel, because it is before ONE consonant, not two.

In Indian alphabets b is spelled with a certain letter and bh with a different letter. Because our Roman alphabet is poor, and does not have enough symbols for the thirty-three hal and thirteen ac of Sanskrit, we have to represent the high pressure adding "h" after "b". This "h" is just a pressure indicator, and NOT a letter h. I call it a " fake h".

" term" is a word invented by grammarians.mmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1335

A term is a word invented by grammarians that is used in a special sense in grammar. For instance: the words "verb", "noun", "object", "pronoun", "plural" are terms invented by English grammarians to help explain how English works.

The Sanskrit grammarians also invented many terms, such as for instance tiGanta ( verb), subanta ( noun), karman ( object), sarvanAmasthAna ( pronoun), bahuvacana ( plural), ArdhadhAtuka ( soft affix), and saJMjJA ( term).

(Careful: in some rules, such as pUrva-padAt, the word saJjjA does not mean " term", but " tag", a particular type of compound.)

Rule sthAnivad teaches, among other things --

" replacement inherits terms of original "

This means that if we have something like laT, which is an affix and a tense, and some rule makes us replace laT with tip, that tip too will be an affix and a tense. Similarly, when a rule such as samparyupe replaces the root kR with skR, that skR is also a root.

Most terms can be found listed under the rabbit icon. Many of then are found there in Sanskrit and in English. For instance, the rabbit list shows the word sArvadhAtuka, which is the Sanskrit term for " hard affix".