special nounbases ←
chunk 63: special words
→ preverbs
special words
sma
Ignore verse fillers.
cid api cana "some / any"
iva "like"
na means "no"
api starts a question or means "too, even".
"Turtle ca" means "and a turtle".
"Turtle vA" means "or a turtle".
eva means only or indeed
iti closes a quotation
Many verses have small words that are not really necessary for the meaning, but help make the verse fit.
For instance, suppose you want to put the verb zRNoti near the end of a zloka line. This word cannot fit at the very end, but it will fit if we add vai after it, or in fact if we add any CVC* word, or any vCVC* word. If we can find a word that makes sense and fits that pattern, good. Like the yas here --
bruvatAm apriyamM pathyaM suhRdAnM na zRNoti yaH
"if you don't listen to friends that say unpleasant beneficial things..."
But if we cannot find one such, then a poor poet might add any of the words that can be inserted almost anywhere, such as those meaning "and", "then", "but", "oh!", "he", "this", "that", "so", "as", "too", "ahem", "I tell ya", and so on --
zRNoti ca
zRNoti hi
zRNoti vai
zRNoti saH
zRNoty ayam
zRNoti sA
zRNoti tat
zRNoty api
zRNomy aham
In the epics this is done quite often.
Translators must be warned that sometimes these words are used in their proper meaning, and other times we just should ignore them. A particularly treacherous one is tu, that sometimes means "but", sometimes "changing subject", "on the other hand", and sometimes should be just ignored.
cid api cana "some / any"mmmmmmmmm
^ C- 1190 
These three hangers mean the same thing.
They are only used after question words like kim- "who? what?", kadA "when?", kva "where?", katham "how?" etc etc, and have the same meaning as the "some-" and "any-" prefixes that we find in the English words "someone, anyone, somewhere, anywhere", etc.
Examples --
kim "what?"
kas "who?"
kasya "whose?"
kva "where?"
kiJMcid "something, anything"
kazcid "someone, anyone"
kasyacid "someone's, anyone's"
kvacid "somewhere, anywhere"
na kiJMcid "nothing"
na kazcid "no one"
na kasyacid "no one's"
na kvacid "nowhere"
Instead of cid, we may also use cana or api; this comes in handy sometimes when making verses come right --
sainyAH kepy agacchatAm "some soldiers left"
sainyAH keccanAgacchatAm "some soldiers left"
sainyAH kecinn agacchatAm "some soldiers left"
api starts a question or means "too, even".mmmmmmmmm
^ C+ 1193 
When api is at the start of a sentence, it means that the sentence is a question. Same as Polish "czu", Esperanto "cxu". Like in this dialogue --
apy asti garbhaH "is she pregnant?"
asti "indeed she is"
You may also use kim in this sense --
kim asti garbhaH "is she pregnant?"
When api does not start a question, it is a hanger.
Sometimes it is just a replacement for cid --
AgataH kaz cit "someone came"
AgataH ko 'pi "someone came"
Elsewhere, it means "too, even", and comes right after the word it includes --
dadarza sA 'pi bhUtAni "she too saw the ghosts (like I did)"
bhUtAny api dadarza sA "she saw the ghosts too (not just the demons)"
gurU cetati kAko 'pi "even a crow will care for his parents"
zvAznAti tu gurU: api "but a dog will eat even his parents"
In this sentence, the first api starts a question, and the one after vayam means "too" --
api taisH saGMgatamM mArgaM vayam apy Aruhemahi "Will we too ascend the path that was trod by them?"
There is also another api, that is a rarely used preverb and sometimes shrinks to pi.
"Turtle ca" means "and a turtle".mmmmmmmmm
^ M- C+ 1194 
ca is always placed AFTER the word it joins. Examples --
hayazca "and a horse"
hayIca "and a mare"
hayo hayIca "a horse and a mare"
hayI hayazca "a mare and a horse"
kharo gaja:: uSTro vyAghras siMhazca tiSThanti "a donkey, an elephant, a camel, a tiger, and a lion wait"
kharaGM gajam uSTraM vyAghraM siMhaJMca pazyAmi "I see a donkey, an elephant, a camel, a tiger, and a lion"
Adding some extra ca is fine too, but don't forget that the very last word in the list must always carry one --
hayIca hayazca "both a mare and a horse"
hayazca hayIca "both a horse and a mare"
kharo gajazcoSTrazca vyAghrazca siMhazca "a donkey and an elephant and a camel and a tiger and a lion"
kharazca gajazcoSTrazca vyAghrazca siMhazca "all of a donkey and an elephant and a camel and a tiger and a lion"
If you want to keep your Sanskrit teacher annoyed, just keep translating things like pitA matA sutaz ca caranti as "father mother son and walk" (instead of the correct "father mother and son walk" ) again and again. Most Sanskrit teachers will commit suicide before they correct that translation mistake for the twentieth time.
"Turtle vA" means "or a turtle".mmmmmmmmm
^ M- C+ 1195 
vA means "or", and is a hanger, like ca.
Examples --
kacchapovA "or a turtle"
bakaH kacchapovA "a crane or a turtle"
prapuSpitaH kiMzuko 'zokovA "a kiMzuka or an azoka tree is in blossom"
prapuSpitaGM kiMzukam azokaMvA pazyAmi "I see a kiMzuka or an azoka tree in blossom"
The expressions vA and athavA, at the start of a sentence, may mean also "maybe", "rather", or "thinking again".
Two vA may mean "either... or" --
bakovA kacchapovA "either a crane or a turtle"
As in --
sukhaM vA yadi vA duHkhamM priyaM vA yadi vApriyam | prAptamM prAptam upAsIta hRdayenAparAjitaH "Be it happiness or sorrow, be it agreeable or disagreeable, whatever comes should be borne with an unaffected heart."
In grammar rules, vA is not a hanger -- as in vAmi, vAzari, vAmzasoH, vAvasAne. It means " optionally" rather than just "or".
iti closes a quotationmmmmmmmmm
^ C+ 1197 
When literal words are quoted, iti is added after the last word.
Examples --
hatAv etAv iti prAha surAn asurasUdanaH
asurasUdana told the gods "hatAv etau"
asurasUdana told the gods "these two are dead"
evam astv iti taJM cAha kazyapaM vinatA tadA
and vinatA told kazyapa, "evam astu"
and vinatA told kazyapa, "okay"
tiSTha tiSTheti bhISmam Aha
he said "tiSTha tiSTha" to bhISma
Sometimes the quoted words are not literal. For instance, suppose the queen tells a servant rAjJo lekho dIyatAm "give this letter to the king". The servant might then report the exact words of the queen, this way --
rajJo lekhanM dIyatAm iti devy uvAca deva
Your majesty, the queen said "give this letter to the king".
but saying "to you" instead of "to the king" is fine too--
tava lekhanM dIyatAm iti devy uvAca deva
Your majesty, the queen told me to give this letter to you.
Sometimes iti is used without a verb of saying, and then it may translate as "saying" or "thinking" --
mAM haniSyanty eta iti dhAvitaH "thinking 'these are going to kill me', he ran away"
special nounbases ←
chunk 63: special words
→ preverbs