Sanskrit declensions

The interrogative pronoun kim

kim – What?

क / ka is the first consonant in the Saṃskṛt alphabet. It is also the stem of the interrogative pronoun kim. The sequence of consonants thus begins with the question “What?”. What a lovely thought: to begin with curiosity and an enquiring mind.

Starting from the declension of tad, replace the initial “t” or “s” with “k”. The exceptions are the neuter nominative and accusative singular, where the form is kim.

Forms of kim used as adverbs

The interrogative pronoun kim can also introduce a sentence or subordinate clause as an interrogative adverb.

Examples

• kim: why, for what reason, from where, for what purpose?
• kasmāt: why, for what reason, from where?

kīdṛś (what, how, which) – An adjective

The adjective kīdṛś can be used as an interrogative pronoun. As an adjective, it is declined for gender, case and number. Depending on its form, it can mean: what, how, which, through what, for what purpose, by whom …?

The relative pronoun yad and the correlative pronoun tad

yad and tad – The one who … that one

In the Saṃskṛt construction shown here, the relative pronoun yad refers to a correlative pronoun. The demonstrative pronoun tad serves this function.

Comparing German and Saṃskṛt

• The German sentence, translated: The dog that carries the ball is a poodle.
• The Saṃskṛt construction: The dog that (yad) carries the ball, that one (tad) is a poodle.

Examples

• yasmin vane vasati rāmas tasmin vane na vidyante rākṣasāḥ
  The forest in which Rāma lives — there are no demons.
  Here the relative and correlative pronouns are in the same case.
• yena puruṣeṇa saha bhāṣate nṛpaḥ sa muniḥ
  The man with whom the king speaks — he is a sage.
  Here the relative and correlative pronouns are in different cases.

Declension

Starting from the declension of tad, consistently replace the initial “t” or “s” with “y”.

Indefinite and negative pronouns

yad with kim as an indefinite pronoun

In Saṃskṛt, this construction follows this sequence:

1. Relative pronoun: yad
2. Interrogative pronoun: kim
3. Indefinite particle: api

Example: yat kim api (one thing or another)

Note

This first construction is more specific. Using kim followed by the indefinite particle api, cana or cit allows an even less specific statement.

kim on its own as an indefinite pronoun

Kim can also function as an indefinite pronoun on its own when one of the following indefinite particles is added:

• api
• cana
• cit

Example: kiṃcit (something)

sarva, anya and eka as further indefinite pronouns

The adjectives sarva (every, all), anya (another) and eka (one) can also be used as indefinite pronouns. Like adjectives, they are inflected for gender, case and number.

Placing na before kim to form a negative pronoun

Placing the negative particle na before the interrogative pronoun kim and adding an indefinite particle (api, cit or cana) produces a negative pronoun.

Examples

• na ko ’pi: no one (masculine)
  Note: Applying the saṃdhi rule changes na kaḥ api into the form shown above.
• na kaś-cit-puruṣaḥ: not a single man (masculine)
  Note: A saṃdhi rule applies here too. Without saṃdhi, the words would be: na kaḥ cit puruṣaḥ.
• na kiñ-cit: nothing (neuter)
  Note: Again, a saṃdhi rule applies. Without saṃdhi, the words would be: na kim cit.
• na kā cana: no one (feminine)

Possessive, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns

Possessive pronouns: mainly adjectives formed from pronominal stems

Adding īya to the personal-pronoun stems mad (I), asmad (we), tvad (you, singular), yuṣmad (you, plural) and tad (he) produces adjectives that can be used as possessive pronouns:

• madīya: my (from mad, the first-person singular pronominal stem)
• asmadīya: our (from asmad, the first-person plural pronominal stem)
• tvadīya: your (from tvad, the second-person singular pronominal stem)
• yuṣmadīya: your (from yuṣmad, the second-person plural pronominal stem)
• tadīya: his (from tad, the third-person pronominal stem)

Unlike the pronominal stems mad, tvad, asmad and yuṣmad themselves, the adjectives formed in this way can be declined in both the singular and the plural.

Other adjectives are also used as possessive pronouns:

• bhavadīya: your, in respectful address (related to bhavant, a respectful form of address for the second person)
• sva: my, your, his, its, our. It denotes what is one’s own and can also be used reflexively to mean “oneself”.

Reflexive pronouns: svaḥ (adjective), ātman (noun) and svayam (adverb)

Saṃskṛt can express reflexivity in several ways. The following are particularly useful to note:

1. svaḥ (own): is declined as an adjective in all cases and genders. Like other adjectives, it agrees in gender, case and number with the word it refers to.
2. ātman (self): is a noun and therefore retains its masculine gender when used as a reflexive pronoun. It can nevertheless refer to words of different genders.
3. svayam (self): is an indeclinable particle. It can refer to subjects of any gender, case or number.

Example

siṃha ātmānaṃ jale paśyati
The lion (siṃha) sees (paś) himself (ātman, accusative singular) in the water (jala).

Reciprocal pronouns: anyonya, paraspara, itaretara and mithas

A reciprocal pronoun expresses a mutual relationship. German uses words such as “einander”, “gegenseitig” and “sich” for this purpose, corresponding to “each other”, “mutually” and “one another”. Saṃskṛt also uses expressions with an adverbial function. Examples include:

• anyonya: mutually
• paraspara: each other
• itaretara: reciprocally
• mithas: together

Example

parasparam avalokayataḥ
The two look (avalok) at each other (paraspara).

Pronominal adjectives

The basic pronominal pattern

• anya: different
• anyatara: one of two
• itara: the other
• katara: which of two?
• katama: which of many?
• ekatama: one of many

These words follow the declension pattern of tad.

Mostly following the declension of tad

• sarva: every, everything
• ubhaya: both
• eka: one
• ekatara: one of two

These words follow the declension of tad with the following difference:

1. In the neuter nominative and accusative singular, they end in “-m” rather than “-t”.

Largely following the declension of tad

• pūrva: the one in front, eastern
• avara: the one behind, western
• adhara: the lower one
• uttara: the upper one, higher, northern
• dakṣiṇa: capable, skilful, southern
• para: more distant, beyond
• apara: the one behind, the later one, the following one
• antara: distant, different from
• sva: one's own

These words follow the declension of tad with the following differences:

1. In the neuter nominative and accusative singular, they end in “-am” rather than “-at”.
2. In the masculine and neuter ablative singular, they usually end in “-āt” rather than “-asmāt”.
3. In the masculine and neuter locative singular, they usually end in “-e” rather than “-asmin”.
4. In the masculine nominative plural, they usually end in “-āḥ” rather than “-e”.

Partly following the declension of tad

• ardha: half
• alpa: small
• katipaya: several, some
• prathama: foremost, first
• carama: lowest, last, least
• dvaya, dvitaya: twofold, double

These words follow the usual declension of a-stem adjectives. They can also adopt one feature of the tad pattern:

1. In the masculine nominative plural, they sometimes end in “-e” rather than “-āḥ”.

Optionally following the declension of tad

• dvitīya: second
• tṛtīya: third

These words can optionally follow the declension of tad in the singular.

At the end of a compound

When one of the adjectives listed here occurs at the end of a compound, it follows the usual declension of a-stems.

subhrū and monosyllabic ū-stems

subhrū is a noun used in the masculine or feminine gender. It means “maiden”, literally “beautiful eyebrow”.

Although subhrū has more than one syllable, it is declined like a monosyllabic ū-stem.