Lesson 6: Sanskrit for Beginners Course: Stem Formation
Summary:
Tests our Spoken Sanskrit, gacchati paradigm and introduces Lesson 4 of the book (nominative & accusative case of nouns).
Source: Introduction to Sanskrit (4th Ed) – Thomas Egenes – Part One
Resources:
- Textbook PDF file used in class. It is 3rd Ed. (Copyright: Book is by Thomas Egenes. To support his work, consider buying the book.)
- Template we used in class for conversation practice.
Highlights:
- To form a noun: stem + ending. EG:
- nara + ḥ = naraḥ (man)
- nara + u = narau (two men)
- nara + aḥ = narāḥ (many men).
- What is nominative (subject)? The doer of the verb. Subject of the sentence. The one who is performing the verb.
- EG: Man goes. : naraḥnom gacchati
- What is accusative (object)? The “victim” of the verb. The object which the verb is done onto. Motion towards.
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- EG: Man goes to the horse. : naraḥnom aśvamacc gacchati
- EG: Horse goes to the man. : aśvaḥnom naramacc gacchati
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Homework:
- Memorize all words on Spoken Sanskrit pg 1-5. Here is pronunciation for latest words on page 5.
- At least TWO verses should've been memorized by now: Practice, Ornaments, Here there, Blades of Grass
- Memorize the “nara” paradigm for Nominative/Accusative. (pg 33)
- Memorize all verbs we've done so far. (pg 30)
- Remember the “gaccha” paradigm forwards, backwards, diagonal. (pg 30)
- Practice devanāgarī writing. Print and practice: 1, 2, 3, 4
Questions:
You'll have more questions throughout the course. How to ask? Leave in comments below, so others can also benefit. We'll respond within 48 hours. Only ask specific to this Lesson.
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Recorded 30 Aug, 2020
Hello Andre,
You’ve introduced us to two different verbs expressing being, ‘to be’ – in their 3rd person singular form they are asti and bhavati.
When is it appropriate to use ‘asti’ and when is it appropriate to use ‘bhavati’?
For example, if I want to say, ‘she is in the dining room ‘, do I say,
bhojanashale saa bhavati
Or do I say,
bhojanashale saa asti
Thanks
See notes here: https://i.imgur.com/mVK7Mh6.png?1
Asti: Strictly “is”.
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Bhavati: Same as “asti”, but also used in sense of “becoming”.
EG: Rāma BECOMES king: rāmaḥ nṛpaḥ bhavati. (In this case, don’t use asti).
EG: Rāma IS the king: rāmaḥ nṛpah bhavati (OR) asti
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We haven’t gotten to bhavati/asti yet.
Hello Andre,
In Roman diacritics, sometimes the anusvara is written as a dot above the ‘m’ – for example, in the scriptural verses you’ve given us and sometimes it’s written as a dot below the ‘m’ – Thomas Egenes textbook pages 36, 37.
Both versions appear to be acceptable which makes it a little confusing. Is it simply that we recognise the anusvara by recognising the sandhi rule that applies it?
Separate question – is there a difference in pronunciation between an ‘m’ with an anusvara and an ‘m’ without one?
Thanks
ṃ or ṁ used interchangeably. Stick to one. I stick to ṃ (dot under).
Also, I’ll be asking students to write diacritics properly using https://www.yesvedanta.com/keyswap
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m is same as ṃ (sandhi version which won’t be explained until we’re on that chapter). No diff in pronunciation.
Hey, would you agree to translate ‘trnam’ as ‘worldly’?
tṛṇa (grass): https://tinyurl.com/272em57h
Okay! 🙂 “minuteness and worthlessness” !