Learning Sanskrit - Declension (1)

Declension of nouns and adjectives ending in vowels - Part 1

 Introduction: A first approach to declension

Hi, Gabriel Pradīpaka again. We will start studying Sanskrit declension now. It is a very important subject. Before placing a noun, adjective, pronoun or numeral in the sentence, you will have to decline it in order to insert the appropriate gender, number and case. Gender may be masculine, feminine or neuter. Number may be singular, plural or "dual". And there are 8 cases: Nominative (Nom.), Vocative (Voc.), Accusative (Acc.), Instrumental (Ins.), Dative (Dat.), Ablative (Ab.), Genitive (Gen.) and Locative (Loc.).

But what is declension? It is the inflection of nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals. Every noun, adjective, pronoun or numeral has a crude form or prātipadika. Prātipadika is their uninflected form. Got it? An example now:

"Śiva" is the crude form of the noun "Śiva". Very good. But, if you want to place it in a sentence, you must give gender, number and case to it. For instance: "Śiva is worshipped". You cannot simply write "Śiva pūjyate", because you must assign a gender, number and case to the words before placing them in the sentence. Since the gender is masculine, the number is singular and the case is Nominative, you have to transform the word "Śiva" into "Śivaḥ". When you add a Visarga (ḥ) to a noun ending in "a", the Nominative case is denoted. So:

"Śivaḥ pūjyate"

And now the sentence is properly structured. Of course, every vowel termination has its own set of endings. However, there is a kind of "pattern case endings", which I will use when I explain the "Mechanics of declension" to you.

As you can see, to decline is simply to alter the last part of a noun, adjective, pronoun or numeral in their crude form (prātipadika) so that a gender, number and case is given to them. In short, you must "inflect" them. Obviously, if a noun, adjective, pronoun or numeral has no gender, number and case, it cannot enter the sentence.

As a gift, you have also a document with many examples and another one with a list of terminations so that you may fully understand Sanskrit declension.

A final advise: Go deep into the Sandhi rules in order to fully understand the declensions and the rest. Also, have always a printed copy of all Rules of Sandhi at hand.

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 What does every case mean?

I will explain this subject to you completely. You must understand the meaning of every case, not only to be able to decline properly, but to use declension in a proper manner. If you do not understand how to utilize every case, you will never can build up a sentence in Sanskrit.

Although I am going to teach the "generic" meaning of the eight cases, you must learn to think in Sanskrit. If you keep thinking in English while studying Sanskrit, you will not grasp it at all. Some verbs use cases in an apparently "incoherent" way (from the English's viewpoint, of course). For example, in English you say: "I am saying something to someone", but in Sanskrit you may come to say "I am saying something on someone". In Sanskrit, the use of the words "of, for, to, on" and all the rest, is "generally" similar to that of English, but not all the time. So, start to think gradually in Sanskrit from now on if you want to learn this language adequately:

1) NOMINATIVE CASE: It indicates the Subject. The Subject is both he who is doing the action denoted by the verb and who is described by the rest of the sentence.
(Even though you have just started learning declension, I am going to decline in the examples of each case. Do not worry, it is only for the sake of information. I will use nouns ending in "a".)

शिवः प्रेम भवति - Śivaḥ prema bhavati

Śiva (śivaḥ) is (bhavati) love (prema) --the Subject "Śiva" is being described in this sentence. Note that I had to add Visarga to the prātipadika or crude form "Śiva" so that the word be properly declined in the Nominative case--.

शिवः करोति सर्वम् - Śivaḥ karoti sarvam

Śiva (śivaḥ) does (karoti) everything (sarvam) --the Subject "Śiva" is doing the action denoted by the verb.

2) VOCATIVE CASE: It indicates Direct Address. It may be optionally accompanied by such words as "he-- O". If not so, the interjections "O" or "Eh" are already included in the Vocative case itself.

हे शिव पाहि मे - He śiva pāhi me

O (he) Śiva (śiva) protect (pāhi) me (me)! --The "he" is optional. Note that the Vocative case "Śiva" coincides with the crude form or prātipadika "Śiva". Although this is true for nouns ending in "a", is not always true for all nouns, because sometimes the Vocative case coincides with the Nominative case and, at other cases, it differs from both the crude form and the Nominative--.

शिव पाहि मे - Śiva pāhi me

O Śiva (śiva) protect (pāhi) me (me) --Note that the "O" is included in the Vocative case itself.

पुष्पदन्त गातुमर्हसि - Puṣpadanta gātumarhasi

Eh Puṣpadanta (puṣpadanta) be pleased (arhasi) to sing (gātum) --Note that "Eh" is also indicated by the Vocative case--.

3) ACCUSATIVE CASE: It indicates the Direct Object. The Direct Object is that to which the action denoted by the verb is being directed.

शिवमाप्नुयात् - Śivamāpnuyāt

He/she/it would obtain (āpnuyāt) Śiva (śivam) --"Śivam" is the proper declension for "Śiva" in the Accusative case--.

4) INSTRUMENTAL CASE: It indicates the Instrument. When you use this case you are "usually" indicating "by, through, by means of, with, along with, together with, etc.".

शिवेन विश्वं कृतम् - Śivena viśvaṁ kṛtam

The universe (viśvam) has been made (kṛtam) by Śiva (śivena) --"Śiva" is the instrument or means by which the entire universe has been made. Note that "ena" in "Śivena" is respectively substituted for the final "a" in "Śiva". In short, you remove "a" and place "ena" instead. Of course, this rule is only valid for nouns and adjectives ending in "a"--.

पुष्पदन्तेन वनं गच्छामि - Puṣpadantena vanaṁ gacchāmi

I go (gacchāmi) to the woods (vanam) along with Puṣpadanta (puṣpadantena) --And now, the Intrumental case gives a sense of company--.

5) DATIVE CASE: It indicates the Indirect Object. In English the Indirect Object is the word coming after "for" or "to" or "for the sake of", etc.

स शिवाय पुष्पं ददाति - Sa śivāya puspaṁ dadāti

He (saḥ) offers (dadāti) a flower (puṣpam) to Śiva (śivāya) --"Śivāya" is the Indirect Object and "puṣpam" is the Direct Object. In sum, you may see two words being declined: one in Dative case and the other in Accusative case--.

6) ABLATIVE CASE: It indicates the Source. When you use this case you are "usually" indicating "from, on account of, since, because of, due to, owing to, etc.".

शिवादनुग्रह आगच्छति - Śivādanugraha āgacchati

The (divine) favour or grace (anugrahaḥ) comes (āgacchati) from Śiva (śivāt) --"Śivāt" is the Ablative case of "Śiva". You may also see that I have used some rules of Sandhi to combine the words. But just pay attention to the cases--.

शिवाज्जगद्वर्तते - Śivājjagadvartate

The world (jagat) exists (vartate) because of Śiva (śivāt) --Note that the final "t" in "Śivāt" has been combined with the initial "j" in "jagat" (by means of a rule of Sandhi) to form "jj".--

7) GENITIVE CASE: It indicates Sense of Belonging. When you use this case you are "usually" indicating "of, 's, s', etc.".

शिवस्य गिरिः - Śivasya giriḥ

The mountain (giriḥ) of Śiva (śivasya) --"Śivasya" is the Genitive case of "Śiva". Apart from this, sometimes the Genitive may be used in place of the Dative case (e.g. the sentence "Hitaṁ śivasya" cannot be translated into "Good of Śiva". It does not make any sense. Not at all. In this case, the Genitive must be taken for Dative. So, the proper translation is "Good for Śiva". It is very simple. Still, the Genitive has "usually" to do with a sense of ownership.)--.

8) LOCATIVE CASE: It indicates the Location. When you use this case you are "usually" indicating "in, on, at, etc.".

शिवे सर्वं वर्तते - Śive sarvaṁ vartate

Everything (sarvam) exists (vartate) in Śiva (śive) --"Śive" is the Locative case of "Śiva". However, sometimes the Locative case may be used in place of the Accusative (e.g. "Śive dattam" is not to be translated as "Given in Śiva" It does not make any sense. Not at all. In this case the Locative must be taken for Accusative. So, the proper translation is "Given to Śiva". Still, the Locative has "usually" to do with a sense of location.)--.

This is a mere introduction to the subject "Cases". We will go deeper into it when studying Sanskrit syntax (Syntax section).

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 Kinds of vowel terminations

Look at this simple table:

You may see that if the "a" is the final vowel, so the noun or adjective is masculine or neuter. In turn, if it ends in "ā", is masculine or feminine. And a noun or adjective ending in "i, u or ṛ" may be masculine, feminine or neuter. Finally, those that end in "ī or ū" are feminine. All this is true in respect of the "crude forms" or prātipadika-s of the nouns and adjectives. Of course, if you take the declined form there will be surely incoherence. For example: "ātmā" --"self"-- ends in "ā" but it is not a prātipadika or crude form but a noun declined in Nominative case. The proper prātipadika is "ātman" (a noun ending in "an").

Thus, you must use the prātipadika or crude form to classify a noun or adjective. In a Sanskrit dictionary you find fundamentally prātipadika-s (of course, other cases are also given in order to furnish the reader with more information).

Remember that a noun or adjective ending in a vowel may have just one gender or several genders too. It may be either only masculine, or both masculine and neuter, and so on.

And now, the same table but with examples this time:

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 Pattern case endings

Even though there is a particular set of endings for every kind of vowel termination, that is, "one set for nouns ending in a, one set for nouns ending in i, etc.", we might consider the set which is used to decline nouns ending in consonant to be a "pattern set". It is strange, isn't it? Well, that set must be used carefully because it is not always valid. For example, the nouns ending in "a" have practically a set of terminations apart. However, we can use the pattern set in a general way. I will explain how to use it to you in "Mechanics of declension". Pay attention now:

PATTERN CASE ENDINGS (MASCULINE AND FEMININE NOUNS)

PATTERN CASE ENDINGS (NEUTER NOUNS)

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 Mechanics of declension

I will use the pattern case endings given above to explain the mechanics of declension to you. Remember that this set of endings is a "general" one and is not always to be applied. Nevertheless, the set of pattern case endings holds good only in the last five cases (Instrumental, Dative, Ablative, Genitive and Locative) in Dual and Plural when you use it with nouns ending in "i" and "u". Therefore, I will explain the mechanics of declension by using nouns ending in "i" and "u".

Let us take the following noun: "śakti" (fem.), which means "power".

First of all, you remove the final vowel ("i" in this case) from the noun and then you combine it with a pattern case ending. So, I will add the respective pattern case ending (only Instrumental, Dative, Ablative, Genitive and Locative in Dual and Plural) to the word "śakti" (a feminine noun). Remember that since "śakti" is a feminine noun, you must use the first above table. Let us get down to work:

Of course, in "real" world the vowel ("i" in this case) is already included in the set of terminations, and you have merely to replace that final vowel with the respective ending so that you do not have to separate the final vowel from the crude form or Prātipadika, add to termination and then join everything together again. Got it? You will grasp what I meant while studying the next topic. Nonetheless, it is very useful to understand what is the "standard" procedure to properly decline a noun or adjective.

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 Nouns and adjectives ending in "A"

This group has practically a set of terminations of its own. Nevertheless, is to be noted a little similarity between these terminations and the pattern case endings. Remember that all nouns and adjectives ending in "a" are masculine or neuter. Pay attention:

ENDINGS FOR MASCULINE NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES ENDING IN "A"

ENDINGS FOR NEUTER NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES ENDING IN "A"

To decline these nouns and adjectives, I just substitute any of the previous terminations for the final "a". As I said to you before, the procedure of declension has been simplified by including the final vowel in the terminations themselves. An example now of how to decline properly a masculine noun ending in "a" --Śiva, in this case--. Remember that the word "Śiva" means "Auspicious":

And one example of how to decline a neuter noun ending in "a". I will use the word "āsana" --which means posture as well as seat--:

The termination "āni" is changed to "āṇi" when the noun or adjective contains "r, ṣ, ṛ or ṝ" although a vowel, a semivowel (except "L"), a nasal, a guttural or labial, or "h" comes between "r, ṣ, ṛ or ṝ" and "n" of "āni". In short, if there are between both of them any letter that is not a vowel, a semivowel (except "L"), a nasal, a guttural or labial, or "h", "āni" remains the same without any change at all. This is the 18^th Rule of Consonant Sandhi. Remember that the Sibilants is not a group apart, even though it seems so. "Śa" is a palatal, "ṣa" is a cerebral and "sa" is a dental letter. Go to Alphabet (English - variant). So, if any sibilant comes between "r, ṣ, ṛ or ṝ" and "n" of "āni", no change occurs. Examples:

cakra + āni = cakrāṇi (the change occurs because a vowel comes between "r" in "cakra" and "n" in "āni"). The word "cakra" means "wheel, group, etc.".

gṛha + āni = gṛhāṇi (the change occurs because "h" and a vowel comes between "ṛ" in "gṛha" and "n" in "āni"). The word "gṛha" means "house".

hṛdaya + āni = hṛdayāni (no change occurs because the dental "d" comes between "ṛ" in "hṛdaya" and "n" in "āni"). Since "d" is neither a vowel nor a "y", "r" or "v" (all semivowels except "l") nor a nasal nor a guttural nor a labial nor "h", "āni" will remain the same.

It was very simple, wasn't it?

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 Nouns and adjectives ending in "Ā"

Just as the preceding group of nouns and adjectives ending in "a", this one also has practically a set of terminations of its own. Nevertheless, is to be noted a little similarity between these terminations and the pattern case endings. Remember that all nouns and adjectives ending in "ā" in their crude form (Prātipadika) are "mostly" feminine, that is to say, there are several masculine ones too (generally nouns and adjectives being derived from roots ending in "ā"). Regarding masculine nouns and adjectives ending in "ā", there are two situations:

1) As far as those having a root as the latter member is concerned, the final "ā" is to be dropped before the terminations only from the Accusative (pl.) case on.
2) But, if the latter member is not a root, that "ā" is not dropped, "except in dual number!" Thus, you will find that Accusative (pl.), Dative (sing.), Ablative (sing.), Genitive (sing.) and Locative (sing.) have been changed in accordance with the 2^nd and 3^rd Primary Rules of Vowel Sandhi. In other words, you have to combine that "ā" not being dropped with the respective termination of the abovementioned cases: ā + aḥ = āḥ (Accusative pl.); ā + e = ai (Dative sing.); ā + aḥ = āḥ (Ablative sing.); ā + aḥ = āḥ (Genitive sing.) and ā + i = e (Locative sing.). Thank God this kind of nouns and adjectives are rarely seen. I am giving you an example of one ("Hāhā", the name of a Gandharva or Heavenly Musician) here.

ENDINGS FOR MASCULINE NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES ENDING IN "Ā"

ENDINGS FOR FEMININE NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES ENDING IN "Ā"

To decline these nouns and adjectives, I just substitute any of the previous terminations for the final "ā". Two examples now of how to decline properly a masculine noun and a feminine one ending in "ā" --viśvapā (Protector of the world) and Umā (one of the Śiva's wifes), the former is masculine and the latter is feminine--. Remember that the word "Umā" means "splendor, light, etc.". As you surely know, Umā is one of the wifes of Śiva in the mythology. A last thing, since "viśvapā" has the root "pā" (to protect) as its latter member, its final "ā" is to be dropped before the terminations from Accusative pl. on --See 1) in red color above--:

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 Concluding remarks

It has been a simple job this time. The same mechanics of declension is to be followed when you face other noun or adjective terminations, no matter how strange the ending may be. Next document I will keep teaching you how to decline properly. In sum, you will find more tables with endings and many examples of course.

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 Further information

This document was conceived by Gabriel Pradīpaka, one of the two founders of this site, and spiritual guru conversant with Sanskrit language and Trika philosophy.

For further information about Sanskrit, Yoga and Indian Philosophy; or if you simply want to comment, ask a question or correct a mistake, feel free to contact us: This is our e-mail address.