Sanskrit verbs


Sanskrit verbs have an inflection system for different combinations of tense, aspect, mood, voice, number, and person. Participial forms are also extensively used.

Basics

Sanskrit verbs are conjugated in three persons : first, second, and third person.
Verbs also have three numeric forms: singular, dual, and plural. Any verb that refers to only two objects must be in the dual form.
Participles are considered part of the verbal systems although they are not verbs themselves, and as with other Sanskrit nouns, they can be declined across seven or eight cases, for three genders and three numeric forms.

Roots

धातु
There are two broad ways of classifying Sanskrit verbal roots. They are: Parasmaipadi and Atmanepadi. But some roots are Ubhayapadi i.e. they are conjugated as Parasmaipadi as well as Atmanepadi roots.

Ten ''gaṇa''s

Based on how the present stem is generated from the verb root, Sanskrit has ten gaṇas or classes of verbs divided into two broad groups: athematic and thematic. The thematic verbs are so called because an अ a, called the theme vowel, is inserted between the stem and the ending. This serves to make the thematic verbs generally more regular. Exponents used in verb conjugation include prefixes, suffixes, infixes, and reduplication. Every root has zero, guṇa, and vṛddhi grades. If V is the vowel of the zero grade, the guṇa-grade vowel is traditionally thought of as a + V, and the vṛddhi-grade vowel as ā + V.
The ten classes were as follows:
ClassExample verbDescription
1भरति bharati, "bears"Thematic presents, accent on the root
2अस्ति asti, "is"Athematic root presents
3ददाति dadāti, "gives"Reduplicated athematic presents
4नश्यति naśyati, "perishes"Thematic presents in
5सुनोति sunóti, "presses"Athematic presents in
6तुदति tudati, "beats"Thematic presents, accent on the ending
7रुणद्धि ruṇáddhi, "blocks"Athematic presents with nasal infix
8तनोति tanóti, "stretches"Athematic presents in
9क्रीणाति krīṇāti, "buys"Athematic presents in
10चोरयति coráyati, "steals"Thematic presents in

''Seṭ'' and ''aniṭ'' roots

Sanskrit roots may also be classified, independent of their ', into three groups, depending on whether they take the vowel ' before certain tense markers. Since the term used for this vowel by Sanskrit grammarians is ', these two groups are called ', ', and ' respectively.

Tense systems

The verbs tenses are organized into four 'systems' based on the different stem forms used in conjugation. There are four tense systems:
It is difficult to generalize how many principal parts a Sanskrit verb possesses, since different verb form categories are used with different degrees of regularity. For the vast majority of verbs, conjugation can be made sufficiently clear with the following forms supplied:
The gerundive is also irregular, but its use is rather limited and not a basis for any other verb form.
Many verbs are regular enough that only the present and root/infinitive form are needed to derive the entire conjugation.
For example, for the aniṭ verb to press, सु su, present सुनोति sunoti, are regularly derived with simple rules:
The present system includes the present tense, the imperfect, and the optative and imperative moods, as well as some of the remnant forms of the old subjunctive. The tense stem of the present system is formed in various ways. The numbers are the native grammarians' numbers for these classes.
For athematic verbs, the present tense stem may be formed through:
For thematic verbs, the present tense stem may be formed through:
The tenth class described by native grammarians refers to a process which is derivational in nature, and thus not a true tense-stem formation. It is formed by suffixation of ya with guṇa strengthening and lengthening of the root's last vowel, for example bhāvaya from bhū'' 'be'.

Thematic classes

All thematic classes have invariant stems and share the same inflectional endings.

Present

The present indicative takes primary endings.

Imperfect

The imperfect takes the augment and secondary endings.

Optative

The present optative takes the suffix -e and athematic secondary endings.

Imperative

The imperative has its own set of special endings. Some of these forms are relics from an original subjunctive.

Athematic classes

Present

The present indicative used the strong stem in the singular and the weak elsewhere. For kṛ- used as example here, the weak stem final u is sometimes omitted before endings in v- and m-.
The alternate forms for class 3 are shown with hu- 'sacrifice'.

Imperfect

The imperfect uses the two stems in the same way as the present.

Optative

The optative takes the suffix -yā in the active, and ī in the middle; the stem in front of them is alway the weak one. Here the final u of the kuru- stem is again irregularly dropped.

Imperative

The imperative uses the strong stem in all of the 1st person forms, as well as the 3rd person singular active.
The 2nd person active may have no ending, -dhi, or -hi

Perfect system

The perfect system includes only the perfect. The stem is formed with reduplication; the reduplicated vowel is usually a, but u or i for verbs containing them.
This system also produces separate "strong" and "weak" forms of the verb — the strong guṇa form is used with the singular active, and the weak zero-grade form with the rest. In some verbs, the 3rd and optionally 1st person are further strengthened until the root syllable becomes heavy.
Most verbs ending in consonants behave as seṭ in the perfect tense in front of consonant endings. kṛ- shown here is one of the exceptions.

Aorist system

The aorist system includes aorist proper and some of the forms of the ancient injunctive. The principle distinction of the two is the presence/absence of an augment – a- prefixed to the stem.
The aorist system stem actually has three different formations: the simple aorist, the reduplicating aorist, and the sibilant aorist. The simple aorist is taken directly from the root stem : अभूत्. The reduplicating aorist involves reduplication as well as vowel reduction of the stem. The sibilant aorist is formed with various suffixes containing s'' to the stem.

Root aorist

This aorist is formed by directly adding the athematic secondary endings to the root. Originally this type also had different strong and weak stems for the singular and plural, but verbs that both allow this distinction and utilize this type of aorist are exceptionally rare.
From gam- 'go' and dā- 'give' ; the latter takes -us in the 3rd person plural.
Known instances of weak stems from the Veda include avṛjan from vṛj- in the plural active, adhithās from dhā- in the singular middle, and various forms from kṛ-. Middle voice forms of this class are almost nonexistent in the classical period, being suppleted by those of the sibilant classes.

a-root aorist

This class is formed with a thematized zero-grade root, and takes regular thematic endings.
From sic- 'pour':

s-aorist

This is the most productive aorist class for regular aniṭ verbs, made by suffixing s to the root. All active voice forms use the vṛddhi grade, and middle forms use the weakest grade that produces a heavy root syllable; kṛ- and some verbs in ā may irregularly uses zero grade in place of the latter.
From jī- 'win':
From tud- 'strike':

is-aorist

This aorist form contains the suffix -iṣ and is the productive form of regular seṭ verbs. The strong active stem is usually strengthened until the root syllable is heavy, and the weak middle stem usually assumes the guṇa grade. Some verbs in a followed by a single consonant, such as grah-, do not take additional strengthening in the active.
From pū- 'cleanse':

sis-aorist

This small class is characterized by a reduplicated -siṣ suffix, and is only used in the active voice; the s-aorist is usually used in the middle by verbs that take this formation.
From yā- 'go':

sa-aorist

This formation is used with a small number of verbs ending in consonants which can form the cluster kṣ when an s is added. It takes a mixture of thematic and athematic endings.
From diś- 'show':

Future system

The future stem is formed with the suffix sya or iṣya and the guṇa grade of the root.
From kṛ- :
There is also a conditional, formed from the future stem as the imperfect is formed from a thematic present stem. Rarely used in Classical Sanskrit, the conditional refers to hypothetical actions.

Participles

Sanskrit also makes extensive use of participles.

Past participles

Past participles are formed directly from verbal roots for most verbs. They have a perfective sense, in that they refer to actions that are completed. They can freely substitute for finite verbs conjugated in the past sense.

Past passive participles

The past passive participle in Sanskrit is formed by adding "-tá", and in some cases "na", to a root in its weakest grade when weakening is applicable. As expected, the augment "i" is added to the root before the suffix. The resulting form is an adjective and modifies a noun either expressed or implied. The past passive participle can usually be translated by the corresponding English past passive participle: likhitaḥ śabdaḥ "the written word"; kṛtaṃ kāryam "a done deed." See below for more detail and exceptions.
Examples: bhūta from √bhū; kṛta from √kṛ; sthita from sthā ; ukta from vac ; udita from
√vad ; pūrṇa from pṝ.
Depending on the transitivity of the root, the suffix "-tá" has two basic applications:
1. Transitive roots: when the suffix -tá is added to a transitive root such as √kṛ "to do," the resulting participle expresses the direct object of the verbal root. The agent of the same action must then occur in the instrumental case when the speaker wishes to express it.
Example: √han
राक्षसो हतो रामेण = "The demon was killed by Rāma."
Note that rakṣasa is the direct object of the verbal action expressed in √han "to kill" and the agent of the same action, Rāma, occurs in the instrumental case.
2. Intransitive roots: forms adjectives/participles that indicate that the nouns modified are the subjects for the action of the root. This action is frequently in the past. In other words, the participle serves as a nominalization for a simple past tense in the kartari prayoga.
Example: √sthā
रामो वने स्थितः --> Rāma stood in the forest.

Past active participles

These are regularly formed by suffixing -vant to the past passive participles. They modify the subject of the verb from which they are formed.

Present participle

Unlike the past participles, the present participle is formed from the present stem of the verb, and is formed differently depending on whether the verb is parasmaipada or ātmanepada. The present participle can never substitute for a finite verb. It is also inherently imperfective, indicating an action that is still in process at the time of the main verb.

Future participles

Future participle

Formed from the future stem just as the present participle is formed from the present stem, the future participle describes an action that has not yet happened, but that may in the future.

Gerundive

The gerundive is a future passive prescriptive participle, indicating that the word modified should or ought to be the object of the action of the participle.

Perfect participle

The perfect participle is a past active participle, but is very rarely used in classical Sanskrit.

Aorist participle

The aorist participle used in Vedic was lost in Classical Sanskrit.

Comprehensive example

The following table is a partial listing of the major verbal forms that can be generated from a single root. Not all roots can take all forms; some roots are often confined to particular stems. The verbal forms listed here are all in the third person singular, and they can all be conjugated in three persons and three numbers.
Root: bhū-, a class I thematic verb root.
Present: bhava-
Passive: bhūya-
Future: bhaviṣya-
Perfect: babhūv-
Aorist: bhū-
Desiderative: bubhūṣ-
Intensive: bobho ~ bobhū-
Causative: bhāvaya-
When there are two forms in one cell of this table, the first one is active, the second one middle.
Taking into account the fact that the participial forms each decline in seven cases in three numbers across three genders, and the fact that the verbs each conjugate in three persons in three numbers, the primary, causative, and desiderative stems for this root when counted together have over a thousand forms.