Lesson 7---- Presenting the entire present tense deal. | Lesson Index

                                                                                   Lesson 7 Presenting the entire present tense deal

Thou shalt not press the panic button.

Thou shalt tell thyself, 'So what, if Sanskrit has not just a singular and a plural but a dual as well!'

ते खेलतः । They two play.
युवां खेलथः । You two play.
आवां खेलावः । We two play.

Thou shalt reassure thyself, 'Thank the good Lord that we do not need to learn a triple!

पुस्तकानि। Books, just books.

Here, my dears, are the works.

1. Only the प्रथमपुरुषः  has distinct words based on gender. (Phew!!) M = Masculine पुंल्लिङ्ग । F = Feminine स्त्रीलिङ्ग । N = Neuter नपुंसकलिङ्ग ।
2. The प्रथमपुरुषः  contains within it ALL the nouns and pronouns in the whole wide world EXCEPT for you, you two, all of you, I, two of us , all of us. Therefore....
3. When the verbs of the मध्यमः  and the उत्तमः  are used, the subject need not be given.
   For example, if I say खादथः, the subject can be none but युवाम् ।
   It is only for the प्रथमपुरुषः , that the subject has to be specified.
4. Refer to Lesson 2, on when अहं is used and when अहम् ।
5. This style of presentation is what is original. Here the first preference, in true altruistic style, is given to he, she and it. These become the first person. Yet knowing that the Divine Atman resides in oneself, one refers to oneself as the उत्तमपुरुषः  ।
6. To make Sanskrit available to a generation already accustomed to English grammar, the style that you see in various text books will be the other way around where उत्तमपुरुषः  is referred to as the प्रथमपुरुषः  ...first person, the मध्यमः  is referred to as the द्वितीयपुरुषः  ...the second person, and the third person is called the तृतीयपुरुषः  ...where, in this table, is the प्रथमः . So certain texts - those prescribing the original format - will have the table the way it is written here and certain other texts will have it 'upsidedown'.
7. It doesn't really matter which way you learn it as long as the right form of verb is used with the right subject.

In the second stanza of the bhajana पूर्णकलामयि संवित्स्वरूपिणि, who is the subject? What is the verb? (Ignore the other words that have not been taught as yet.) Those of you who do not know the bhajana, here are the words....
               

                 गुरुमूर्ते त्वां नमामि सततं
                 आत्मकामसंवर्धनि अम्ब ।

Using the given table as a guide, use the correct form of the verb given in brackets and translate the following

1. He speaks.(वद्)
2. We two eat.(खाद्)
3. All of them ( Feminine) see.(दृश् - पश्य)
4. सा पिबति ।
5. यूयं नमथ ।
6. वयं पठामः । 

       7. Do go over the table at least twice a day for the next few days and you will see how easily you will begin to match the verb with its subject.

       8. The tables for the धातुs वद्, पठ्, खाद्, लिख्, हस्, पच्, रक्ष्, नम्, पा (पिब्), दृश् (पश्य) are all there for your ready reference in the Supplement Section. Have titled it "Verb conjugations in the present tense."  Supplement 3 .

When i first landed up with this memorizing process, i wasn't too sure i could do it... i had left school years ago. But once i got started, my learning ability adapted itself to my new requirements. Once you remove the " I can't! " block from your mind, the words begin to flow. Use the words often during the day, it makes it simpler. When faced with a limited vocabulary, i have even constructed sentences like "अहं milkam boi लामि," to connect the right verb प्रत्यय s with its subject. Try it. It's fun.

Once you are more or less comfortable with this, we can move onto our next set of lessons. We shall see Gender and Person combinations

                                                              It's getting interesting, isn't it?
                                                              Till we meet again, " Adios Amigos!"

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