Sanskrit nouns

Sanskrit is a highly inflected language with three liṅga-s, or grammatical genders (puṃliṅga/masculine, strīliṅga/feminine, napuṃsakaliṅga/neuter) and three vacana-s or numbers (ekavacana/singular, dvivacana/dual, bahuvacana/plural). It has eight vibhakti-s or cases: nominative (kartā), accusative (karma), instrumental (karaṇa), dative (sampradāna), ablative (apādāna), genitive (sambandha), locative (adhikaraṇa) and vocative (sambodhana).[1]

Nouns are grouped into "declensions", which are sets of nouns that form their cases in a similar manner. In this article, they are divided into five declensions. The declension to which a noun belongs is determined largely by form.

Cases

Sanskrit nouns have eight vibhakti-s (lit. division) or cases, numbered in this order: nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, locative, and vocative.[2] Of these eight vibhakti-s, Pāṇini identified six as kāraka-s (lit. doer of an action), or accessories to a verb. The six kārakas are the nominative, accusative, dative, instrumental, locative, and ablative cases.[3] He defined them as follows (Ashtādhyāyi, I.4.24-54):

1. Kartā ('agent'): "he/that which is independent in action". This is equivalent to the nominative case. (On the basis of Scharfe, Hartmut (1977). Grammatical literature. History of Indian literature. 5. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz. p. 94. ISBN 978-3447017060.)
2. Karman ('deed'/'object'): "what the agent seeks most to attain". This is equivalent to the accusative case.
3. Karaṇa ("instrument") "that which effects most." This is equivalent to the instrumental case.
4. Sampradāna ('bestowal'): "he whom one aims at with the object". This is equivalent to the dative case, which signifies a recipient in an act of giving or similar acts.
5. Apādāna (lit. 'take off'): "(that which is) firm when departure (takes place)." This is the equivalent of the ablative case, which signifies a stationary object from which movement proceeds.
6. Adhikaraṇa ('location'): or "substratum." This is equivalent to the locative case.

Pāṇini did not identify the genitive (Sambandha / 6th vibhakti) and vocative (Sambodhana / 8th vibhakti) as Kārakas.[4]

Basic noun and adjective declension

The basic scheme of suffixation is given in the table below and applies to many nouns and adjectives. However, according to the gender and the final consonant or vowel of the uninflected word-stem, there are sandhi rules dictating the form of the inflected word.[5]

	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Masc./Fem	Neu.	Masc./Fem	Neu.	Masc./Fem	Neu.
Nominative	ḥ	Ø	au	ī	aḥ	i
Accusative	am
Instrumental	ā		bhyām		bhiḥ
Dative	e				bhyaḥ
Ablative	aḥ
Genitive			oḥ		ām
Locative	i				su

a-stems

A-stems (/ə/ or /aː/) comprise the largest class of nouns. As a rule, nouns belonging to this class, with the uninflected stem ending in short-a (/ə/), are either masculine or neuter. Nouns ending in long-A (/aː/) are almost always feminine. A-stem adjectives take the masculine and neuter in short-a (/ə/), and feminine in long-A (/aː/) in their stems. This class is so big because it also comprises both the Proto-Indo-European o-stems and eh₂-stems.

	Masculine (gaja- 'elephant')			Neuter (pustaka- 'book')			Feminine (kanyā- 'girl')
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	gajaḥ	gajau	gajāḥ	pustakam	pustake	pustakāni	kanyā	kanye	kanyāḥ
Accusative	gajam		gajān				kanyām
Instrumental	gajena	gajābhyām	gajaiḥ	pustakena	pustakābhyām	pustakaiḥ	kanyayā	kanyābhyām	kanyābhiḥ
Dative	gajāya		gajebhyaḥ	pustakāya		pustakebhyaḥ	kanyāyai		kanyābhyaḥ
Ablative	gajāt			pustakāt			kanyāyāḥ
Genitive	gajasya	gajayoḥ	gajānām	pustakasya	pustakayoḥ	pustakānām		kanyayoḥ	kanyānām
Locative	gaje		gajeṣu	pustake		pustakeṣu	kanyāyām		kanyāsu
Vocative	gaja	gajau	gajāḥ	pustaka	pustake	pustakāni	kanye		kanyāḥ

i- and u-stems

This class contains nouns of all three genders, but its most defining features are best preserved in the masculine forms. Feminine nouns may borrow part of their singular endings from the -ī and -ū classes, and neuters regularly use a derived consonant stem in -in or -un. They are considered part of this class by traditional grammars for etymological reasons, as well as the fact that adjectives in -i and -u complete their paradigms suppletively for the three genders with these forms.

i-stems

	Masculine (muni- 'sage')			Neuter (vāri- 'water')			Feminine (gati- 'path, way')
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	muniḥ	munī	munayaḥ	vāri	vāriṇī	vārīṇi	gatiḥ	gatī	gatayaḥ
Accusative	munim		munīn				gatim		gatīḥ
Instrumental	muninā	munibhyām	munibhiḥ	vāriṇā	vāribhyām	vāribhiḥ	gatyā	gatibhyām	gatibhiḥ
Dative	munaye		munibhyaḥ	vāriṇe		vāribhyaḥ	gataye, gatyāi		gatibhyaḥ
Ablative	muneḥ			vāriṇaḥ			gateḥ, gatyāḥ
Genitive		munyoḥ	munīnām		vāriṇoḥ	vārīṇām		gatyoḥ	gatīnām
Locative	munau		muniṣu	vāriṇi		vāriṣu	gatau, gatyām		gatiṣu
Vocative	mune	munī	munayaḥ	vāri, vāre	vāriṇī	vārīṇi	gate	gatī	gatayaḥ

u-stems

	Masculine (śatru- 'enemy')			Neuter (madhu- 'honey')			Feminine (dhenu- 'cow')
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	śatruḥ	śatrū	śatravaḥ	madhu	madhunī	madhūni	dhenuḥ	dhenū	dhenavaḥ
Accusative	śatrum		śatrūn				dhenum		dhenūḥ
Instrumental	śatruṇā	śatrubhyām	śatrubhiḥ	madhunā	madhubhyām	madhubhiḥ	dhenvā	dhenubhyām	dhenubhiḥ
Dative	śatrave		śatrubhyaḥ	madhune		madhubhyaḥ	dhenave, dhenvai		dhenubhyaḥ
Ablative	śatroḥ			madhunaḥ			dhenoḥ, dhenvāḥ
Genitive		śatrvoḥ	śatrūṇām		madhunoḥ	madhūnām		dhenvoḥ	dhenūnām
Locative	śatrau		śatruṣu	madhuni		madhuṣu	dhenau, dhenvām		dhenuṣu
Vocative	śatro	śatrū	śatravaḥ	madhu	madhunī	madhūni	dheno	dhenū	dhenavaḥ

Long-vowel stems

These nouns, mostly feminine, have stems in -ā, -ī, -ū and genitive singular in ās. The -ī and -ū classes decline identically, while the -ā class have different dual and vocative forms, as well as inserts either -āy- or -ay- before oblique case endings beginning with vowels.

	ā-stems (kanyā- 'girl')			ī-stems (devī- 'goddess, queen, woman')			ū-stems (vadhū- 'bride')
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	kanyā	kanye	kanyāḥ	devī	devyau	devyaḥ	vadhūḥ	vadhvau	vadhvaḥ
Accusative	kanyām			devīm		devīḥ	vadhūm		vadhūḥ
Instrumental	kanyayā	anyābhyām	kanyābhiḥ	devyā	devībhyām	devībhiḥ	vadhvā	vadhūbhyām	vadhūbhiḥ
Dative	kanyāyi		kanyābhyaḥ	devyai		devībhyaḥ	vadhvai		vadhūbhyaḥ
Ablative	kanyāyāḥ			devyāḥ			vadhvāḥ
Genitive		kanyayoḥ	kanyānām		devyoḥ	devībhyām		vadhvoḥ	vadhūnām
Locative	kanyāyām		kanyāsu	devyām		devīṣu	vadhvām		vadhūṣu
Vocative	kanye		kanyāḥ	devi	devyau	devyaḥ	vadhu	vadhvau	vadhvaḥ

Many one-syllable root nouns in long vowels are inflected in principle as consonant stems, but the feminine ones may also use the longer singular endings of the class proper, in a similar way short -i and -u stem feminines do.

	ā-stems (jā- 'progeny')			ī-stems (dhī- 'thought')			ū-stems (bhū- 'earth')
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	jās	jāu	jās	dhīs	dhiyau	dhiyas	bhūs	bhuvau	bhuvas
Accusative	jām		jās, jas	dhiyam			bhuvam
Instrumental	jā	jābhyām	jābhis	dhiyā	dhībhyām	dhībhis	bhuvā	bhūbhyām	bhūbhis
Dative	je		jābhyas	dhiye, dhiyai		dhībhyas	bhuve, bhuvai		bhūbhyas
Ablative	jas			dhiyas, dhiyās			bhuvas, bhuvās
Genitive		jos	jānām, jām		dhiyos	dhiyām, dhīnām		bhuvos	bhuvām, bhūnām
Locative	ji		jāsu	dhiyi, dhiyām		dhīṣu	bhuvi, bhuvām		bhūṣu
Vocative	jās	jau	jās	dhīs	dhiyau	dhiyas	bhūs	bhuvau	bhuvas

ṛ-stems

ṛ-stems are predominantly agental derivatives like dātṛ 'giver', though also include kinship terms like pitṛ 'father', mātṛ 'mother', and svasṛ 'sister'. The neuter equivalents of derivative agental nouns once again form secondary stems in -n, as in the -i and -u classes.

	Masculine (pitṛ- 'father')			Feminine (mātṛ- 'mother')			Neuter (dātṛ- 'giver')
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	pitā	pitarau	pitaraḥ	mātā	mātarau	mātaraḥ	dātṛ	dātṛṇī	dātṝṇi
Accusative	pitaram		pitṝn	mātaram		mātṝḥ
Instrumental	pitrā	pitṛbhyām	pitṛbhiḥ	mātrā	mātṛbhyām	mātṛbhiḥ	dātṛṇā	dātṛbhyām	dātṛbhiḥ
Dative	pitre		pitṛbhyaḥ	mātre		mātṛbhyaḥ	dātṛṇe		dātṛbhyaḥ
Ablative	pituḥ (pitur)			mātuḥ (mātur)			dātṛṇaḥ
Genitive		pitroḥ	pitṝṇām		mātroḥ	mātṝṇām		dātṛṇoḥ	dātṝṇām
Locative	pitari		pitṛṣu	mātari		mātṛṣu	dātṛṇi		dātṛṣu
Vocative	pitaḥ (pitar)	pitarau	pitaraḥ	mātaḥ (mātar)	mātarau	mātaraḥ	dātṛ	dātṛṇī	dātṝṇi

A single irregular noun, sakhi 'friend', has a stem in -i but declines similarly to this class:

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sakhā	sakhāyau	sakhāyas
Accusative	sakhāyam		sakhīn
Instrumental	sakhyā	sakhibhyām	sakhibhiḥ
Dative	sakhye		sakhibhyaḥ
Ablative	sakhyuḥ (sakhayur)
Genitive		sakhyoḥ	sakhīnām
Locative	sakhyau, sakhayi		sakhiṣu
Vocative	sakhe	sakhāyau	sakhāyaḥ

Consonant stems

Consonant stem nouns may have up to 3 different stems, as well as two special forms.

1. A special lengthened form for the masculine/feminine nominative singular
2. A special lengthened and/or nasalized form for the neuter nom/acc. plural
3. A strong stem, referred to by traditional grammars as aṅga, used for mas/fem. sing. acc, dual nom/acc and plur. nom.
4. A medium stem pada, used with oblique cases with consonant endings, as well as the neuter nom/acc. sing.
5. A weak stem bha, used everywhere else.

One or more of these stems may be identical for some words, but this is generally not regularly predictable from either the nominative singular or the citation form stem. The case endings themselves are the regular ones listed at the beginning of the page.

Inflection example of words with only one stem; note that the neuter plural still uses the special form.

One-stem types	Masculine (marut 'wind')			Feminine (naus 'ship')			Neuter (manas 'mind')
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	marut	marutau	marutas	naus	nāvau	nāvas	manaḥ (manas)	manasī	manāṃsi
Accusative	marutam			nāvam
Instrumental	marutā	marudbhyām	marudbhis	nāvā	naubhyām	naubhis	manasā	manobhyām	manobhiḥ
Dative	marute		marudbhyas	nāve		naubhyas	manase		manobhyaḥ
Ablative	marutas			nāvas			manasaḥ
Genitive		marutos	marutām		nāvos	nāvām		manasos	manasām
Locative	maruti		marutsu	nāvi		nauṣu	manasi		manaḥsu
Vocative	marut	marutau	marutas	naus	nāvau	nāvas	manas (manaḥ)	manasī	manāṃsi

Example of words with different stems:

1. rājā, rājñas (gen.sg. or bha), rājānas (nom.pl. or aṅga), rājabhis (inst. plur. or pada)
2. dyaus, divas (gen.sg. or bha), divas (nom.pl. or aṅga), dyubhis (inst.plur. or pada)
3. karma (nom.sg. or pada), karmaṇas (gen.sg. or bha), karmāṇi (special neuter nom.plur., here coinciding with the aṅga form of rājā above)

Multiple-stem types	Masculine (rājā 'king')			Feminine (dyaus 'heaven')			Neuter (karma 'deed')
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	rājā	rājānau	rājānaḥ	dyauḥ	divau	divaḥ	karma	karmaṇī	karmāṇi
Accusative	rājānam		rājñaḥ	divam			karma
Instrumental	rājñā	rājabhyām	rājabhiḥ	divā	dyubhyām	dyubhiḥ	karmaṇā	karmabhyām	karmabhiḥ
Dative	rājñe		rājabhyaḥ	dive		dyubhyaḥ	karmaṇe		karmabhyaḥ
Ablative	rājñaḥ			divaḥ			karmaṇaḥ
Genitive		rājñoḥ	rājñām		divoḥ	divām		karmaṇoḥ	karmaṇām
Locative	rājani, rājñi		rājasu	divi		dyuṣu	karmaṇi		karmasu
Vocative	rājan	rājānau	rājānaḥ	dyaus	divau	divas	karma	karmaṇī	karmāṇi

The masculine vocative can be a somewhat peculiar case. For the most part, if either the masc.nom.sing. or the aṅga stem ends with -n or some consonant cluster thereof, the vocative is this stem with a short vowel immediately before the -n; and in most other nouns it is identical to the nom.sing. As an example of an exception, the word cited as pathin "path" has the forms panthās, pathas, panthānas, pathibhis but vocative panthās instead of the expected panthan; a different consonant ending in the nom.sing. has taken precedence when it is not a cluster starting with n.

Adjectives

a-stem adjectives

This large class uses the -as, -am inflection for the masculine and neuter, and either ā or ī for the feminine depending on the word.

Kāntas, -ā, -am mentioned above is one of such adjectives that use ā for feminine; others, such as sundaras, -ī, -am, use ī in its place.

Pure i- and u-stem adjectives

This class consists of a number of primary adjectives such as bahus, -us, -u "many" and śucis, -is, -i "pure", as well as ones adapted from nouns like bahuvrīhis. They are inflected like the i- and u-stem nouns described above; occasionally the feminine u may gain an additional ī and become vī.

Nouns originally in long -ī, -ū, when used as adjectives, tend to simply extend the feminine forms to masculine. In the neuter, however, it is substituted with the same short -i(n), -u(n).

Pure consonant stem adjectives

The majority of this class is adapted from simple consonant stem nouns. Masculine and feminine genders share the same forms, and the neuter may take a strengthened plural form by analogy, or sometimes not use it. The oblique cases are the same for all genders.

vedhās, -ās, -as "virtuous"	Mas/Fem (plural vedhasas )			Neuter (plural vedhāṃsi)
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	vedhās	vedhasau	vedhasas	vedhas	vedhasī	vedhāṃsi
Accusative	vedhasam
Vocative	vedhas

The neuter noun āyus, -ṣas, -ūṃṣi "life, vitality" and the feminine verbal root-noun vṛt, vṛtas "turn, fold", when adopted as adjectives such as in the compounds dīrghāyus "longlived" and trivṛt "threefold", employ analogously the following adaptations:

	Mas/Fem (plural āyuṣas )			Neuter (plural āyūṃṣi)
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	rowspan="2" | āyuṣau	āyuṣas	āyus	āyusī	āyūṃṣi
Accusative	āyuṣam

	Mas/Fem (plural vṛtas )			Neuter (plural vṛnti, vṛti)
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	vṛt	vṛtau	vṛtas	vṛt	vṛtī	vṛnti, vṛti
Accusative	vṛtam

Consonant and ī-stem adjectives

These adjectives use consonant stem forms for the masculine and neuter genders, and a secondary ī-suffix for the feminine.

The masculine exhibits the singular special form mahān and the aṅga form mahāntas; the feminine builds on the bha form mahatī; and the neuter cites the pada form mahat.

mahat "large, great"	Masculine (mahān, mahāntas)			Feminine (mahatī)			Neuter (mahat)
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	mahān	mahāntau	mahāntas	mahatī	mahatyau	mahatyas	mahat	mahatī	mahānti
Accusative	mahāntam		mahatas	mahatīm		mahatīs
Instrumental	mahatā	mahadbhyām	mahadbhis	mahatyā	mahatībhyām	mahatībhis	mahatā	mahadbhyām	mahadbhis
Dative	mahate		mahadbhyas	mahatyai		mahatībhyas	mahate		mahadbhyas
Ablative	mahatas			mahatyās			mahatas
Genitive		mahatos	mahatām		mahatyos	mahatīnām		mahatos	mahatām
Locative	mahati		mahatsu	mahatyām		mahatīṣu	mahati		mahatsu
Vocative	mahan, mahān	mahāntau	mahāntas	mahati	mahatyau	mahatyas	mahat	mahatī	mahānti

In present participles of the thematic verb classes, the feminine ī-suffix along with the homophonic neuter dual is attached to the aṅga stem in -nt. In the athematic classes, it may be attached to either; in the reduplicated athematic class no aṅga-based forms are used at all, so it is again attached to the -t stem.

Primary derivation

A small closed class of comparatives and superlatives are directly formed on adjectival roots, after dropping the original stem suffix. The comparative takes the suffix -īyān(yāṃsas), yasī, yas, which declines as a consonant- and ī-stem adjective; the superlative takes -iṣṭhaḥ, ā, am. The root is strengthened to the guṇa grade.

• from mahān, root mah-, is formed mahīyān, mahiṣṭhaḥ;

• from sthiraḥ "stable", root sthi-, is formed stheyān, stheṣṭhaḥ.

In some adjectives the original form of the root has been obscured by internal sandhi, making the outcome somewhat irregular. Thus:

• from gur-uḥ "heavy", originally g^(w)ṛ-uḥ, comes garīyān, gariṣṭhaḥ;

• from dīrgh-aḥ "long", originally dṝgh- < dṛHgh- (where H denotes a laryngeal), a guṇa placed in the second possible slot (saṃprasāraṇam) gives draHgh- > drāgh-, whence drāghīyān, drāghiṣṭhaḥ;

Secondary derivation

The secondary suffixes of comparison are -taraḥ, ā, am for comparative and -tamaḥ, ā, am for superlative. They are appended to the inflectional base, with no modification of the stem. Usually, the pada stem is used for consonant-stem adjectives, but those in a simple -n sometimes retain it.

• priyatara-, priyatama- from priya-;
• vṛṣatara-, vṛṣatama- from vṛṣan-, but vṛṣantama- is also attested.

Numerals

The numbers from one to ten are:

1. eka (एक)
2. dva (द्व)
3. trayas (त्रि)
4. catur (चतुर्)
5. pañca (पञ्च)
6. ṣaṣ (षष्)
7. sapta (सप्त)
8. aṣṭa (अष्ट)
9. nava (नव)
10. daśa (दश)

The numbers one through four are declined. Eka is declined like a pronominal adjective, though the dual form does not occur. Dva appears only in the dual. Tri and catur are declined irregularly.

See also

• Sanskrit pronouns and determiners

Notes

1. W. D. Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar: Including both the Classical Language and the Older Dialects
2. W. D. Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar: Including both the Classical Language and the Older Dialects
3. "CSI: Man3". Chass.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
4. S.C. Vasu, The Astadhyayi of Pāṇini
5. MacDonell, III.71, p. 33.

References

• Coulson, Michael. Teach Yourself Sanskrit. Oxford: Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. (ISBN 0-340-32389-2)
• Delbrück, B. Altindische Tempuslehre (1876)
• Goldman, Robert P., and Sally J. Sutherland Goldman. Devavāṇīpraveśikā: An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language. Berkeley: Center for South Asian Studies, 2004. (ISBN 0-944613-40-3)
• Macdonell, A. A. A Sanskrit Grammar for Students. London: Oxford UP, 1927. (ISBN 81-246-0094-5)
• Wackernagel, Debrunner, Altindische Grammatik, Göttingen.
  • vol. I. phonology Jacob Wackernagel (1896)
  • vol. II.1. introduction to morphology, nominal composition, Wackernagel (1905)
  • vol. II.2. nominal suffixes, J. Wackernagel and Albert Debrunner (1954)
  • vol. III. nominal inflection, numerals, pronouns, Wackernagel and Debrunner (1930)
• Whitney, W. D., Sanskrit Grammar: Including both the Classical Language and the Older Dialects
• W. D. Whitney, The Roots, Verb-Forms and Primary Derivatives of the Sanskrit Language (A Supplement to His Sanskrit Grammar)