SANSKRIT NOUNS

The nominal system

Nominals are “naming” words. Along with and uninflected words, they are one of the three main types of Sanskrit word. We use the word nominal so that we can refer to many different types of words at once. These types include , , , and numerals.

In this lesson, we'll learn about the basic parts of a nominal word. We'll also learn what kinds of meanings the different nominal endings can express.

Stems and endings

Every nominal word has two parts: a stem and ending. In the examples below, we combine a stem with its ending to a complete word:

सिंह + ः → सिंहः

siṃha + ḥ → siṃhaḥ

the lion

सिंह + स्य → सिंहस्य

siṃha + sya → siṃhasya

of the lion

सिंह + ऐः → सिंहैः

siṃha + aiḥ → siṃhaiḥ

by the lions

The stem contains the nominal's basic meaning. And the ending expresses three basic kinds of information: gender, number, and case.

GENDERS

In the core lessons, we learned that Sanskrit nominals use three different genders. These are

the masculine gender:

सिंहो गच्छति

siṃho gacchati

The () lion goes.

the feminine gender:

सिंहा गच्छति

siṃhā gacchati

The () lion goes.

and the neuter gender:

वनम् अस्ति

vanam asti

There is a forest.

Many nominal stems can freely use any of these three genders. But stems generally use a fixed gender. stems use a fixed gender even if they don't refer to living beings:

योग

(masculine)

नीति

nīti

wise conduct (feminine)

निर्वाण

nirvāṇa

nirvana (neuter)

How we determine which gender a should use? We can usually determine a 's gender by noticing the sounds at the end of a stem. Here are some basic rules that might helpful:

ending in -a are never feminine.

ending in -ā, -ī, and -ū are almost always feminine.

made with the -tra and -ana suffixes are usually neuter.

NUMBERS

In the core lessons, we saw that Sanskrit nominals use three different numbers (vacana). These are the singular, which is used for one item:

सिंहः पश्यति।

siṃhaḥ paśyati.

The lion sees.

the dual, which is used for exactly two items:

सिंहौ पश्यतः।

siṃhau paśyataḥ.

The two lions see.

and the plural, which is used for three or more items:

सिंहाः पश्यन्ति।

siṃhāḥ paśyanti.

The (many) lions see.

CASES

cases	case	Sanskrit	example sentence
case 1	nominative	पुस्तकम्	पुस्तकम् अस्ति
case 2	accusative	पुस्तकम्	पुस्तकम् गृहाण
case 3	instrumental	+	पुस्तकेन (through )	पुस्तकेन ज्ञानम् भवति
case 4	dative	+	पुस्तकाय (for )	पुस्तकाय वेष्टनम
case 5	ablative	+	पुस्तकात् (from )	पुस्तकात् गीतम्
case 6	genitive	+	पुस्तकस्य (of )	पुस्तकस्य लेखकः
case 7	locative	+	पुस्तके (in )	पुस्तके चित्राणि

Case, roughly speaking, is the for the way that Sanskrit nominals express different roles in a sentence. Sanskrit uses eight different cases.

Case 1 can thought of as the default case. Usually, it refers to the subject of the :

सिंहः खादति।

siṃhaḥ khādati.

The lion eats.

But this depends on the prayoga of the . For example, consider the two sentences below. Both use siṃhaḥ in case 1. But the meaning of siṃhaḥ in each sentence is very different:

सिंहः खादति।

siṃhaḥ khādati.

The lion eats.

(kartari prayoga. The lion is the subject of the sentence.)

सिंहः खाद्यते।

siṃhaḥ khādyate.

The lion is eaten.

(karmaṇi prayoga. The lion is the of the sentence.)

Case 2 is generally the of the . It is also used for destinations:

सिंहो ग्रामं पश्यति।

siṃho grāmaṃ paśyati.

The lion sees a village.

सिंहो ग्रामं गच्छति।

siṃho grāmaṃ gacchati.

The lion goes to the village.

Case 3 generally means “with” or “by means of”:

सिंहो मार्गेण ग्रामं गच्छति।

siṃho mārgeṇa grāmaṃ gacchati.

The lion goes to the village by means of the road.

Case 4 generally means “for” or “for the sake of”:

सिंहो मांसाय ग्रामं गच्छति।

siṃho māṃsāya grāmaṃ gacchati.

The lion goes to the village for meat.

सिंहः खादनाय ग्रामं गच्छति।

siṃhaḥ khādanāya grāmaṃ gacchati.

The lion goes to the village for eating (“to eat”).

Case 5 generally means “from,” “than,” or “because of”:

नरः वनाद् ग्रामं गच्छति।

naraḥ vanād grāmaṃ gacchati.

A man goes from the forest to the village.

सिंहो नराद् बलवत्तरः।

siṃho narād balavattaraḥ.

The lion is stronger than the man.

नरः भयाद् गृहं गच्छति।

naraḥ ād gṛhaṃ gacchati.

The man goes home from (because of) fear.

Case 6 generally means “of”:

सिंहो नरस्य गृहं गच्छति।

siṃho narasya gṛhaṃ gacchati.

The lion goes to the house of the man (or, the man's house).

सिंहो नरस्य मांसं खादति।

siṃho narasya māṃṃ khādati.

The lion eats the meat of the man.

Case 7 generally means “in” or “on”:

नरो सिंहे ऽस्ति।

naro siṃhe 'sti.

The man is in the lion.

सिंहो ग्रामे चरति।

siṃho grāme carati.

The lion walks in the village.

And case 8 is the being spoken to:

हे सिंह वनं गच्छ।

he siṃha vanaṃ gaccha.

Hey lion! Go to the forest.

Stem families Nominal stems can end with many different kinds of sounds:

सिंह

siṃha

() lion

अग्नि

मनस्

manas

We can these stems based on the last they use. So we can talk about -a stems (stems ending in a), -ī stems, -ū stems, and so on. We use this grouping because stems with different final sounds tend to use different endings.

For example, compare the endings we use for siṃha, (which ends in a short -a) to the endings we use for siṃhā (which ends in a long -ā). These two stems use endings that are quite different:

सिंह → सिंहेन

siṃha → siṃhena

() lion → by the () lion

सिंहा → सिंहया

siṃhā → siṃhayā

() lion → by the () lion

सिंह → सिंहस्य

siṃha → siṃhasya

() lion → of the () lion

सिंहा → सिंहायाः

siṃhā → siṃhāyāḥ

() lion → of the () lion

Roughly, we can combine all of these stem groups into five big stem families. All of the stems in a stem family tend to use similar endings. These families are:

the -a stems

the -ā, -ī, and -ū stems

the -i and -u stems

the -ṛ stems

all other stems

Stem families may have some small differences, but they generally share most of their endings and follow consistent patterns.

Basic nominal endings

Here are the basic nominal endings we use for the masculine and feminine genders. These endings are the same for both genders:

Singular	Dual	Plural
Case 1	ः	औ	अः
ḥ	au	aḥ
Case 2	अम्	औ	अः
am	au	aḥ
Case 3	आ	भ्याम्	भिः
ā	bhyām	bhiḥ
Case 4	ए	भ्याम्	भ्यः
e	bhyām	bhyaḥ
Case 5	अः	भ्याम्	भ्यः
aḥ	bhyām	bhyaḥ
Case 6	अः	ओः	आम्
aḥ	oḥ	ām
Case 7	इ	ओः	सु
i	oḥ
Case 8	ः	औ	अः
ḥ	au	aḥ

We use tables because they sometimes us see certain patterns clearly. Specifically, notice that many of these endings are the same. For example, the same ending bhyām has three different meanings:

नरो गजाभ्यां नगरं गच्छति

naro ābhyāṃ nagaraṃ gacchati

The man goes to the city by means of the two elephants.

नरो गजाभ्यां नगरं गच्छति

naro ābhyāṃ nagaraṃ gacchati

The man goes to the city for the two elephants.

नरो गजाभ्यां नगरं गच्छति

naro ābhyāṃ nagaraṃ gacchati

The man goes from the two elephants to the city.

How we decide what bhyām means here? We can decide what bhyām means only if we know the sentence's context. If we don't have that context, we must guess.

Basic neuter endings

The basic neuter endings follow interesting pattern. In cases 3 to 7, they are identical to the endings we saw above. But in cases 1, 2, and 8, they are as you see below: