Lesson 56

Beginning Prayers:

• शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुम् - shuklaambaradharaM viShNum
• सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhyam 
• गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः - gururbrahmaa gururviShNuH 

Topic Summary:

• Introduction to verbs

Home Work:

• Find your 4 verbs and write the 3 x 3 verb matrix for them

Topic Details:

We have briefly visited the topic of verbs, but still have used them extensively so far, without even realizing it!  Now, let's visit it a little more in detail.  Verbs are formed from 'roots'.  They are called 'dhaatu' in samskRutam.  By adding different endings to the dhaatu, we get different persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular, dual, plural) as well as tenses.

There are 10 different tenses in the language and about 2200 dhaatu-s!  Let us see the easiest and most used tense - present tense, with the example of the dhaatu पठ् (paTh - read)

पठ् धातु, लट् लकार रूपाणि

पुरुष	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथम	पठति	पठतः	पठन्ति
मध्यम	पठसि	पठथः	पठथ
उत्तम	पठामि	पठावः	पठामः

paTh dhaatu, laT lakaara rUpaaNi

person	singular	dual	plural
prathama	paThati	paThataH	paThanti
madhyama	paThasi	paThathaH	paThatha
uttama	paThaami	paThaavaH	paThaamaH

• What we call as 3rd person in English, is referred to as 'prathama puruSha' (technically meaning 1st person).  So, when speaking of someone other than the person involved in the conversation, these forms are used, as per the singular, dual or plural required.
• The 2nd person of English, would be 'madhyama puruSha'.  When the subject is 'you', this person is used.
• The 1st person, that is, when referring to oneself, it would be called as 'uttama puruSha' in samskRutam.  Obviously, this is used while referring to oneself.

Only exception would be, when one is referring to another person respectfully (teachers, elders, peers), as in भवान्/भवती (bhavaan/bhavatI), prathama puruSha verb forms have to be used.

Let's see some examples to understand this better.

सा पठति।  (She reads)

त्वं पठसि।  (You read)

अहं पठामि।  (I read)

but, भवान् पठति।  (He (respectful addressing) reads)

saa paThati|

tvaM paThasi|

ahaM paThaami|

but, bhavaan paThati|

On learning this one matrix, one can suitably change the dhaatu to get the corresponding verb forms!

Happy practicing!

Ending prayer:

•  ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम् - om pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

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