CHAPTER 4
4
The Present Tense
VERBAL ENDINGS OF THE PRESENT INDICATIVE ACTIVE
As outlined in the Road Map in Chapter 3, verbs in Sanskrit express the same kind of grammatical
information as their English counterparts, but do so in a different way: while English adds sepa-
rate words in front of the verb itself (as in I go or they will go), Sanskrit mostly adds suffixes and
personal endings at the end of a verb form. This chapter introduces the endings for the present
indicative active, which are as follows:
Sg Du Pl
1st -mi -vaḥ -maḥ
2nd -si -thaḥ -tha
3rd -ti -taḥ -nti
Present active indicative endings
These endings are used by all active verb forms in Sanskrit. Memorise them, starting with the first
person singular, going down each column (-mi, -si, -ti) and then moving over to the next column.
Distinguish the pronunciation of -thaḥ and -taḥ, which otherwise become easy to confuse.
CLASS I, IV, VI VERBS
As mentioned before, there are different ways in which Sanskrit verbal roots form the present tense
stem to which these endings are added. These different ways are referred to as different verb classes.
Classes I, IV and VI are formally similar and are thus treated together here. Their present tense
stems are formed as follows:
Class I: The vowel -a- is added into the root before the root vowel; then -a- is added
after the root.
Examples: √भृ bhṛ ‘to carry’, root vowel: -ṛ-; present stem भर- bhara-.
(Next to another vowel, the vowel -ṛ- becomes the consonant -r-; see ‘Semi-
vowels’, Chapter 2.)
38
√बुध् budh ‘to awake’, root vowel -u-; present stem बोध- bodha-.
(Note: -a- inserted before -u- –› *-au-, which appears as -o-; see ‘Complex 4
Vowels’, Chapter 2.)
Class IV: The root itself remains as it is; -ya- is added to it.
Example: √हृष् hṛṣ ‘to be excited’; present stem हृ�- hṛṣya-.
Class VI: Either: the root itself usually remains as it is; -a- is added to it.
Example: √विश् viś ‘to enter’; present stem विश- viśa-.
Or: a nasal is added before the final consonant of the root; -a- is added to it.
Examples: √मुच् muc ‘to release’ –› present stem मु�- muñca-.
√विद् vid ‘to find’ –› present stem िव�द- vinda-.
√लुप् lup ‘to take, steal’ –› present stem लु�प- lumpa-.
Note that which one of the nasals appears in Class VI roots depends on the nature of their final conso-
nants: the palatal nasal ñ is added in front of a palatal stop, the dental nasal n in front of a dental stop, etc.
Combining these verbal stems with the endings introduced above, we arrive at the paradigm (i.e. the
complete list of forms) of the present indicative active of these verbs. Take for example √भृ ‘to carry’:
Singular Dual Plural
1st भरामि bharāmi भरावः bharāvaḥ भरामः bharāmaḥ
2nd भरसि bharasi भरथः bharathaḥ भरथ bharatha
3rd भरति bharati भरतः bharataḥ भरन्ति bharanti
Present active indicative of √भृ ‘to carry’
Note that the first-person forms in all numbers contain a long -ā- before the ending: bharāmi, not
+
bharami etc. This is the case across all Class I, IV and VI verbs (as well as Class X –› Chapter 7).
TECHNICAL NOTE: SANDHI
When Sanskrit words appear in a sentence, the final sound of each word changes slightly according
to what sound the next word begins with. This process is called sandhi and will be explained in
detail in Chapters 11, 13 and 16. Two frequent sandhi manifestations will be introduced already at
39
this point: 1) word-final -m appears as -m when the next word begins with a vowel, but as anusvāra
4 (nasalised -ṃ –› Chapter 1) when the next word begins with a consonant. Thus we find e.g. किम् अत्र
kim atra ‘what (is) here?’, but किं तत्र kiṃ tatra ‘what (is) there?’ This difference is made through-
out the exercises from now on. 2) Word-final -s sometimes appears as -s, but may also appear in
a variety of other forms. When a word stands on its own with nothing else following it, -s appears
as visarga (i.e. -ḥ). This book will follow the convention that all words originally ending in -s are
introduced in their sandhied form, i.e. ending in -ḥ. (This has already been done in some of the
verbal endings, which underlyingly are *-vas, *-thas, *-tas and *-mas.)
Sandhi of -m and -s
Word-final -m appears as -m when the next word begins with a vowel, but as -ṃ when the next
word begins with a consonant: किम् अत्र kim atra, but किं तत्र kiṃ tatra.
When a word ending in -s is not followed by another word, that -s appears as -ḥ.
VOCABULARY
√भृ bhṛ (I भरति bharati) ‘to bear, carry’
√स्मृ smṛ (I स्मरति smarati) ‘to remember’
√हृ hṛ (I हरति harati) ‘to take’
√बुध् budh (I बोधति bodhati) ‘to wake up; to understand’
√स्निह् snih (IV स्निह्यति snihyati) ‘to be attached to, feel affection for, love’ (+ Loc)
√दृश् dṛś (IV irreg. पश्यति paśyati) ‘to see’
√हृष् hṛṣ (IV हृष्यति hṛṣyati) ‘to be excited, happy’
√विद् vid (VI विन्दति vindati) ‘to find’
√मुच् muc (VI मुञ्चति muñcati) ‘to release, free’
√लुप् lup (VI लुम्पति lumpati) ‘to rob’
√क्षिप् kṣip (VI क्षिपति kṣipati) ‘to throw’
√लिख् likh (VI लिखति likhati) ‘to write’
√विश् viś (VI विशति viśati) ‘to enter’
40
