Verbs Flashcards
indicative लट् (लकार) present tense
statements about reality, i.e. things that are (such as ‘You are going to the city’)
imperative लङ् (लकार)
गच्छ thus simply is ‘go!’. Third-person imperatives lack a direct English equivalent and thus
are less straightforward to translate: गच्छतु, for example, could be translated as ‘let him go’, ‘may he go’,
‘he may go’ or ‘I want him to go’.
potential िलङ् (लकार) (also called ‘subjunctive’ or ‘optative’ in
some grammars)
refers to what is possible;
The potential, on the other hand, is
marked by the vowel -e- that appears directly before the ending
absolutive (also called
the ‘gerund’ क्त्वान्त, ल्यबन्त
similar in function to a past active participle: ‘having done’ verb ‘x’ means ‘having x-ed’.
The ta-participle of a verb ‘x’ has a past passive meaning ‘having been x-ed’.
√भृ ‘to carry’ –› भृत- ‘having been carried’
√कृ ‘to do’ –› कृत- ‘having been done’
If a verb cannot sensibly form a passive, the ta-participle has active meaning
√भू ‘to become/be’ –› भूत- ‘having become’
√गम् ‘to go’ –› गत- ‘having gone’
causative िणजन्त (धातु)
‘he causes (someone) to carry’ Class X present stem (strengthening the verbal root to contain a heavy
syllable and adding -aya-)
desiderative सन्नन्त (धातु)
he desires/
wants to carry
Imperfect लङ् (लकार)
the vowel a- at
the beginning of each form;
अभरत् means ‘he carried’.
infinitive तुमुनन्त
compare the English infinitive ‘to go’) used in Sanskrit mostly after finite verbs in expressions such as ‘I want to
go’ or ‘I am able to go’
gerundive कृत्य
‘passive necessity’, i.e. ‘having to be done; (which) should/must be done
