Sanskrit Conversation

Unit-1
M. R. Dwarakanath

What distinguishes conversational Sanskrit
from classical Sanskrit lies in the greater use
of participles instead of finite verbs. As the
conjugation of finite verbs take on many
forms, seemingly difficult, spoken Sanskrit
tends to employ participles which are
nominal (nouns and adjectives.) These
participles are declined which does not
appear to be an improvement over
conjugation, as there are 8 cases instead of
just 3 persons. The advantage of using
participles lies in the similarity of pattern in
all declensions. The commonly used
participles are the past passive, past active
and occasionally the present participle. The
past passive participles end in H and thus
they are declined as in lP, Pl or T
depending on the gender. The past active
participles are declined as 96 or +(l in
masculine or feminine genders. In addition
to these declensions, one should have some
familiarity with the declensions of the most
common pronouns.
Conversational Sanskrit when used
colloquially, may sometimes not adhere to
subtle grammatical and linguistic rules. For
example, there are 3 different words in
Sanskrit for the word This. These are 96( ,
(P , and H(B . Mind you, each of these
words take on different forms in the 3
genders! What differentiates these 3 words
are the relative proximity of this to the
speaker. 96( Is the closest while H(B is
furthest from the speaker. Then, there is the
word 6( (B-, Bl, 66 ) which stands for
That. That is regarded as being out of
sight (H9l ) far off. When we say Bl
|H|Tl, technically the teacher is out of
sight. To introduce a teacher in person we
would say 99l |H|Tl or 4 |H|Tl +
Conversational Sanskritists often take liberty
with such fine points of grammar and usage.

It will be helpful to remember that use of the
passive participle will result in a sentence in
the passive voice while use of the active
participle will result in active voice. Spoken
Sanskrit also has freely adapted new words
that are essential in modern life. Without
further ado let us develop some basic
vocabulary. In the following, m, f and n in
parantheses refer to the 3 genders and (r)
refers to respectful usage.

Basic Vocabulary

English
B FT 6P B FT 6P B FT 6P B FT 6P
English
B FT 6P B FT 6P B FT 6P B FT 6P
I
H(P
How?
TP
we
44P
Man
9 69-
mine
PP
Woman
Nl
our
HFPlTP
Boy
4lT-
You
t4P
Girl
4l|Tl
You
(r,m)
4l+
Teacher
|HT-
You (r,f)
46l
Student
PlT4T-
You (p)
4 4P
Mother
Pl6l
Your (s)
64
Father
|96l
Your
(r,m)
46-
Sister
|+l
Your
(r,f)
4t4l-
Brother
Hl6l
He
B-
Friend
|PP
His
6F4
Village
lP-
She
Bl
Town
+P
Her
6F4l-
Cat
Pl=l -
It
66
Dog
T -
Its
6F4
Cow
l -
My
PP
Elephant
=-
In me
P|4
Monkey
T|9-
In you
t4|4
Horse
HH-
By /
with me
P4l
Water
=P
By /
with you
t44l
Milk
lP
By /
with it
6 +
Curd
(|
They(m)
6
Buttermil
k
64P
They(f)
6l-
Book
9 F6TP
They(n)
6l|+
Pen
G+l
Their
(m,n)
6 9lP
House
(P
Their(f)
6lBlP
School
Hll
This (m)
H4P
Name
+lP
This (f)
4P
Is
HB
This (n)
(P
Read
9
That
66
Write
|G
Who(m)
?
T-
Eat
Gl(
Who(f)?
Tl
See
H
What?
|TP
Hear
~
Where?
T
Drink
9l


Greetings and Simple conversation

English
B FT 6P B FT 6P B FT 6P B FT 6P
Hello
(|- Hl P
Greetings / Saultation
+PFTl-
Good Morning
B 9l6P
Good Night
H ll
How are you?
T H 4l - |TP
How are you?
TP|F6 4l+
How are you?
TP|F6 46l
Yes, I am well
HlP T HP
I am well (m)
T Hl H|FP
I am well (f)
T H|+l H|FP
Thank you
-44l(-
Pardon me
46lP
Do not worry
|-6l Pl HF6
All is well
B4 BPll+P
What is your name?
64 +lP |TP (H|F6)
What is your name(r)?
46- +lP |TP
What is your name(f)?
4t4l- +lP |TP
My name is Rama
PP +lP lP-
My name is Sita
PP +lP Bl6l
This is my house
( PP (P
This is my father
H4 PP |96l
This is my mother
4 PP Pl6l
This is my friend
( PP |PP
What is that?
66 |TP
That is buttermilk (far)
66 64P|F6
That is buttermilk
H(- 64P|F6
Who is she?
Bl Tl + 4 Tl
She is a teacher
Bl |H|Tl + 4
|H|Tl
Who is our student?
HFPlT PlT4T- T-
Where is your house
46- ( T H|F6
Our house is in India
HFPlT ( 64H
H|F6
He saw an elephant
B- = 74l+
She saw a cat
Bl Pl=l 746l
What did you see?
t4 |T 74l+
A school was seen by
me
P4l Hll 7l
What was heard by
you?
t44l |T ~ 6P
gItA was heard by me
P4l l6l ~ 6l
Book was read by him
6 + 9 F6T 9|6P
Whose book?
TF4 9 F6TP
Haris book
( - 9 F6TP
No. Who is the author?
+ T + ||G6P
No. Who is the author?
+ T- ||G64l+
Work of PaNini
9l|T|++l ||G6P
Very nice
B U
What else?
H|9 |TP
Let us meet again
9 +- |PlP-
Good night!
H ll

In the foregoing, B|-Tl4 P has been left out
to highlight and clarify the individual
words.