Translation (Anuvāda): Sanskrit to Telugu/English and Back
What is tested
A short Sanskrit passage rendered into Telugu or English, plus a few sentences from the medium into Sanskrit. Marks go to meaning and grammatical fit, not to word-for-word glossing.
Sanskrit into the target language
- Padaccheda: undo sandhi and compounds.
- Find the finite verb and its subject - Sanskrit drops pronouns, so the ending tells you the person.
- Map vibhaktis: prathamā subject, dvitīyā object, tṛtīyā instrument or agent (also with saha), caturthī recipient, pañcamī source, ṣaṣṭhī possessor, saptamī location.
- Turn absolutives into "having done / after doing" clauses.
- Render passives naturally: kṛṣīvalena grāmaḥ tyajyate → "the village is abandoned by the farmer".
Target language into Sanskrit
Keep Sanskrit word order S–O–V. Choose the verb first, then the case each argument requires, then add prefixes (pra-, upa-, anu-, vi-, sam-). Write the sentence without sandhi, then apply external sandhi as a final pass.
Worked example
"The teacher, having called the students, told them a story."
- Verb: kathāṃ kathayati - laṭ, 3rd singular, parasmaipada.
- "having called": āhūya (ā + hvā, -ya absolutive).
- "them": the person addressed by kathayati takes caturthī - tebhyaḥ.
- Result: śikṣakaḥ śiṣyān āhūya tebhyaḥ kathām akathayat.
Traps
Leaving a Sanskrit sentence with sandhi unapplied; translating iti as "thus" every time instead of reading it as a quotation marker; missing dual and plural verb endings; and in Telugu choosing the wrong case suffix (కు, చేత, లో) because the Sanskrit vibhakti was guessed rather than identified.