Noun and Pronoun Declension (Śabdarūpa)
What the exam tests
Declension (śabdarūpa) questions ask for a full case-number form, a matching pronoun form, or the correct stem class of a noun. Both endings and stem changes matter.
Core rules
- Eight cases including sambodhana: prathamā, dvitīyā, tṛtīyā, caturthī, pañcamī, ṣaṣṭhī, saptamī, sambodhana; three numbers.
- a-stem masculine (rāma): rāmaḥ, rāmam, rāmeṇa, rāmāya, rāmāt, rāmasya, rāme, he rāma; dual rāmau, rāmau, rāmābhyām, rāmābhyām, rāmābhyām, rāmayoḥ, rāmayoḥ; plural rāmāḥ, rāmān, rāmaiḥ, rāmebhyaḥ, rāmebhyaḥ, rāmāṇām, rāmeṣu.
- ā-stem feminine (latā) and ī-stem feminine (nadī) differ: latāyāḥ, latāyām; nadyāḥ, nadyām.
- Neuter a-stem (phala): nominative and accusative are identical: phalam, phale, phalāni.
- Pronouns are irregular: tad gives tasya, tasmāt, tena, te, tāni, tāsām; asmad gives aham, mām, mayā, mahyam, mat, mama, mayi; yuṣmad gives tvam, tvām, tvayā, tubhyam, tvat, tava, tvayi.
Worked example
Give the dual instrumental of rāma. Dual instrumental, dative and ablative all share rāmābhyām. The ending -bhyām is added to the stem rāma-, with no guṇa: rāmābhyām, not *rāmeṇābhyām. By contrast, dual genitive and locative are rāmayoḥ, and plural genitive is rāmāṇām.
Traps
Do not use rāmayoḥ for instrumental. Do not give rāmāḥ as accusative singular; it is nominative plural. Do not decline nadī like latā; the ī-stem has nadyā, nadyai. In sambodhana, he rāma is correct, not *he rāmaḥ. Pronoun forms such as asmākam and yuṣmākam cannot be replaced by the noun endings.