Translation: Sanskrit to Hindi/English and Hindi/English to Sanskrit
What the exam tests
Translation is marked for grammar, not word-for-word equivalence: correct vibhakti, matching pada and lakāra, and natural target-language order.
Core rules
- Sanskrit → Hindi/English: split sandhi, resolve compounds, locate the finite verb, then assign kāraka roles. Sanskrit word order is free; the verb normally comes last.
- Hindi/English → Sanskrit: choose the verb first, then its pada and lakāra, then the case endings required by the verb and by postpositions. saha takes the instrumental; vinā takes the ablative or instrumental; gṛham with √gam is accusative.
- Copula: equative sentences often use no verb: rāmaḥ sundaraḥ means ‘Rāma is handsome’. Existential ‘is’ uses asti.
- Quotation: iti closes direct speech; the quoted clause keeps its own verb.
Worked example
Translate ‘Rāma goes to the forest with Sītā.’ Subject rāmaḥ is prathamā. ‘With Sītā’ is sītayā saha, tṛtīyā. ‘To the forest’ is vanam, dvitīyā with √gam. The verb is gacchati, laṭ, third singular. Result: rāmaḥ sītayā saha vanaṃ gacchati. In reverse, identify gacchati as the verb, rāmaḥ as agent and vanam as goal, then render ‘Rama goes to the forest.’
Traps
Do not translate saha with the nominative: *sītā saha is wrong. Do not copy the Hindi ergative ‘ne’ pattern into Sanskrit. Do not render every English ‘to’ as caturthī; direction with √gam is dvitīyā. Do not leave the Sanskrit verb in the wrong person when the subject is dual or plural.