Translation: sma, laṅ, and how far a key may insist on voice
The translation block of the paper is worth 5 marks: three Sanskrit sentences into Kannada at 1 mark each, and two Kannada sentences into Sanskrit at 1 mark each. Sentence 2 is sa pratyaham udyāne bhramati sma. In a script sample of 46, twenty-eight candidates write the Kannada present tense (ಭ್ರಮಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ), because they recognise bhramati as a present form. For Kannada into Sanskrit the sentence is ಅವಳು ಒಂದು ಪತ್ರವನ್ನು ಬರೆದಳು; nine candidates write sā patraṃ likhati and four write sā patraṃ alikhan. The Sanskrit-to-Kannada sentence tena granthaḥ paṭhitaḥ is rendered by most candidates as an active Kannada sentence, and one candidate objects that the printed key shows a passive. The question paper says only 'translate', with no note on whether word order, voice or tense must be mirrored. The examiner has to fix a marking rule for the whole block before marking 320 scripts.
1. Translate sa pratyaham udyāne bhramati sma and explain why the plain present is wrong even though bhramati looks like a present form.
Read the worked answer
ಅವನು ಪ್ರತಿದಿನ ಉದ್ಯಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ತಿರುಗಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದನು.
Parse before translating: sa = he; pratyaham = daily; udyāne = locative singular, 'in the garden'; bhramati = 3rd singular present of bhram; sma = a particle placed after a present-tense verb to shift it into past habitual, 'used to'. Kannada marks the same meaning with the habitual past -ುತ್ತಿದ್ದನು, not the present -ುತ್ತಾನೆ.
The trap is that Sanskrit laṭ carries no ending that visibly marks past time; the past is carried by sma, which learners treat as decoration. Ignoring it changes a remembered habit into a current one - a factual error, not a stylistic choice. Test the rule by deleting the particle: with sma gone, bhramati is a true present and the present-tense Kannada becomes correct. The particle is the entire difference.
2. Give the Sanskrit for ಅವಳು ಒಂದು ಪತ್ರವನ್ನು ಬರೆದಳು, then diagnose the two wrong answers sā patraṃ likhati and sā patraṃ alikhan.
Read the worked answer
sā patram alikhat. Build it in three decisions.
- Subject: feminine pronoun, so sā.
- Object: patra is neuter; the accusative singular is patram, identical to the nominative - which is why candidates forget to check gender at all.
- Verb: likh, past time, third singular, parasmaipada; laṅ prefixes the augment a- and replaces the laṭ endings: alikhat.
likhati is present ('she writes'), so the time is wrong - the commonest error (nine candidates), produced by translating from the dictionary form of the Kannada verb instead of its tense. alikhan is also laṅ, but third person plural ('they wrote'); the ending -an belongs with te or ete, not with sā. Note that in Sanskrit the object's gender does not affect the verb at all, so the only agreement to check is subject and verb.
3. The key shows a passive Kannada rendering of tena granthaḥ paṭhitaḥ, but candidates who wrote an active Kannada sentence are objecting. Rule on it, and say what would genuinely deserve a deduction.
Read the worked answer
Both renderings are faithful, so uphold the objection. tena granthaḥ paṭhitaḥ is a kta-participle passive: agent in the instrumental (tena), object promoted to nominative (granthaḥ), past time. Kannada expresses this either with its passive (ಅವನಿಂದ ಗ್ರಂಥವು ಓದಲ್ಪಟ್ಟಿತು) or with the ordinary active (ಅವನು ಗ್ರಂಥವನ್ನು ಓದಿದನು), and the active is the idiomatic choice, since the Kannada passive is bookish. Agent, object and time all survive, so meaning-based marking gives full credit.
What would genuinely deserve a deduction: dropping the agent ('the book was read'), or turning past into present. If the item is explicitly testing recognition of the instrumental-of-agent passive, the tested feature is lost in an active rendering - then award the comprehension mark and withhold the grammar mark, and state that rule before marking begins. Decide it for all 320 scripts first; retro-fitting a rule mid-batch is what produces appeals.