PSEB SS Sanskrit cheat sheet

Sanskrit (PSEB SS): Grammar, Sandhi, and Core Subject Facts

• Sandhi is the phonological fusion of sounds at word or morpheme boundaries; classify it as vowel (svara), consonant (vyañjana), or visarga sandhi depending on the final sound of the first member.

• Vowel sandhi rules: a/ā + a/ā → ā; i/ī + i/ī → ī; u/ū + u/ū → ū; a/ā + i/ī → e; a/ā + u/ū → o; a/ā + e/ai → ai; a/ā + o/au → au (guṇa and vṛddhi replacements).

• Vṛddhi series: a/ā → ā, i/ī → ai, u/ū → au, ṛ → ār; guṇa series: a/ā → a, i/ī → e, u/ū → o, ṛ → ar. Apply guṇa before a single consonant, vṛddhi before some suffixes (e.g., -a of secondary derivation).

• Consonant sandhi: final -t before a voiced consonant becomes -d (tat + labhate → tad labhate); final -n before a labial becomes -m (rājan + priyaḥ → rājampriyaḥ); final -m before a consonant becomes anusvāra (rāmaṃ vadati).

• Visarga sandhi: final -aḥ before a voiced sound becomes -o (rāmaḥ + vadati → rāmo vadati); before a becomes -o ' (rāmo 'tra); before a vowel other than a, visarga often becomes r (rāmaḥ + iti → rāma iti, but agniḥ + iva → agnir iva).

• The eight cases (vibhakti) are prathamā (nominative), dvitīyā (accusative), tṛtīyā (instrumental), caturthī (dative), pañcamī (ablative), ṣaṣṭhī (genitive), saptamī (locative), and sambodhana (vocative). Three numbers: eka, dvi, bahu.

• The three genders are puṃliṅga (masculine), strīliṅga (feminine), and napuṃsakaliṅga (neuter). The three persons are prathamā (third), madhyamā (second), uttamā (first), paired with the three numbers.

• The ten gaṇa (verb classes) are bhvādi, adādi, juhotyādi, divādi, svādi, tudādi, rudhādi, tanādi, kryādi, and curādi; class 1 (bhvādi) adds -a between root and endings, class 10 (curādi) adds -aya- and forms the causative base.

• The lakāra system: laṭ (present), laṅ (imperfect), leṭ (Vedic subjunctive), liṭ (perfect), luṅ (aorist), lṛṅ (conditional), lṛṭ (future), lṛṭ (periphrastic future), āśir-liṅ (benedictive), and vidhiliṅ (optative/imperative).