Case 7: "in"

Also known as: the locative case, saptamī vibhakti ("seventh case")

Introduction

Case 7 represents the location or context of an action. The "location" aspect is much more common, and it can be translated by the words "in" and "on."

The "context" aspect, however, is also important. You should make sure to remember it!

Case 7 can by translated by many different terms: "in," "between" (in two things), "among" (in the plural), "on," "within," and "with regard to."

Inflection

Now that we have studied all eight of the Sanskrit noun cases, we can complete our table and see all 24 forms that the masculine -a nouns take.

-a (masculine)
गज Singular Dual Plural
Case 1 (subject) गजः
gajaḥ
गजौ
gajau
गजाः
gajāḥ
Case 2 (object) गजम्
gajam
गजौ
gajau
गजान्
gajān
Case 3 ("with") गजेन
gajena
गजाभ्याम्
gajābhyām
गजैः
gajaiḥ
Case 4 ("for") गजाय
gajāya
गजाभ्याम्
gajābhyām
गजेभ्यः
gajebhyaḥ
Case 5 ("from") गजात्
gajāt
गजाभ्याम्
gajābhyām
गजेभ्यः
gajebhyaḥ
Case 6 ("of") गजस्य
gajasya
गजयोः
gajayoḥ
गजानाम्
gajānām
Case 7 ("in") गजे
gaje
गजयोः
gajayoḥ
गजेषु
gajeṣu
Case 8 (address) गज
gaja
गजौ
gajau
गजाः
gajāḥ

Remember, the neuter -a nouns differ in cases 1, 2, and 8 only. To review, here are its forms:

-a (neuter)
फल Singular Dual Plural
Case 1 (subject) फलम्
phalam
फले
phale
फलानि
phalāni
Case 2 (object) फलम्
phalam
फले
phale
फलानि
phalāni
Case 8 (address) फल
phala
फले
phale
फलानि
phalāni

Pronouns

Here, we bring our discussion of the three common Sanskrit pronouns to a close:

mad (no gender)
मद् Singular Dual Plural
Case 1 (subject) अहम्
aham
आवाम्
āvām
वयम्
vayam
Case 2 (object) माम्
mām
आवाम्
āvām
अस्मान्
asmān
Case 3 ("with") मया
mayā
आवाभ्याम्
āvābhyām
अस्माभिः
asmābhiḥ
Case 4 ("for") मह्यम्
mahyam, me
आवाभ्याम्
āvābhyām
अस्मभ्य्म्
asmabhyam
Case 5 ("from") मत्
mat
आवाभ्याम्
āvābhyām
अस्मत्
asmat
Case 6 ("of") मम
mama
आवयोः
āvayoḥ
अस्माकम्
asmākam
Case 7 ("in") मयि
mayi
आवयोः
āvayoḥ
अस्मासु
asmāsu
tvad (no gender)
त्वद् Singular Dual Plural
Case 1 (subject) त्वम्
tvam
युवाम्
yuvām
यूयम्
yūyam
Case 2 (object) त्वाम्
tvām
युवाम्
yuvām
युष्मान्
yuṣmān
Case 3 ("with") त्वया
tvayā
युवाभ्याम्
yuvābhyām
युष्माभिः
yuṣmābhiḥ
Case 4 ("for") तुभ्यम्
tubhyam
युवाभ्याम्
yuvābhyām
युष्मभ्यम्
yuṣmabhyam
Case 5 ("from") त्वत्
tvat
युवाभ्याम्
yuvābhyām
युष्मत्
yuṣmat
Case 6 ("of") तव
tava
युवयोः
yuvayoḥ
युष्माकम्
yuṣmākam
Case 7 ("in") त्वयि
tvayi
युवयोः
yuvayoḥ
युष्मासु
yuṣmāsu
tad (masculine)
तद् Singular Dual Plural
Case 1 (subject) सः
saḥ
तौ
tau
ते
te
Case 2 (object) तम्
tam
तौ
tau
तान्
tān
Case 3 ("with") तेन
tena
ताभ्याम्
tābhyām
तैः
taiḥ
Case 4 ("for") तस्मै
tasmai
ताभ्याम्
tābhyām
तेभ्यः
tebhyaḥ
Case 5 ("from") तस्मात्
tasmāt
ताभ्याम्
tābhyām
तेभ्यः
tebhyaḥ
Case 6 ("of") तस्य
tasya
तयोः
tayoḥ
तेषाम्
teṣām
Case 7 ("in") तस्मिन्
tasmin
तयोः
tayoḥ
तेषु
teṣu

Sandhi: -n duplication

You can see a new sandhi rule in the examples below. Take a look:

Based on these examples, the rule seems to be this:

-n, when following a short vowel, is doubled when followed by a vowel. [Version 1]

Unfortunately, most textbooks stop here. Why does this odd change occur?

Think back to the rules final -n sandhi, which we analyzed many lessons ago. The basis of our analysis was that we could think of final -n as an old *-ns, where * indicates a hypothetical form. This trick can still come in handy. Let's rewrite the examples above using the *-ns ending:

No sandhi changes have been applied here. However, note that these altered examples have the same meter as the examples affected by sandhi! This seems to be the cause of the change. So, we could create this more intuitive rule instead:

Final -n duplicates to match the meter produced by the *-ns ending. [Version 2]

-n does not duplicate after a long vowel because there is no need; the meter stays the same. But -n has to duplicate after a short vowel to create a heavy syllable and match the results produced by the hypothetical ending.