Using Numbers
Introduction
The Sanskrit numbers are very irregular. We can sort them into five groups:
- eka
- dva
- tri and catur
- pañcan to daśan (except for ṣaṣ)
- All other numbers
Of these groups, the first three occur in all three genders. The others are "fixed" and have no gender of any kind.
"No gender" does not mean the same thing as "neuter gender."
eka
eka is inflected like a pronoun. It occurs only in the singular, and it appears in all three genders.
dva
dva is inflected like a normal noun ending in a. It only occurs in the dual, and its feminine form is dvā.
tri and catur
tri and catur are the most irregular numbers. Both are in the plural, and both occur in all three genders.
Masculine
tri is inflected like a noun ending in -i. However, the case 1 form is trayaḥ and the case 6 form is trayānām. catur has a few irregularities, which you can see below.
| चतुर् | Plural |
|---|---|
| Case 1 (subject) | चत्वारः catvāraḥ |
| Case 2 (object) | चतुरः caturaḥ |
| Case 3 ("with") | चतुर्भिः caturbhiḥ |
| Case 4 ("for") | चतुर्भ्यः caturbhyaḥ |
| Case 5 ("from") | चतुर्भ्यः caturbhyaḥ |
| Case 6 ("of") | चतुर्नाम् caturṇām |
| Case 7 ("in") | चतुर्षु caturṣu |
Neuter
The neuter only differs from the masculine in the first two cases, as always. For these two cases, tri has trīṇi and catur has catvāri.
Feminine
tri becomes tisṛ, and catur becomes catasṛ. Both use the noun endings for masculine and feminine consonant nonus (like rāj or vāc). But in case 6, tisṛ is tisṛnām and catasṛ is catasṛnām. Note that the final ṛ does not become long.
pañcan to daśan
As mentioned above, these numbers have no gender. But, they are inflected like neuter nouns.
| पञ्च | Plural |
|---|---|
| Case 1 (subject) | पञ्च pañca |
| Case 2 (object) | पञ्च pañca |
| Case 3 ("with") | पञ्चभिः pañcabhiḥ |
| Case 4 ("for") | पञ्चभ्यः pañcabhyaḥ |
| Case 5 ("from") | पञ्चभ्यः pañcabhyaḥ |
| Case 6 ("of") | पञ्चानाम् pañcānām |
| Case 7 ("in") | पञ्चसु pañcasu |
All other numbers
ṣaṣ uses the regular consonant-stem endings.
The number 8 (aṣṭa) has some optional forms. In case 1, it can be aṣṭau. In the other cases, the final a of the stem can become ā.
The numbers from 11 to 99 are inflected normally, and although they have no gender, they are used like feminine nouns. The numbers from 100 and beyond are inflected normally, and although they have no gender, they are used like neuter nouns.
But what numbers are there beyond śata? We will find out in the next lesson.