Gender, case, and number

Nominals (nāmāni, “names”) are “naming” words, and they are one of the three main types of Sanskrit word. We use the word nominal here because it includes many different kinds of words at once:

nouns like “man,” “forest,” “tree,” and “victory”
adjectives (viseṣaṇāni) like “happy” and “sad”
pronouns (sarvanāmāni) like “I,” “you,” and “they”
numerals (saṃkhyāḥ) like “one,” “two,” and “three”

Stems and endings

Every nominal word has two parts: a stem (prātipadika) and an ending (pratyaya, “affix”):

सिंह + ः → सिंहः
siṃha + ḥ → siṃhaḥ
the lion
सिंह + स्य → सिंहस्य
siṃha + sya → siṃhasya
of the lion

The stem contains the nominal's basic meaning. And the ending expresses three basic kinds of information: the nominal's gender (liṅga), its case (vibhakti, “division”), and its number (vacana).

Depending on how the stem ends, we might use different endings:

सिंह → सिंहेन
siṃha → siṃhena
(male) lion → by the (male) lion
सिंहा → सिंहया
siṃhā → siṃhayā
(female) lion → by the (female) lion
सिंह → सिंहस्य
siṃha → siṃhasya
(male) lion → of the (male) lion
सिंहा → सिंहायाः
siṃhā → siṃhāyāḥ
(female) lion → of the (female) lion

But don't be afraid! Different stems mostly share the same endings. And the differences from stem to stem are small and easy to learn.

The three genders

In the core lessons, we saw that Sanskrit nominals use three different genders. These are the masculine gender (puṃliṅga):

सिंहो गच्छति
siṃho gacchati
The (male) lion goes.

the feminine gender (strīliṅga):

सिंहा गच्छति
siṃhā gacchati
The (female) lion goes.

and the neuter gender (napuṃsakaliṅga):

वनम् अस्ति
vanam asti
There is a forest.

Nouns use a fixed gender even if they refer to non-living things, and a noun's gender cannot usually be predicted from its meaning alone. However, we can usually determine a noun's gender by looking at what sounds a stem ends in and what suffixes were used to make the noun stem. Some examples:

Nouns ending in -a are never feminine.
Nouns ending in -ā, -ī, and -ū are almost always feminine.
Nouns made with the -tra and -ana suffixes are usually neuter.

The eight cases

Case (vibhakti, “division”), roughly speaking, is the name for the way that Sanskrit nominals express different roles in a sentence: whether they are the subject of the sentence, the object, or something else entirely.

Sanskrit has eight different cases. Although these cases have many different meanings and usages, each has a primary meaning that is easy to remember. And if needed, we can modify this basic meaning by using extra uninflected words.

Case 1 can be thought of as the default case. Usually, it refers to the subject of the verb:

सिंहो नयति।
siṃho nayati.
The lion leads.

But this depends on the prayoga of the verb. In the two sentences below, note the difference in meaning, even though both sentences use case 1:

सिंहो नयति।
siṃho nayati.
The lion leads.
(The lion is the subject of the sentence.)
सिंहो नीयते।
siṃho nīyate.
The lion is led.
(The lion is the object of the sentence.)

Case 2 is generally the object of the action. It is also used for destinations:

सिंहो वनं पश्यति।
siṃho vanaṃ paśyati.
The lion sees the forest.
सिंहो वनं गच्छति।
siṃho vanaṃ gacchati.
The lion goes to the forest.

Case 3 is the means by which the action is done. It generally means ”with” or “by means of”:

सिंहो मार्गेण वनं गच्छति।
siṃho mārgeṇa vanaṃ gacchati.
The lion goes to the forest by means of the road.

Case 4 is the goal or purpose of the action. It generally means “for” or ”for the sake of”:

सिंहो फलाय वनं गच्छति।
siṃho phalāya vanaṃ gacchati.
The lion goes to the forest for a fruit.

Case 5 is the basis from which the action is done. It generally means ”from” or “because of”:

सिंहो ग्रामाद् वनं गच्छति।
siṃho grāmād vanaṃ gacchati.
The lion goes to the forest from the village.
सिंहो भयाद् वनं गच्छति।
siṃho bhayād vanaṃ gacchati.
The lion goes to the forest from (due to) fear.

Case 6 connects one noun to another. It generally means “of”:

सिंहो रामस्य वनं गच्छति।
siṃho rāmasya vanaṃ gacchati.
The lion goes to the forest of Rama (or, Rama's forest).

Case 7 is the context for the action. It generally means “in” or “on”:

सिंहो वने चरति।
siṃho vane carati.
The lion walks in the forest.

And Case 8 is the person being spoken to:

हे सिंह वनं गच्छ।
he siṃha vanaṃ gaccha.
Hey lion! Go to the forest.

In order, these eight cases are usually called:

the nominative case (prathamā, “first”)
the accusative case (dvitīyā, “second”)
the instrumental case (tṛtīyā, “third”)
the dative case (caturthī, “fourth”)
the ablative case (pañcamī, “fifth”)
the genitive case (ṣaṣṭhī, “sixth”)
the locative case (saptamī, “seventh”)
the vocative case (this has no special name in Sanskrit. Traditionally, it is considered to be part of the first case.)

The three numbers

In the core lessons, we saw that Sanskrit nominals use three different numbers (vacana). These are the singular (eka-vacana):

सिंहः पश्यति।
siṃhaḥ paśyati.
The lion sees.

the dual (dvi-vacana), which is used for exactly two items:

सिंहौ पश्यतः।
siṃhau paśyataḥ.
The two lions see.

and the plural (bahu-vacana), which is used for three or more items:

सिंहाः पश्यन्ति।
siṃhāḥ paśyanti.
The (many) lions see.

Verbs also use all three of these numbers. In a given sentence, the verb and the case 1 noun should have the same number.

Review

What are the three genders and the three numbers?
Give the basic meanings of each of the 8 cases.