The PPP

Now we will study the PPP.

Introduction

Take a look at the progression below:

• I remember the man.

• I remembered the man.

• The man was remembered.

• The lion sees the remembered man.

Each line of this progression changes the verb very slightly, and each line relates to one of the P's in PPP. The first P here represents past, since the man was remembered before the lion sees him. The second P here represents passive, since although we know that the man was remembered, we do not know who remembered him. The third P, as you might remember, represents the concept of a "participle," which we will study later on. The PPP is represented above as the word "remember."

Note that even though the sentence's tense might change, the PPP remains constant. This is true both in English and in Sanskrit:

• सिंहो स्मृतं नरं पश्यति

  siṃho smṛtaṃ naraṃ paśyati

  The lion sees the remembered man.

• सिंहो स्मृतं नरं द्रक्ष्यति

  siṃho smṛtaṃ naraṃ drakṣyati

  The lion will see the remembered man.

Using the PPP

Essentially, the PPP is an adjective. Although it has the properties of a verb — it has a tense and can be described by the different noun cases — it has a person, number, and gender. Note how it is used in these (technically) verbless sentences:

• तत् कृतं मया वने ग्रामाय

  tat kṛtaṃ mayā vane grāmāya

  That was made by me in the forest for the village.

  A more natural translation would be "I made that in the forest for the village."

• अश्वो दृष्टो नगरे

  aśvo dṛṣṭo nagare

  A horse was seen in the city.

Non-passive meaning

Even though the PPP is usually a passive verb, it sometimes has non-passive meaning. This is especially true for verbs that mean "go."

• अहं वनं गतः

  ahaṃ vanaṃ gataḥ

  I went to the forest.

As a noun

The PPP can also be a noun, just as the adjective sundara can mean both "beautiful" and "the beautiful one." This is one of the most powerful features of the PPP.

• बुद्ध

  buddha

  awakened, woken up (adjective) → one who has awoken; Buddha

  Note that the PPP likely has an active meaning here; he awoke, but he was probably not caused to awake.

• संस्कृत

  saṃskṛta

  perfectly or fully made (adjective) → that which is perfectly or fully made; the Sanskrit language

Formation

The PPP is formed by adding ta to the end of a verb root. When we do so, we should follow the same rules as the tvā suffix of the gerund. Verbs with prefixes still use ta, and they still follow the rules of tvā. And, some roots will use the "connecting i" vowel that we talked about earlier.

• गम् → गत

  gam → gata

  go → gone

• प्रतिगम् → प्रतिगत

  pratigam → pratigata

  return → returned

• सेव् → सेवित

  sev → sevita

  serve → served

• भाष् → भाषित

  bhāṣ → bhāṣita

  speak → spoken

They follow the same sandhi rules, too:

• लभ् → लब्ध

  labh → labdha

  obtain → obtained

• दृश् → दृष्ट

  dṛś → dṛṣṭa

  see → seen

Some verbs — usually those whose roots end in a long vowel (ā, ī, ū, or ṝ) — use na instead. But such forms are more uncommon.

• तॄ → तीर्ण

  tṝ → tīrṇa

  cross → crossed

  Note the change from n to ṇ, which is caused by the same rule that produces nareṇa.

• पॄ → पूर्ण

  pṝ → pūrṇa

  fill → filled

  Again, note the change from n to ṇ.

The changes in tṝ and pṝ were discussed when we discussed the gerund.

As always, internal sandhi is extremely important. Both the gerund and the PPP use the same rules, and there are many that we haven't covered. But, we can learn those along the way.

Differences from the gerund

The verb kṛ normally becomes kṛta; but, it becomes skṛta when it has pari or sam for a prefix. Thus, we have saṃskṛta, not *saṃkṛta.