Lesson 1: Cases and To Be
Index · Introduction · Lesson 2: To Go
The conversation is in the introduction. This lesson is the case: the job a noun has in a sentence. The example word is छात्र, “student.”
What a case is
A case is the job a noun has in a sentence.
English mostly shows the job by word order. “The dog bites the man” and “The man bites the dog” use the same words. Pronouns still change: “I” does the action, “me” receives it.
Nepali shows the job with a word after the noun: ले, लाई, को, मा, बाट.
Sanskrit writes the job onto the end of the noun. छात्रः does the action. छात्रम् receives it. छात्रस्य is “of the student.” छात्रे is “in the student.”
Names from school
School calls a case a विभक्ति. It calls one, two, or more a वचन. The table below uses the job in English.
प्रथमा विभक्ति (pratham bibhakti) is Subject. द्वितीया विभक्ति (duitia bibhakti) is Object. तृतीया विभक्ति is With, by. चतुर्थी विभक्ति is For. पञ्चमी विभक्ति is From. षष्ठी विभक्ति is Of. सप्तमी विभक्ति is In, at. Calling is सम्बोधन. School lists it after those seven.
These eight jobs are the pattern. The drill is still छात्र, छात्रा, and पुस्तकम्. Other noun shapes start at Lesson 25: The Teacher's Endings. The word list is a lookup for words that take an ending already taught. It is not a list to memorize first.
One is एकवचन (ek bachan). This column is that. Two is द्विवचन (dui bachan), in Lesson 20: The Dual. More than two is बहुवचन (bahu bachan), in Lesson 7: Masculine Plural. Nepali uses the plural for two people. Sanskrit keeps two as its own column. The counting words, एक through दश, are Lesson 24: Numbers.
Cases: masculine singular
These endings fit छात्र, “student,” and other masculine nouns of the same shape. A man’s name of that shape takes them too. बिकास means “Bikash.” Learn this column first.
| Case | Ending | Form | A whole sentence | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | -ः | छात्रः | छात्रः पठति। बिकासः पठति। | विद्यार्थी पढ्छ। The student is the one doing it. पठति means “he studies.” बिकासः पठति। “Bikash studies.” बिकास पढ्छ। |
| Object | -म् | छात्रम् | गुरुः छात्रं पश्यति। गुरुः छात्रं पाठयति। गुरुः बिकासं पश्यति। | गुरुले विद्यार्थीलाई हेर्नुहुन्छ। The student is the one who receives the seeing. पश्यति means “he sees.” गुरुः means “teacher.” पाठयति means “he teaches.” गुरुले विद्यार्थीलाई पढाउनुहुन्छ। पठति and पाठयति are explained under this table. गुरुः बिकासं पश्यति। “The teacher sees Bikash.” गुरुले बिकासलाई हेर्नुहुन्छ। |
| With, by | -एन | छात्रेण | गुरुः छात्रेण सह पठति। गुरुः बिकासेण सह पठति। | गुरु विद्यार्थीसँग पढ्नुहुन्छ। सह means “with.” पठति, “he studies,” is the verb from the first row. The same ending is “by means of”: यो काम विद्यार्थीद्वारा भयो। कार्यम् means “work.” गुरुः बिकासेण सह पठति। “The teacher studies with Bikash.” गुरु बिकाससँग पढ्नुहुन्छ। |
| For | -आय | छात्राय | इदं पुस्तकं छात्राय अस्ति। इदं पुस्तकं बिकासाय अस्ति। | छात्राय is only विद्यार्थीका लागि, “for the student.” It does not include हो. यो पुस्तक विद्यार्थीका लागि हो। इदं means “this,” पुस्तकम् means “book,” and अस्ति means “is.” इदं पुस्तकं बिकासाय अस्ति। “This book is for Bikash.” यो पुस्तक बिकासका लागि हो। |
| From | -आत् | छात्रात् | अहं छात्रात् शृणोमि। अहं बिकासात् शृणोमि। | म विद्यार्थीबाट सुन्छु। शृणोमि means “I hear.” अहं बिकासात् शृणोमि। “I hear from Bikash.” म बिकासबाट सुन्छु। |
| Of | -स्य | छात्रस्य | इदं छात्रस्य पुस्तकम् अस्ति। इदं बिकासस्य पुस्तकम् अस्ति। | छात्रस्य is only विद्यार्थीको, “the student’s.” यो विद्यार्थीको पुस्तक हो। इदं बिकासस्य पुस्तकम् अस्ति। “This is Bikash’s book.” यो बिकासको पुस्तक हो। |
| In, at | -ए | छात्रे | छात्रे ज्ञानम् अस्ति। बिकासे ज्ञानम् अस्ति। | विद्यार्थीमा ज्ञान छ। ज्ञानम् means “knowledge.” बिकासे ज्ञानम् अस्ति। “Knowledge is in Bikash.” बिकासमा ज्ञान छ। |
| Calling | हे छात्र | हे छात्र | हे छात्र, आगच्छ। हे बिकास, आगच्छ। | ए विद्यार्थी, आऊ। आगच्छ means “come.” हे बिकास, आगच्छ। “Bikash, come.” ए बिकास, आऊ। |
The form column is the ending on its own. In a sentence, म् before a consonant is written ं, as in गुरुः छात्रं पश्यति and अहं छात्रः अस्मि। Before a vowel, and at the end of a sentence, म् stays म्. इदं छात्रस्य पुस्तकम् अस्ति keeps that म् because अस्ति starts with अ. Lesson 22: Joining Words is the same rule.
पठति and पाठयति are the same verb. पठति means “he studies,” as in छात्रः पठति। The vowel in पठ stays short. पाठयति means “he teaches,” as in गुरुः छात्रं पाठयति। The short अ becomes आ, and य is added before ति. Teaching is making someone else study. Nepali does the same with पढ्छ and पढाउनुहुन्छ. The ति at the end of both words is the ending for he, she, it, and for तपाईं.
Nepali ले on a doer, as in विद्यार्थीले लेख्यो, is the first row here, छात्रः. The छात्रेण row is “with” or “by means of,” not that doer.
The word order in those two book sentences follows the Nepali, not a fixed Sanskrit slot. यो विद्यार्थीको पुस्तक हो puts the owner before the book, so the Sanskrit is इदं छात्रस्य पुस्तकम् अस्ति। यो पुस्तक विद्यार्थीका लागि हो puts the book before “for the student,” so the Sanskrit is इदं पुस्तकं छात्राय अस्ति। The ending carries the job, so the other order means the same thing: इदं छात्राय पुस्तकम् अस्ति। अस्ति, “is,” can stand in both.
Gender
A noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग).
पुस्तकम्, जलम्, “water,” and गृहम्, “house,” are neuter. The subject and the object both end in -म्, so those two jobs look the same. Before a consonant either one is written with ं. Before a vowel, or at the end, either one keeps म्. The rest of the sentence shows which job the word has.
छात्रा is feminine. Feminine endings are a later column. नेपाली does not change for a man or a woman.
An adjective matches the noun. कुशलः, “well,” with a man, कुशला with a woman.
Words used here
| Sanskrit | Meaning | Nepali cousin |
|---|---|---|
| छात्रः / छात्रा | student, man / woman | छात्र / छात्रा |
| गुरुः | teacher | गुरु |
| पुस्तकम् | book | पुस्तक |
| जलम् | water | जल |
| कार्यम् | work | काम, कार्य |
| ज्ञानम् | knowledge | ज्ञान |
| इदम् | this. Written इदं before a consonant. | यो |
| पठति | he studies | पढ्छ |
| पश्यति | he sees | हेर्छ |
| पाठयति | he teaches | पढाउनुहुन्छ |
| शृणोमि | I hear. “shri-no-mi.” शृ is in the introduction. | सुन्छु |
| आगच्छ | come | आऊ |
गृहम्, “house,” and नगरम्, “city,” wait until Lesson 2, where someone goes there.
Practice
- Say छात्रः पठति, “the student studies,” and one other row from the table.
- Say both book sentences: इदं छात्रस्य पुस्तकम् अस्ति and इदं पुस्तकं छात्राय अस्ति। अस्ति means “is.” The other forms of that verb are next.
“To be”
The verb is अस्, “to be.” This section was hard as an introduction, so it sits here, after the cases. Respectful भवान् and भवती take अस्ति, the way तपाईं takes the respectful form in Nepali. त्वम् is the तिमी level. A teacher is तपाईं, not तिमी.
| Singular | Nepali | |
|---|---|---|
| अहम्, I | अस्मि | हुँ |
| त्वम्, you, the तिमी level | असि | हौ |
| सः / सा / तत्, he / she / it | अस्ति | हो |
| भवान् / भवती, you, the तपाईं level | अस्ति | हुनुहुन्छ |
The usual sentence order is the same as Nepali: who, then what they are, then the verb. The noun or adjective matches the person: छात्रः, “student,” with a man, छात्रा with a woman.
| Who | Use | A whole sentence | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| अहम् … अस्मि | The speaker says what they are. | अहं छात्रः अस्मि। अहं छात्रा अस्मि। | “I am a student,” a man speaking, then a woman. म विद्यार्थी हुँ। |
| त्वम् … असि | Talking to a friend, a child, or someone else at the तिमी level. A teacher is not this row. | त्वं छात्रः असि। त्वं छात्रा असि। | “You are a student,” said to a man at the तिमी level, then to a woman. तिमी विद्यार्थी हौ। |
| सः … अस्ति | A man or a masculine word is something. | सः छात्रः अस्ति। | सः means “he.” “He is a student.” ऊ विद्यार्थी हो। |
| सा … अस्ति | A woman or a feminine word is something. | सा छात्रा अस्ति। | सा means “she.” “She is a student.” उनी विद्यार्थी हुन्। |
| तत् … अस्ति | A neuter thing is something. | तत् पुस्तकम् अस्ति। | तत् means “that.” पुस्तकम् means “book.” “That is a book.” त्यो पुस्तक हो। |
| भवान् … अस्ति | A man you speak to with तपाईं. A teacher is this row. | भवान् गुरुः अस्ति। | गुरुः means “teacher.” “You are a teacher.” तपाईं गुरु हुनुहुन्छ। |
| भवती … अस्ति | A woman you speak to with तपाईं. | भवती कुशला अस्ति। | कुशला means “well,” for a woman. “You are well.” तपाईं सञ्चै हुनुहुन्छ। |
These lines from the introduction’s conversation use this verb. Say them now that the row is clear.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| भवान् कथम् अस्ति। | How are you? (to a man). कथम् means “how.” A teacher is this line, not the तिमी line. |
| भवती कथम् अस्ति। | How are you? (to a woman) |
| अहं कुशलः अस्मि। | I am well. (a man speaking). कुशलः means “well,” for a man. |
| अहं कुशला अस्मि। | I am well. (a woman speaking) |
| अहं नैपालीयः अस्मि। अहं नैपालीया अस्मि। | I am Nepali, a man speaking, then a woman. नैपालीयः means “Nepali,” for a man. The woman’s form is नैपालीया. The adjective matches, as कुशलः and कुशला do. |
तत् त्वम् असि। Your three words are the grammar. त्वम् is “you,” the तिमी level. असि is “are,” that same row, so the subject is you. तत् is “that.” The sentence is “you are that.” तिमी त्यो हौ। The words stand in the order “that, you, are.” The verb decides the subject, as in the table above. अस्ति would make “that” the subject. This line uses असि.
In this sentence “that” is not a book or a house. It is a line a father says to his son in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, after telling him about the one real thing behind the world: you are that.
Practice again
- Say “I am well” in the gender you speak as.
- Ask a teacher how they are, with भवान् कथम् अस्ति।
- Say अहं छात्रः अस्मि or अहं छात्रा अस्मि।
Next
Lesson 2: To Go is the present of गम्, “to go”: गच्छामि “I go,” गच्छसि “you go,” गच्छति “he goes.”