How to read the grammar
Index · How a sitting works · 1.1
The middle column of a word table is not a definition. The sense column says what the word means. The middle column says which form of that word is in the line, and what job the form is doing.
citta (चित्त) is a noun
citta (चित्त) is a noun. It means the mind. “Stem” does not take that away. A noun in a sentence wears an ending, and the ending does the work an English word such as “is,” “of,” or “in” would do. The stem is the noun with that ending taken off. citta (चित्त) is the stem. When the noun stands on its own as “the mind,” the nominative singular is cittam (चित्तम्). The -m (म्) is the ending. citta (चित्त) is neuter, so the ending is the neuter one.
Stem, inside the compound
In 1.2 the column says “stem, inside the compound” because citta (चित्त) is inside citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ (चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः). Only the last member of a compound is declined. nirodhaḥ (निरोधः) wears -ḥ (ः). citta (चित्त) and vṛtti (वृत्ति) sit in front of it with no ending of their own. That is why the line does not say cittam (चित्तम्).
Read the compound from the end: a stilling, of the activities, of the mind.
Nom. sg.
Nom. is nominative. Sg. is singular. “Nom. sg. masculine” means one masculine noun in the nominative. The column writes the same label out in full: “nominative singular, masculine.”
The nominative is the form a noun takes when the line is saying what that noun is. Singular means there is one of them. Masculine is the gender of the word. yoga (योग) is masculine. citta (चित्त) is neuter. nidrā (निद्रा) is feminine. The ending matches the gender.
In 1.2, yogaḥ (योगः) and nirodhaḥ (निरोधः) are both nominative singular masculine, and there is no verb “is.” Two nominatives side by side are how Sanskrit says “yoga is stilling.”
The same slot can be another gender. anuśāsanam (अनुशासनम्) in 1.1 is nominative singular too, but neuter: one teaching, and the line is naming it.
The other labels in these sixteen lines
| The column says | How to read it |
|---|---|
| indeclinable | The word does not take an ending. atha (अथ), tadā (तदा), tu (तु). |
| stem, inside the compound | The noun is here, and the ending belongs to a later member. citta (चित्त), vṛtti (वृत्ति) in 1.2. |
| nominative singular, masculine | Nom. sg. masculine: one masculine noun, and the line is saying what it is. yogaḥ (योगः), nirodhaḥ (निरोधः). |
| nominative singular, neuter | The same job, for a neuter noun. anuśāsanam (अनुशासनम्), and cittam (चित्तम्) when citta (चित्त) stands alone. |
| nominative singular, feminine | The same job, for a feminine noun. nidrā (निद्रा). |
| nominative plural | The same job, for more than two. vṛttayaḥ (वृत्तयः). |
| genitive singular | “Of.” draṣṭuḥ (द्रष्टुः) in 1.3, vitṛṣṇasya (वितृष्णस्य) in 1.15. |
| locative singular | “In.” svarūpe (स्वरूपे) in 1.3, sthitau (स्थितौ) in 1.13. |
| instrumental dual | “By the two.” -ābhyām (आभ्याम्) in 1.12. |
| ablative singular | “From.” khyāteḥ (ख्यातेः) in 1.16. |
| privative | a- (अ) on the front means “not.” akliṣṭa (अक्लिष्ट) in 1.5. |
| past participle | A completed action used as an adjective. anubhūta (अनुभूत), “experienced,” in 1.11. |
Gender is a fact about the word. It is written after the case when the ending depends on it: masculine, feminine, neuter. Each new fact arrives on the line that needs it. Later sittings reuse these labels, and name a new one in the sitting when a line needs it. The order of the first facts is on How a sitting works.