We will learn about the speech-sounds (varṇāḥ) of Sanskrit and practice pronouncing them. We’ll also have a look at ways of introducing yourself in Sanskrit.

There is no homework for this session, but if you want to, you could memorize the Śivasūtras.

This lesson introduces the Dēvanāgarī script and provides practice in recognizing and forming its letters. It also introduces sandhi in very general terms, and discusses the phenomenon of “permitted final sounds” and the pausa (absolute final) forms we’ll be encountering in these first few lessons. We’ll also learn some basic greetings.

The homework is writing out verses in Dēvanāgarī and reciting them.

Introduction to nominal forms, including nominal stems that end in a (akārāntāni or adantāni), and some very general comments on the case system and the semantic/thematic roles for which some of the cases (nominative and accusative) are used. We’ll also discuss the circumstances under which some dental sounds are retroflexed within a word.

There is no homework, but you are strongly encouraged to complete the exercises to ensure you have a good handle on this important class of nouns and adjectives.

vocabulary: lesson 3, cumulative

With this lesson we learn how to form sentences in Sanskrit, using only nominal forms, including nouns, adjectives, and in particular, the “past passive [really absolutive] participle” that ends in tá. We’ll also introduce a few important particles or function-words, including the Sanskrit equivalents of “and,” “or,” “only,” and “also.”

vocabulary: lesson 4, cumulative

Finally we introduce finite verbs, that is, verbal forms that are marked for the categories of person and number. We’ll take a bird’s eye view of the verbal system as a whole, then look at the present system, and finally focus in on the present indicative (laṭ) parasmaipadám of those verbs that have an a at the end of their present stem.

vocabulary: lesson 5, cumulative

We will introduce the formation of feminine nominal stems and talk about the inflection of stems that end in long vowels. This will allow us to complete the paradigm of most adjectives whose masculine and neuter forms end in a.

vocabulary: lesson 6, cumulative

We start our discussion of Sanskrit compounds with a general overview and a look at dvandvaḥ or “coordinative compounds.” We’ll then talk about the demonstrative, relative, and interrogative pronouns/adjectives that make up the t-k-y series and try using them in sentences.

vocabulary: lesson 7, cumulative

We continue our discussion of compounds with tatpuruṣaḥ or modifier compounds, and then bahuvrīhi or exocentric compounds.

vocabulary: lesson 8, cumulative

We’ll complete our survey of the present indicative (laṭ) of “thematic” verbs by introducing the ātmanēpadám and speaking a bit about diathesis. We will also discuss preverbs and things that look and act like them.

vocabulary: lesson 9, cumulative

Today we’ll look at some verb forms that are uninflected and non-finite (i.e., they do not express person and number): the infinitive, which functions primarily as the complement of another verb, and the converb, which functions as an adverbal modifier of another verb. We’ll see how these forms work and how they’re formed, including a brief discussion of the augment i.

vocabulary: lesson 10, cumulative

The imperfect is the first finite past tense we’ll cover. We’ll discuss its stem, endings, and the past tense augment. We’ll also introduce nominal stems ending in i and u (in all three genders) as well as the word iti, used to report direct speech or thought.

vocabulary: lesson 11, cumulative

We will finish off sandhiḥ by looking at the processes involved between the final sound of one word and the initial sound of the next (“external sandhi”).

vocabulary: lesson 12, cumulative

Besides introducing the pronouns of the first and second person, we will also talk about strong cases (sarvanāmasthānam) and introduce nominal forms in which the stem takes multiple shapes, such as possessive adjectives formed from mat and vat.

vocabulary: lesson 13, cumulative

We’ll introduce in a bit more detail the second class of verbs, which are formed by adding the verbal endings directly onto the verbal root. We’ll also look at numerals and the past active participle.

vocabulary: lesson 14, cumulative

This lesson will introduce third-class verbs, which are reduplicated athematic verbs, as well as present participles (parasmaipadám and ātmanēpadám) and their usage, including absolute constructions; we will also look further into noun formation with abstract suffixes.

vocabulary: lesson 15, cumulative

This lesson covers the remaining present classes (5, 7, 8, and 9, all “nasal presents”) as well as some primary verbal derivatives (action nouns) and n-stem nouns.

vocabulary: lesson 16, cumulative

This lesson introduces the future tense, which is made up of two different formations (lr̥ṭ and luṭ), as well as

vocabulary: lesson 17, cumulative

We will introduce the imperative of the present system, along with a few other nominal forms (with a stem that does not change), as well as a new type of tatpuruṣa compound that ends in a verbal adjective.

vocabulary: lesson 18, cumulative

The optative is used for talking about hypothetical or potential actions. In addition we’ll also discuss some participles that are related in meaning.

vocabulary: lesson 19, cumulative

A different stem is used for the passive voice in the four tense-moods of the present system. We’ll talk about this, as well as the pronoun idám and adverbs.

vocabulary: lesson 20, cumulative

A different stem is used for the passive voice in the four tense-moods of the present system. Also covered are avyayībhāvaḥ compounds and the demonstrative adáḥ.

vocabulary: lesson 21, cumulative

We will cover a new past tense: the perfect, which is formed with reduplication and special endings. We will also look at changing nominal stems that end in s, which include the perfect parasmaipadam participle and the comparative suffix.

vocabulary: lesson 22, cumulative

This lesson introduces the causative, which involves learning a bit about ditransitive verbs, how causative verbs work in syntactic terms, and their formation using the suffix ṆiC.

The aorist is a finite past tense that has roughly eight different forms. This lesson introduces all of them, as well as expressing prohibitions and the declension of diphthong stems like gō- “cow.”

Besides a number of seemingly-irregular nouns and adjectives, this lesson introduces two categories of derivative verbs, denominatives and intensives.