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In the previous lesson, lesson 28, we started looking at the perfect tense, called liṭ लिट् by the Sanskrit grammarians.

We said that in Sanskrit there are three tenses to indicate past action, the imperfect, laṅ लङ्, the aorist, luṅ लुङ् and the perfect, liṭ लिट् . We said that, in classical Sanskrit, in practice, these three tenses seem to be used interchangeably for any past action.

In this lesson we will look at some more paradigms of the perfect tense.

Paradigm 1

Let us take the root √nī √नी “lead” as an example of a conjugation of a root ending in vowels of i or u type. The strong stem is ninay निनय् or nināy निनाय् and the weak stem is ninī निनी.

Active:

nināya निनाय	ninyatuḥ निन्यतुः	ninyuḥ निन्युः
ninayitha निनयिथ OR ninetha निनेथ	ninyathuḥ निन्यथुः	ninya निन्य
ninaya निनय OR nināya  निनाय	ninyiva निन्यिव	ninyima निन्यिम

Middle:

ninye निन्ये	ninyāte निन्याते	ninyire निन्यिरे
ninyiṣe निन्यिषे	ninyāthe निन्याथे	ninyidhve निन्यिध्वे
ninye निन्ये	ninyivahe निन्यिवहे	ninyimahe निन्यिमहे

Paradigm 2

Let us take the very common root √bhū √भू “be”. Only active forms are seen in practice. There is only one stem babhū बभू.

Active:

babhūva बभूव	babhūvatuḥ बभूवतुः	babhūvuḥ बभूवुः
babhūtha बभूथ OR babhūvitha  बभूविथ	bahbūvathuḥ बह्बूवथुः	babhūva बभूव
babhūva बभूव	babhūviva बभूविव	babhūvima बभूविम

Paradigm 3

Let us take the root √dā √दा “give” as an example of a conjugation of a root ending in ā आ. The stem forms are dadā ददा and dad दद्. Note the au औ ending of 1st and 3rd person singular in the active.

Active:

dadau ददौ	dadatuḥ ददतुः	daduḥ ददुः
dadātha ददाथ OR daditha ददिथ	dadathuḥ ददथुः	dada दद
dadau ददौ	dadiva ददिव	dadima ददिम

Middle:

dade ददे	dadāte ददाते	dadire ददिरे
dadiṣe ददिषे	dadāthe ददाथे	dadidhve ददिध्वे
dade ददे	dadivahe ददिवहे	dadimahe ददिमहे

Paradigm 4

Let us take the root √tan √तन् “stretch” as an example of a conjugation of a root with medial a अ, showing fusion of the root and reduplication, resulting in a medial e ए in the weak forms. The strong stem is tatan ततन् or tatān ततान् and the weak stem is ten तेन्.

Active:

tatāna ततान	tenatuḥ तेनतुः	tenuḥ तेनुः
tatantha ततन्थ OR tenitha  तेनिथ	tenathuḥ तेनथुः	tena तेन
tatana ततन OR tatāna  ततान	teniva तेनिव	tenima तेनिम

Middle:

tene तेने	tenāte तेनाते	tenire तेनिरे
teniṣe तेनिषे	tenāthe तेनाथे	tenidhve तेनिध्वे
tene तेने	tenivahe तेनिवहे	tenimahe तेनिमहे

Paradigm 5

Let us take the root √vac √वच् “speak” as an example of a conjugation of a root that undergoes “samprasāraṇam” (ie. semivowels change to the corresponding vowels) with the initial  va व contracted to u उ in the reduplication. In the strong forms only the reduplicated syllable is contracted, while in the weak forms the radical va व  is also contracted to u उ, giving ū ऊ. The strong stem is thus uvac उवच् or uvāc उवाच् and the weak stem is ūc ऊच्.

Active:

uvāca उवाच	ūcatuḥ ऊचतुः	ūcuḥ ऊचुः
uvaktha उवक्थ OR uvacitha  उवचिथ	ūcathuḥ ऊचथुः	ūca ऊच
uvaca उवच OR uvāca  उवाच	ūciva ऊचिव	ūcima ऊचिम

Middle:

ūce ऊचे	ūcāte ऊचाते	ūcire ऊचिरे
ūciṣe ऊचिषे	ūcāthe ऊचाथे	ūcidhve ऊचिध्वे
ūce ऊचे	ūcivahe ऊचिवहे	ūcimahe ऊचिमहे

Note:

Four roots ending in r̥ ऋ do not take the union vowel i इ in the first persons dual and plural. These roots are √kr̥  (make) √bhr̥ (bear)  √sr̥ (go) √vr̥ (choose) √कृ √भृ √सृ √वृ. For example, the first persons of √कृ √kr̥ are cakara or cakāra; cakr̥va; cakr̥ma चकर or चकार; चकृव;  चकृम in the active and cakre cakr̥vahe cakr̥mahe चक्रे चकृवहे चकृमहे in the middle. As an example of a normal r̥ ऋ ending root let us take √dhr̥ √धृ “hold”. Its first persons would be dadhara or dadhāra; dadhriva; dadhrima दधर or दधार; दध्रिव; दध्रिम in the active and dadhre; dadhrivahe; dadhrimahe दध्रे; दध्रिवहे; दध्रिमहे in the middle.

This is the end of lesson 29. In this lesson, we looked at a few paradigms of the perfect tense. We will continue with the perfect tense in the next lesson also.