Odds and Ends
Starting from a basic understanding of Sanskrit sounds, we quickly increased our ability to recognize and form real Sanskrit. With Starting Out, we learned the basics of Sanskrit's structure. With Nouns, we refined our understanding of Sanskrit compounds and also studied the nine most common Sanskrit participles. And with Verbs, we greatly increased the number of verbs we could use and recognize. Our Sanskrit studies are almost complete.
In this ends, we will study all of the odds and ends that are not as important or common as the other material we've covered: Sanskrit numbers, some rare and unusual pronouns, some rare nouns, and so on.
By the end of this unit, you will be able to do the following:
- use and recognize almost every type of Sanskrit noun
- understand almost every part of Classical Sanskrit grammar
- read almost all of the Bhagavad Gita with full grammatical understanding
- read any Classical Sanskrit text with full or nearly full grammatical understanding
What's left?
True mastery of Sanskrit takes a long time because Sanskrit is a language full of exceptions and irregularities. Thus a master of Sanskrit would know that ji, although it is a parasmaipada verb, is always ātmanepada when it uses the prefix vi. A mastery of these detailed exceptions can only come through more serious study and a far greater expenditure of effort. But even if we forsake that great effort, we can still read Sanskrit in nearly all of its later forms. And even if we encounter odd features later on, we can still fit them into our understanding of the rest of Sanskrit grammar.
This unit, then, is not the end to our Sanskrit journey, but rather of our investigation of the essence of Sanskrit itself. As you continue to read, you will surely learn more about both the language and the people who used it. After the guide, we will undertake an extensive review of all of the material we've studied, along with some new material along the way. By the end of this review, you should be ready to tackle almost any text in Classical Sanskrit.
Now, let's get started.