The Sanskrit language

Our core lessons will teach you about all of Sanskrit at a basic level. Together, these core lessons will help you build a strong tree trunk for the rest of your studies.

First, our lessons will focus on the Sanskrit sounds: what they are, how they are pronounced, and how they affect each other. We will then learn some of the sound change rules that Sanskrit often uses. Here is a simple example of a sound change rule:

• कृष्णः न युध्यते → कृष्णो न युध्यते
  kṛṣṇaḥ na yudhyate → kṛṣṇo na yudhyate
  Krishna does not fight.
  

(Don't worry about the details here; we will explain them later.)

Once we finish learning about Sanskrit's sounds and sound change rules, we will learn about basic Sanskrit sentences. We will also learn about the three basic word types that Sanskrit uses. First, we will learn about naming words like “Krishna”:

• कृष्णो न युध्यते।
  kṛṣṇo na yudhyate.
  Krishna does not fight.
  

Next, we will learn about action words like “fight”:

• कृष्णो न युध्यते।
  kṛṣṇo na yudhyate.
  Krishna does not fight.
  

Finally, we will learn about miscellaneous words like “not”:

• कृष्णो न युध्यते।
  kṛṣṇo na yudhyate.
  Krishna does not fight.
  

We will end our core lessons by learning how to create new words in Sanskrit. Here are some examples of the kinds of words we can create:

• युज् + अ → योग
  yuj + a → yoga
  yoke, join, unite → yoking, junction, union; yoga
  

• योग + इन् → योगिन्
  yoga + in → yogin
  yoga → characterized by yoga; yogi
  

• कर्मन् + योग → कर्मयोग
  karman + yoga → karmayoga
  karma (action) + yoga → yoga of action; karma yoga
  

Together, these core lessons will give us a complete view of Sanskrit grammar. Once you finish these core lessons and know them well, you can explore the rest of our guide in whatever order you like.