Grammatical Terms
This page contains almost all of the technical terms we use on learnsanskrit.org. Each row in the table below contains four items:
The term as it appears on our website
The standard English term, which you will generally see used in Western resources
The standard Sanskrit term
Specialist terms used in Paninian grammar
General terms
| learnsanskrit.org | English | Sanskrit | Paninian |
|---|---|---|---|
| adjective | — | viśeṣaṇa | — |
| adverb | — | ||
| agreement | — | ||
| aspirated | — | mahāprāṇa | — |
| ātmanepada | middle voice | ātmanepada | — |
| case | — | vibhakti | — |
| case 1 (subject) | nominative case | prathamā | — |
| case 2 (object) | accusative case | dvitīyā | — |
| case 3 (“with”) | instrumental case | tṛtīyā | — |
| case 4 (“for”) | dative case | caturthī | — |
| case 5 (“from”) | ablative case | pañcamī | — |
| case 6 (“of”) | genitive case | ṣaṣṭhī | — |
| case 7 (“in”) | locative case | saptamī | — |
| case 8 (address) | vocative case | sambodhana | — |
| causal verb | causative | ṇijanta | |
| command mood | imperative mood | ājñā | loṭ |
| compound (word) | — | samāsa | — |
| compound vowel | diphthong | saṃdhyakṣara | ec |
| conditional mood | — | saṃketa | lṛṅ |
| consonant | — | vyañjana | hal |
| desiderative | — | sannanta | |
| distant future tense | periphrastic future | anadyatana-bhaviṣyat | luṭ |
| distant past tense | perfect | parokṣa-bhūta | liṭ |
| doubling | reduplication | dvitva | — |
| dual (number) | — | dvivacana | — |
| dvandva | copulative compound | dvandva | — |
| feminine gender | — | strīliṅga | — |
| first person | — | uttama | — |
| gender | — | liṅga | — |
| -tvā | gerund | ktvānta | |
| grammatical case | (see “case”) | ||
| grammar | — | vyākaraṇa | |
| hard palate | — | tālu | — |
| heavy (syllable) | — | guru | — |
| intensive | — | yaṅanta | |
| light (syllable) | — | laghu | — |
| lip | — | oṣṭha | — |
| long vowel | — | dīrgha | — |
| masculine gender | — | puṃliṅga | — |
| medium vowel | full grade vowel | guṇa | — |
| nasal | — | anunāsika | — |
| neuter gender | — | napuṃsakaliṅga | |
| noun ending | — | sup | |
| noun from verb | denominative | nāmadhātu | |
| noun | — | nāma | subanta |
| number | — | vacana | — |
| object | — | karman | — |
| option mood | present optative | vidhi | vidhi-liṅ |
| ordinary future tense | simple future | bhaviṣyat | |
| ordinary past tense | imperfect | anadyatana-bhūta | laṅ |
| parasmaipada | active voice | parasmaipada | — |
| participle | — | ||
| person | — | puruṣa | puruṣa |
| plural (number) | — | bahuvacana | |
| point of pronunciation | point of articulation | uccāraṇa-sthāna | |
| prefix | (see “verb prefix”) | ||
| present tense | present indicative | vartamāna | laṭ |
| primary (suffix) | — | kṛt | |
| pronoun | — | sarvanāman | — |
| recent past tense | aorist | bhūta | luṅ |
| sibilant | — | ūṣman | śal |
| sandhi | — | — | — |
| second person | — | madhyama | — |
| secondary (suffix) | — | taddhita | — |
| semivowel | — | antaḥstha | |
| short vowel | hrasva | — | |
| simple vowel | — | samānākṣara | — |
| singular (number) | — | ekavacana | — |
| soft palate | — | kaṇṭha | |
| stem (of a noun) | — | prātipadika | — |
| stem (of any word) | — | aṅga | — |
| stop | — | sparśa | |
| strong vowel | lengthened grade vowel | vṛddhi | |
| subject | — | kartṛ | |
| suffix | — | pratyaya | — |
| syllable | — | akṣara | |
| third person | — | prathama | — |
| tooth | — | danta | |
| ubhayapada | ubhayapada | ||
| unaspirated | — | alpaprāṇa | |
| uninflected word | avyaya | avyaya | |
| unvoiced | — | aghoṣa | |
| verb class | — | gaṇa | — |
| verb ending | — | tiṅ | |
| verb prefix | — | upasarga, gati, cvi, … | upasarga, gati, cvi, … |
| verb root | — | dhātu | — |
| verb | — | tiṅanta | |
| verbless sentence | nominal sentence | ||
| voiced | — | ghoṣavat | — |
| vowel | — | svara | ac |
Other terms
| learnsanskrit.org | English | Sanskrit | Paninian |
|---|---|---|---|
| bhū class | Class 1 | bhvādigaṇa | — |
| tud class | Class 6 | adādigaṇa | — |
| cur class | Class 10 | curādigaṇa | — |
| krī class | Class 9 | kryādigaṇa | — |
| rudh class | Class 7 | rudhādigaṇa | — |
| su class | Class 5 | svādigaṇ | — |
| tan class | Class 8 | tanādigaṇa | — |
| div class | Class 4 | divādigaṇa | — |
| hu class | Class 3 | juhotyādigaṇa | — |
| ad class | Class 2 | adādigaṇa | — |