Exercises: Neuter Nouns

Neuter nouns will be marked with the letter n.

सूर्य

sūrya

m

sun

चन्द्र

candra

m

moon [candle]

वृक्ष

vṛkṣa

m

tree

ग्राम

grāma

m

village

नगर

nagara

n

town, city [Devanagari]

फल

phala

n

fruit

पत्त्र

pattra

n

feather; leaf; letter [pterodactyl, feather]

This word has the general sense of "plumage." So, it can refer to a bird's wing or feather, or the feather of an arrow. In the sense of the plumage of plants, it can be a leaf or petal. Large leaves were later used for writing, so pattra also came to mean "paper." (In the same way, we can talk about leaves of paper and gold leaf in English.) The word has other meanings associated with a feather's shape, like "knife" or "dagger," but the meanings here are the most common.

वन

vana

n

forest

जल

jala

n

water; coldness [cold, gel-atin, gl-acier]

निमित्त

nimitta

n

omen; cause

Translation

Translate from English to Sanskrit. Follow the rules from the previous set of exercises. (m) and (n) are used below to clarify a word's gender.

• That is the beautiful black lion.

• That is the sun.

• That is the fruit.

• I see the white sun.

• He sees the beautiful moons.

• He wants them(n).

• The elephants strike the black trees.

• The hero grieves for the forest. [use case 2 for "the forest"].

• They(m) conquer the men.

• We conquer the villages.

• They(n) conquer the cities.

• The cities conquer them(n).

• You obtain the villages.

• The tree releases the black leaf.

• The men see the elephants.

• Black wolves go to the city.

• They(m) release them(n).

• They(m) strike the men.

Translate from Sanskrit to English.

• निमित्तानि च पश्यामि

  nimittāni ca paśyāmi

Answers

Translation

• स सुन्दरः कृष्णः सिंहः

  sa sundaraḥ kṛṣṇaḥ siṃhaḥ

• स सूर्यः

  sa sūryaḥ

• तत् फलम्

  tat phalam

• अहं श्वेतं सूर्यं पश्यामि

  ahaṃ śvetaṃ sūryaṃ paśyāmi

• स सुन्दरांश् चन्द्रान् पश्यति

  sa sundarāṃś candrān paśyati

• स तान्य् इच्छति

  sa tāny icchati

• गजा कृष्णानि वृक्षानि तुदन्ति

  gajā kṛṣṇāni vṛkṣāni tudanti

• वीरो वनं शोचति

  vīro vanaṃ śocati

• ते नराञ् जयन्ति

  te narāñ jayanti

• वयं ग्रामाञ् जयामः

  vayaṃ grāmāñ jayāmaḥ

• तानि नगरानि जयन्ति

  tāni nagarāni jayanti

• नगरानि तानि जयन्ति

  nagarāni tāni jayanti

• त्वं ग्रामांल् लभसे

  tvaṃ grāmāṃl labhase

• वृक्षः कृष्णं पत्त्रं सृजति

  vṛkṣaḥ kṛṣṇaṃ pattraṃ sṛjati

• नरा गजान् पश्यन्ति

  narā gajān paśyanti

• कृष्णा वृका नगरं गच्छन्ति

  kṛṣṇā vṛkā nagaraṃ gacchanti

• ते तानि सृजन्ति

  te tāni sṛjanti

• ते नरांस् तुदन्ति

  te narāṃs tudanti

• And I see omens. Bhagavad Gita 1.31