"And," "Or," and "Not"

So far, our Sanskrit sentences have been very basic. There are many reasons for this, but one of the more important ones is that we can only deal with one thing at a time: one subject, one object, and one verb. Let's take a look at some new uninflected words that let us chain ideas together. With these new words, we can talk about many subjects, many objects, and many verbs.

ca ("and")

The Sanskrit word for "and" is ca. ca can connect verbs to verbs, nouns to nouns, and phrases to phrases. ca can never start a sentence, and it usually follows the last term in the group.

• नरो गजश् च

  naro gajaś ca

  The man and the elephant

• अश्वो नरो गजश् च

  aśvo naro gajaś ca

  The horse, the man, and the elephant

• गच्छामि पृच्छामि च

  gacchāmi pṛcchāmi ca

  I go and I ask.

• गच्छति नरं च पश्यति

  gacchati naraṃ ca paśyati

  He goes and he sees the man. (option 1)

• गच्छति नरं पश्यति च

  gacchati naraṃ paśyati ca

  He goes and he sees the man. (option 2)

If we use ca twice, we can emphasize that we're considering both one thing and another:

• नरश् च गजश् च

  naraś ca gajaś ca

  (Both) the man and the elephant.

vā ("or")

The Sanskrit word for "or" is vā, and it's used just like ca: vā can connect verbs to verbs, nouns to nouns, and phrases to phrases, but vā can never start a sentence, and it usually follows the last word in the group.

• नरो गजो वा

  naro gajo vā

  The man or the elephant

• अश्वो नरो गजो वा

  aśvo naro gajo vā

  The horse, the man, or the elephant

• गच्छामि पृच्छामि वा

  gacchāmi pṛcchāmi vā

  I go or I ask.

• गच्छति नरं वा पश्यति

  gacchati naraṃ vā paśyati

  He goes or he sees the man. (option 1)

• गच्छति नरं पश्यति वा

  gacchati naraṃ paśyati vā

  He goes or he sees the man. (option 2)

If we use vā twice, we can emphasize that we're considering either one thing or another:

• नरो वा गजो वा

  naro vā gajo vā

  (Either) the man or the elephant.

na ("not")

The Sanskrit word for "not" is na. na can turn a simple statement into its opposite. na usually goes in front of the verb, but if there is no verb in the sentence, then it sometimes appears at the end of the sentence.

• न गच्छामि

  na gacchāmi

  I do not go.

• नरो वीरो न

  naro vīro na

  The man is not a hero. (option 1)

• नरो न वीरः

  naro na vīraḥ

  The man is not a hero. (option 2)

na can also mean just "no," but this meaning is rare.

Devanagari: Consonants 25 - 30

With these five consonants, we have studied all of the consonants that have appeared in Starting Out so far.

देवनागरी

IAST

ड

ḍa

घ

gha

ख

kha

छ

cha

फ

pha

Devanagari is not a perfect script; many of its letters are easily confused with each other. Here are the most commonly confused pairs, as well as some mnemonic devices that might help:

• ख, रव

  kha, rava

  kha has its shapes closer together, like two people kissing.

• घ, ध

  gha, dha

  gha forms a little pocket, like a stomach full of gas. In fact, the word ghana can mean either "cloud" or "fat man," both of which are quite gassy!

• ङ, ड

  ṅa, ḍa

  ṅa has an extra dot, almost like a nose piercing.

• ब, व

  ba, va

  ba has an extra stroke through the middle, as if it has been broken in half.

• भ, म

  bha, ma

  bha is like ma, but it's broken at a the top.