The Ordinary Past Tense

Also known as: imperfect (in analogy with Greek), anadyatana-bhūta ("past action, not of today"), laṅ

Introduction

Although we've studied participles in the past, present, and future tenses, we've only studied "regular" verbs in the present tense. Now let's take a look at these sorts of verbs in the past:

I went.
You restrained.
We stood.

Each of these sentences can be translated to Sanskrit. But we should not translate them hastily: Sanskrit has three different versions of the past tense, and each version represents one of the following:

the recent past
the not-so-distant past
the distant past

The "recent past" and "distant past" are extremely old verb forms and are difficult to learn, so we'll stick with the "not-so-distant past" — which is the most common form of the past tense — for now. But "not-so-distant past" is a lengthy term, so let's just call it the ordinary past tense. Let's see how the sample sentences above look in the ordinary past tense:

अगच्छम्

agaccham
I went.
अयच्छः

ayacchaḥ
You restrained.
अतिष्ठाम

atiṣṭhāma
We stood.

Past participles (e.g. gata) can represent any of the three past tenses above.

Endings

We have three sets of endings to learn: P endings, A endings for the simple verb classes, and A endings for the complex verb classes. In this lesson, we'll study all three. But first, let's talk about that little a in front of the verb stem.

a

You might have noticed that the ordinary past tense has the letter a- in front of the stem. (I say a- instead of just a to emphasize that the letter is a prefix). This a- is sometimes called the "sign" or "mark" of the ordinary past tense. We attach this sign to the front of the normal stem to produce a special "past stem."

This a- sound is crucial for interpreting and recognizing the ordinary past tense. Fortunately, Sanskrit itself seems to recognize this fact; the a- of a past tense verb is never hidden. For instance, what do you think happens when a- is used with a verb that starts with a vowel, like iṣ? Based on the sandhi rules we've studied so far, you might guess that the past tense stem would be eccha. But the result is surprising:

इष् → इच्छ → ऐच्छ

iṣ → iccha → aiccha

want (root) → want (present stem) → wanted (ordinary past stem)

Traditionally, this behavior is explained as follows:

If the root starts with a vowel, the a prefix combines with that vowel and makes it a strong vowel.

It's that simple! Now, let's start studying some of the endings that this verb form uses.

P Endings

The P endings are similar to the endings of the present tense, but they're not exactly the same. Take a look:

bhū (a+, P, ordinary past tense)
भू	Singular	Dual	Plural
Third Person	अभवत् abhavat	अभवताम् abhavatām	अभवन् abhavan
Second Person	अभवः abhavaḥ	अभवतम् abhavatam	अभवत abhavata
First Person	अभवम् abhavam	अभवाव abhavāva	अभवाम abhavāma

For comparison, here are the endings for the present tense:

bhū (a+, P, present tense)
भू	Singular	Dual	Plural
Third Person	भवति bhavati	भवतः bhavataḥ	भवन्ति bhavanti
Second Person	भवसि bhavasi	भवथः bhavathaḥ	भवथ bhavatha
First Person	भवामि bhavāmi	भवावः bhavāvaḥ	भवामः bhavāmaḥ

Note the simple and elegant transformation from the present tense endings to the ordinary past tense endings. Each present tense ending loses its last letter; then, the rules of sandhi act to reduce the present endings to the past endings.

The complex verb classes use the same endings, as mentioned above. All of the verbs in the singular number use the strong stem.

su (no, P, past tense)
सु	Singular	Dual	Plural
Third Person	असुनोत् asunot	असुनुताम् asunutām	असुन्वन् asunvan
Second Person	असुनोः asunoḥ	असुनुतम् asunutam	असुनुत asunuta
First Person	असुनवम् asunavam	असुनुव asunuva	असुनुम asusuma

A Endings

These endings are significantly different from the ones above. Try to memorize them now, and use the exercises on the next page to reinforce your memory. But don't work too hard; this set of endings is used by three different verb forms, and you'll have plenty of time to practice.

Here are the endings for verbs from the simple verb classes.

labh (a+, A, ordinary past tense)
लभ्	Singular	Dual	Plural
Third Person	अलभत alabhata	अलभेताम् alabhetām	अलभन्त alabhanta
Second Person	अलभथाः alabhathāḥ	अलभेथाम् alabhethām	अलभध्वम् alabhadhvam
First Person	अलभे alabhe	अलभावहि alabhāvahi	अलभामहि alabhāmahi

The endings for verbs from the complex verb classes are almost exactly the same.

su (no, A, past tense)
सु	Singular	Dual	Plural
Third Person	असुनुत asunuta	असुन्वाताम् asunvātām	असुन्वत asunvata
Second Person	असुनुथाः asunuthāḥ	असुन्वाथाम् asunvāthām	असुनुध्वम् asunudhvam
First Person	असुन्वि asunvi	असुनुवहि asunuvahi	असुनुमहि asunumahi

The changes are listed below:

āmahi → mahi, āvahi → vahi (the initial vowel is removed)
nta → ata (see the blue box in the previous lesson)

These differences are exactly parallel to the difference in the present ātmanepada.

Verb Prefixes and the Ordinary Past Tense

The earlier lesson on verb prefixes mentioned that the verb prefix comes before the verb stem. But now we have another prefix: the letter a-, which marks the ordinary past tense. Which prefix appears first? The answer might surprise you: the verb prefix appears first!

प्रतिगम् → प्रतिगच्छति

pratigam → pratigacchati

return → He returns.
प्रतिगम् → प्रत्यगच्छत्

pratigam → pratyagacchat

return → He returned.

Verb prefixes were once entirely separate from the verb itself. Over time, they came to be placed right in front of the verb, as in prati agacchat. The two forms combined, and the a- prefix was sandwiched in the middle.