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Lesson13|

AneasypacedapproachtolearnSanskrit

Lesson13

SimpleSanskritLesson13
PostedonMay20,2013May20,2013byslabhyankar

(13)|

Studyofa
cannotbecompletewithoutdiscussingcomposingthesentenceinpassivevoiceor
transformingasentencegiveninactivevoicetoitsforminpassivevoiceorviceversa.
InEnglishgrammarchangeofvoicecanbedoneonlyiftheverbistransitive,i.e.onlyifthereis
anobjectinthesentence.Forexampleasentenceinactivevoice
suchasIreadabook

wouldbetransformedintopassivevoice
asAbookisreadbyme.

Iftheverbcanhavetwoobjects,itcanbetransformedintopassivevoiceintwodierentways.
Forexample,Igivehimabook.

Note!
requiresthepersonalobjectto

beinfourthcase,hence
.
Inpassivevoiceitcanbe(i)Abookisgivenbymetohim.

or(ii)Heis

givenabookbyme.

Inboththevariants,thesubjectinactivevoiceisI
.Inpassivevoiceittakestheformbyme
.
Theoneobjectwhichbecomesthesubjectinpassivevoicehastobeinfirstcase.
Intransformation(i),thesubjectisbook
.
Intransformation(ii)thesubjectisHe.
Changeofvoicealsoinvolveschangeintheformoftheverb.Inactivevoicetheverbisgive.In

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Changeofvoicealsoinvolveschangeintheformoftheverb.Inactivevoicetheverbisgive.In
passivevoiceithasbecomeisgiven.Theverbinactivevoiceisinpresenttense,firstperson
singular,becausethesubjectisI.Inpassivevoiceoneusesanauxiliaryverbtobe.Thepresent
tensethenappliestotheauxiliaryverb.Therootverbbecomesapastpassiveparticiplegiven.
InSanskrit,thereisnopassiveparticipleused.Therootverbitselfchangesitsform.
Intherstexample,inactivevoicetheverbis.Inpassivevoiceitis
.
Inthesecondexample,inactivevoicetheverbis.Inpassivevoiceitis
.
Ascanbeseen,boththeforms
and
areofthestyleofan
.
Also
hasaaddedtotherootverb.Thisissimilartothe,asithappensto
s
of

.
Nottobemissedalsothefactthatinactivevoicetheverbis(
,
,
),becausethesubjectisI
.Inpassivevoiceitis
(
,
,),
becausethesubjectisbook
.
Inthesecondexamplealso,inactivevoicetheverbis(
,
,),
becausethesubjectisI
.Inpassivevoiceitis
(
,
,),becausethe
subjectis(i)book

(ii)He.
Ifthetenseinactivevoiceispasttense,transformationintopassivevoicecanalsobedoneby
using
.
Forexampleifthesentenceinactivevoiceisinpasttense,Ireadthebook.

then

inpassivevoiceitcanbe
.using
oftherootverb

Similarly,forthesecondexampleifthesentenceinactivevoiceinpasttenseisIgavehima
book,theninpassivevoiceitcanbe(i)

,using
ofthe
.

(ii)

Note!isanadjective.Henceitiswhenrelatedto

andwhenrelatedwith.

InEnglishgrammargivenisaparticiple.SoEnglishlinguists,writingSanskritgrammar,gave
thenamepastpassiveparticipleto
.Thatiswrongterminology.
InEnglishwhentransformingactivevoicesentenceIgiveabookintopassivevoiceAbookis
givenbyme,thesentenceinpassivevoicegetsatingeofpasttense,suggestingthattheactionof
givingisalreadydone.Thisseemstobeso,becausetheparticiplegiven,requiredandessential
inpassivevoice,iseminentlyapastpassiveparticiple.
ButinSanskrit,when

isinpresenttenseinactivevoice,inpassivevoice

isalsoinpresenttense.

ThisisanimportantpointbringingforthhowcorrectSanskritgrammaris!

AnothercharmingfeatureofSanskritgrammaristhatchangeofvoicecanbedoneevenverbs

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AnothercharmingfeatureofSanskritgrammaristhatchangeofvoicecanbedoneevenverbs
areintransitive
.IfwehaveasentenceinactivevoiceIstand
,itisperfectly
legitimatetochangethevoiceandsay
.Englishtranslationof
maybe
somethinglikeactionofstandingisbyme.
Thisword
bringstomindtheinterestingquote

Ohswan!yourwhitenessremainssame,neitherisincreasednorisdiminished.Thecontextis
ofaswanwhetherincleanpurewateroftheGangesorinbrackishwaterofJamuna,asdiscussed
inpreviouslesson.
Importantlythechangedvoiceofanactivevoicesentencewithintransitiveverbiscalledas

andnotas
.Thelogiccouldbethat,inchangeofvoice,asin
,itis
thesenseofstandingwhichisgivensignicanceratherthantheactionofstanding.
Changeofvoicealsoappliestocausativeandothershadesandtransformsofa.
Forexample,
ActivevoiceIdo
>passivevoiceisdonebyme
CausativeactivevoiceIgetdone
>passivevoiceisobtaineddonebyme

Note!Sincepassivevoiceverbformis
,thepresenttenseadjectivalderivative,the

inactivevoicebecomes
inpassivevoice.Forexample,inactivevoice

actionsbeingdone

persondoingactions>inpassivevoice

byperson
See

()isinactivevoice,whereas

(327)isinpassivevoice.
Sanskritprovideschangeofvoicenotonlyforsentences,butalsoforphraseshavingverbal
derivatives.Ifonewouldlikegrammarofalanguagetobecomprehensiveandperfect,Sanskrit
excels!
Havingdiscussedanexampleofaverbhavingtwoobjects
,
itwouldbeinterestingto
notetheversewhichenlists16

s.Suchverseswhichcontainlistsareknownas
s.Theof

sis

||

!
oOo
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