The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit

As in English, the 1st- and 2nd-person pronouns have one form for all genders: ‘I’, for example, can be used both by a man and a woman to refer to themselves. The 1st-person pronoun lacks a vocative (‘I’ cannot be addressed by someone), and the 2nd-person form lacks a regular distinction between nominative and vocative: ‘you’ as in ‘you are nice’ could be seen as both nominative (it is the subject of the sentence) and vocative (the subject is being addressed directly). Hence, there is no vocative slot in the table below.

The paradigms of these two personal pronouns include a large number of new forms. Look them over, and then use the notes below to help with memorisation.

Note:

• – मत्- and त्वत्- are the stem forms of the respective pronouns (and as such are used e.g. in compounds –› Chapters 20, 22).

• – The first- and second-person paradigms are almost completely parallel in their endings. Thus, once one has been memorised, only the stems of the other remain to be studied. The exceptions to this are the forms of the GEN SG (first-person मम vs. second-person तव) and the DAT SG (मह्यम् vs. तुभ्यम्). Note also that -u- turns following -s- into -ṣ- according to ruki, giving us such pairs as अस्मत but यष्मुत. –

• – The DAT PL of both paradigms ends in -भ्यम्, not in +-भ्यः.

• – Do not confuse the 1st-person PL forms with the singular forms अयम्/इदम्- (both begin with asm-); specifically, be aware that अस्मत= 1st-person Abl PL, while = ABL SG of अयम/ इदम-.