Exercise Page 78

Pronouns and तद्

There are a number of words in Sanskrit that are classified as pronouns, however they are not always translated as pronouns in English. The Sanskrit pronoun तद् has three possible translations:

• Demonstrative pronoun: 'that/those' (or less commonly 'this/these')
• Personal pronoun: 'he/she/it/they', 'him/her/them'
• Definite article: 'the'

If तद् is used in conjunction with the noun that it refers to, it should be translated as a demonstrative pronoun or definite article. If it is used alone, it should be translated as a personal pronoun. For example:

• तद् फलं यच्छति = He gives the fruit OR He gives that fruit
• तद् यच्छति = He gives it

Like an adjective, a pronoun has to agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it refers to. As such, every pronoun has different forms for each gender. All the forms of the pronoun तद् are listed on Pages 76 and 77

Test Yourself

Although there are numerous such pronouns in Sanskrit, it is not difficult to learn them since their endings are almost all the same. The exception to this is the first person ('I/we') and second person ('you') pronouns. The forms of these pronouns will be introduced over several lessons, however their complete listing can be found on Pages 635 and 636.

NOTE: One more use of the Second case is introduced in the first sentence of the exercise on Page 78. "कतिपयान् दिवसान्" is in Second case indicating the duration of the gerund "ध्यात्वा". Hence "कतिपयान् दिवसान् ध्यात्वा" can be translated as "having meditated for a few days".

TIP: The forms of the noun कन्या are introduced in this lesson as a template for all feminine nouns ending in आ. Any adjective ending in अ that agrees with a feminine noun will also decline like कन्या.