Pronoun tables: asmad, yushmad and tad

Pronouns (सर्वनाम) are the commonest words in any language, and in Sanskrit they are a little irregular, so they are learnt by heart early. The three that matter most are अस्मद् ("I, we"), युष्मद् ("you") and तद् ("he, she, it, that"). The names asmad and yushmad are only the grammarians' labels for the tables; the words you actually use are अहम्, त्वम् and their forms.

अस्मद् and युष्मद् are the same for all three genders, and they have no address form. तद् changes with gender, so it has three tables.

अस्मद्: I, we

युष्मद्: you

The short forms

In the second, fourth and sixth cases these two pronouns also have short forms, which are very common in verse. They can never begin a sentence or a line.

Short forms

You have met them already. In नमस्ते, the ते is "to you". In the Gita verse कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते, the final ते is "your".

तद् masculine: he, that

तद् feminine: she, that

तद् neuter: it, that

Using the pronouns

• अहं छात्रः अस्मि। I am a student. त्वं कः असि? Who are you? सः मम मित्रम्। He is my friend.
• मम नाम अमनः। My name is Aman. तव नाम किम्? What is your name?
• मह्यं जलं देहि। Give me water. तस्मै नमः। Salutation to him.
• सा गच्छति। ते गच्छन्ति। ताः गच्छन्ति। She goes. They (men) go. They (women) go.

The polite "you"

For respect, Sanskrit prefers भवान् (to a man) and भवती (to a woman) instead of त्वम्, just as Hindi prefers आप to तुम. The important point is that these take the verb of the third person: भवान् कुत्र गच्छति? ("Where is your honour going?"), not गच्छसि. All the sentences on our everyday Sanskrit pages use this polite form.

Other pronouns follow तद्

Once you know तद्, several others come almost free, because they decline the same way with a different first sound: एतद् (this: एषः, एषा, एतत्), यद् (who, which: यः, या, यत्), किम् (who? what?: कः, का, किम्) and सर्व (all: सर्वः, सर्वा, सर्वम्). For example तस्य (his), यस्य (whose), कस्य (whose?), सर्वस्य (of all).

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