SanskritSanskrit can be spoken
Many people meet Sanskrit only as tables to memorise and verses to recite, and never hear it used to ask for a glass of water. Yet simple Sanskrit conversation is easy for anyone who knows Hindi, and it is the quickest way to make the grammar come alive. When you have said अहं विद्यालयं गच्छामि a few times, the second case and the verb ending are no longer rules; they are habits.
What makes these sentences easy
- The words are familiar. नाम, पुस्तक, विद्यालय, भोजन, जल, गृह are everyday Hindi.
- The order is the Hindi order. Doer, object, verb.
- One ending says "I". Verbs with अहम् end in -आमि. One ending says "please": -अतु.
- The sandhi is kept light. In simple spoken Sanskrit, words are mostly kept separate, as they are printed here.
How to practise
- Read a set aloud once a day for a week. Use Listen if your device has a Hindi voice; it reads Devanagari, though not with a trained Sanskrit accent.
- Replace the names and places with your own.
- Use three sentences in real life each day, with family or friends, even playfully.
- Change each sentence for "you", "he" and "we" with the help of the verb tables.
For single words to put into these sentences, see the word lists.