Lesson 23: Overview

इदम् and अदस्

These pronouns of nearer and further reference (“this” and “that”) follow the तद् pronominal paradigm but are somewhat irregular—and the nominative singular is always idiosyncratic. इदम् (“this”) is based on two stems:

• m./f. इम/इमा for the first two cases
  
• the तद् forms minus the initial त् for the remaining cases (prefixed by अन् in the s.ins. and the du.gen./loc.)
  

	इदम् “this”
	M/N			--	F
	Singular	Dual	Plural		Singular	Dual	Plural
N	अयम्/इदम्	इमौ/इमे	इमे/इमानि		इयम्	इमे	इमाः
A	इमम्/इदम्	इमौ/इमे	इमान्/इमानि		इमाम्	इमे	इमाः
I	अन्-एन	आभ्याम्	एभिः		अन्-अया	आभ्याम्	आभिः
D	अस्मै		एभ्यः		अस्यै		आभ्यः
A	अस्मात्				अस्याः
G	अस्य	अन्-अयोः	एषाम्			अन्-अयोः	आसाम्
L	अस्मिन्		एषु		अस्याम्		आसु

अदस् (“that”) also follows the pronominal तद् paradigm on the basis of just one stem m./f. अमु/अमू, except as follows:

• in the m. pl. the stem is अमी (apart from acc. अमून्)
• A few forms follow the -उ paradigm (तरु/धेनु) rather than तद्

	अदस् “that”
	M/N			--	F
	Singular	Dual	Plural		Singular	Dual	Plural
N	असौ/अदः	अमू/अमू	अमी/अमूनि		असौ	अमू	अमूः
A	अमुम्/अदः	अमू/अमू	अमून्/अमूनि		अमूम्	अमू	अमूः
I	अमुना	अमूभ्याम्	अमीभिः		अमुया	अमूभ्याम्	अमूभिः
D	अमुष्मै		अमीभ्यः		अमुष्यै		अमूभ्यः
A	अमुष्मात्				अमुष्याः
G	अमुष्य	अमुयोः	अमीषाम्			अमुयोः	अमूषाम्
L	अमुष्मिन्		अमीषु		अमुष्याम्		अमूषु

For their relative meaning and usage, see Deshpande.

Possessives in -मत् / -वत्

When added to x-noun, these suffixes produce adjectives meaning, “possessing-x”: e.g., धन+वत् = “possessing wealth, wealthy” बुद्धि+मत् = “possessing intelligence, intelligent.” Although fundamentally adjectives, such forms (like all adjectives) can be used substantively. So, धनवत् can be used in the masculine as a noun referring to “a rich man.” (Note that words ending in these suffixes follow the paradigm for the past active participle exactly.) For example,

• धनवान् इह आगच्छति । “A rich man is coming here.”

You will find these adjectives pre-formed in Deshpande. But it’s useful to analyze them in terms of base/suffix, so that you only need to remember half as many words (i.e., the nouns, such as धन), from which you can easily derive their possessive adjectives (such as धनवत्) on the fly. You needn’t worry about forming these adjectives yourself, but in case you’re curious about the distribution of the -मत् and -वत् suffixes, the rule of thumb is as follows:

• मत् is the standard suffix: e.g., मति-मत्, “intelligence-possessing,” etc.

But -वत् is used instead of -मत् if:

• an अ, आ or म् is one of the last 2 sounds of the noun stem, e.g.,
  dhana-vat, “wealthy,” vidyā-vat, “knowledgable,” lakṣmī-vat, “wealthy”
  
• a non-nasal stop is the last sound of the stem, e.g.,
  vidyut-vat, “lightning-possessing,” i.e., a cloud
  

The exceptions to this rule can be ignored at this point.

Adjectives of Quantity (-अत्)

From the pronouns are derived adjectives of quantity / extent:

pron.	यद्	तद्	एतद्	इदम्	किम्
mng.	“which”	“that”	“this”	“this”	“which?”
adj.	यावत्	तावत्	एतावत्	इयत्	कियत्
adj. mng.	(which much) “as much”	(that much) “so much”	(this much) “so much”	(this much) “so much”	(which much?) “how much?”
adv. mng.	“to which extent,” “as long as”	“to that extent,” “for so long”	“to this extent,” “for so long”	“to this extent,” “for so long”	“to which extent?” “for how long?”

Like all adjectives, they will be declined to agree with the nouns they qualify. (And like -मत्/-वत् above, they follow the paradigm for the past active participle exactly.) For example,

• यावतो ऽश्वान् स पश्यति तावतो ऽहं न पश्यामि ।
• (which many horses he sees, that many I do not see) →
  “I don’t see as many horses as he does.”

where these adjectives of extent (यावत्, तावत्) are declined to agree (m.pl.acc.) with the noun they’re qualifying (अश्वान्). Until you become comfortable with these translations, you should feel free to translate literally as above.

Again, like other adjectives, those of quantity can be used adverbially if they are declined in the n.s.acc. This is why you’ve so far seen यावत् and तावत् in what look like their stem forms. Actually, they have been in the n.s.acc. so that they could be used adverbially:

• यावत् त्वं क्लिश्यसे तावत् स मोदते ।
• (to which extent you suffer, to that extent he rejoices) →
  “He rejoices as long as you suffer.”