LESSON 28
5th Class: -नो/-नु (सु सुनोति)
Deshpande’s short overview gives you all the information you need to handle these verbs. They’re very easy both to form and to recognize as their vowel-final suffix prevents stem-obscuring sandhi. The stem suffix in the 5th class is नु, which is guṇated (नो) in the strong:
- strong/weak: सु सुनो/सुनु — सुनो+ति = सुनोति / सुनु+अन्ति = सुन्वन्ति
- -V: नु opt. → न् // म्- or व्- (e.g., सुनु+मः = सुनुमः / सुन्मः “we press”)
- -V: 2nd sg. impv. -हि is lost (e.g., सुनु+हि = सुनु “press!”)
- -C: the hard to pronounce conjunct [C]न्व् → [C]नुव्
(e.g., आप्नु+अन्ति = अप्नुवन्ति “they obtain,” [not *आप्न्वन्ति])
- शृणोति शृणुतः शृण्वन्ति, etc.
Test Yourself
One of the best ways to familiarize yourself with these conjugations and the rules above is to produce / apply them. Without looking at the paradigms in Deshpande, take a few roots—e.g., सु and आप्—and add the endings in the 2nd row of the handout below to derive the paradigms yourself. (Remember that all athematic classes, with a few minor exceptions as in the 3rd class, take the same set of endings.) Be sure to use strong stems (सुनो / आप्नो) in the boxed conjugations, and weak (सुनु / आप्नु) in the rest, and to apply the 3 rules listed above. Check the paradigm in the book if you get stuck and to correct the paradigms you come up with. By the end—in a matter of minutes—you’ll feel confident with the 5th class.
Macdonell’s treatment of 5th Class roots:
The 10 Verb Classes
Present System Verb Classes |
||||||||||
Pres. Stem |
-अ (Thematic) |
Non-अ (Athematic) |
||||||||
Class |
1 |
10 |
4 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
7 |
9 |
Root |
→ guṇa |
→ heavy |
as is |
guṇated in strong |
as is (+ strong/weak affixes) |
|||||
Affix |
अ |
अय |
य |
अ |
- |
redup |
नो/नु |
ओ/उ |
न/न् |
ना/नी |
Place |
suffix |
- |
prefix |
suffix |
infix |
suffix |
||||
Ex. |
भू भवति |
चुर् चोरयति |
नृत् नृत्यति |
तुद् तुदति |
इ एति |
हु जुहोति |
सु सुनोति |
तन् तनोति |
रुध् रुणद्धि |
क्री क्रीणाति |
- 1 and 10: strengthened thematic classes
- 4 and 6: unstrengthened thematic classes
- 2 and 3: athematic, with guṇated strong stem
- 5 and 8: athematic, with guṇa in strong affix (नो/नु and ओ/उ)
- 7 and 9: athematic, with similar strong/weak affixes (न/न् and ना/नी)