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

As Deshpande notes, in a few forms roots that end in vowels are reduced and roots that end in consonants are extended. Specifically:

• -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])

And the common root, √श्रु “hear, listen” is reduced to शृ before नो/नु, e.g.:

• शृणोति शृणुतः शृण्वन्ति, etc.

For Hindi speakers, the similar sounding 2nd sg. imperative (Hindi सुनो, Sanskrit शृणु) can easily remind you that the ending, -हि, is lost in this form (though, again, not in -C roots: आप् आप्नुहि).

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 भू	10 चुर्	4 दिव्	6 तुद्	2 अद्	3 हु	5 सु	8 तन्	7 रुध्	9 क्री
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)

These verb classes get their number (1st Class, 2nd Class, etc.) simply from the order in which they are listed in traditional grammars. For our purposes, it will be much more intuitive to always think of these classes in terms of the related pairs: 1/10, 4/6, 2/3, 5/8, 7/9.