LESSON 30
8th Class: -ओ/-उ (तन् तनोति)
The strong/weak suffixes for the 8th Class are -ओ/-उ (e.g., तन् तनोति, तन्वन्ति). As Deshpande notes, this class in general is identical with the 5th class but is even simpler. Since consonant-final roots won’t lead to hard-to-pronounce consonant clusters, you needn’t worry about extending [C]न्व् into [C]नुव् as in the 5th class (e.g., √आप् आप्नुवन्ति). So, we only have two rules here:
- -उ opt. lost // म्- or व्- (e.g., तनु+मः = तनुमः / तन्मः “we extend”)
- 2nd sg. impv. -हि is lost (e.g., तनु+हि = तनु “extend!”)
Test Yourself
As with the 5th Class, without looking at the paradigms in Deshpande, take a few roots—e.g., तन् and कृ—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 (तनो / करो) in the boxed conjugations, and weak (तनु / कुरु) in the rest, and to apply the 2 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 also feel confident with the 8th class.
Macdonell’s treatment of 8th 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)