LESSON 31
9th Class: -ना/-नी (क्री क्रीणाति)
The affixes of the 9th Class (strong/weak -ना/-नी) are similar to those of the 7th Class, but these affixes are suffixes coming after the root, as opposed to the infixes of the 7th Class: e.g.:
- क्री — क्री+ना + ति = क्रीणाति (“he purchases”), क्री+नी + तः = क्रीणीतः, etc.
- नी → न् // vow.: क्रीणी+अन्ति = क्रीणन्ति (not *क्रीण्यन्ति)
- In 2nd sg. impv. -C root loses नी, takes आन — अश् अशान (not *अश्नीहि)
- penultimate nasal lost // ना/नी — ज्ञा (जाना/जानी): जानाति जानीतः, etc.
- Most roots ending in long vowels shorten their vowel before the ना/नी suffixes. For example, पू (“to purify”) पुनाति, पुनीतः, etc. (not *पूनाति, etc.). Of course, this is not invariably the case (cf. क्री and प्री), just a pattern worth noting.
- The very important root, ग्रह्, takes संप्रसारण // ना/नी — गृह्णा/गृह्णी, so गृह्णाति, गृह्णीतः, गृह्णन्ति, etc. (Another much less important root, ज्या “to overpower,” does the same: जिनाति, जिनीतः, जिनन्ति, etc., not *ज्यानाति)
Test Yourself
As with previous classes, without looking at the paradigms in Deshpande, take a few roots—e.g., क्री and ग्रह्—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 (क्रीणा / गृह्णा) in the boxed conjugations, and weak (क्रीणी / गृह्णी) in the rest, and to apply the relevant rules listed above. Check the paradigm in the book if you get stuck and to correct the paradigms you come up with. In a matter of minutes, you’ll feel confident with the 9th class as well.
Macdonell’s treatment of the 9th class:
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)