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.

So there is no complex sandhi to worry about here. Deshpande lists the points deserving your attention:

• 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.
  

Two points are worth noting for particular 9th Class roots:

1. 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.
2. 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 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.