Karak or “Grammatical Case” is the most important concept in Sanskrit and one should understand this before learning anything else. It represents the functional relationship between nouns/pronouns and the verb or other words within a sentence. There are 8 Karaks. We will learn each of these in greater detail later, but for now, here is a quick description and memorization tip for each.

First – The one who does an activity (noun or pronoun) – who does

Second – Effect of the activity falls on this (noun or pronoun) – to whom / to what (two and to sound similar!)

Third – The activity is performed with help of this (noun or pronoun) – with help of what (Three trees help us all)

Fourth – The activity is performed for this (noun or pronoun) – for whom/ for what (four and for sound similar)

Fifth – During separation what stays at its place (noun or pronoun) – from whom/from what (imagine a diver jumping from fifth floor into the pool)

Sixth – One who possess (noun or pronoun) – of whom/ of what (Six magic sticks of a magician)

Seventh – Tells the location relative to this (noun or pronoun) – in what / on what (in-on-en I am in seventh heaven)

Exclamation – Calling out someone or something (noun) using this exclamation

Given below is a complete table to show different Karaks, also called Vibhaktis (1 to 7 and Exclamation).

Karaka (कारक)	Meaning (English)	Vibhakti (Case)	Key Question	Example (Sanskrit)	Explanation
कर्तृ (Kartṛ)	Doer / Subject	प्रथमा	Who?	रामः पठति	Rama reads
कर्म (Karma)	Object / Receiver of action	द्वितीया	What?	रामः पुस्तकं पठति	Rama reads a book
करण (Karaṇa)	Instrument	तृतीया	By what?	रामः हस्तेन लिखति	Rama writes with hand
सम्प्रदान (Sampradāna)	Recipient	चतुर्थी	To whom?	रामः गुरवे नमति	Rama bows to teacher
अपादान (Apādāna)	Source / Separation	पञ्चमी	From where?	वृक्षात् फलम् पतति	Fruit falls from tree
सम्बन्ध (Sambandha)	Possession / Relation	षष्ठी	Whose?	रामस्य पुस्तकम्	Rama’s book
अधिकरण (Adhikaraṇa)	Location	सप्तमी	Where?	गृहे रामः अस्ति	Rama is in house
सम्बोधन (Sambodhana)	Addressing / Calling	संबोधन	O!	हे राम	O Ram

Note that unlike English or Hindi, the form of the noun itself changes according to its relationship with verbs or other words in a sentence. Loosely speaking, the prepositions are embedded with the nouns to make a ‘more complete’ word, for example, with-the-hand is हस्तेन, and from-the-tree is वृक्षात् .

You might have heard that the order of words in a sentence does not matter in Sanskrit. What we saw above is exactly the reason this is possible. For example, in the sentence वृक्षात् फलम् पतति there are 3 words – from-the-tree, fruit, and falls. Changing the order of words like पतति फलम् वृक्षात् – falls, fruit, from-the-tree does not change the meaning of the sentence. Clever!

Learning Sanskrit for the first time? Want to have a guide who can make the learning journey enjoyable? You have come to the right place! Here we will pick up learning Sanskrit from grounds-up.

Here is how the course is structured. We will start with the basic building blocks of a sentence – grammatical case, forms of noun, pronoun, and verb. Then we will dive into Class 6 textbook, and go through the chapters in the order of appearance. Here is a glimpse of what to expect.

Usage tip: We will be using a lot of tables to view contents in this course, so it is preferred, to use a tablet or laptop computer for this course.

Topic	Key learnings
Grammatical case (कारक)	Karakas define the relationship between nouns and verbs to provide the essential structural foundation of Sanskrit sentences
Forms of noun (संज्ञा रूप)	Noun forms in Sanskrit, known as शब्दरुप्, are declined across eight cases (विभक्ति) and three numbers to reflect their specific grammatical role within a sentence
Forms of pronoun (सर्वनाम रूप)	Sanskrit pronoun forms, or सर्वनाम रूप, are declined across seven grammatical cases and three numbers to indicate their relationship to the verb
Forms of verb (क्रिया रूप)	Sanskrit verb forms, or धातुरूप , are created from a root through 5 different moods/tenses (लकार) to precisely indicate the time, voice, and person of an action
Chapter Notes Structure	How each chapter notes are organized
Chapter 1: वयं वर्णमालां पठामः	Types of vowels and consonants, and grouping of alphabets based on place of articulation
Chapter 2: संयुक्त-व्यञ्जनानि	Conjunct consonants, letter combination and decomposition
Chapter 3: एषः कः? एषा का? एतत् किम्?	Basic sentence construction using noun, pronoun and verbs
Chapter 4: अहं च त्वं च	Basic sentence construction using pronouns – I and we
Chapter 5: संख्यागणना ननु सरला	Learning to count and numbers from 1 – 50
Chapter 6: अहं प्रातः उत्तिष्ठामि	Learning to see and tell time
Chapter 7: शूराः वयं धीराः वयम्	Forms of He / She / It and I / You
Chapter 8: सः एव महान् चित्रकारः	Learning about colors, flowers, birds
Chapter 9: अतिथिदेवो भव	Use of unchangeable (अव्यय ) related to location – here, there, near, far, etc.
Chapter 10: बुद्धिः सर्वार्थसाधिका	Forms of verb and root word
Chapter 11: यः जानाति सः पण्डितः	Interesting riddles, and use of षष्ठी विभक्ति for relation or possession
Chapter 12: त्वम् आपणं गच्छ	Use of लोट् लकार form of verbs for imperative mood (command or wish)
Chapter 13: पृथिव्यां त्रीणि रत्नानि	Wise verses (सुभाषितानि) and their Word division (पदच्छेदः), Prose order (अन्वयः), Essence (भावार्थः)
Chapter 14: आलस्यं हि मनुष्याणां शरीरस्थः महान् रिपुः	Focus on usage of द्वितीया विभक्ति
Chapter 15: माधवस्य प्रियम् अङ्गम्	Learning names of body parts
Chapter 16: वृक्षाः सत्पुरुषाः इव	Some more wise verses (सुभाषितानि) and their Word division (पदच्छेदः), Prose order (अन्वयः), Essence (भावार्थः)

Let us start with the most important building block for learning Sanskrit – the Grammatical case (कारक).

>> Grammatical case (कारक)