Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/314

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a. The ending mas instead of ma is found in çuçrumas (E.C.). For the alleged occurrence of ḍhve instead of dhve in 2d pl. mid., see 226 c.

796. Those of the endings which begin with a consonant — namely थ tha, व va, म ma in active; से se, वहे vahe, महे mahe, ध्वे dhve, रे re in middle — are very often, and in the later language usually, joined to the base with the help of an interposed union-vowel इ i.

a. The union-vowel i is found widely used also in other parts of the general verbal system: namely, in the sibilant aorist, the futures, and the verbal nouns and adjectives (as also in other classes of derivative stems). In the later language, a certain degree of correspondence is seen among the different parts of the same verb, as regards their use or non-use of the connective; but this correspondence is not so close that general rules respecting it can be given with advantage; and it will be best to treat each formation by itself.

b. The perfect is the tense in which the use of i has established itself most widely and firmly in the later language.

797. The most important rules as to the use of इ i in the later language are as follows:

a. The रे re of 3d pl. mid. has it always.

b. The other consonant-endings, except थ tha of 2d sing. act., take it in nearly all verbs.

c. But it is rejected throughout by eight verbs — namely kṛ make, bhṛ bear, sṛ go, vṛ choose, dru run, çru hear, stu praise, sru flow; and it is allowably (not usually) rejected by some others, in general accordance with their usage in other formations.

d. In 2d sing. act., it is rejected not only by the eight verbs just given, but also by many others, ending in vowels or in consonants, which in other formations have no इ i; but it is also taken by many verbs which reject it in other formations; — and it is optional in many verbs, including those in आ ā (of which the आ ā is lost when the ending is इथ itha), and most of those in इ i, ई ī, and उ u.

e. The rules of the grammarians, especially as regards the use of tha or itha, run out into infinite detail, and are not wholly consistent with one another; and, as the forms are very infrequent, it is not possible to criticise the statements made, and to tell how far they are founded on the facts of usage.