Besides prefixes, we can also use suffixes to fine tune the meaning of words, and create new words. We’ll look at three very common verb suffixes now.
-अ -a
This is so common you probably don’t even think of it as a suffix. Most Sanskrit roots are a single syllable, ending in a consonant. But we tend to think of them all as having a final a. The final a is actually a suffix.
The meaning is also very transparent, subtle and slight. It is a lot like the -us suffix we’re pretty used to in English. What’s the difference between analogy and analogous? Not too much, right? It’s quite subtle. What’s the difference between victory and victorious? The -us suffix makes the word a bit more abstract, that’s all. And that’s extremely similar to what the -a suffix does in Sanskrit.
There are some sandhi rules for adding suffixes. An odd rule for the -a suffix is that if it comes after a consonant from the group that are pronounced with the tongue tension at the back of the mouth (“ca-varga: c, ch, j, jh, ñ, y, or ś), that pronunciation will change to the same type of sound but from the throat (it will change to “the corresponding ka-varga” – but the ka varga versions of y and s have dropped from classical Sanskrit, so in classical Sanskrit the rule doesn’t apply to y or ś).
सर्ग (sarga) for example is really the root सर्ज् (sarj). When you add the a at the end, the j changes to a g, because j is the voiced sound from the back of the mouth, so it must change to the voiced sound from the throat, g. (see sanskrit sounds if you’re lost).
Sarj means “sending forth.” Adding the -a suffix to get sarga makes it mean “the abstract condition of sending forth,” more simply expressed as “creation.”
Now add the prefix vi- (apart, distinct) to sarga and you get visarga, which means “separating the creation” – in other words the act of taking the elementary materials of the creation, and dividing them into structures and forms.
Incidentally Viṣṇu performs sarga once in the entire duration of a universe, while Brahma performs visarga each and every time he wakes up every morning. (his timescale)
Another example is the word जय (jaya) – we think of it as a root, probably, but really the root is जय् (jay). Jay means victory. Jaya means victorious.
You might notice that the y in jay didn’t change. It’s because in classical Sanskrit there no longer is a thorat-equivalent sound for y, so there’s nothing to change it to.
Another example is the word नय् (nay). Add an a to the end and the word becomes नाय (nāya). Notice something weird? The first ‘a’ changed to ‘ā’. That’s a quirk that adding the -a suffix sometimes does (you’ll notice it didn’t happen for jaya).
-अन -ana
This is simpler, because there’s no change to the root word ever.
This suffix means the act of doing something, and the vehicle for doing it. It’s for an action or object that facilitates the action specified by the verb it suffixes.
For example, the root दर्श् (darś) means “see”. Add the suffix to get दर्शन (the act of seeing, “audience”). Darśana, then, more literally means “the action that facilitates seeing.” When you go to a temple and come before the deity, or when you go to meet a saintly person – this is called darśana.
Another example: the root नय् (nay) {“lead”} takes the suffix -ana and becomes नयन (nayana), which means an act that facilitates leading. More commonly it refers to the eyes! Because the eyes are the object that facilitates leading. We are lead around by our eyes.
-त्र -tra
This is very similar in meaning to -ana. But it’s more directly focused on the object / instrument that facilitates an action, whereas -ana is primarily about the actions that facilitate the basic action.
For example, we said that नयन (nayana) can refer to eyes (the instrument that leads us). But it is more common to refer to eyes as नेत्र (netra). The word netra is from the same root as nayana: नय् (nay). When you add -tra the semivowel dissapears and the vowel changes to e.
The next session will be exercises to work more with suffixes.
Easy Sanskrit 