Sanskrit Grammar for Beginners (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A Sanskrit Grammar for Beginners<br><br>The experience of some years'' teaching has convinced me that Sanskrit compared with other dead languages is not difficult to learn. The fact that the ordinary Sanskrit verb has no subjunctive only one imperative one infinitive and two optatives altogether only thirteen moods and tenses in each voice while Greek has upwards of thirty would alone go far to prove the comparative simplicity of Sanskrit Acci dence. Again the absence in Sanskrit of the indirect construction which constitutes a conspicuous difficulty of Syntax in the classical languages is in itself a tolerably clear proof that the structure of complex sentences in Sanskrit must be far less involved than in Latin or Greek. On the other hand though it must be admitted that the phonetic laws of Sanskrit present greater difficulties than in other languages most of these difficulties will disappear when it is pointed out that the rules of Sandhi rest on two leading principles the avoidance of hiatus in the case of vowels and assimilation in the case of consonants.<br><br>I feel sure that the exaggerated idea of the difficulties of Sanskrit commonly entertained is due to the fact that the amount of matter contained in the Sanskrit grammars hitherto published in England and America is far too exhaustive for elementary purposes. Beginners are not aware that a large proportion of the matter presented to them though necessary for a minute and critical knowledge or high proficiency in composition may be altogether dispensed with by those whose chief object is to be able to read with ease the best works of classical Sanskrit literature.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases an imperfection in the original such as a blemish or missing page may be replicated in our edition. We do however repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.