Lesson 5.B 5.B.1 More on Nouns Cases Unlike the other case endings, the sixth (sasthl) indicates a relationship to a word other than the verb, i.e. to another noun in the sentence. This is usually rendered in English by the preposition 'of or with an apostrophe, for example, 'he talks to the son of John', 'he drives John's car'. In both these examples John has no relation to the action of the verb: indeed John may be absent, even deceased. This case ending generally indicates a relationship of source or possession, for example, 'John's book' may refer to the book that John purchased, or to the book that he wrote. The word in sasthl is usually placed immediately before the word to which it is related. The seventh (saptaml) case ending indicates the place or time where or when the action takes place, and may be rendered in English by the prepositions 'in', 'on', 'at', 'among', etc., for example, 'he stands on the table', 'it is hot in summer'. A word with saptaml case ending is often the first in the sentence, setting the scene as it were. Strictly speaking, Sanskrit has just seven case endings, however many publications give an eighth, sambodhana, which is used for addressing or calling, for example, 'Oh Lord, hear my prayers', 'John, where are you?'. In fact this is simply a special use of the prathama (first) case ending. The strictly correct way of tabling the declension of nara is: eka-vacana dvi-vacana bahu-vacana prathama narah sambodhana prathama he nara dvitlya naram trtlya narena caturthT naraya pahcamT narat sasthl narasya saptaml nare narau narah he narau he narah narau naran narabhyam naraih narabhyam narebhyah narabhyam narebhyah narayoh naranam narayoh naresu
