Sanskrit Numbers 1-10
Sanskrit numbers are a bit more complex than numbers in other languages, but the patterns aren’t too difficult.
Here are the root forms of the numbers. They’re used mainly in compounds, not for counting.
१ एक- eka- “one” २ द्व- dva- “two” ३ त्रि- tri- “three” ४ चतुर catur- “four” ५ पञ्च- pañca- “five” ६ षष- ṣaṣ- “six” ७ सप्त- sapta- “seven” ८ अष्ट- aṣṭa- “eight” ९ नव- nava- “nine” १० दश- daśa- “ten” However, when you’re using the numbers to describe the number of objects, you have to use the full forms of the numbers.
For the numbers 1-4, there are separate forms for masculine, feminine, and neuter. We’ve listed them with masculine first, then feminine, then neuter. एकः पर्वतः ekaḥ parvataḥ “one mountain” एका छात्रा ekā chātrā “one student” एकम् वृक्षम् ekam vṛkṣam “one tree” द्वौ पर्वतौ dvau parvatau “two mountains” द्वे छात्रे dve chātre “two students” द्वे वृक्षे dve vṛkṣe “two trees”
त्रयः पर्वताः trayaḥ parvatāḥ “three mountains” तिस्रः छात्राः tisraḥ chātrāḥ “three students” त्रीणि वृक्षाणि trīṇi vṛkṣāṇi “three trees”
चत्वारः पर्वताः catvāraḥ parvatāḥ “four mountains” चतस्रः छात्राः catasraḥ chātrāḥ “four students”
चत्वारि वृक्षाणि catvāri vṛkṣāṇi “four trees”
The rest of the numbers only have one form for all genders:
पञ्च पार्वताः pañca parvatāḥ “five mountains”
षट् छात्राः ṣaṭ chātrāḥ “six students”
सप्त वृक्षाणि sapta vṛkṣāṇi “seven trees”
अष्ट पार्वताः aṣṭa parvatāḥ “eight mountains”
नव छात्राः nava chātrāḥ “nine students”
दश वृक्षाणि daśa vṛkṣāṇi “ten trees” That’s it for today’s lesson. Send us any questions you may have! शुभमस्तु।