List of preverbs.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1397

The meanings of the prAdi can be quite unpredictable. And in some cases they are meaningless (pravizati and vizati both mean "enter", Arohati and rohati are both "climb"). So take the following list as "general guidelines", not as accurate translations --

abhi "towards, approaching"

adhi "towards, approaching"

AG "coming"

anu "following"

apa "away; south"

ati "surpassing, beyond, too much"

ava "down; south"

ni "down"

nis "out"

pari "around"

parA "away, back"

sam "coming together"

ud "up; north"

upa "near; down"

vi "all around, spreading outwards, going apart"

See also the upasarga list at learnsanskrit dot org.

abhi "towards, approaching"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1398

'towards, upon, over, excessively'

gacchati "goes"

abhigacchati "goes towards, gets"

bhartAranM nAbhigacchati "she gets no husband"

mahApuNyam abhigacchanti "they get great merit"

bhavati "is"

abhibhavati "overpowers"

Compounded with adjectives, abhi can mean "very"

abhitamra- "very red"

adhi "towards, approaching"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1399

gacchati "goes"

adhigacchati "goes near, approaches"

It also means "over, upwards of"

ati "surpassing, beyond, too much"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1400

kramate "advances by steps, walks"

atikramate "goes beyond, transgresses"

apa "away; down; badly"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1401

The preverb apa mostly means "away" --

kramate "he walks"

apakramate "he walks away"

harati "takes"

apaharati "takes away, steals"

It can mean also "opposite, backwards" --

cinoti "gathers"

apacinoti "loses, decreases"

It can means also "wrongly, damaging" --

apacAra- "bad behaviour, offence, crime"

Compounded before nouns it can mean "lacking" --

apabhI- "fearless"

apadhUma- "smokeless"

apa sometimes turns into apas by apAcca --

kirati "he scatters"

avaskirate "it scrapes the ground"

upa "near; down"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1402

As in --

gacchati "goes"

upagacchati "goes near, approaches, goes to see"

vizati "goes in"

upavizati "sits down"

hasati "laughs"

upahasati "laughs down at, derides, ridicules"

AG "coming"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1403

The preverb A(G) (not same as AG', which is an old name for TA) expresses movement towards here --

gacchati "goes"

Agacchati "comes"

vahati "carries"

Avahati "brings"

patanty ulkAH "meteors are falling"

Apatanty ulkAH "meteors are falling towards us"

Sometimes, AG has no meaning --

rohati "climbs"

Arohati "climbs"

Rule aT;ku;pv;AG;nu mentions this AG so as to remind us that Natvam can skip it over before a Nopadeza root --

pari + AG + naddha →ikoyaNaci paryA + naddha →Natvam paryANaddha-

anu "after"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1404

When anu is a preverb it can mean "after" in the sense of "following" --

gacchati "goes"

anugacchati "goes after, follows"

dravati "runs"

anudravati "runs after, chases"

anuplavate "jumps after, swims after, sails after"

With bhU, it makes "experience" --

bhavati "is there"

anubhavati "experiences"

ava "down"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1405

ava usually means "downward" --

rohati "climbs"

avarohati "climbs down, descends"

But joined to verbs meaning "go", it makes "understand" --

gacchati "goes"

avagacchati "understands"

eti "goes"

avaiti "understands"

To mean "undergo" in the sense of "experience (duress etc.)", ava won't work. Use anu + bhU instead.

bhavati "is; there is"

anubhavati "experiences"

dus means bad, hard to do, or evilmmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1406

This prAdi is only used as a former. It is never a preverb.

It is often found in front of action nouns with the meaning of "hard to do" --

dus + labh + khal → durlabhaH "hard to get"

duSkara- "hard to do"

dusHsaha "hard to endure"

duSprApa "hard to get"

(Notice that dus sometimes sounds like duS before p ph k kh. See id;ud-upa)

It can also be compounded in front of any noun to mean "bad" or "evil" --

durlAbhaH "a bad acquisition"

durmati- "weak-minded; evil-minded"

Those can get the su' that means "very" --

sudurlabhaH "very hard to get"

See also ku', su'.

ku' means evil or badmmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1407

This prAdi is only used as a former. It is never a preverb.

kupuruSa- "bad man"

kuputra- "wicked son"

See also su', dus.

su' means good, very, or easilymmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1408

This prAdi is only used as a former. It is never a preverb.

Don't confuse it with the su affix.

sukRta- "well done"

sumahat- "very big"

sulabha- "easy to get"

See also ku', dus.

pari "around"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1411

The preverb pari means "around" --

kUpaGM gacchati "goes to the well"

kUpamM parigacchati "goes around the well"

pra "pre-"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1413

The preverb pra may mean --

in front, forward

start to

previously, pre-

East

in the epics, it is sometimes used as filler.

pra as a preverb before R roots makes prAr, by upasargAd Rti dhAtau --

prArcchati "moves on"

Back to list of preverbs.

prati "towards; against"mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1414

prati as a preverb means --

towards

pratigacchati "goes towards"

backwards, against, counter-, back --

pratigacchati "goes back"

vijitya gAz ca prati-yAtu pArthaH "let him take the cows and go back"

pratihanti "he counterstrikes"

prativadati "speaks back, answers"

before a noun it can mean --

westward

pratyac- "western" (has ac''')

against

pratiloma "against the hair"

every (only before time words)

pratidinam "every day"

sammmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1415

The preverb sam sometimes means "coming together", sometimes "all together" --

girim agacchan "they went to the mountain (each one on its own)"

giriM samagacchan "they went to the mountain (together); they gathered at the mountain"

It can mean also "completely", like the "up" in English "eat up" --

bhakSayatv ekaH "only one person should eat this"

samM-bhakSayatv ekaH "only one person should eat this up"

In the epics, sam often appears to be just filler. I mean to say, verbs such as samagacchat often appear to mean exactly the same thing as agacchat "came".

Back to list of preverbs.

udmmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1416

The preverb ud means "up" --

patati "flies"

utpatati "flies up, takes off"

nipatati "flies down, lands" (see ni)

When not a preverb, it can mean "up" or "north".

"Up" can mean "north" because when you are "oriented", that is, looking to the Orient (rising sun), the himAlaya, which is the highest part of the country, falls to your left.

vimmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1417

The preverb vi means "away" --

krINAti he buys

vikrINAti he sells

stIrNa- "spread"

vistIrNa- "spread far and wide"

dravanti "they run"

vidravanti "they run away in all directions"

IkSate "he looks"

vIkSate "he looks all around, he commands a view of"

trasta- "scared"

vi-trasta- "scared out of his wits, terrified, panicked"

zruta- "heard about"

vi-zruta- "heard about all over, famous, renowned"

In the epics, vi is often just to be ignored.

As a former before a noun, vi means "lacking, deprived of" --

vi-ratha- "deprived of his car"

vi-varNa- "discolored"

vi-yoga- "disconnection"

vi-zoka- "sorrowless"