The Sanskrit personal pronouns — first person aham (“I, we”) and second person tvam (“you”). No gender, three stems per person, full enclitic short forms.
The first-person pronoun — I, we, no gender. Three stems by number, suppletive nominatives.
| aham 1st person — I, we | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nom. | aham | āvām | vayam |
| Acc. | mām | āvām | asmān |
| Ins. | mayā | āvābhyām | asmābhiḥ |
| Dat. | mahyam | āvābhyām | asmabhyam |
| Abl. | mat | āvābhyām | asmat |
| Gen. | mama | āvayoḥ | asmākam |
| Loc. | mayi | āvayoḥ | asmāsu |
Note. Three stems: ma-/mā- (sg.), āv- (du.), asm- (pl.). The nominatives (aham / āvām / vayam) are historically suppletive — unrelated to the oblique stems. Abl. sg. mat is the shortest Sanskrit case-form, often used in compounds (mat-sama “like me”).
Enclitic acc. sg. mā, dat./gen. sg. me, acc./dat./gen. du. nau, acc./dat./gen. pl. naḥ. These unaccented forms cannot begin a sentence.
Whitney §491; MacDonell §109. The enclitic forms mā, me, nau, naḥ cannot begin a sentence — they must have accented material before them (Pāṇini Aṣṭ. 8.1.17 ff.).
Fill in the full paradigm — 21 forms. The three nominatives are suppletive and must be memorised separately.
| aham 1st person — I, we | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nom. | |||
| Acc. | |||
| Ins. | |||
| Dat. | |||
| Abl. | |||
| Gen. | |||
| Loc. | |||
The second-person pronoun — you, no gender. Exactly parallel to aham: three stems, suppletive nominatives.
| tvam 2nd person — you | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nom. | tvam | yuvām | yūyam |
| Acc. | tvām | yuvām | yuṣmān |
| Ins. | tvayā | yuvābhyām | yuṣmābhiḥ |
| Dat. | tubhyam | yuvābhyām | yuṣmabhyam |
| Abl. | tvat | yuvābhyām | yuṣmat |
| Gen. | tava | yuvayoḥ | yuṣmākam |
| Loc. | tvayi | yuvayoḥ | yuṣmāsu |
Note. Three stems: tv-/tva- (sg.), yuv- (du.), yuṣm- (pl.). The nominatives tvam / yuvām / yūyam are suppletive — each from a different base. Abl. sg. tvat parallels mat and is equally frequent in compounds (tvat-pāda “your foot”).
Enclitic acc. sg. tvā, dat./gen. sg. te, acc./dat./gen. du. vām, acc./dat./gen. pl. vaḥ. These unaccented forms cannot begin a sentence.
Whitney §491; MacDonell §109. Same enclitic rule as aham: tvā, te, vām, vaḥ cannot stand at the head of a clause. In Vedic, the full forms dominate; in classical prose, enclitics are the default.
Fill in the full paradigm — 21 forms. The three nominatives are suppletive and must be memorised separately.
| tvam 2nd person — you | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nom. | |||
| Acc. | |||
| Ins. | |||
| Dat. | |||
| Abl. | |||
| Gen. | |||
| Loc. | |||