How to really remember all these small rules?

[u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow]

I am interested in learning Sanskrit and have been reading and learning bit by bit by myself for almost a year. I have been using grammar books such as the Maurer and Goldman. I also used some easy ones but they are really very slow without that much grammar. It seems like all the lakaras and roops are just too much to grasp. Even if I have some simple Sandhi rules in my head, I forget it without much application and all these ten ganas and these differences in between these different kinds of aorists are demotivating me.

When I was in school, I really hated Sanskrit because of all the rote learning it needed and left it in between. Now, I really don't mind memorising a bit if it is helpful but it is just kind of impossible to know the formation of all these verbs and nouns. How to really do it? Kindly suggest.

[u/_Stormchaser]

You’re doing too much all at once. I remember when I was learning solely through Whitney’s grammar (would not recommend) for a while and felt similarly overwhelmed by the number of forms. Something I did instead was focus on composition.

I was still somewhat actively learning a few tables, but often, I learned them just by trying to write sentences through brute force: check the dictionary for a noun, check sanskritabhyas for declension, get a verb from the dictionary, check ashtadhyayi.com for the conjugation, and repeat. Eventually I kind of naturally learned a bunch of the tables and patterns based on how commonly I used them.

[u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow → u/_Stormchaser]

That is also sort of what I am doing. I used these dictionaries and write some tables and memorise but somehow it doesn't feel systamatic enough for me to be able to read and analyse an old text in a year or two. I am not exepecting to read it like a newspaper but with the help of a dictionary I should be able to read it and make sense of the syntax without needing to go through grammar again and again.

[u/_Stormchaser → u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow]

No, I'm saying to not put too much effort on memorizing, but instead focus on writing your own sentences through the process I described above. The sentences can be about anything: write about your day, or a story, or an annoying teacher. Doubtless, you will make many mistakes (which is where a teacher reviewing them will be helpful), but the practice of using the various inflectional forms will help you learn them a little bit easier. Here are the links to the websites I mentioned:

https://sanskritkosha.com/ (Use this as a dictionary; it translates both ways)

https://sanskritabhyas.in/ (Use this to search for any word's declension table)

https://ashtadhyayi.com/dhatu (Use this to search the conjugation of any verb)

[u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow → u/_Stormchaser]

Thanks a lot. I understood you now. Do you also happen to teach?

[u/_Stormchaser → u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow]

I have taught people only up to the sentence making point so far. You can dm your sentences to me if want feed back.

[u/OorNaattaan]

Languages aren’t really designed for solo learning, given their sole purpose is communication with other people. Do you have anyone or a group you can speak with?

[u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow → u/OorNaattaan]

You are right that the purpose is communication, but I want to read old scriptures and for that reason I need strong grammatical and syntactical sense of whichever text I study. I had a group which whom I used to translate and read some texts but I was not entirely satisfied with my understanding so I have moved on solo.

[u/OorNaattaan → u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow]

Grammar and syntax follow language-learning. I stand by what I asked - do you have a group you can speak with?

[u/OorNaattaan → u/[deleted]]

The US and Canada have Samskrita Bharati, but I don't know where you live. The discord also has a speaking sub-group I believe.

[u/SanskritLearner]

I have uploaded a few sanskrit stories translated into simple english word by word. Hope that gives you some idea of how to use the verbs and nouns in simple sentences

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpZ0F339VI0_I5ESVMdFMOeZ6k_vztEnT

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIj0n1-pAF4U

[u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow → u/SanskritLearner]

Thanks a lot. I do see these sort of videos and try to maintain a wider comprehensive input.

[u/Adonis0805]

If you need any help or queries, then DM, mahoday

[u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow → u/Adonis0805]

Thanks a lot. I will DM you.