Crystallization Lesson Four · Feminine Master Chart · Two Voices of the Imperative · the r-Family

One — Draw It Out (8 minutes) — blanks before the chart

Draw a row of blanks on the board, no chart name yet.

"These four weeks you've met a houseful of sisters, and you've learned to give orders. Shout out what you already know.
'That cow (subject)'?" (dhenuḥ) "'Look at that cow (direction)'?" (dhenum) "'That opinion (subject)'?" (matiḥ)
"'You, go!'?" (gaccha) "'Take it!' (wearing the Ā clothes)?" (labhasva) "'Father (subject)'?" (pitā)

(A dozen-odd blanks light up in quick succession.)

"See that? You've already claimed half of three big charts. Today we do three things: **line the sisters up into one chart,
give the imperative's two sets of clothes their formal home, and find out where your own family's name comes from. What's left isn't new material — it's filling in the gaps.**"

Two — Naming One: Feminine Sisters Master Chart (14 minutes) — one logic, several faces

"kanyā (the ā family), nadī (the ī family), mati (the i family), dhenu (the u family), vadhū (the ū family) —
five sister families side by side. The hat logic never changes — the only thing that changes is that one vowel at the end of the stem."

• Already lit up (forms students have used in sentences): the subject/direction/instrument rows — matiḥ/matim/matyā (P12), dhenuḥ/dhenum/dhenvā (P12),

nadīm (P11's queen sentence), vadhūs/vadhūm (P14), kanyā/kanyām (P09). The deep four hats (giving/source/location/calling) — recognize the face, don't drill it.

• One thread: the deep hats of the ī/ū/i/u four families all follow -yā-/-vā- (matyāi, dhenvāi, nadyāi, vadhvāi) —

"i squeezes into y, u squeezes into v, and then the whole group falls in line behind nadī." The ā family (kanyā) goes its own way (-yā-).

• The i and u families also keep a backup brotherhood-style hat set (mataye/mateḥ/matāu, dhenave/dhenoḥ/dhenāu — the old hats of agni/guru,

seen back in Crystallization Lesson Two): both sets are legitimate for the sisters, but today we only recognize the nadī-style face.

• Textbook āi/āu convention: the printed D.sg forms are nadyāi/matyāi (= common usage nadyai/matyai); when cross-referencing Perry, read them as -ai.

One-syllable little sisters side by side (low-friction, recognition only):

"dhī (wisdom), strī (woman) — one-syllable little sisters. Same long-vowel family as the multi-syllable big sisters, but the difference shows up when they put on a hat:
big sister devī has her ī squeeze into y (devyā); little sister dhī is too short, her ī splits into iy (dhiyā). Long squeezes, short splits."

• Already lit up: dhīḥ/dhiyam/dhiyā (P13's story of the queen gaining wisdom), striyaḥ (P13's "the women").
• strī's special hat set is listen-only — the actual declining was handed to devī in P13; this chart just establishes the face.

Three — Naming Two: Full Chart of the Imperative's Two Sets of Clothes (12 minutes)

"Giving orders also comes in two sets of clothes: ordinary clothes (P01's -ti family) give orders, Ā clothes (P08's -te family) give orders."

Active imperative full chart (gaccha type, matching P14):

Middle imperative full chart (labhasva type, matching P15):

• Already lit up: active — gaccha (You, go!), gacchatu／jayatu (Let him win!), gacchāma／gacchāni (P14);

middle — labhasva (Take it!), labhatām, labhāmahāi (P15).

• The easiest form is "you": active strips the tail and runs the bare stem (gaccha); middle is always -sva (labhasva, no family variation — even tidier than the active).
• The "don't" switch mā: Sanskrit doesn't use na for "don't" — it uses mā + imperative (mā gaccha／mā śoca) — learn one mā and every "don't…" is covered.
• The politest request: even the passive (P10) can give orders — kathā kathyatām "may the story be told" = "please tell a story." Asking someone for a favor is politest when you turn the direction around.
• Row order follows the Sanskrit-Pali tradition with prathama first; Perry's original chart runs 1–2–3 in reverse — note the flip when cross-referencing the textbook.

Four — Naming Three: the r-Family — the Kin Set and the Agent Set (8 minutes)

"บิดา／มารดา 's true form has arrived. The r-family has two faces: family members (kin set) and people who do things (agent set),
both with the subject hat dropping the r and lengthening to ā — distinguished by the length of the direction hat."

• Already lit up: pitā/mātā/dātā (P15's family story), pitaram/mātaram/dātāram (P15's sentence-building), pitre/mātre (P15's building block, the frozen "to whom" hat), dātrī (P15, the feminine form of the agent word, follows the devī family).
• Remember one contrast pair by ear: pitaram short, dātāram long — the kin set is short (guṇa), the agent set is long (vṛddhi).
• Four endings that trap students (kept in full in the metadata; students first memorize the first two): ① nominative singular -ā (pitā, no -ḥ); ② ablative/genitive singular -ur (pitur/mātur);

③ the long ṝ in accusative/genitive plural (pitṝn／pitṝṇām); ④ masculine/feminine split in accusative plural: masc. -ṝn (pitṝn/dātṝn), fem. -ṝḥ (mātṝḥ).

• The feminine agent-word form -trī wears the ī family's hat (dātrī, same as devī — free of charge); netṛ/bhartṛ and others are for the ear only, not tested.

Five — Special Column: the B6 Vowel-Length Doublet (5 minutes) — today's Decoder day

"Your i- and u-family sisters, once in Thai — the vowel sometimes lengthens and sometimes doesn't, and the same word can even be borrowed twice, each going its own way."

"Compare มติ (mati) — once in Thai it doesn't lengthen, staying short ◌ิ all the way through. So: vowel length has no fixed rule — it depends on the word.
This is Decoder card B6 (vowel substitution ◌ิ↔◌ี, ◌ุ↔◌ู). It's a living specimen of P06's B3 (length roughly corresponds, but no fixed rule):
the same word borrowed twice, one short and one long surviving side by side, puts 'no fixed rule' right in front of your eyes."

(Carrier words bhakti→ภักดี and guru→ครู, contrasted with mati→มติ which stays unchanged — B6 introduced by this lesson's i/u sisters.)

Six — Cognate Production + Second Wave (8 minutes)

• Cognate production: everyone draws a feminine-noun card and a verb from their kośa, and on the spot (a) puts three hats on the sister word, (b) issues a command in the imperative.

Sample: vadhūm paśya (look at that woman) ／matim upadiśatu (may he point out the opinion) ／mātre namaḥ (homage to the mother). Teacher recasts, no interruptions.

• Second wave (Assimil method): retell P12's cow story using Thai prompts — and require it to be recast on the spot in the imperative

(dhenuṃ pūjaya! "Treat the cow well!" ／śāntim upadiśa! "Teach [her] peace!" — teacher hands over the form, whole class chants together). Four weeks' worth of CI input, and this week it's the story's turn to give orders.

• Closing preview: "Next crystallization lesson (W11), verbs learn the optative mood ('may it be…'), and for nouns you'll meet go (cow), that oddball relative."

Chart cards ×3: feminine sisters master chart card (five families side by side + one-syllable dhī/strī side panel), imperative two-voices card (active + middle in one frame), r-family strong/weak stem card (pitā/pitaram ↔ dātā/dātāram short/long contrast + four trap endings). Special-column card ×1: B6 vowel-length doublet (ภักติ/ภักดี, รัตติ/ราตรี, ครุ/ครู bound as pairs, appearing side by side at review time; contrasted with unchanged มติ).