Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2/Verse 10

तमुवाच हृषीकेशः प्रहसन्निव भारत ।
सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वचः ॥२- १०॥

tamuvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ prahasanniva bhārata ।
senayorubhayormadhye viṣīdantamidaṃ vacaḥ ॥2- 10॥

O descendant-of-Bharata, Hṛṣīkeśa laughingly, as it were, said this discourse to him, dejected, at the middle of both armies. 


Word-for-word translation

tam (accusative, singular) = him

uvāca (past tense verb, 3rd person, singular) = he said 

hṛṣīkeśas (nominative, singular) = Hṛṣīkeśa (epithet of Krishna)

prahasan (adverb) (indeclinable) = laughingly 

iva (indeclinable) = as it were

bhārata (vocation, singular) = O descendant-of-Bharata (epithet of Dhṛtarāṣṭra)

senayos (locative, dual) =  at two armies

ubhayos (locative, dual) = at both

madhye (locative, singular) = at the middle

viṣīdantam (past passive participle, accusative, singular) = dejected 

idam (accusative, singular) = this 

vacas (accusative, singular) = discourse


Commentary

Although this verse is short, the word order is jumbled adding to the challenge of deciphering the verse. This verse has a good example of "iva", which can mean "as it were", "like", etc.