Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2/Verse 23

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः ।
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥२- २३॥

nainaṃ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṃ dahati pāvakaḥ ।

na cainaṃ kledayantyāpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ ॥2- 23॥

Weapons do not cut this [indestructible], fire does not burn this [indestructible], the waters do not cause this [indestructible] to become wet, and the wind does not cause it to dry up. 


Word-for-word translation

na (adverb) (indeclinable) = not

enam (pronoun, 3rd person, accusative, singular) = this

chindanti (present tense, 3rd person, plural) = cuts

śastrāṇi (nominative, plural) = weapons

na (adverb) (indeclinable) = not

enam (pronoun, 3rd person, accusative, singular) = this

dahati (present tense, 3rd person, singular) = it burns

pāvakas (nominative, singular) = fire 


na (adverb) (indeclinable) = not

ca (conjunction) (indeclinable) = and 

enam (pronoun, 3rd person, accusative, singular) = this

kledayanti (causative, present tense, 3rd person, plural) = cause them to be wet 

āpas (nominative, plural) = waters

na (adverb) (indeclinable) = not

śoṣayati (causative, present tense, 3rd person, singular) = cause it to dry up

mārutas (nominative, singular) = relating to Maruts a.k.a. the wind


Commentary

This is a really good verse to be keen on the subject/verb agreement rules of Sanskrit. Some translations interpret "āpas" as "water", but this is not correct given the verb is plural and thus "āpas" must be interpreted as "waters". Sanskrit dictionaries even qualifies that "āpas" is plural in number. The same goes for the word "mārutas", which is singular and must agree with its verb "śoṣayati", which is also singular. There must be some philosophical basis in which the wind is seen as a singular phenomena verse the water which is seen pluralistically.