In this post we will look at conjunctions and examine some types of clause in Pali. This post follows on from earlier posts about relative clauses and also adverbs in Pali.
In its simplest form a sentence is just a single clause. If you remember, a clause consists of a subject (noun phrase) and a verb (verb phrase) or to use different lingo, a subject and a predicate.
Conjunctions can be used to join clauses to form more complex sentences.
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In English, Conjunctions are often grouped into three types:
- Coordinating conjunctions, used to join either words, phrases, or clauses. (eg. and, or, for, but, yet)
- words: bat and ball
- phrases: out of the frying pan and into the fire
- main clauses: She played and he sang
- Correlative conjunctions, used in pairs to join alternatives. (eg. either/or, not only/but also, both/and, rather/than)
- Both girls and boys
- Either this or that
- Subordinating conjunctions, used to join subordinate clauses to main clauses. (eg. although, because, if, since, unless, until, while)
- Stay inside until the rain stops
In Pali these fall into the class of particles (nipāta), which are multifarious. So below, we'll only look at the most common and how they are employed in Pāli.
Coordinating conjunctions - ca, vā, pi
The particles ca, & sometimes ‘pi, are used to mean ‘and’; while vā generally means ‘or’.
These are termed enclitic, or just clitic. This simply means a short word that always follows the word to which it relates. So conjunctions usually follow the words which they connect; and unlike English, the particles ca (& 'pi & vā) generally follows every word conjoined.
For instance:
| rājā ca | brāhmaṇo ca | dhammaṃ assosuṃ |
| Both the king and the brahmin heard the teaching | ||
However, the arrangement seems somewhat arbitrary, sometimes there is only one ca or vā joining a pair:
| rājā brāhmaṇo ca | dhammaṃ assosuṃ |
Conjunction are used to connect clauses too, in which case, they are placed near the beginning of joined clauses.
dānañca dehi, |
sīlañca rakkhāhi |
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| Give alms | & | observe the precept |
- an immediately preceding short vowel becomes lengthened,
- a niggahita (-ṃ) changes to -ñ (nasal form).
In some cases, ca (also apica) is used to contrast two situations, like ‘but’ in English.
bālā have nappasaṃsanti dānaṃ |
dhīro ca dānaṃ anumodamāno |
| Fools indeed do not praise giving, | but, the Wise applaud giving |
Likewise, vā is a disjunctive particle meaning ‘or’.
| bhikkhu | araññagato vā | rukkhamūlagato vā | suñña-agāra-gato vā |
| A monk, gone to a remote place or gone to a tree base or gone to an empty dwelling | |||
When the context is a choice between two subjects, the verb is singular. However note, in some contexts, vā is inclusive (both alternatives are included).
| purisā vā itthī vā | maranti |
| Men or women (both) die | |
The particle pi is also used as a conjunction with the meaning 'and, also'. Here 'pi is placed near the beginning of each clause indicating that the clauses are joined.
jâti pi dukkha, |
jarâ pi dukkhâ, |
maranam pi dukkhaṃ |
| Birth (is) suffering | also old age (is) suffering | also death (is) suffering |
Note: 'pi is the shortened form of api and has several meanings and uses.
For instance:
brāhmaṇo pi dhammaṃ assosi |
| The brahmin also heard the teaching |
More on (a)pi below...
Other particles used as conjunctions include:
| Copulative: | |
|---|---|
| atha | ‘and, then, now’ |
| atho | ‘and also, then’ |
| pi | ‘and, also, but, even’ |
| Disjunctive: | |
|---|---|
| atha vā | ‘or else, rather’ |
| uda | ‘or’ |
| uda vā | ‘either … or’ |
| tathā vā | ‘nevertheless’ |
| na vā | ‘or not’ |
| yadi vā | ‘whether’ |
| Contrasting: | |
|---|---|
| atha kho | ‘yet; but; still; however’ |
| tu, tveva | ‘however; but; rather’ |
| ce | ‘but; than’ |
Although strictly not conjunctions this is a good place to look at a couples of other common particles...
Direct Speech - 'ti clause
Direct speech is a common feature of the Pāḷi. The particle 'ti - the elided form of iti - is used to mark direct speech, like we use quotation marks in English. So it is normally found with verbs of saying, telling, asking, naming and also knowing & thinking.
sādhū’ti |
avocuṃ |
| "very good" | they said |
idaṃ dukkhan'ti | kho mayā byākataṃ |
| "this suffering" | (as) explained by me |
a niggahita (-ṃ) changes to -n.
But the quoted phrase by no means is limited just to words actually spoken! Mental activity can also be marked, be it a thought, a wish, a plan, a memory, or maybe a reason for doing something.
pāpaṃ me katan'ti | tappati |
| "bad action by me done" | (he) burns |
| He burns (knowing) "Bad action (was) done by me" | |
So, watch out when looking up these words in dictionaries...
Although the 'ti particle marks the end of dialogue, only context can tell you where the dialogue starts! The verb related to the speech or thought can be placed either before or after the quoted phrase and sometime even omitted.
Very occasionally iti stands alone as a particle meaning 'such-like, in this manner'.
Negation – na, no, mā, a/an
The particle ‘na’, - less often ‘no’- is normally placed before the term to be negated or is placed near the start of a clause to negate the whole clause. They may also be joined to the front of a verb eg. n’atthi. This is equivalent to putting ‘not’ in front of the verb in English.
| n'atthi jāgarato bhayaṃ |
| There is not, for the vigilant, fear |
| na hi verena verāni sammanti-idha kudācanaṃ |
| Not by hostility (are) hostilities ever here pacified |
The negative particle is often accompanied by an emphatic:
| na pi, nāpi, | ｝ |
'not indeed' |
| n’eva, | ||
| na kho, | ||
| na pana, | ||
| na hi, | 'certainly not' | |
| na hi kudācana, | (certainly not anytime) never |
On some occasions, particles a/an and na are added to substantive nouns, adjectives, verbs (finite and non-finite forms) or predicates to invest them with a negative or privative meaning
A double negation, with either na & mā or na & no in the same sentence is a strong assertion (i.e. I really mean this).
Prohibitions
The particle mā is used usually with an aorist verb to create prohibitions - 'Don't do this'. The present indicative, imperative and optative moods following mā are also found.
| tāta mā gāmi |
| Beloved do not go! |
| mā saddaṁ akattha |
| Don't make noise |
| khaṇo vo mā upaccagā |
| Don't you (let) the moment pass by |
The particles alaṃ/halaṃ (“enough!”, “stop!”) may also be employed to voice prohibition.
Correlative conjunctions - ya & ta
Strictly, particles like ca & vā when used in pairs are correlative. Others include:
| Correlative: | ||
|---|---|---|
| yadi… yadi.. | 'whether or' | |
| in the negative: | ||
| n’eva… n’eva… | neither this nor that | |
| n’eva… na pi… | neither this nor that | |
Relative forms of 'ya' are regularly used in correlation with 'ta' in Pāli. They are employed in a number of ways. In a previous post on relative clauses I mentioned that yena-tena, 'where-there' is used to indicate destination.
yena aññataro bhikkhunī-upassayo |
tena-upasaṅkami |
| where a certain nun's home | there (he) approached. |
There are similar construction with:
- yam... tam... 'what... that...'
- yasmā... tasmā... 'because... thus...'
- yadā... tadā... 'when... then...'
- yathā…tathā/evaṃ… ‘just as…so, in that way…’
- yāva... tāva... 'so much... that much...; until... while...'
yaṃ akusalaṃ
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taṃ pahīnaṃ
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| what (is) unskillful | that (is) given up |
yaṃ aniccaṃ
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taṃ dukkhaṃ
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| what (is) impermanent | that (is) suffering |
yasmā pitaro rukkhe ropesuṃ
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tasmā mayaṃ phalāni bhuñjāma.
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| because fathers trees planted | so we fruits eat |
yadā amhehi icchitaṃ samijjhati
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tadā amhe modāma.
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| when our wishes (are) fulfilled | then we rejoice |
yathā pure |
tathā pacchā |
| just as before | so afterward |
yathā adho
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tathā uddhaṃ
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| as below | so above |
yāva udeti sūriyo
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dīpaṃ me tāva ujjali
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| until rises the sun | my lamp then shone |
idha tāva acchassu
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yāva rājānaṃ dakkhasi
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| here then (you) sit | until the king (you) see |
Relative Adverbs & Clauses #2: Learn Pāli Language
Now although these are called correlatives in Pali grammars many actually function as, or at least it is simpler to render them into English as subordinate clauses.
Repetition of nouns, pronouns & adverbs
Here is a good place to mention repetition. This is generally done for emphasis or to generalize.Repetition of:
relative adverbs and pronouns implies generality ‘whatever, wherever, whomever…’
demonstrative pronouns may imply ‘several, various…’
yena yena = wherever
yo yo = whoever
tesu tesu = various
When a relative adverb/pronoun is repeated, so is any co-relative term - implying a meaning ‘all these…’,
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| wherever happiness is found, all this whatsoever, the authentic one makes known in happiness | |||||||||||||||||
Subordinating conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions are words or phrases that link a subordinate (dependent) clause to a main (independent) clause. In English there are many.| Temporal | after, as soon as, as long as, before, once, still, until, when, whenever,while |
|---|---|
| Locational | where, wherever |
| Concession & Comparison |
although, despite, even though just as, though, whereas, while |
| Causal | as, because, in order that, since, so that |
| Conditional | if, even if, in case, provided that, unless |
Subordinate clauses can also be grouped by the role they play:
| Acting as: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Adjective | The house where I live is small | |
| Adverb | Call me when you're free | |
| Noun | You are what you eat | |
Temporal, locational and sometimes even causal subordination is achieved in Pali by adverbial use of noun case, and we'll cover this in the next post.
Concessive Clauses
Similar to particles of contrast, (a)pi more usually conveys the meaning 'even though...'
api-ahaṃ marissāmi |
| even though I will die |
In this sense, the particle (a)pi often marks a Concessive Clause which signals that some point is being conceded while another is maintained. Eg.
chinnopi | rukkho puna-r-eva rūhati |
| even (when) cut, | a tree again grows |
Several particles used in contrasting can be employed in this way.
| Concessive: | |
|---|---|
| kiñcāpi | ‘although’ |
| ca | ‘although’ |
| pana | ‘but, or, however’ |
| atha kho | ‘however; even then’ |
| tatrāpi | ‘even in that case’ |
sudassaṃ vajjaṃ aññesaṃ |
attano pana duddasaṃ |
| easily seen (are) faults of another | of oneself however (are) hard to see |
We've even seen certain absolute clause constructions can also express a concessive meaning.
Kuto & Kuto pana may follow a negated clause with the meaning ‘still less this… let alone...’ eg.
natthi soko |
kuto bhayam |
| there is no grief, | still less fear |
Causal (Because) - hi
‘hi’, ‘because’ usually introduces a cause or reason. Unusually for Pali, the ‘hi’ clause often follows its main clause.
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| because this teaching (is) known by you |
Similarly, with:
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| as long as his body will last | this long deities & men see him |
Conditional Clauses - sace
Conditional statements often express conjecture or speculation - even expectation. They consist of a type of subordinating clause, marked by a conditional conjunction (if, when, unless), stating a condition; and a main (independent) clause usually expressing the result (either realised or not).
If I study, then I will learn Pali
And Pāli follows a similar pattern. The conditional, subordinate clause usually comes first and is introduced by a conditional term such as:
| Conditional: | ||
|---|---|---|
| sace | if | |
| ‘ce | if | |
| yadi | if; even if | |
| yatra hi nāma | in the case of; when | |
| api | if; even if | |
| appeva appeva nāma |
if only | |
| in the negative: | ||
| noce, no ce, | if not | |
| yadi na | if not | |
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| If (it's) not a burden for you, speak | |||||||||
To fully grasp conditional statements you need to know understand verbal moods, which is covered in another post. So in brief recap: the optative verb mood expresses optional or elective statements. And the imperative mood - in the 1st person - can be used to express personal hopes or aspirations. While the conditional verbal mood generally indicates non-realisation.
All these verb moods can be employed within conditional clauses to add nuance. For instance, if we arrange conditional clauses by the certainty of the outcome, we can see verb tenses/mood is used to create different types of conditional meaning.
| English Example: | realisation |
Pāli verb mood | |||
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| if (condition) | then (main clause) | if (condition) | then (main clause) | ||
| truism | If you study | you will learn | Present/future |
Present/future /imperative |
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| conjecture | If you were to study | you may learn | optative | optative | |
| non-realised not possible |
If you had studied | you would have learnt |
optative optative conditional |
optative conditional optative |
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Broadly, if the condition and its result are definite, the indicative (present or future) is used. If the condition is conjecture or purely hypothetical the optative mood is used; and if false, the conditional mood (but sometimes also the optative). But in practice there is not a big difference between present, future tense or optative mood. According to Warder (pg. 295, also pg. 333) a pure hypothesis, employs the optative in both clauses.
The conditional verbal mood in Pali shouldn't be confused with the conditional clause. These are different things. As can be seen from the table, although the conditional verb mood shares the same name as the conditional clause, it is only employed in one type of this construction!.
Let's look at some example:
1 Definite
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| If you speak the truth, Slave | (then) you become not a slave |
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| If you all do not eat soon | I will throw (it) on the dirt |
2 Conjectural
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| If a man were to do a bad action | (he) should not do this again & again |
3 Not Realised
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| Perhaps the food would last longer | If we (did) not quarrel |
Compounded Clauses
Finally, clauses are often compounded. Warder gives many examples on pg.299
| sā, | bhante | vesī |
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palāyittha | |||||||||||||||
| nom | voc | nom | past (rfx) | |||||||||||||||||
| she | O Lord | a harlot | ran away |
This is actually a compound of clauses, Here one clause is marked by the locative and another is created by the absolutive verb ādāya. The locative case is used here adverbially to express a temporal subordinate clause. This particular one is a type of locative absolute – the subject of the participle 'feasting' differs from that of main clause and implies 'while/after'. Thus, the main clause is ‘the harlot, she ran away’. Added to this is the absolutive ‘having taken our property’, and the locative absolute 'while we were intoxicated by feasting'.
In the next post we'll return to modifiers with a look at adverbs in Pali.
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