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Identifying the Subject of a Pali sentence

Identifying the Subject of a sentence

When translating Pali, it is useful to begin by identifying the subject of the sentence, the verb corresponding to that subject, and then any objects of the verb. In order to do this, the first task is to determine the stems, case, gender and number of each word in the sentence.

In the next post we'll look at methods for identifying stem endings. But for now here's a quick table for the nom. & acc. a/ā stems:

SINGULAR   PLURAL
stem
ends:		 Masc.
a		 Neut.
a		 Fem.
ā		   Masc.
a		 Neut.
a		 Fem.
ā
Nom. -o -aṁ ∅   -ā -ā
-āni		 ∅
-āyo
Acc. -aṁ   -e -e
-āni		 ∅
-āyo
Note: ∅ indicates no change.
So let’s look at an example, consider:
Sāriputto mahāpañño dhammaṃ deseti bhikkhunaṃ (SN 8.6)
We can now fill out the table below (ignore the verb inflection for the time being).
  sāriputto mahāpañño dhammaṃ deseti bhikkhunaṃ
Case:
 Nom Nom Acc Pres, Act Dat/Gen
Gender:
 male male male   male
Number:
 sgl sgl sgl sgl pl
        3rd pers.  
Function:
 Subject Direct object Verb Indirect object
Dict. Def:
 Sāriputta (the) very wise (the) doctrine (he) teaches (to) the monks
Translation:
 Sāriputta, the very wise, teaches the doctrine to the monks

This is fairly straightforward, but lets go through the steps: 
First pass:
  • sāriputto = the proper name Sāriputta + o inflected as nom. masc. sgl
  • mahāpañño = mahā-pañña + o inflected as nom. masc. sgl, this is an attribute to Sāriputta
     Nouns and their attributes form noun phrases and they are usually in the same case.
  • dhammaṃ = dhamma + aṃ inflected as acc. masc. sgl, indicating an object.
     Also, Pali general doesn't use articles (a, the) so these have to be added.
  • The verb root √dis, ‘to teach’, conjugates to present stem ‘dese’ + ti indicating 3rd person sgl.
     Pali doesn't always include pronouns as these are indicated in the verb ending. So a 'he' could be inserted.
  • bhikkhunaṃ = bhikkhu + naṃ inflected as dative or genitive, plural. The inflections of the dative case overlap with the genitive. (in fact some see these as one case). The dative traditionally indicates an indirect object, while the genitive indicates ownership or possession. As there is nothing to be owned we can decide on the dative and add the preposition 'to'.
As explained previously, the noun declension or case information helps determine the role the word is playing in the sentence. The subject of the sentence is generally expressed in the nominative case whilst a direct object will be in the accusative case. In this example we also have an indirect object in the dative case. This, along with the following rules, helps direct our deciphering of the sentence.

Word order

In Pali, word order in a sentence usually goes: 
Subject Object Verb
sāriputto dhammaṃ deseti
nomacc3rd
Because each word contains case info about the role it is playing in the sentence, word order in Pali is not critical and sometime the sequence is altered for effect. 
  • Sometimes the subject and object are reversed for emphasis.
  • Sometimes placing the agent after the verb implies a rhetorical or emotive sense.
  • Imperative verbs (expressing commands and also invitations) often occur at the beginning of a sentence.

Agreement of the Verb with its Subject

The Paḷi verb can be inflected in three persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd):
1st pers. The person(s) speaking (= ‘I’, ‘we’);
2nd pers. The person(s) spoken to, that is, the person(s) being addressed (= ‘you’);
3rd pers. The person(s) or thing(s) spoken about, that is, everyone or everything else (= ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’; ‘they’).
Present tense endings
pers. SINGULAR PLURAL
3rd -ti -(a)nti
2nd -si -tha
1st -(ā)mi -(ā)ma
Note: verb stems ending in -a become -ā- for the 1st person.
Those ending -ā, become -a- in the 3rd pers. plural.
And, as with the noun, they can be inflected in two numbers: singular and plural.

The main verb of the sentence must agree with the subject in number and person. Some call this 'concord'.
Subject Object Verb
sāriputto dhammaṃ deseti
nomacc3rd
mm
sglsglsgl
3rd pers.  
For example, the phrase ‘sāriputto deseti’ or ‘sāriputta teaches’, the verb is singular because ‘sāriputta‘ is singular. Moreover, because ‘sāriputta’ is in the third person (i.e. not: 'I' or 'you'), the verb is also in the third person.

Taken together, the case (nominative) and the agreement with the verb, identifies the noun sāriputta as the subject of the sentence. And here's the accompanying video tutorial.

Learn Pali Grammar - Verbs - Present Singular

In this tutorial we begin our look at verbs in Pali. The idea of grammatical person is explored and 'subject - verb agreement' which is a key concept in learning Pali grammar.


So now you might be wondering how do you actually figure out what that inflectional suffix actually is? Well in the next post we'll look at 5 ways to identify the ending of a Pali word...
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